Java 2D array backed grid to create gameboard

Question

I am trying to create a game using a 2D array to display the layout of the game.

I'm struggling to change an int to a JButton with a different image assigned to it depending on what number is display in the grid:

private void PlayPanel() {
    try 
    {
        iconBlank=new ImageIcon(Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().createImage(GUI.class.getResource("white32x32.jpg")));
    }
    catch (Exception e)
            {
                System.err.println("Blank Icon ImageIcon" +e);
            }
    try 
    {
        iconSand=new ImageIcon(Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().createImage(GUI.class.getResource("sand.jpg")));
    }
    catch (Exception e)
            {
                System.err.println("Sand Icon ImageIcon" +e);
            } 
       try 
    {
        iconBall=new ImageIcon(Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().createImage(GUI.class.getResource("sand60x60.png")));
    }
    catch (Exception e)
            {
                System.err.println("Ball Icon ImageIcon" +e);
            }
        try 
    {
        iconEnd=new ImageIcon(Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().createImage(GUI.class.getResource("sandstone.jpg")));
    }
    catch (Exception e)
            {
                System.err.println("End Icon ImageIcon" +e);
            }



 pPlayScreen =new JPanel();
    pPlayScreen.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(550,520));
    pPlayScreen.setBorder( BorderFactory.createRaisedBevelBorder() );
    pPlayScreen.setBackground(Color.white);
    pPlayScreen.setLayout (new GridLayout (13,16));

int[][] playButtons = {
{ 1, 1, 1, 1 ,1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2 },
{ 1, 1, 1, 1 ,1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2 },
{ 1, 1, 1, 1 ,1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2 },
{ 1, 1, 1, 1 ,1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2 },
{ 1, 1, 1, 1 ,1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2 },
{ 1, 1, 1, 1 ,1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2 },
{ 1, 1, 1, 1 ,1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2 },
{ 1, 1, 1, 1 ,1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2 },
{ 1, 1, 1, 1 ,1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2 },
{ 1, 1, 1, 1 ,1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2 },
{ 1, 1, 1, 1 ,1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2 },
{ 1, 1, 1, 1 ,1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2 },
{ 3, 1, 1, 1 ,1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 }
};


   for (int rows = 0 ; rows < 16 ; rows++) 
{ 
for (int cols = 0 ; cols < 13 ; cols++) 
{ 
if(playButtons [rows][cols]==0){
// ???
}
playButton [rows] [cols] = new JButton (); 
playButton [rows] [cols].addActionListener (new Play()); 

pPlayScreen.add (playButton [rows] [cols]);
pMain.add(pPlayScreen);

}
}       
} 

Answer 1

You can't assign a JButton into an int array. It would need to be an Object array to be able to store both Integers and JButtons

Answer 2

I would suggest taking a more object oriented approach. You are not able to convert a Button to an int.

Try for example to use MVC (model, view, controller), then you may just use some object containing the 2D int array as a model and a view interpreting this array by displaying the kinds of buttons that you like based on the model.

Answer 3

Consider making a custom class that has properties for both JButton and int, like so...

public class MyButton {

    private int n;
    private JButton button; 

    // Constructor
    public MyButton() {

    }

    // Accessors and mutators
    private void setN(int n)
        this.n =n;
    }

    private int getN() {
        return this.n;
    }

    private void setButton(JButton button) {
        this.button = button;
    }

    private JButton getButton() {
        return this.button;
    }
}

And then you can access it by creating a new MyButton object, and then have an array list of them like so...

ArrayList<MyButton> buttons = new ArrayList<MyButton>();

And then you can do what you need. This is the beauty of OOP and Java's class capabilities. I miss this a lot doing JavaScript these days. Lol. Hope this helps... :)