Welcome to SharpSword!
Contents:
About
Categories
Adding Verses
Searching
Reviewing Verses
Managing Verses
Future Verses
Show Reviewed Verses
Exercises
Settings
Other Bible Versions
About
Thy word
have
I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
Psalms 119:11
After searching for programs to help me
memorize Scripture verses and not finding anything
to my liking, I decided to write one myself. While I am familiar with
the concept of Spaced Repetition Systems (SRS) as a tool for
memorization, I have neither the time nor the inclination to
get into
something that deep. Hence, you get the short and sweet version. :-)
While SharpSword
isn't an SRS-capable program, I did want to at least provide
some way of spacing out the review periods, once a person becomes
familiar
with a passage. SharpSword
attempts to achieve that aim using four
different "Review Periods" which can
be customized to the user's needs.
I also wanted a program that would allow me to quickly review
any particular verses I was currently working on, so that, for
instance, I could easily review one in just a few seconds while going
up the elevator. The Review
Buttons therefore are the most accessible part of SharpSword, making
use of large, finger-friendly buttons.
In using Rick Meyers' excellent Pocket e-Sword, one thing I found
extremely useful was the memory exercises which were incorporated into
the program. I've
tried to emulate them somewhat in SharpSword,
and I can attest to
their effectiveness in helping one to rapidly memorize a verse! Because
of this, the Exercises
feature is also accessible from the main window.
In addition, since the desire to memorize a particular verse may strike
one at the oddest time, the Add Verse
button is also accessible from the main window.
SharpSword uses
the King James Version
of the Bible, although this has not been set in stone. I've tried to
design the program so that it may be easily modified to work
with other
versions.
One
feature that was requested by a friend was colors. It seemed to help
him review the verses when the screen color had a blue background. If
that's what will help someone to memorize Scriptures better, by all
means! So SharpSword
is now
"skinnable" in the sense that you can change the colors where the
verses are displayed and for how the controls are displayed, as well.
If you like the program, I
would enjoy hearing about it in an email.
In addition, if you like the program, I would encourage you
to
vote for it if you downloaded it from one of the software websites that
allows voting on software. My only reason for suggesting this is that I
believe people tend to become more interested in software that has been
voted on (or has a better vote rating). More people using software
like this
means more people meditating on God's Word. That's the goal.
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Categories
To assist in organization, SharpSword allows
the user to file verses under different Categories. This is
useful where, for example, one might have one Category of verses
dealing with Salvation, one with Faith, etc. It allows the
user to concentrate on one Category
at a time, if so desired. At the
top of the main screen the user can choose to review verses from only
one Category,
or from all Categories.
Choosing the Categories...
menu item will bring up the Categories
window.
Here the user can add and remove Categories.
Attempting to remove a Category
that contains verses will bring up a prompt for the user to
verify that they wish to remove the Category and all
verses contained
therein.
Checking the Default
Category checkbox will cause the selected Category to be
automatically selected whenever a Category selection
box is used in the
program.
If the user has added a number of Categories and
wishes to "clean up"
the list, clicking on the Remove
Unused Categories button will remove all Categories from
the list which do not contain any verses.
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Add Verse
Tapping the Add
Verse
button will bring up the Add
Verse window. While the buttons on this screen aren't so
large, hopefully their layout will still allow entry of verses without
a stylus for many people.
To add a verse, simply select a book from the Book list. Enter a
verse's
reference using the supplied numbers. You may alternately use your
PocketPC's keyboard, but I find the buttons easier and more accessible.
Here you may also specify which Category your verse
will be stored
under, as well as which Review
Period to use with the verse. For verses completely new to
you, I suggest using the New
Period.
References to verse(s) may be entered in a number of ways:
| Book |
Verse |
| John |
3:16 |
| Romans |
5:8-11 |
| Genesis |
1:1,5 |
| Psalms |
119:1,3-5,7,8-11 |
| Psalms |
23:1- |
The last method listed in the table above will cause all verses after
the "-" to be included, up to the end of the chapter.
Tapping <
will cause the last character in the Verse field to be deleted.
Tapping C
will clear out the Verse field.
Tapping View
will attempt to retrieve the verse(s). If an invalid reference was
entered, nothing will happen.
Optionally, the Search
button may also be used to find a desired passage.
The Split
checkbox is very useful when retrieving multiple verses. Let's take an
example:
I
wish to memorize Isaiah 58, so I use "Isaiah 58:1-" to pull up the
whole chapter. I may add this to a Category called
Misc. When reviewing
the verses, however, I may not really wish to review the whole chapter
every time I get a moment to work on it.
When Split
is checked, each verse in the passage will be split up into its own
entry. This is also where Categories
can be very useful. Let's suppose I had previously created a Category called
"Isaiah 58". If a check Split,
and add the whole chapter, then the Isaiah 58 Category will now
contain 14 individual verses which I can review one at a time.
