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Solution for Programming Exercise 6.6


This page contains a sample solution to one of the exercises from Introduction to Programming Using Java.


Exercise 6.6:

For this exercise, you should modify the SubKiller game from Subsection 6.5.4. You can start with the existing source code, from the file SubKillerPanel.java. Modify the game so it keeps track of the number of hits and misses and displays these quantities. That is, every time the depth charge blows up the sub, the number of hits goes up by one. Every time the depth charge falls off the bottom of the screen without hitting the sub, the number of misses goes up by one. There is room at the top of the panel to display these numbers. To do this exercise, you only have to add a half-dozen lines to the source code. But you have to figure out what they are and where to add them. To do this, you'll have to read the source code closely enough to understand how it works.


Discussion

You can do this exercise by adding exactly seven lines to the original version, SubKillerPanel.java. I used two lines to declare instance variables named hits and misses. These variables have to be updated whenever the depth charge hits the sub or falls off the bottom of the panel. These events are already detected by the panel, in the updateForNextFrame() method of the Bomb class. At the point where this method detects that the depth charge has hit the sub, I add the command "hits++;" to chalk up another hit for the user. At the point in where it is determined that the y-coordinate of the depth charge has exceeded the height of the panel, I add the command "misses++;" to record the fact that the sub has escaped destruction this time.

The only other thing to do is to display the number of hits and misses at the top of the panel. This is part of drawing the picture, so it is done in the paintComponent() method. The information is output with two drawString commands. We need one more command to make sure that the strings are displayed in a color that can be seen:

g.setColor(Color.BLACK);
g.drawString("Number of hits:   " + hits, 15, 24);
g.drawString("Number of misses: " + misses, 15, 45);

(Using these coordinates, the messages about hits and misses were drawn over the "CLICK TO ACTIVATE" message, so I also move the "CLICK TO ACIVATE" message to the bottom of the screen.)

I made one further change when I decided that I wanted the output to be displayed in a larger font. I create a new font, store it in an instance variable named infoFont, and use the command "g.setFont(infoFont);" before drawing the strings.

Here is the applet version of the new program, so you can try it out:

The source code is shown below. Changes from the original version are shown in red. To use the panel class, you still have to write an applet class or a class that contains a main routine; I leave that to you.


The Solution

import java.awt.*;        
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;


/**
 * This panel implement a simple arcade game in which the user tries to blow
 * up a "submarine" (a black oval) by dropping "depth charges" (a red disk) from 
 * a "boat" (a blue roundrect).  The user moves the boat with the left- and 
 * right-arrow keys and drops the depth charge with the down-arrow key.
 * The sub moves left and right erratically along the bottom of the panel.
 * The number of times the user hits the sub and the number of times that
 * the user misses the sub are displayed at the top of the panel.
 */
public class SubKillerPanel2 extends JPanel {
   
   private Timer timer;        // Timer that drives the animation.
   private int width, height;  // The size of the panel -- the values are set
                               //    the first time the paintComponent() method
                               //    is called.  This class is not designed to
                               //    handle changes in size; once the widht and
                               //    height have been set, they are not changed.
                               //    Note that width and height cannot be set
                               //    in the constructor because the width and
                               //    height of the panel have not been set at
                               //    the time that the constructor is called.

   private Boat boat;          // The boat, bomb, and sub objects are defined
   private Bomb bomb;          //    by nested classes Boat, Bomb, and Submarine,
   private Submarine sub;      //    which are defined later in this class.
                               //    Note that the objects are created in the
                               //    paintComponent() method, after the width
                               //    and height of the panel are known.
   
   private int hits;           // The number of times the user has hit the sub.
   private int misses;         // The number of times the user has missed the sub.
   
   private Font infoFont = new Font("Monospaced", Font.PLAIN, 16);
                          // A font for displaying the numbers of hits and misses.
   
