There has been interest in the simple algorithm I used for the boggle solver I blogged about previously. Here is the source for the code behind. The dictionary file is just a list of words, delimited by a line feed.
protected List<string> _words;
protected List<string> _foundWords;
protected override void OnInit(EventArgs e)
{
this.Submit.Click += new EventHandler(Submit_Click);
base.OnInit(e);
}
void Submit_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
LoadWords();
FoundWords.Text = string.Empty;
if (_words != null)
{
_foundWords = new List<string>();
char[,] wordMatrix = new char[5, 5];
wordMatrix[0, 0] = Char.Parse(a1.Text);
wordMatrix[0, 1] = Char.Parse(a2.Text);
wordMatrix[0, 2] = Char.Parse(a3.Text);
wordMatrix[0, 3] = Char.Parse(a4.Text);
wordMatrix[0, 4] = Char.Parse(a5.Text);
wordMatrix[1, 0] = Char.Parse(b1.Text);
wordMatrix[1, 1] = Char.Parse(b2.Text);
wordMatrix[1, 2] = Char.Parse(b3.Text);
wordMatrix[1, 3] = Char.Parse(b4.Text);
wordMatrix[1, 4] = Char.Parse(b5.Text);
wordMatrix[2, 0] = Char.Parse(c1.Text);
wordMatrix[2, 1] = Char.Parse(c2.Text);
wordMatrix[2, 2] = Char.Parse(c3.Text);
wordMatrix[2, 3] = Char.Parse(c4.Text);
wordMatrix[2, 4] = Char.Parse(c5.Text);
wordMatrix[3, 0] = Char.Parse(d1.Text);
wordMatrix[3, 1] = Char.Parse(d2.Text);
wordMatrix[3, 2] = Char.Parse(d3.Text);
wordMatrix[3, 3] = Char.Parse(d4.Text);
wordMatrix[3, 4] = Char.Parse(d5.Text);
wordMatrix[4, 0] = Char.Parse(e1.Text);
wordMatrix[4, 1] = Char.Parse(e2.Text);
wordMatrix[4, 2] = Char.Parse(e3.Text);
wordMatrix[4, 3] = Char.Parse(e4.Text);
wordMatrix[4, 4] = Char.Parse(e5.Text);
a1.Text = string.Empty;
a2.Text = string.Empty;
a3.Text = string.Empty;
a4.Text = string.Empty;
a5.Text = string.Empty;
b1.Text = string.Empty;
b2.Text = string.Empty;
b3.Text = string.Empty;
b4.Text = string.Empty;
b5.Text = string.Empty;
c1.Text = string.Empty;
c2.Text = string.Empty;
c3.Text = string.Empty;
c4.Text = string.Empty;
c5.Text = string.Empty;
d1.Text = string.Empty;
d2.Text = string.Empty;
d3.Text = string.Empty;
d4.Text = string.Empty;
d5.Text = string.Empty;
e1.Text = string.Empty;
e2.Text = string.Empty;
e3.Text = string.Empty;
e4.Text = string.Empty;
e5.Text = string.Empty;
foreach (string possibleWord in _words)
{
if (possibleWord == null || possibleWord.Length < 4)
continue;
char startChar = possibleWord[0];
for (int x = 0; x < 5; x++)
for (int y = 0; y < 5; y++)
if (wordMatrix[x, y] == startChar)
{
CheckWord(wordMatrix, x, y, possibleWord);
}
}
foreach (string foundWord in _foundWords)
{
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(FoundWords.Text))
FoundWords.Text = foundWord;
else
FoundWords.Text = string.Format("{0}, {1}", FoundWords.Text, foundWord);
}
}
}
void CheckWord(char[,] wordMatrix, int x, int y, string possibleWord)
{
char[,] used = new char[5, 5];
used[x, y] = possibleWord[0];
for (int i = 1; i < possibleWord.Length; i++)
{
if (x + 1 < 5 && used[x + 1, y] != possibleWord[i] && possibleWord[i] == wordMatrix[x + 1, y])
{
used[x + 1, y] = possibleWord[i];
x = x + 1;
continue;
}
else if (x - 1 > -1 && used[x - 1, y] != possibleWord[i] && possibleWord[i] == wordMatrix[x - 1, y])
{
used[x - 1, y] = possibleWord[i];
x = x - 1;
continue;
}
else if (y + 1 < 5 && used[x, y + 1] != possibleWord[i] && possibleWord[i] == wordMatrix[x, y + 1])
{
used[x, y + 1] = possibleWord[i];
y = y + 1;
continue;
}
else if (y - 1 > -1 && used[x, y - 1] != possibleWord[i] && possibleWord[i] == wordMatrix[x, y - 1])
{
used[x, y - 1] = possibleWord[i];
y = y - 1;
continue;
}
else if (x + 1 < 5 && y + 1 < 5 && used[x + 1, y + 1] != possibleWord[i] && possibleWord[i] == wordMatrix[x + 1, y + 1])
{
used[x + 1, y + 1] = possibleWord[i];
x = x + 1;
y = y + 1;
continue;
}
else if (x - 1 > -1 && y + 1 < 5 && used[x - 1, y + 1] != possibleWord[i] && possibleWord[i] == wordMatrix[x - 1, y + 1])
{
used[x - 1, y + 1] = possibleWord[i];
x = x - 1;
y = y + 1;
continue;
}
else if (x + 1 < 5 && y - 1 > -1 && used[x + 1, y - 1] != possibleWord[i] && possibleWord[i] == wordMatrix[x + 1, y - 1])
{
used[x + 1, y - 1] = possibleWord[i];
x = x + 1;
y = y - 1;
continue;
}
else if (x - 1 > -1 && y - 1 > -1 && used[x - 1, y - 1] != possibleWord[i] && possibleWord[i] == wordMatrix[x - 1, y - 1])
{
used[x - 1, y - 1] = possibleWord[i];
x = x - 1;
y = y - 1;
continue;
}
else
return;
}
_foundWords.Add(possibleWord);
}
void LoadWords()
{
if (File.Exists(Server.MapPath("dictionary.txt")))
using (FileStream fs = File.OpenRead(Server.MapPath("dictionary.txt")))
{
byte[] b = new byte[1024];
UTF8Encoding temp = new UTF8Encoding(true);
_words = new List<string>();
while (fs.Read(b, 0, b.Length) > 0)
{
foreach (string word in temp.GetString(b).Split('\n'))
{
string updatedWord = word.Replace("\r", "");
_words.Add(updatedWord);
}
}
}
}