I am working on a lab, it's a connect four game. I'm having trouble specifically with basic concepts like how classes communicate with each other, how to use private instance variables, how to use an ArrayList, how to compare JLabels or set them as something comparable...
To give a brief breakdown I have four classes GUI, Game, Player, Name
I can create the GUI by using two four loops, the game is a grid with 7 columns of 6 pieces. The pieces are images,
JLabel Piece = new JLabel("images/blank.png");
for example to denote an empty spot.
The GUI is based on a JFrame, single content pane and four panels, one for a header which indicates who is playing and who won, another for the 7 buttons accompanying the 7 rows, the grid itself of the possible places to be played and then a button panel which gives you the option to replay.
I'm lacking in a lot of concepts. For instance, the replay button shouldn't appear until the game has ended.
I don't understand how to use an ArrayList. I tried to use
ArrayList<ArrayList<JLabel>> myList = new ArrayList<ArrayList<JLabel>>();
So when I create the GUI by running two for loops like so
For ( c = 0 ; c<8 ; c++) {
ArrayList<JLabel> column = new ArrayList<JLabel>();
For ( r = 0 ; r<7 ; r++) {
ArrayList<JLabel> row = new ArrayList<JLabel>();
JLabel empty = new JLabel("images/blank.png");
row.add(empty);
}
column.add(row);
}
Even this small step I've already got confused.
I know the two for loops above are not correct specifically the ArrayList.
I don't know how to create the arraylist and then use them.
using something like
column.get().get();
myList.get().get();
to get a specific piece.
I don't know how to pass that to an argument so that for example if I push on button 7 for column 7, and no pieces have been played yet, I can start from the lowest area column 7 row 6 and update that to a played piece, red or yellow for the appropriate player.
This is vague and I doubt I'll get anywhere but I am desperate for help. There isn't much time available from the TA's / Teacher and I believe I am lacking significantly to be able to finish this project.
I understand how it works/what I have to do in words but in terms of applying Java code...
I'd appreciate any help.
OK first off you should use an array of Enums. ArrayLists are intended for lots of items and that can have rapidly changing numbers. Arrays are intended to house data in a grid of some sorts. Since you are using a static board, use arrays! They are also much less memory-intensive. Example:
//Note you should use [column][row] as that is common practice.
States[][] grid = new States[7][6];
//And initialize it:
for(int i = 0; i < grid.length; i++)
for(int o = 0; o < grid[i].length; o++)
grid[i][o] = EMPTY_JLABEL;
Then declare an enum (this is a new class) (NOTE: replace FULL_PLAYER_ONE_JLABEL and FULL_PLAYER_TWO_JLABEL with the JLabels that have the image for each.):
public enum States {
FULL_PLAYER_ONE(FULL_PLAYER_ONE_JLABEL), FULL_PLAYER_TWO(FULL_PLAYER_TWO_JLABEL), EMPTY(EMPTY_JLABEL);
//The image of the appropriate state.
private JLabel label;
//Enum constructors must be private
private States(JLabel label) {
this.label = label;
}
public JLabel getLabel() {
return label;
}
}
In your GUI, have a JButton that is only added to the frame when the game is over. Also add a button to indicate when each column has been clicked by the player.
JButton button = new JButton();
//Initialize JButton and add to frame...
//Anytime before the frame is set to visible:
button.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
/* Perform tests for for what should happen.
For example test whose turn it is then call a method to add a piece to that column. Then call a checker to see if someone has won. If so, display the replay button, otherwise do nothing (allow other player to move).
*/
}
}
Related
I'm attempting to create dynamic interface that essentially creates a grid of a growing number of panels that look similar to the picture below. I've got some rough code to achieve that. I have an issue in regards to handling events for the JButtons that i've added to an ArrayList. I'm aware that creating inner class event handlers is best practise, how would I handle events for a scaling number of buttons that are stored in an ArrayList?
Currently i've resulted to getting the objects source to achieve this.