Placing
many split verses in their own Category has
another benefit: if I should decide
to delete them, all I have to do is remove the one Category and all
the
verses in it will be removed as well.
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Searching
From the Add Verse
window, tapping Search
will bring up the Search
window. Here you may search for a verse using a word or a phrase.
Choose the range of books to be searched using both the Start Book and End Book lists.
Optionally, the Quick
Picks list will quickly help you to narrow down the list
of books to be searched.
Using the Max
list, you may set the maximum count of entries to be returned.
Cancel will
cancel the search mid-stride.
If
a verse is selected in the list of results when the window is closed
then that verse will replace whatever was currently displayed in the Add Verse window.
When the Search
window is closed, its contents are retained. This way, after adding a
verse, you may continue selecting results from the search list after
going back into the Add Verse
window and again choosing Search.
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Review List
While
I realize that an SRS would be most effective at memorization, I
haven't found a program that does just what I want in terms of features
and that has the key goal of Scripture memorization. With that in mind,
I'll describe the (much
easier to implement) method of Review Periods used
by SharpSword,
which is sort of a hybrid between a spaced repetition system - but
where
it's up to you to determine the spacing - and the good old fashion
method of drilling.
After adding verses to SharpSword,
the next step is to review them. The review buttons have been set up to
display only those verses which fall under whatever Category is
displayed
in the list above. Alternately, if All is selected,
then all verses from all Categories
will be considered, with the exception of any Future verses and Categories.
For this discussion, we'll assume the buttons are set to: New, 2 Days, Weekly & Monthly. Let's
suppose I've added two verses: Gen. 1:1 and Ex. 2:2 and have assigned
Gen. 1:1 to New,
and because I'm a little more familiar with Ex. 2:2, I've assigned it
to 2 Days.
Each time New is
tapped Gen. 1:1 will be displayed in the Review List. I can
then choose to review this verse by tapping on it. Once I've reviewed
it, I may choose OK
or Cancel.
Choosing Cancel
has the same effect as not reviewing it. However, if I choose OK, then the verse
is removed from the Review
List. If there are other verses in the Review List, I may
go through the same process with them, one at a time. After closing the
Review List,
if I again tap New,
the same list will be presented. I may review this list as frequently
as I like.
After
reviewing the verse in this manner until I am familiar enough with it
(maybe after a day or so), I will then move it to another Period, say
to 2 Days.
If I tap 2 Days,
then Ex. 2:2 will be displayed in the Review List.
I may review it, or perhaps I may wish to try to quote it in my head
before reviewing it, to see how I'm doing with it, then clicking OK.
After closing the list, if there are no more verses to be reviewed, the
2 Days
button will be disabled. This button will be re-enabled after two days,
when it will again be time to review Ex. 2:2.
You may have several verses in one Review Period
that may not be reviewed at the same time. For example, suppose on
Monday I reviewed Ex. 2:2, then on Tuesday I moved Gen.1:1 to the 2 Days Period and also
reviewed it. On Wednesday, only Ex. 2:2 would be displayed in the Review List, as
Gen. 1:1 was reviewed only one day before. After reviewing this verse, 2 Days will again
be disabled. The button will be enabled on Thursday when it is time to
review Gen. 1:1 again.
The same behavior goes for the other Review Periods. The
spacing for each Review
Period may be changed in the Settings
window.
If
the pen is held down over a verse's button, a pop-up menu will be
displayed which allows you to easily move the verse to the top of the
list, or to move it to another period.
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Manage Verses
Sometimes one may wish to move a verse from one Category to another
or from one Review
Period to another. This can be done from within the Manage Verses
window, available from the Manage
Verses... menu item.
Here, you may filter the verses that are displayed via the Category and Period lists. When
a verse is selected from the list, you will see its Category and Period next to it,
as well as the date it was last reviewed.
If you have already reviewed a verse, but wish to reset its review
date, tapping Set Date
will allow you to do this. This also works when you move a verse, say
from Weekly
to Monthly
and wish for it to immediately be available from the Monthly review
button.
If
you previously added a verse or range of verses, and later decided that
you did or didn't want the verse number to be displayed, you may turn
the verse number on and off by tapping V#.
Tapping Remove
will remove a verse from the program's memory - but hopefully not your
own. :-)
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Future Verses
Sometimes
you may have the desire to memorize a verse, but just may not be ready
to start working on it at the time. It's easy to forget which verse you
wish to work on later. That's where Future Verses come in. The Future
window is available both from the main menu and the Future button found
in the Manage
Verses window. This window will show a list of all verses and
a list of all Categories.
The verses, of course, can be filtered via the Category list to
make the view more manageable.
