Public Variables in a Stand-Alone Program - java

I'm writing a small Java program that randomly deals out playing cards, then displays them on screen in a window.
Since I'm using NetBeans, the GUI was started for me, and I've been writing my methods for randomly choosing cards, setting up an array to store whether or not a card has already been dealt, etc., all in the same class NetBeans set up for me when it built the JFrame.
I'd like to move all my non-GUI code into its own Class, and then just pass data back to the GUI class as needed to display the cards, but I'm not sure of the best way to share data between the two classes.
I know about set/get methods and I know I could make public class-level variables, but everything I've been reading tells me to avoid both as much as possible.
Right now I have a method that generates an int between 1 and 52 for each card dealt. 1 = Ace of spades, 2= 2 of spades, etc. Once the GUI has that number, it can display the appropriate card in the appropriate place on the screen (or at least it will be able to once I've coded the GUI side of things). If I'm looking to pass that integer value to the GUI class, then display a specific card on the screen based on that value, how should I do it?
Seems to me a public variable would make this easy, as would a simple get method...but in the interest of avoiding those options is there another way?
I can provide code snippets if that helps.

Here's one way you could start to implement this idea using OO concepts.
Make a Card class to represent a card.
public class Card {
// FIELDS
// card name
private final String name;
// card value (number)
private final int value;
// another arbitrary value to demonstrate setter
private Object arbitraryValue;
public Card(String name, String value) {
this.name = name;
this.value = value;
}
public String getName() {
return this.name;
}
public int getValue() {
return this.value;
}
public Object getArbitraryValue() {
return this.arbitraryValue;
}
public void setArbitraryValue(Object arbitraryValue) {
this.arbitraryValue = arbitraryValue;
}
}
Create a CardManager class to hold methods that pertain to handling cards (e.g. utility methods and card data storage)
public class CardManager() {
private List<Card> cards = new ArrayList<Card>();
public void addCard(Card card) {
this.cards.add(card);
}
// and so on...your methods here.
}
Finally, create a class for your GUI (CardGUI) management and make use of the other classes to manage it.
You can do so like this:
public class CardGUI() {
public static void main(String[] args) {
// create your GUI and put your logic here...
// also use your other classes, perhaps like so.
Card card = new Card("One", 1);
CardManager cardManager = new CardManager();
cardManager.addCard(card);
// From there you can manage your cards through other classes.
}
Hope this helps / demonstrates how to share data between classes following standards.
Edit:
To answer your question on exactly how you would get the value, then see the above Card class. You would simple create a new card (Card card = new Card("name", intval);), then you would use the method Card#getValue() to get that value and display it in the GUI.

Related

Concept to create thread wide/class wide object

I'm searching for a concept to forward an object to subobjects.
Example:
I would like to create log files for several main Objects, that include sub objects (imagine a REST server that would log every single connection by ID).
Creating one big log file is simple ( redirect System.out.println, I already encapsulated that)
Example code:
class SubElementA{
public SubElementA(){
Debugger.debug("I am called, too");
}
}
Application.java
package com.dev4ag;
class Application{
private ElementA elA;
private String prefix;
public Application(String name){
this.elA = new ElementA();
this.prefix = name;
}
public void countUp(){
Debugger.debug(this.prefix+": I will now count up");
this.elA.doSomeStuff();
}
}
ElementA.java
package com.dev4ag;
class ElementA{
private int counter;
private SubElementA subElementA;
public void doSomeStuff(){
counter++;
Debugger.debug("Counter is: "+counter);
}
//Constructor
public ElementA(){
subElementA = new SubElementA();
this.counter = 0;
};
}
SubElementA.java
package com.dev4ag;
class SubElementA{
public SubElementA(){
Debugger.debug("I am called, too");
}
}
Debugger.java
package com.dev4ag;
public class Debugger {
public static void debug(String output){
//Just imagine we would write to a file here ;)
System.out.println(output);
}
}
(it was more easy to write system.out.println than to create a file, just imagine, Debugger.debug would write to a file).
Now I am thinking about a solution to create one Debug output target for each App. I could definitely change debug to not being static and create a debug object within Application.
But is there any way to use this object in the sub classes without forwarding the debug object either through Constructor or setter function, which would mean to have to add an object for the debugger to each class?
What would be the most beautiful solution for that?
Note that this solution might decrease performance a lot and it is pretty dirty way, but some loggers include such data.
But you can use Thread.currentThread().getStackTrace() to get stacktrace like in error and get class and method from where your method was called.
If you are using java9+ then you should probably use StackWalker API instead, especially that it have nice filters and other useful features.
So then you could guess app by class/method names on the stack.

