Tangram :

The Tangram is a (not so) ancient puzzle. The object is to put seven geometric shapes together so as to form a given outline. All the pieces must be used and are laid next to one another. The pieces are five triangles, a square and a parallelogram:

Sometimes there is more than one solution. They're all accepted as long as they have the same outline. For example :

but the red and the blue figures below are not the same.

It is also important to note (specially for a computer version) that it is not sufficient to move and rotate the pieces : you may need to flip the parallelogram.

If you're interested there is a lot more informations (and resources) at Tangrams.ca

jTans features :

• Java2 application wich may be used as an applet, a standalone application or a Java Web Start application.
  (there is also a C/GTK version for Linux and Unix called gTans)
• 290 figures.
• Hint and solution.
• Most of the game colors and textures are configurable.
• Internationnalized (actually english, spanish an partially french)
• Resizeable window.
• The size of the pieces (relative to the game area) may be changed.
• The solved figures are remembered.

Requirements :

Basically the latest version of Sun's JRE provides everythings jTans needs in the 3 cases (applet/application/WebStart). You can find it here

Here is a more detailed list :

• a Java Runtime Environment (JRE) version 1.3 or later : required in every case, if you don't already have one, choose the "full" version when downloading a plugin/webstart.
• the Java plugin : required to run Java2 applets. It is included in Sun's JRE since version 1.3.
• Java Web Start : required to launch Web Start application. It is bundled with Sun's JRE since version 1.4, but for Linux and Solaris it is not installed automatically : see here for more details.
  You can find Web Start v1.0.1 for the JRE v1.3 here.

jTans don't require a powerfull machine (e.g. a Pentium 166 is quite sufficient) unless you want to use textured backgrounds, anti-aliased graphics, ...

Screenshots :

The default configuration.
Textured graphics, transparency, bigger pieces, help.
Localisation, big window, JRE 1.4

Installation :

There are three way to launch jTans (about 160 kb to download in each case) :

WebStart application :

This is the preferred installation method.

Note : You will get a warning since jTans ask for full access and the provided certificate is self-signed. If this bother you, please consider sending me some money so I can buy a real certificate :-) Alternatively you may choose to install it as an untrusted application : you won't be able to use your own image files as textures and there will be an "WebStart" mention in every window to remind you that you are running untrusted code.

• Full version
• Untrusted version

If your browser is not supported, you can install jTans directly using a command like javaws http://jtans.sourceforge.net/jtans_allperm.jnlp or javaws http://jtans.sourceforge.net/jtans_noperm.jnlp

Standalone application :

Simply download the jar file and start the game with a command like java -jar jtans_appli-1.0.jar

• jtans_appli-1.0.jar (156 kb)

Note : jTans will try to write a file called .jTans.config.gz in the user's home directory to store the configuration.

Applet :

This is the least convenient method : the code has to be downloaded every time you play, the main window can't be resized, you can't use your own image as texture and the configuration (containing your preferences and the solved figures) can't be saved.

• The applet's page.

Other Download :

• jtans_sources-1.0.tar.gz (110 kb)

If you're interested in adding support for a new language, the files (from the sources package) to translate are :
net/phbwt/jtans/i18n/main.properties
net/phbwt/jtans/i18n/config.properties
net/phbwt/jtans/i18n/info.properties
net/phbwt/jtans/i18n/help.html

Licensing

History :

1.0 :

Feel free to send comments, bug reports,... :

Philippe Banwarth <bwt@users.sourceforge.net>.

José Gabriel Moya Yangüela <jmoysae _at_ hotmail.com> (Spanish version).