   
   /**
    * The constructor sets the background color of the panel, creates the
    * timer, and adds a KeyListener, FocusListener, and MouseListener to the
    * panel.  These listeners, as well as the ActionListener for the timer
    * are defined by anonymous inner classes.  The timer will run only
    * when the panel has the input focus.
    */
   public SubKillerPanel2() {

      setBackground(Color.GREEN);

      ActionListener action = new ActionListener() {
               // Defines the action taken each time the timer fires.
         public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent evt) {
            if (boat != null) {
               boat.updateForNewFrame();
               bomb.updateForNewFrame();
               sub.updateForNewFrame();
            }
            repaint();
         }
      };
      timer = new Timer( 30, action );  // Fires every 30 milliseconds.

      addMouseListener( new MouseAdapter() {
              // The mouse listener simply requests focus when the user
              // clicks the panel.
         public void mousePressed(MouseEvent evt) {
            requestFocus();
         }
      } );

      addFocusListener( new FocusListener() {
             // The focus listener starts the timer when the panel gains
             // the input focus and stops the timer when the panel loses
             // the focus.  It also calls repaint() when these events occur.
         public void focusGained(FocusEvent evt) {
            timer.start();
            repaint();
         }
         public void focusLost(FocusEvent evt) {
            timer.stop();
            repaint();
         }
      } );

      addKeyListener( new KeyAdapter() {
             // The key listener responds to keyPressed events on the panel. Only
             // the left-, right-, and down-arrow keys have any effect.  The left- and
             // right-arrow keys move the boat while down-arrow releases the bomb.
         public void keyPressed(KeyEvent evt) {
            int code = evt.getKeyCode();  // which key was pressed.
            if (code == KeyEvent.VK_LEFT) {
                 // Move the boat left.  (If this moves the boat out of the frame, its
                 // position will be adjusted in the boat.updateForNewFrame() method.)
               boat.centerX -= 15;
            }
            else if (code == KeyEvent.VK_RIGHT) {  
                 // Move the boat right.  (If this moves boat out of the frame, its
                 // position will be adjusted in the boat.updateForNewFrame() method.)
               boat.centerX += 15;
            }
            else if (code == KeyEvent.VK_DOWN) {
                  // Start the bomb falling, if it is not already falling.
               if ( bomb.isFalling == false )
                  bomb.isFalling = true;
            }
         }
      } );

   } // end constructor
   
   
   /**
    * The paintComponent() method draws the current state of the game.  It
    * draws a gray or cyan border around the panel to indicate whether or not
    * the panel has the input focus.  It draws the boat, sub, and bomb by
    * calling their respective draw() method.
    * 
    */
   public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
      
      super.paintComponent(g);  // Fill panel with background color, green.
      
      if (boat == null) {
            // The first time that paintComponent is called, it assigns
            // values to the instance variables.
         width = getWidth();
         height = getHeight();
         boat = new Boat();
         sub = new Submarine();
         bomb = new Bomb();
      }
      
      if (hasFocus())
         g.setColor(Color.CYAN);
      else {
         g.setColor(Color.RED);
         g.drawString("CLICK TO ACTIVATE", 20, height - 10);
         g.setColor(Color.GRAY);
      }
      g.drawRect(0,0,width-1,height-1);
      g.drawRect(1,1,width-3,height-3);
      g.drawRect(2,2,width-5,height-5);
      
      boat.draw(g);
      sub.draw(g);
      bomb.draw(g);
      
      g.setFont(infoFont);
      g.setColor(Color.BLACK);
      g.drawString("Number of hits:   " + hits, 15, 24);
      g.drawString("Number of misses: " + misses, 15, 45);
      
   } // end drawFrame()
   

   /**
    * This nested class defines the boat.  Note that its constructor cannot
    * be called until the width of the panel is known!
    */
   private class Boat {
      int centerX, centerY;  // Current position of the center of the boat.
      Boat() { // Constructor centers the boat horizontally, 80 pixels from top.
         centerX = width/2;
         centerY = 80;
      }
      void updateForNewFrame() { // Makes sure boat has not moved off screen.
         if (centerX < 0)
            centerX = 0;
         else if (centerX > width)
            centerX = width;
      }
      void draw(Graphics g) {  // Draws the boat at its current location.
         g.setColor(Color.blue);
         g.fillRoundRect(centerX - 40, centerY - 20, 80, 40, 20, 20);
      }
   } // end nested class Boat
   