Libgdx Actor Text

currently I am in the process of developing a trading card game in Java using Libgdx. Each player has a number of cards with different abilities and attributes. Each card class extends the Actor class, but I am wondering if there is a way I can draw text onto these Actors, that will move when the cards do.
For example, each card has a set amount of hit points, which will vary depending on the damage that card has taken. I was wondering what the best way to draw these hitpoints into the card would be, so that when the card moves, the hitpoints will move with it. Occasionally, the cards will stack or overlap, and in these instances I would obviously want the text of cards at the bottom to be concealed by cards at the top, rather than it all overlapping.
Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
There is an easy solution thanks to the inheritance that libGDX provides.
As Group is an actor you can easily do... (pseudo code)
public class Card extends Group {
final private static TextureAtlas ATLAS;
static {
ATLAS = AssetManager.get("game.pack", TextureAtlas.class);
}
public enum Type {
type1, type2, type3
}
private Type type;
private Image card;
private Label text;
private int hitPoints;
public Card(Type type) {
this.type = type;
card = new Image(ATLAS.get(type));
text = new Label("HP: " + hitPoints);
addActor(card);
addActor(text);
}
}
This assumes you have enum for card types associated with the identifiers in your texture atlas; if you are not using a texture atlas I highly recommend that you do.
In your game logic class I am assuming it would be an extension of the Screen class you can simply;
private Card card;
#override
public void show() {
card = new Card(Card.Type.type1);
stage.addActor(card);
// This is an example - as the card and text reside within a group they can be moved as a sole entity relative to their parent
card.addAction(moveBy(100, 100, 2, Interpolation.Linear));
}
Of course positioning of actors if specific to your use case etc... Any questions just ask :)