Global Variables:
ArrayList<JButton> buttons = new ArrayList<JButton>();
Adding buttons to the panel:
for (int i = 0; i < 2; i ++) {
int xTotal = 150;
if (i == 0) {
xTotal = 132;
}
else {
xTotal = 308;
}
xTotal = xTotal + xTotal;
JButton currentButton = new JButton("+");
currentButton.setBounds(xTotal , 375, 45, 25);
currentButton.setFont(currentButton.getFont().deriveFont(14f));
currentButton.addActionListener(new AddHandler());
buttons.add(currentButton);
panel.add(currentButton);
}
Event handler:
class AddHandler implements ActionListener {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event) {
Object source = event.getSource();
if (source == buttons.get(0)) {
System.out.println("hello");
}
else {
System.out.println("it worked");
}
}
}
It looks to me like you're creating more than just a collection of JButtons. Instead you appear to be wanting to create (and correct me if I'm wrong), a collection of images/text with JButton. This suggests that you want to create a class that encapsulates one (?) menu item, that holds a JLabel for the image, a JLabel perhaps for the text, perhaps other components, and a JButton that the user can press to select the menu item. This component would be a JPanel that (important here) uses layout managers to intelligently arrange all of its constituent components. I would recommend not using ActionListeners but rather create a separate stand along class that extends AbstractAction, that you can use to set each JButton's Action, either via the JButton's constructor or via its setAction(...) method. Then you could place a collection of these JPanels in a master JPanel that uses perhaps a GridLayout, and have it held in a JScrollPane.
The details of my suggestions and the code would of course depend on the details of your GUI and your current code.
Other "side" recommendations:
Don't use null layouts and setBounds(...). Often newbie Swing programmers feel that this is the easiest way to create complex GUI's, and in the short term it may be, but in the long term, when it comes time to maintain, upgrade and enhance your GUI, it isn't. Also the GUI's so created may look OK on one platform and screen resolution, but they look terrible on all others. Learn about and use the layout managers.
Maybe you want a collection of Actions or the JButtons, but I'm not sure you need this. If the button's Action knows what to do, then no collection is needed. The Action could have a constructor that passes in references to the name and price of the menu item.
Even though youve already accepted another answer, I want to share what I have on my mind.
The idea of my idea is to store a number (maybe an ID) on the button by creating a subclass of JButton.
(ID could be, perhaps the ID of the food item this button is currently linked to)
class FoodButton extends JButton{
long id;
public FoodButton(String text, long id){
super(text);
this.id = id;
}
//Perhaps more constructors
public long getId(){
return id;
}
}
Then writing a single actionListener that gets the source of the event (even though you seem to think thats bad practice, I think it makes sense in this example), Observe:
ActionListener al = new ActionListener(){
#Override
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
FoodButton btn = (FoodButton) e.getSource();
long id = btn.getId();
//Do something now that you know what button was clicked (id)
}
}
Let me note again that this actionListener is created before your loop, so you only need one, and you'll assign the same one to all your buttons.
Then inside your loop instead of creating a normal JButton, you create a FoodButton:
ActionListener al = new ActionListener(){...};
for (int i = 0; i < 2; i ++) {
//...
//Assigning id 'i' here, but you could pick something else
JButton currentButton = new FoodButton("+", i);
//...
currentButton.addActionListener(al);
buttons.add(currentButton);
panel.add(currentButton);
}
I hope this makes some sense to you.
Also, as someone who used to use null layouts too, once you get accustomed to using layoutmanagers, im sure you will like them.
this is a problem that I've been really struggling with
I need to create a game for some University coursework. The game is basically a 4x4 grid. When i click a button, the player should move randomly within 1 square of it's location.
There's enemy spaceships that are generated randomly over the grid, and if the player lands on the spaceship, it destroys it. if there's two enemy ships on the same sqaure and the player lands on that square, the player is destroyed.
I've created a GIU using gridlayout and the button that I need to move the player, but I'm having problems trying to figure out how to actually use the grid. I've created an element class to create objects for the grid (ie, a list of enemy ships), but I don't know how to use this class with my gridlayout. I know I also have to redraw the grid after each move to reflect the changes, but I don't know if I would need to create a custom redraw method for this.
Any push in the correct direction so I can get my program actually doing something would be really helpful.
Some time ago I created a card game that also operated based on a GridLayout. Below is some of the code that was used to drive major events:
CardPanel extends JPanel {
public CardPanel() {
setLayout(gridLayout);
placeCards(N);
chatBoxText = new JTextArea(5, 30);
}
public void placeCards(int numCards) {
for (int i = 0; i < numCards; i++) {
Card card = deck.distributeCard();
String cardImageName = card.getImageName();
JLabel jLabel = makeImage(cardImageName);
cardSet.add(new GraphicCard(card, jLabel));
add(jLabel);
jLabel.addMouseListener(this);
}
if (GameLogic.noSetsOnBoard(cardSet)) {
gridLayout.setRows(gridLayout.getRows() + 1);
placeCards(3);
}
}
public void updateCard(Integer location) {
Card card = deck.distributeCard();
String cardImageName = card.getImageName();
JLabel jLabel = makeImage(cardImageName);
cardSet.set(location, new GraphicCard(card, jLabel));
jLabel.addMouseListener(this);
}
}
The CardPanel here is an object that represents the GridLayout (you see the constructor) as well as some of those helper methods.