   
   /**
    * This nested class defines the bomb. 
    */
   private class Bomb {
      int centerX, centerY; // Current position of the center of the bomb.
      boolean isFalling;    // If true, the bomb is falling; if false, it
                            // is attached to the boat.
      Bomb() { // Constructor creates a bomb that is initially attached to boat.
         isFalling = false;
      }
      void updateForNewFrame() {  // If bomb is falling, take appropriate action.
         if (isFalling) {
            if (centerY > height) {
                  // Bomb has missed the submarine.  It is returned to its
                  // intial state, with isFalling equal to false.
               isFalling = false;
               misses++;   // USER HAS MISSED THE SUB
            }
            else if (Math.abs(centerX - sub.centerX) <= 36 &&
                  Math.abs(centerY - sub.centerY) <= 21) {
                  // Bomb has hit the submarine.  The submarine
                  // enters the "isExploding" state.
               sub.isExploding = true;
               sub.explosionFrameNumber = 1;
               isFalling = false;  // Bomb reappears on the boat.
               hits++;   // USER HAS HIT THE SUB
            }
            else {
                 // If the bomb has not fallen off the panel or hit the
                 // sub, then it is moved down 10 pixels.
               centerY += 10;
            }
         }
      }
      void draw(Graphics g) {  // Draw the bomb.
         if ( ! isFalling ) {  // If not falling, set centerX and CenterY
                              // to show the bomb on the bottom of the boat.
            centerX = boat.centerX;
            centerY = boat.centerY + 23;
         }
         g.setColor(Color.RED);
         g.fillOval(centerX - 8, centerY - 8, 16, 16);
      }
   } // end nested class Bomb
   
   
   /**
    * This nested class defines the sub.  Note that its constructor cannot
    * be called until the width of the panel is known!
    */
   private class Submarine {
      int centerX, centerY; // Current position of the center of the sub.
      boolean isMovingLeft; // Tells whether the sub is moving left or right
      boolean isExploding;  // Set to true when the sub is hit by the bomb.
      int explosionFrameNumber;  // If the sub is exploding, this is the number
                                 //   of frames since the explosion started.
      Submarine() {  // Create the sub at a random location 40 pixels from bottom.
         centerX = (int)(width*Math.random());
         centerY = height - 40;
         isExploding = false;
         isMovingLeft = (Math.random() < 0.5);
      }
      void updateForNewFrame() { // Move sub or increase explosionFrameNumber.
         if (isExploding) {
               // If the sub is exploding, add 1 to explosionFrameNumber.
               // When the number reaches 15, the explosion ends and the
               // sub reappears in a random position.
            explosionFrameNumber++;
            if (explosionFrameNumber == 15) { 
               centerX = (int)(width*Math.random());
               centerY = height - 40;
               isExploding = false;
               isMovingLeft = (Math.random() < 0.5);
            }
         }
         else { // Move the sub.
            if (Math.random() < 0.04) {  
                  // In one frame out of every 25, on average, the sub
                  // reverses its direction of motion.
               isMovingLeft = ! isMovingLeft; 
            }
            if (isMovingLeft) { 
                  // Move the sub 5 pixels to the left.  If it moves off
                  // the left edge of the panel, move it back to the left
                  // edge and start it moving to the right.
               centerX -= 5;  
               if (centerX <= 0) {  
                  centerX = 0; 
                  isMovingLeft = false; 
               }
            }
            else {
                  // Move the sub 5 pixels to the right.  If it moves off
                  // the right edge of the panel, move it back to the right
                  // edge and start it moving to the left.
               centerX += 5;         
               if (centerX > width) {  
                  centerX = width;   
                  isMovingLeft = true; 
               }
            }
         }
      }
      void draw(Graphics g) {  // Draw sub and, if it is exploding, the explosion.
         g.setColor(Color.BLACK);
         g.fillOval(centerX - 30, centerY - 15, 60, 30);
         if (isExploding) {
                // Draw an "explosion" that grows in size as the number of
                // frames since the start of the explosion increases.
            g.setColor(Color.YELLOW);
            g.fillOval(centerX - 4*explosionFrameNumber,
                  centerY - 2*explosionFrameNumber,
                  8*explosionFrameNumber,
                  4*explosionFrameNumber);
            g.setColor(Color.RED);
            g.fillOval(centerX - 2*explosionFrameNumber,
                  centerY - explosionFrameNumber/2,
                  4*explosionFrameNumber,
                  explosionFrameNumber);
         }
      }
   } // end nested class Submarine   
   
   
} // end class SubKiller

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