Method Generator in java

I am using Kmax to create a DAQ software. The philosophy of the GUI and the code is that every object on the GUI(radio buttons, check boxes, progress bars etc) has to have the same name with the relevant method. For instance an object named BUTTON is linked with the method public void BUTTON(KmaxWidget widget){code}.
My code is
import kmax.ext.*;
public class Runtime implements KmaxRuntime {
KmaxToolsheet tlsh; // Store a reference to the toolsheet environment
KmaxHist hist1D;
KmaxWidget checkBoxWidget;
public void init(KmaxToolsheet toolsheet) {
tlsh = toolsheet; // Save this reference for use in the toolsheet
hist1D = tlsh.getKmaxHist("HIST1D");
checkBoxWidget = tlsh.getKmaxWidget("CHECK_BOX_CALIB_METH");
tlsh.getKmaxWidget("CHECK_BOX_CALIB_METH").setProperty("VALUE", "1");
}
public static boolean stringToBool(String s) {
if (s.equals("1"))
return true;
if (s.equals("0"))
return false;
return true;
}
public void CalibInit(KmaxWidget widget, KmaxHist histo){
histo.setUseXAxisCalibration(stringToBool(widget.getProperty("VALUE")));
histo.update();
}
public void chooseCalib(){
checkBoxWidget = tlsh.getKmaxWidget("CHECK_BOX_CALIB_METH");
checkCalib(checkBoxWidget,hist1D);
}
public void GO(KmaxToolsheet toolsheet){}
public void SRQ(KmaxDevice device) {}
public void HALT(KmaxToolsheet toolsheet) {}
} // End of the Runtime object
In the above code I have the check box CHECK_BOX_CALIB_METH. The problem arises when someone wants to create many objects;one has to create many methods. In the above code you can see what I am trying to do. I want to create a "main" method that will do every function that is needed and then another method will apply those functions to each object.
This code compiles without any errors, but the check box isn't working. So I was thinking if there is a way around this. For instance a method that will include "submethods" that will do the job! Or perhaps a method that will construct methods in a for loop for each radio button, check box, progress bar etc. Something like
for(int i=0; i<number_of_buttons ; i++){public void BUTTON_i(){code}}
The above code may look ridiculous but I don't know what else to think and I really want to avoid having one method for each button.
Is something like that possible or is there another way around this?
EDIT
For instance I have 6 methods that do exactly the same;they just have different names.
public void SET_CALIB_1(KmaxWidget widget) {
double C0 = (getValueFrom("Ch2_1")*getValueFrom("En1_1")-getValueFrom("Ch1_1")*getValueFrom("En2_1"))/(getValueFrom("Ch2_1")-getValueFrom("Ch1_1"));
double C1 = (getValueFrom("En2_1")-getValueFrom("En1_1"))/(getValueFrom("Ch2_1")-getValueFrom("Ch1_1"));
double C2 = 0;
double[] coef = {C0, C1, C2};
hist1.setXCalibration(coef);
hist1.setUseXAxisCalibration(true);
hist1.update();
} // SET_CALIB_1
Is there a way to have a generator method to generate methods like the above?
what are the design goals for this software?
reflection may be a much better way to get access to the members; and/or put all the components into an array for access.
I find that I tend to over-engineer things a lot; since I enjoy building things; but then they get way too complicated and don't work.
so I advise to take a walk (or trudge through the snow) and think about it some more.

Looking for an appropriate design pattern

I have a game that tracks user stats after every match, such as how far they travelled, how many times they attacked, how far they fell, etc, and my current implementations looks somewhat as follows (simplified version):
Class Player{
int id;
public Player(){
int id = Math.random()*100000;
PlayerData.players.put(id,new PlayerData());
}
public void jump(){
//Logic to make the user jump
//...
//call the playerManager
PlayerManager.jump(this);
}
public void attack(Player target){
//logic to attack the player
//...
//call the player manager
PlayerManager.attack(this,target);
}
}
Class PlayerData{
public static HashMap<int, PlayerData> players = new HashMap<int,PlayerData>();
int id;
int timesJumped;
int timesAttacked;
}
public void incrementJumped(){
timesJumped++;
}
public void incrementAttacked(){
timesAttacked++;
}
}
Class PlayerManager{
public static void jump(Player player){
players.get(player.getId()).incrementJumped();
}
public void incrementAttacked(Player player, Player target){
players.get(player.getId()).incrementAttacked();
}
}
So I have a PlayerData class which holds all of the statistics, and brings it out of the player class because it isn't part of the player logic. Then I have PlayerManager, which would be on the server, and that controls the interactions between players (a lot of the logic that does that is excluded so I could keep this simple). I put the calls to the PlayerData class in the Manager class because sometimes you have to do certain checks between players, for instance if the attack actually hits, then you increment "attackHits".
The main problem (in my opinion, correct me if I'm wrong) is that this is not very extensible. I will have to touch the PlayerData class if I want to keep track of a new stat, by adding methods and fields, and then I have to potentially add more methods to my PlayerManager, so it isn't very modulized.
If there is an improvement to this that you would recommend, I would be very appreciative. Thanks.
I am not at all an expert in design patterns. But this is what I think might be useful:
To add actions to the player, you might wanna look at the Strategy Pattern. Just google for it and you will get lot of examples.
Here is an attempt by me:
For updating the player stats, I guess Observer Pattern will be helpful.
The Observer Pattern defines one-to-many dependency between objects so
that when one object changes state, all of its dependents are notified
and updated automatically.
It enforces loose coupling so that future changes are easy.
(You will have to read about Observer Pattern and also will have to see some examples. It is not as straight forward as Strategy.)
Due to the fact that you said you want to be able to add new stats and actions later, I would tend to make a stats object that doesn't need to know anything about the game it's recording. The advantage is that the Stats class would never need to change as you added new features.
public interface Stats {
void incrementStat(Object subject, String stat);
int getStat(Object subject, String stat);
}
You Player implementation would look something like:
public void jump() {
// Logic to make the player jump...
stats.incrementStat(this, "jump");
}
Of course, what you're trading for that flexibility is static type-checking on those increment methods. But in cases like this I tend to think the simplicity is worth it. In addition to removing tons of boiler plate from the PlayerData and PlayerManager classes, you also end up with a reusable component, and you can get rid of the cyclic dependency between PlayerManager and Player.