Checking Future Verse
or Future Category
will turn verse or Category
into a Future Item,
causing it to be set aside, as far as the rest of the program is
concerned. It will not be displayed in any other menu or list of verses
or Categories
until it has been converted back to a Normal Item. Note:
Setting a Category to Future will also hide any verses
contained within it!
This can be useful when used in conjunction with Categories and Splitting
verses. Taking an example from above, say I wish to memorize Isaiah 58,
but am not quite ready to tackle it yet. I could create a Category called
"Isaiah 58." Next, I could add the verses of that chapter to it,
splitting them as well. Afterwards, I can check Future Category
for "Isaiah 58." Now, it will be there when I am ready to get to it,
and until then it will not be displayed in any list or exercise. I
wouldn't want to be quizzed on any of those verses if I have not worked
on them yet.
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Show Reviewed Verses
Sometimes,
one may wish simply to review all of the verses of a Period, regardless
of how long ago those verses were last reviewed. By checking the Show Reviewed Verses
menu item, this may be done. Note that the screen color will be changed
while this option is enabled, as a reminder to the user.
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Exercises
As
mentioned before, having seen the memory exercises in Rick Meyer's
Pocket e-Sword, I wanted to implement something similar in SharpSword.
Just going through some of the exercises with a verse has the amazing
effect of engraving it in your mind to a greater degree than simply
reciting it to yourself. Here are the available memory exercises:
Find Reference's Verse
Find Verse's Reference
Word Order
Fill in the Blanks
Learn Reference
On
each exercise, when you make a correct choice, a green bar will be
briefly displayed. An incorrect choice will cause a red bar to be
displayed.
Each exercise can be made more or less challenging by choosing the
difficulty level from a list. This setting affects some exercises
differently than others.
Due
to the random nature of verse selection for Find Reference's Verse,
Find Verse's Reference and Learn Reference, the selected verse in this
list has no
relevance.
The Spaces checkbox will increase the level of difficulty for
"Fill in the Blanks" and "Word Order," causing spaces to be substituted
instead of blanks for each letter. This removes any clues to word
positioning and how many words are left.
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Find Verse's
Reference
After
memorizing a number of verses, one of my own weak points became
evident: remembering which reference was for which verse. So with this
exercise, you're presented a reference from one of the verses you've
added and then presented with up to three verses, and you must choose
the
correct verse that matches the reference. This exercise (as well as Find Reference's Verse)
attempts to reinforce the correlation between verse and reference.
The difficulty setting for this exercise has the following effect:
Easy: Only verses from
the currently selected Category
and Period
will be used in the exercise.
Medium: Only verses from
the currently selected Category,
but from all Periods
except New will be used in the exercise.
Hard: Verses from all Categories and all Periods, excluding
Future verses and Categories, will be
used in the exercise. Therefore you may be quizzed on NEW verses with
which you may not be entirely familiar.
All the way!: Verses from all Categories and all Periods, including
Future
verses and Categories,
will be used in the exercise.
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Find Reference's
Verse
The reverse of Find Verse's Reference,
this exercise will present you with the text from a verse. You must
then choose that verse's reference from a list of references (taken
from the verses which you have already entered).
The difficulty setting affects this exercise the same as in Find Verse's Reference.
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Word Order
With
word order, you are presented with a verse whose words have been
switched out with underscores ("_"). You must select each word, in the
correct order, from a list of that verse's words, below.
The difficulty setting for this exercise has the following effect:
Easy: 40% of the verse's
words will be "blanked out".
Medium: 70% of the verse's
words will be "blanked out".
Hard: 85% of the verse's
words will be "blanked out".
All
the way!: 100% of the verse's words will be "blanked out".
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Fill in the Blanks
Like
Word Order, you are presented with a verse whose words have been
switched out with underscores ("_"). You must select the first letter
of each word, in the
correct order. This exercise is slightly more difficult than Word
Order because you don't have the option of seeing what the verse's
words are.
The difficulty setting affects this exercise the same as in Word Order.
I
can make no promises at the present time, but if you have a suggestion
for another exercise to be included in the list, you're welcome to email me.
Given the time, I could try to add it.
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Learn Reference
There's not much to this exercise, really. It's just one
more option to assist in associating a reference with a verse. It's
basically a very simple flash card viewer, alternating between a
reference and a verse. It will display each reference-verse pair 3
times, then move on to another randomly selected verse.
Setting the difficulty level on this exercise will narrow the range of
verses available in the same way as in Find
Verse's Reference.
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Settings
Through the Settings
screen, accessible from the Settings...
menu item, you may change the behavior of SharpSword in
several ways, through several different tabs:
Misc.
Verse numbers for
multiple verses: Causes the verse number to be added to
each verse when there are multiple verses in the passage.
Indent Single Verse:
Causes a verse to be indented when it is the only verse in the passage.
For example, John 3:16.
