I am working on a Tic-Tac-Toe Game. I have added the 9 JButtons with ActionListeners. Each button properly listens for action events. Finally I am working on the logic component of the game but I am stuck on how to go about it.
If you take a look at my TicTacToeButton class, I decided to give the TicTacToeButton object that extends JButton two instance variables: an integer variable that represents the number of the button(so I know which button # was pressed. Number zero is the first number) and a character variable that will be assigned a ‘o’ character to the character array called boardLogic for player 1 and ‘x’ for player 2.
The problem is I have no knowledge of how to go about referencing my elements inside the TicTacToeButton array in my TicTacToeBoard class to perform which JButton was actually pressed in the game. Is there a method inside the Java object that tells you whether JButton with number 0 was pressed or JButton with number 1 was pressed corresponding with the code I have stated below.
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Container;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.GridLayout;
import java.awt.Point;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
/*
* The TicTacToeBoard is an object that has characterisitics of a JFrame
*/
public class TicTacToeBoard extends JFrame {
/* create an array of characters that holds 9 elements
* to create a model for the tic-tac-toe board logic since the board has 9 boxes
* create the board from a separate class to minimize bugs and for easier debugging
* simulate the game's logic by creating an array of characters
*/
public static char[] boardLogic = {};
// number of buttons in the game
static int numOfButtons = 9;
// TicTacToeButton is an object that extends JButton
static TicTacToeButton[] buttons;
public TicTacToeBoard() {
// setTitle to the frame
setTitle("TicTacToe Game");
/* call this method to the GameFrame object if you do not call this
* method the JFrame subclass will not actually close
*/
setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
/* set size to an appropriate size create a dimension object
* notice my Dimension object does not have a variable this is
* a prefer way to create this object since no further
* operations will be perform on this object besides this operation
*/
setSize(new Dimension(1000, 1000));
// upon creating the object set the location of the frame to the center of the screen
setLocation(new Point(0, 0));
// prevent the user from resizing the GameFrame object
// uncomment bottom to prevent window maximumization
//setResizable(false);
}
public void printButtons(Container contentPane) {
JPanel gamePanel = new JPanel();
gamePanel.setLayout(new GridLayout(3, 3));
// the idea of boardLogic is creating a 9 element character array to simulate the game's logic
boardLogic = new char[numOfButtons];
// creates the objects of the type JButtons
buttons = new TicTacToeButton[numOfButtons];
// create 9 buttons for the game using a for loop
for (int i = 0; i < buttons.length; i++) {
// create a new JButton object every loop
buttons[i] = new TicTacToeButton(i);
// set a default value. I use '-' for simplicity.
boardLogic[i] = buttons[i].getButtonChar();
// and add it to the frame
gamePanel.add(buttons[i]);
}
contentPane.add(gamePanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
}
}
.
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import javax.swing.ImageIcon;
import javax.swing.JButton;
/* the class design is that we will create a class that has characteristics
* of what a JButton can do but can also hear for action events
*/
public class TicTacToeButton extends JButton implements ActionListener {
/* referring my Buttons with names denoted as String type
* set it empty for now. I will name the JButtons using a for loop
* the program will use buttonNumber assigned to each button
* to create the game's logic
*/
private int buttonNumber = 0;
// Each character assigned to each button is assigned a hyphen by default
private char buttonChar = '-';
public TicTacToeButton(int buttonNumber) {
// call the JButton super class constructor to initialize the JButtons
super();
// set the name of the parameter to the data member of the JButton object
this.buttonNumber = buttonNumber;
// upon creating of the JButton the button will add ActionListener to itself
addActionListener(this);
}
// a get method that retrieves the button's object data member
public int getButtonNumber() {
return buttonNumber;
}
// everytime the user press a button set the number 10 as the button number
public void setButtonChar(char buttonChar) {
if (buttonChar == 'O' || buttonChar == 'X') {
this.buttonChar = buttonChar;
}
}
public static void printArray() {
for (int i = 0; i < TicTacToeBoard.boardLogic.length; i++) {
System.out.println(TicTacToeBoard.boardLogic[i]);
}
}
public char getButtonChar() {
return buttonChar;
}
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
/* both cases must be true before this code can happen
* After Player A turn, then is Player B turn
*/
if (e.getSource() instanceof JButton && TicTacToeBoard.currentPlayerTurn.equals(TicTacToeMain.firstPlayerName)) {
// Player A uses circle
/* the state of the image for the Buttons will change depending on the player's turn
* Player A will use the cross sign , Player B will use Circle Sign
*/
ImageIcon icon = new ImageIcon("buttonImages/circle-sign.png");
TicTacToeBoard.currentPlayerTurn = TicTacToeMain.secondPlayerName;
// set the appropriate picture as the JButton icon
setIcon(icon);
// prevent user from clicking the button more than once
setEnabled(false);
//increment buttonClick variable by one for each mouse click
TicTacToeBoard.buttonClicks += 1;
//notify both players whose turn is it
TicTacToeMain.contentPane.remove(TicTacToeBoard.currentPlayerTurnLabel);
TicTacToeBoard.printCurrentPlayerTurnLabel(TicTacToeMain.contentPane);
// Tests the Winning conditions of the player's
TicTacToeBoardLogic boardLogic = new TicTacToeBoardLogic();
boardLogic.checksWinningConditions();
} else {// After Player B turn, then is Player A turn
// Player B uses cross
/* the state of the image for the Buttons will change depending on the player's turn
* Player A will use the cross sign , Player B will use Circle Sign
*/
ImageIcon icon = new ImageIcon("buttonImages/x-sign.jpg");
TicTacToeBoard.currentPlayerTurn = TicTacToeMain.firstPlayerName;
// set the appropriate picture as the JButton icon
setIcon(icon);
// prevent user from clicking the button more than once
setEnabled(false);
//increment buttonClick variable by one for each mouse click
TicTacToeBoard.buttonClicks += 1;
//notify both players whose turn is it
TicTacToeMain.contentPane.remove(TicTacToeBoard.currentPlayerTurnLabel);
TicTacToeBoard.printCurrentPlayerTurnLabel(TicTacToeMain.contentPane);
}
// if all buttons been pressed, the game makes a decision
// Tests the Winning conditions of the player's
TicTacToeBoardLogic boardLogic = new TicTacToeBoardLogic();
boardLogic.checksWinningConditions();
}
}
Your winner here is to expand this method a little:
(My addition suffixed with stars)
This will “name” the action event associated with the button.
Then in Actionperformed (ActionEvent e) you can get that ActionCommand with e.getActionCommand().
With nine your simplest may be a switch statement. Remember to use varName.equals(e.getActionCommand()) to compare it.
HTH