What OO structure should I use to describe animal's behaviors?

I have a Java assignment in which my professor requires me to use a LeJOS NXT to make a robot that simulates a certain animal's behaviors. I chose to develop a dragon. All the possible behaviors that I've come up so far is:
Turning around if it's too close to an obstacle.
Going to sleep when battery is low.
Pushing an object if touches.
If it's too bright, find a dark spot.
etc.
I'm now quite confused because I don't know whether to develop it sequentially in one class or to split all the dragon's behaviors into different classes. Please have a look at my explanation below.
Instead of writing everything inside one class like this:
Dragon.java
public class Dragon {
LightSensor ls = new LightSensor
public static main(String args[]) {
while (!BUTTON.Escape.IsPressed()) {
if (this.closeToObject()) {
this.turnAround();
}
// more conditions
}
}
private boolean closeToObject() {
//TODO
return false;
}
private void turnAround() {
//TODO
}
//... more methods
}
However, I want to make it appears to be more object-oriented as the course is meant to help us gain more OOP skills. So what my second option is to create action classes that extends Dragon's Behavior abstract class like this (roughly):
Dragon.java
public class Dragon {
Detect detect = new Detect(); // carry all the detection methods: distance, sound, etc.
TurnAround turnAround = new TurnAround();
public static main(String args[]) {
while (!BUTTON.Escape.IsPressed()) {
if (detect.tooCloseToObject()) {
turnAround.prepare(); // beep beep alert
turnAround.setDerection(true); // e.g. turn right
turnAround.turn();
}
}
}
}
DragonBehaviors.java
abstract class DragonBehavior {
abstract void prepare();
public void setDirection(boolean direction) {
//...
}
}
TurnAround.java
public class TurnAround extends DragonBehaviors {
String direction;
public void TurnAround() {}
public void prepare() {
// sound alert
}
public void setDirection(boolean direction) {
if (direction) this.direction = "Right";
else this.direction = "Left";
}
public void turn() {
// TODO
}
}
The code above is roughly a draft, don't focus on it. Eventually, I want to ask if my idea about the OO structure above is reasonable, otherwise it's much easier to develop the whole thing in one class, but it has nothing to do with OOP. I also have several group members to make the code finished, so I think it could be better if we share the classes to develop in an OOP way.
Which way should I go in this circumstance?
I appreciate all the comments (:
Your choice of extracting different actions into classes with common super class is IMHO reasonable. However I would make Dragon class only aware of the DragonBehavior abstract class, not the subclasses. This way you can add and remove behaviours to the dragon without actually changing it.
How? Look at Chain-of-responsibility pattern - each behaviour has its place in the chain. If behaviour decides to activate itself (i.e. perform something) it may or may not allow further behaviours to be triggered. Moreover, you can and remove behaviours (even at runtime!) and rearrange them to change the precedence (is pushing the obstacle more or less important than going to sleep?).

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