Indent Multiple Verses:
Causes each verse to be indented when the passage contains more than
one verse. For example: Ps. 23:1-6
Indent size w/verse
number: How many spaces to place before verses that
contain the verse number.
Indent size w/o verse
number: How many spaces to place before verses that do not contain the
verse number.
QWERTY layout for
exercises: For any exercise that uses keyboard input
(currently only Fill in the
Blanks), you may choose to have the keys laid out in either
ABCDE or QWERTY order.
Custom Colors:
If custom colors are used (selectable from the Views tab), there
may be a time when you would like to turn them off or back on again.
Checking this box will do just that.
Buttons
If the default selection of Review
Periods doesn't suit you, they may be changed from within
this tab. Simply select a new Review
Period from the available list and click a button. Note:
the New
button cannot be changed in this manner.
View
From this tab you may change several things about SharpSword's look:
Pt. size:
Here you may choose how large or small you wish to see the text
whenever a verse is displayed when reviewing a verse or during certain
of the exercises.
Color Type List:
From this list you may choose which type of object in SharpSword will be
assigned a new color:
Review Background:
This is the background that is displayed when reviewing verses.
Review Text:
This is the foreground, or text color, displayed when reviewing verses.
Controls Background:
This is the color of the various controls on each window used in SharpSword.
Controls Text:
This is the color of the text displayed on each control in SharpSword.
App Facing:
This is the color of each window in SharpSword. Note:
this color setting does not affect the Settings window.
Pick Color:
This button will bring up a color picker from which a new color may be
chosen. Due credit for this color control must go to Tam Hanna
for his work in creating this control, which was sadly missing from
Microsoft's .NET Compact Framework. You can find out more about this
control at: http://tamsppc.tamoggemon.com/2007/11/14/a-color-picker-for-net-cf/.
Reset:
Tapping this button will cause all custom colors to be reset to the
program's default values.
Upon selecting a new color or point size, the various sample items on
the tab will be updated to reflect the change.
Device
The
settings on this tab apply only to those with devices (such as the
iPAQ, whose screen resolution is 480 x 640) that do not correctly
display certain elements in the exercises "Fill in the Blanks"
and
"Word Order." Notably, the "keyboard" layout is not spaced correctly on
"Fill in the Blanks," and on both exercises the text at the top portion
of the screen is not spaced correctly. To remedy this, you may alter
the amount of spacing used for the text in these areas. Some
experimentation may be needed to achieve the best results.
If have no trouble with those exercises on your device then you may
ignore this tab completely.
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Other Bible
Versions
To modify SharpSword
for use with another version of the Bible, you will need access to your
preferred version in some kind of XML markup format. A complete
discussion of the different markup formats available is beyond the
scope
of this document, but to list a few, there are formats like OSIS,
Zefania, and ThML. I started out with a KJV version marked up with
OSIS. I then simplified the XML in it, stripping out most of the markup
and leaving only what I needed, changing a few things as well. You'll
need to do the same with whatever format you download. I highly
recommend a good text editor that can handle regular expressions (like
TextPad, or the free Notepad++). Without using regular expressions,
your task may be much more difficult.
Here's a sample
of what I ended up with:
<div id="Gen">
<title type="main">THE FIRST BOOK OF MOSES
CALLED GENESIS</title>
<title type="chapter">CHAPTER
1.</title>
<verse id="Gen.1.1">In the beginning God
created the heaven and the earth.</verse>
<verse id="Gen.1.2">And the earth was without
form, and void...</verse>
<verse id="Gen.1.3">And God said, Let there be
light...</verse>
.
.
.
</div>
Each
book of the Bible is stored in its own file. Actually, I ended up not
making use of the two title tags shown in the sample above, so your
marked up version could easily omit those.
As can be seen in SharpSword's
bible directory, each file is saved as a gzipped file named: book.xml.gz
So, to create your own Bible text that can be used with SharpSword:
1) Download the marked up text in one of the various formats listed
above (or any other format you are able to work with).
2) Strip out all unnecessary tags and make sure the above tags are used
in it.
3) Each book must be contained within its own file, saved as, for
example, Gen.xml
4) Each book's file must then be gzipped. Gzip for Windows is currently
available at http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/downlinks/gzip.php.
Also, the names of the books must conform to what the program expects,
but this can be changed by editing SharpSwordConfig.xml.
Just change the <BookAbbrevs>
tag to whatever names you've used for your books' files.
That's it!
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I sincerely hope you enjoy using SharpSword
and that it increases your ability to memorize God's Word. That alone
would be worth the effort of writing the software and writing
all
of this documentation, which, um, I don't really need myself. ;-)
If you have any comments, I'd love to hear them!
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Rufus Eves
7306 Bethany Rd.
Charlestown, IN 47111
rufus@j-crew.org