Further on, on particular actions, I have the following code:
cardPanel.removeAll();
// Some other logic here
for (GraphicCard card: cardSet) {
cardPanel.add(card.getJLabel());
}
cardPanel.revalidate();
cardPanel.repaint();
In short, yes, it is custom, but it is not difficult. There are better ways to do it than the above such that you do not need to empty the entire panel in order to refresh it, the logic I have omitted above merited this particular solution.
The approach I used kept track of a CardPanel object which was an abstraction that contained not only the information that each box represented (in my case a card with some values), but also the graphic element to be rendered.
This was some time ago, so I don't recall the exact details but hopefully this is helpful.
I'm trying to build an array of JButton images. These will have a toggle (viewable/not viewable) thus why I chose to use JButtons.
These buttons also have a background image. When I place one button to the pane, this is in Java obviously, it works. But when I load the buttons in to an array and try to print them to the pane, nothing....I would appreciate the help. Here's what I have.
JButton card = new JButton();
JButton[] deck = new JButton[9];
int xLoc=20, yLoc=5;
card.setIcon(new ImageIcon("Back.jpg"));
card.setSize(200,250);
card.setVisible(true);
for(int i=0; i<9;i++)
{
deck[i]=card;
}
for(int i=1;i<10;i++)
{
deck[i-1].setLocation(xLoc,yLoc);
pane.add(deck[i - 1]);
validate();
xLoc+=220;
if(i%3==0)
{
yLoc+=265;
}
In my mind, I am creating a card object with a size and a background and visible, and then loading the same card over and over in to my array, then adding it to the pane, that has a background. It's not causing any errors or exceptions, but it's not placing anything but the background to the pane.
Thanks in advance. I will be honest and say this is a homework assignment, but I am exceeding the expectations by going this route. I know I can create individual buttons and put them on the screen. I know how, and can do it. What I want to do is not covered in the scope of the class.
This is a project, not just an assignment, and the instructor encouraged learning new things on our own and expanding the project. So, by helping me you are not helping me cheat, but helping me learn something more than the class teaches. Thanks!
Your basic problem comes down to the fact that a component can only reside within a single parent...
// You create a card...
JButton card = new JButton();
// You create an array of buttons
JButton[] deck = new JButton[9];
int xLoc=20, yLoc=5;
// You set the icon
card.setIcon(new ImageIcon("Back.jpg"));
// This is not a good idea...
card.setSize(200,250);
// JButton is visible by default...
card.setVisible(true);
// Start your loop...
for(int i=0; i<9;i++)
{
// Assign the card reference to an element in the array...
deck[i]=card;
// Add the card, via the array to the component...here's your problem...
pane.add(deck[i - 1]);
In adding card to pane, it is first removed from pane, as it can only have one parent. What you need to do, is assign a unique instance of JButton to each element in the array
// You create an array of buttons
JButton[] deck = new JButton[9];
// Start your loop...
for(int i=0; i<9;i++)
{
// Assign the card reference to an element in the array...
deck[i]=new JButton();
// You set the icon
deck[i].setIcon(new ImageIcon("Back.jpg"));
// This is not a good idea...
deck[i].setSize(200,250);
// JButton is visible by default...
deck[i].setVisible(true);
// Add the card, via the array to the component...here's your problem...
pane.add(deck[i]);
Now, I can't see from your code snippet, but it would appear you are trying to use a null layout, this is highly inadvisable. Instead, make the time to learn and understand how to use appropriate layout managers.
If you're not using a null layout or don't know what I'm talking about, then things like setSize and setLocation won't work the way you expect them to...
I am coding an image puzzle game and one part of the code is to compare the pieces the user has selected to the pieces of the correct image.
Each image piece is already added to a JButton as an ImageIcon.
An identifier is required to differentiate each image piece apart and also for comparision.
I am setting a setName() for each JButton created as the identifier.
The comparison starts when the user releases the mouse after he drags the puzzle pieces from the original 3x3 grid where the shuffled pieces are to the other 3x grid for matching.
I have problems removing the error from the comparison if statement.
