检查二维数组中的相邻图块

Question

So i'm trying to make a game of Connect Four in Java, instead I'm connecting 6 instead of 4.

I have a 2-dimensional array and X amount of players. I have to check if 6 blocks in succession (horizontal, vertical and diagonal) are marked by the same player. If they are, the program should print who won.

Now, I don't have problems with the checking or determining who won, though for the life of me I can't figure out how to prevent the program from crashing whenever it tries to check for a block that's outside the array.

Now, I'm trying to avoid using try-catch or plopping 8 loops one after the other, and instead use one method for all of the directions with just variation in the parameters but I can't seem to make it work :\\

Does anyone have a suggestion on how this might work?

I'm a beginner in programming and I've possibly missed something so that's why I'm asking for help :)

Cheers

Edit: here's the code. It's a bit long, that's why i want to shorten it and make it work somehow. the Terminal class is the same as the System.out.println one.

void checkIfPlayerWins(Field field, Integer rowNumber, Integer colNumber) {
    Integer counter = 1;

    for (int i = 1; i <= 6; i++) {
        if (field.isOccupied(rowNumber, colNumber + i)) {
            counter++;
        } else {
            break;
        }
    }

    for (int i = 1; i <= 6; i++) {
        if (field.isOccupied(rowNumber - i, colNumber + i)) {
            counter++;
        } else {
            break;
        }
    }

    for (int i = 1; i <= 6; i++) {
        if (field.isOccupied(rowNumber - i, colNumber)) {
            counter++;
        } else {
            break;
        }
    }

    for (int i = 1; i <= 6; i++) {
        if (field.isOccupied(rowNumber - i, colNumber - i)) {
            counter++;
        } else {
            break;
        }
    }

    for (int i = 1; i <= 6; i++) {
        if (field.isOccupied(rowNumber, colNumber - i)) {
            counter++;
        } else {
            break;
        }
    }

    for (int i = 1; i <= 6; i++) {
        if (field.isOccupied(rowNumber + i, colNumber - i)) {
            counter++;
        } else {
            break;
        }
    }

    for (int i = 1; i <= 6; i++) {
        if (field.isOccupied(rowNumber + i, colNumber)) {
            counter++;
        } else {
            break;
        }
    }

    for (int i = 1; i <= 6; i++) {
        if (field.isOccupied(rowNumber + i, colNumber + i)) {
            counter++;
        } else {
            break;
        }
    }

    if (counter == 6) {
        Terminal.printLine("");
    }
}

here's the isOccupied method

boolean isOccupied(Integer x, Integer y) {
    return !this.field[x][y].equals("**");

}

Answer 1

You could simply handle the case where you're attempting to check whether the Field is occupied at invalid coordinates in your isOccupied method:

boolean isOccupied(Integer x, Integer y) {
    if(x < 0 || y < 0 || x >= numberOfColumns || y >= numberOfRows) {
        // Attempting to check outside the grid: it's non-occupied.
        return false;
    }

    return !this.field[x][y].equals("**");
}