  PSCurl Help Index

How To ...

Set the line

Set the strength / spin

Brush the stone

Curling ...

Tips

Free Guard Zone Rule

Undocumented Features ...

Features


Help menu commands

The Help menu offers the following commands, which provide you assistance with this application:

About	Displays the version number of this application.
Help	Offers you an index to topics on which you can get help.


Setting the strength / spin

Once you have set the line of the stone and are ready to release it,

press the ‘S’ key. The display at the top of the window will start to

move up. To set the strength, press the ‘S’ key again, this will stop

the display bar at the required strength and then the bar will start to

move down. To set the spin, press the ‘S’ key again within the spin

selection area.

Once the strength and spin have been selected, the stone will

automatically be released down the ice.


Setting the line

Left-click the mouse on the ice near the bottom of the screen to set the line. The initial position of the stone at the top of the screen will change accordingly.


The Free Guard Zone Rule

A stone is in the 'Free Guard Zone' if it is in the area between the

Hog Line and the Tee Line, but is not counting (not in the house). In this

zone it is not allowed to remove from play an opponent's stone until the

first four stones (both teams lead stone) have been played in that end. If

an opponent's stone is removed in infraction to this rule, then the stone

removed is replaced to its original position and the played stone is

removed from play. This special rule does not apply to stones

which are in the house (not in the 'Free Guard Zone).


Releasing the stone

Once you have set the strength, spin, and line, press the spacebar to release the stone.


Future Enhancements

Version 2.00 of PSCurl will include the following :-

-	you will be able to play against the computer.

-	ice conditions will change throughout the game.

-	the handles will be displayed on the stone, showing the spin as the stones move.

-	you will be able to save/restore games.

                exit

 Exit command (File menu)

Use this command to end your PSCurl session.  You can also use the Close command on the application Control menu.  PSCurl prompts you to save documents with unsaved changes.

Shortcuts

Mouse:	Double-click the application's Control menu button.

Keys:	ALT+F4


Brushing the stone

Once the stone has been released, the cursor will change to a brush.

To brush any moving stone, press the left mouse button and  move the cursor in front of the stone in a brushing motion.

Brushing a stone makes it travel further and also lessens the effects of any spin on the stone.


Curling Tips

Stones counting points are those of one team which are nearer to the center 'tee' than any opponent stone at the completion of each end (score 1 point per closest stone).

When released, the stones can be given spin, or rotation, which causes them to curl when travelling down the ice.

Stones can be deliberately left short of the target in order to block your opponent’s next shot.

Stones can be knocked out of play or knocked into the scoring zone.

Brushing a stone causes it to travel further on the ice and also decreases the effects of any spin on the stone, so a stone’s movement can be altered after it is released.

The player who scores in an end must deliver the first stone in the next end.

The winner is the player with the highest score after 10 ends. If the score is level after 10 ends, then the first player to score in a succeeding end is the winner.


Undocumented Features

DirectDraw doesn’t seem to cope very well with different hardware. The stone sprites are drawn onto the ice surface with a transparent background so that you don’t see the enclosing rectangle. However, some hardware configurations seem to get confused over where to get the background required for the sprite, causing the display to look a bit strange. This also affects the display of the brush cursor while the stones are moving.

The program will try and set the screen resolution to 1024x768 if it is necessary to do so. If this fails, try to set the resolution manually from the control panel.

DirectDraw needs a 256 colour palette in order to work. If the DirectDraw initialisation fails, try to set the palette colours manually from the control panel.


About command (Help menu)

Use this command to display the copyright notice and version number of your copy of PSCurl.


Help Using Help Command
Context Help command

Use the Context Help command to obtain help on some portion of PSCurl.  When you choose the Toolbar's Context Help button, the mouse pointer will change to an arrow and question mark.  Then click somewhere in the PSCurl window, such as another Toolbar button.  The Help topic will be shown for the item you clicked.

Shortcut

Keys:	SHIFT+F1


Title Bar

<< Show your application's title bar here. >>

The title bar is located along the top of a window.  It contains the name of the application and document.

To move the window, drag the title bar.  Note: You can also move dialog boxes by dragging their title bars.

A title bar may contain the following elements:

Application Control-menu button

Document Control-menu button

Maximize button

Minimize button

Name of the application

Name of the document

Restore button


Scroll bars

Displayed at the right and bottom edges of the document window.  The scroll boxes inside the scroll bars indicate your vertical and horizontal location in the document.  You can use the mouse to scroll to other parts of the document.


Size command (System menu)

Use this command to display a four-headed arrow so you can size the active window with the arrow keys.

After the pointer changes to the four-headed arrow:

1.	Press one of the DIRECTION keys (left, right, up, or down arrow key) to move the pointer to the border you want to move.

2.	Press a DIRECTION key to move the border.

3.	Press ENTER when the window is the size you want.

Note:  This command is unavailable if you maximize the window.

Shortcut

Mouse:	Drag the size bars at the corners or edges of the window.


Move command (Control menu)

Use this command to display a four-headed arrow so you can move the active window or dialog box with the arrow keys.

Note:  This command is unavailable if you maximize the window.

Shortcut

Keys:	CTRL+F7


System Minimize Command
Minimize command (application Control menu)

Use this command to reduce the PSCurl window to an icon.

Shortcut

Mouse:	Click the minimize icon [image] on the title bar.

Keys:	ALT+F9


Maximize command (System menu)

Use this command to enlarge the active window to fill the available space.

Shortcut

Mouse:	Click the maximize icon [image] on the title bar; or double-click the title bar.

Keys:	CTRL+F10 enlarges a document window.


Close command (Control menus)

Use this command to close the active window or dialog box.

Double-clicking a Control-menu box is the same as choosing the Close command.

Note:  If you have multiple windows open for a single document, the Close command on the document Control menu closes only one window at a time.  You can close all windows at once with the Close command on the File menu.

Shortcuts

Keys: 	CTRL+F4 closes a document window

ALT+F4 closes the PSCurl window


Restore command (Control menu)

Use this command to return the active window to its size and position before you chose the Maximize or Minimize command.


Switch to command (application Control menu)

Use this command to display a list of all open applications.  Use this "Task List" to switch to or close an application on the list.

Shortcut

Keys:	CTRL+ESC

Dialog Box Options

When you choose the Switch To command, you will be presented with a dialog box with the following options:

Task List

Select the application you want to switch to or close.

Switch To

Makes the selected application active.

End Task

Closes the selected application.

Cancel

Closes the Task List box.

Cascade

Arranges open applications so they overlap and you can see each title bar.  This option does not affect applications reduced to icons.

Tile

Arranges open applications into windows that do not overlap.  This option does not affect applications reduced to icons.

Arrange Icons

Arranges the icons of all minimized applications across the bottom of the screen.


No Help Available

No help is available for this area of the window.


No Help Available

No help is available for this message box.

<< If you wish to author help specific to each message box prompt, then remove the AFX_HIDP_xxx values from the [ALIAS] section of your .HPJ file, and author a topic for each AFX_HIDP_xxx value.  For example, AFX_HIDP_INVALID_FILENAME is the help topic for the Invalid Filename message box. >>