Question

I’m trying to take two lines of code from an elseif statement and create a function that returns the parameters back to the parent function. It’s a simple card game that searches my $Cards array for a three of a kind. Here’s the original code:

elseif(count($Cards) == 3) {
            $CardsNotOfValue = $this->_getCardsNotOfFaceValue($faceValue, $CardsGroupedByValues);
            list($Kicker1, $Kicker2) = $this->_getSortedCards($CardsNotOfValue);
            return new ThreeOfAKind(array_merge($Cards, array($Kicker1, $Kicker2)));
        }

Thus far, my code looks like this:

function { if (count($Cards) == 3) {
            **LINE 36** $Kicker = $this->kickerCards($faceValue, $CardsGroupedByValues); }
**LINE 55** public function kickerCards(array $kickers)
{
    $CardsNotOfValue = $this->_getCardsNotOfFaceValue($faceValue, $CardsGroupedByValues);
    return $this->_getSortedCards($CardsNotOfValue);
}

When I try to execute a four of a kind, I get the following error (I tried to highlight the lines in question above):

PHP Catchable fatal error: Argument 1 passed to BestHandIdentifier::kickerCards() must be an array, integer given, called in /home/dev/parameter2/BestHandIdentifier.php on line 36 and defined in /home/dev/parameter2/BestHandIdentifier.php on line 55

I’m having a bit of trouble understanding how to create ($faceValue, $CardsGroupedByValues) and pass an array for my new function to evaluate. Have I gone too far in the wrong direction to begin with?

Answer 1

Your function definition is:

public function kickerCards(array $kickers);

So $kickers must be an array…
You are trying to call the function with:

$this->kickerCards($faceValue, $CardsGroupedByValues);

Passing two arguments, the $faceValue which is an integer, 2nd argument is an array.

Your function definition should look like:

public function kickerCards($faceValue, array $cards);

If I could elaborate further, making some assumptions.

My assumptions:

1. The function take a face value and array of cards currently held
2. The return of the function should be the cards in that array that do not match the face values.
3. The Cards are an array with a value (and possibly suit) key. e.g.
   $twoOfHearts = array('value'=>2,'suit'=>'hearts');

So here’s a possible implementation

public function kickerCards($faceValue, array $cards) {
    $kickerCards = array();
    foreach($cards as $card) {
        if ($card['value'] != $faceValue)
            $kickerCards[] = $card;
    }
    return $kickerCards;
}