I got the comparison idea from this SO thread - link
private JButton[] button = new JButton[9];
private JButton[] waa = new JButton[9];
private String id;
private int cc;
private String id2;
private int cc2;
// setName for each of the 9 buttons in the original 3x3 grid being created
// which stores the shuffled puzzle pieces
for(int a=0; a<9; a++){
button[a] = new JButton(new ImageIcon());
id += Integer.toString(++cc);
button[a].setName(id);
}
// setName for each of the 9 buttons in the other 3x3 grid
// where the images will be dragged to by the user
for(int b=0; b<9; b++){
waa[b] = new JButton();
id2 += Integer.toString(++cc2);
waa[b].setName(id2);
}
// check if puzzle pieces are matched in the correct place
// compare name of original 'button' array button with the name of 'waa' array buttons
button[a].addMouseListener(new MouseAdapter(){
public void mouseReleased(MouseEvent m){
if(m.getbutton().getName().equals (waa.getName())){
}
else{
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null,"Wrong! Try Again.");
}
}
}
In your mouseReleased event m.getButton() is returning the mouse button that was clicked. You'll want to do something more like this that will get you closer:
if (m.getComponent().getName().equals(waa.getName())) {
m.getComponent() returns the Component object (your JButton) that the event was fired from. From there you can do the comparison with the getName approach you are using.
There's an additional issue in that your waa variable is an array. I'm not sure how you want to compare them, whether running through the arrays and making sure the index and names match, but that's an additional issue you need to look into.
JButton uses an ActionListener to trigger notifications back to your program to indicate when it's been triggered. This allows the button to respond to different types of event, including the mouse, keyboard and program triggers.
As apart of the action API, you can supply an action command for each button. See JButton#setActionCommand
Basically you would integrate it in a simular way to your mouse listener...
public void actio Performed(ActionEvent evt) {
if (command.equals(evt.getActionCommand()) {...}
}
Depending on your requirements, it might even be easier to use the Action API
The problem you are actually having is waa is an array, therefore, it doesn't have a getName method. I'm also unclear as to why you have two arrays of buttons?
Hey guys I've come with 2 problems, both being Java Swing related. I am developing a card game in Java. I use arreays lists of type to hold the values of each card and I have a main Play() method that calls updates to the GUI using invokeLater and a Singleton approach to my GUI class.
The first question is fairly simple. I create the cards on the GUI using JLabels like so; attaching relevent listeners and adding them to the appropriate panel, in this case, the 'Human Hand Panel':
for (int i = 0; i < (HumanHand.size()); i++)
{
Card card = HumanHand.get(i);
BufferedImage cardImage = null;
try {
cardImage = ImageIO.read(new File("card/" + card + ".jpg"));
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
JLabel picLabel = new JLabel(new ImageIcon( cardImage ));
picLabel.addMouseListener((MouseListener) me);
HumanHandDisplay.add(picLabel);
}
//HumanHandDisplay.validate();
HumanHandDisplay.updateUI();
The problem I'm having is that when the human hand is more than 7 cards or so, it creates a larger panel area and starts a new row of cards beneath. What I would like to do is, when the hand reaches a certain size, the cards start to overlap eachother (like you would hold cards in your hand). I've messed about with .validate() but gotten nowhere. Any help you can give here would be most welcome.
My second question is about using a Swing Worker to return the Human player's card selection. I have read a little bit about Swing workers but I'm unsure as to the best way to implement one in my own game. At present, using the console I have a scanner than takes the input of an int as the choice (the place of the specific card in the ArrayList). I would like this int to be selected by clicking on the card in the players hand. At the moment I use:
String name = "" + i;
picLabel.setName(name);
to set the names of the Card JLabels to the int in the for loop creating them (as shown^^), and I use:
public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e) {
String name = ((JLabel)e.getSource()).getName();
System.out.println("Working " + name);
selection = Integer.parseInt(name);
}
To return that int when one of the cards is clicked. Here is what I've been using to call the GUI methods from Play() aswell:
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
public void run() {
GUI.getInstance().UpdateHand();
}
});
My question is, how can I get the Play method to call a method in the GUI class, which sets up the hand with the appropriate listeners (lets call it GUIPlayerSelection() for now) then wait for the player to click a card, which then returns the int to my Play() method in my main class that represents the card selected. I'm unsure as how to use invoke and wait, as in, if I use invoke and wait, will it just wait for the cards to be set up, or will it wait for the mouseClicked() method to finish aswell? Or will I have to do something else to make sure it waits for the mouse to be clicked after the hand set-up? And how then will I return that int? I've been told to use a swing worker but if someone could explain how I can implement that in this case that would be awesome.
Thank-you in advance.
For your first question, are you having an issue getting the frame to repaint or with the layout of the cards?
If the latter, then you may want to have a look at Java Layout Managers, it describes how the content pane inside your JFrame organizes the components added to it.
If none of those will work for you (and I don't think they will with that you describe), you can use the setBounds method to manually align your JLabels.