Is there a better way to do this?

Newbie & Debugging Questions
#1

I’m trying to come up with a type of ‘menu screen’ system, but really have no idea how to go about it. What I have so far is a JPanel that receives user information, then hides itself when it has done so.

The idea is to hide and reveal JPanels as they are needed.

Also in the game I’m having trouble figuring where is the best place to create objects, especially the user and puzzle objects. Should I design a specific class that does all object creation? Or should I just create them on the fly?

Class design and structure has definitely been my Achilles heel in learning OO programming! :’(

Game Frame

public class GameFrame extends JFrame {
	
	public static final int GAMEWIDTH = 640;
	public static final int GAMEHEIGHT = 480;
	
	public GameFrame() {
		super("Sudoku || Calkuro");
		setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
		setSize(GAMEWIDTH, GAMEHEIGHT);
		setResizable(false);
		
		addPanel(new TitlePanel(), BorderLayout.CENTER);
	}
	
	public void addPanel(GamePanel panel, String layout) {
		add(panel, layout);
		panel.createPanel();
		setVisible(true);
		
	}
}

Game Panel

public class TitlePanel extends GamePanel implements ActionListener {
	
	private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
	public static final int PANEL_WIDTH;
	public static final int PANEL_HEIGHT;
	
	public InputManager input;
	
	private JPanel dataInput;
	private JLabel titleLabel, userLabel, puzzleLabel, difficultyLabel;
	private JTextField userTextField, puzzleTextField;
	private JButton userLoginButton;
	private JComboBox puzzlesBox, difficultiesBox;

	
	static {
		PANEL_WIDTH = GameFrame.GAMEWIDTH;
		PANEL_HEIGHT = GameFrame.GAMEHEIGHT;
	}

	public TitlePanel(){
		
		String[] puzzles = {"Sudoku", "Calkuro"};
		String[] difficulties = {"Easy", "Medium", "Hard"};
		puzzlesBox = new JComboBox(puzzles);
		difficultiesBox = new JComboBox(difficulties);
		dataInput = new JPanel();
		input = new InputManager();
		titleLabel = new JLabel();
		userLabel = new JLabel();
		puzzleLabel = new JLabel();
		difficultyLabel = new JLabel();
		puzzleTextField = new JTextField();
		userTextField = new JTextField(" ");
		userLoginButton = new JButton("Login");
	}
	
	public void createPanel() {
		
		titleLabel.setFont(new Font("arial", Font.BOLD, 50));
		titleLabel.setForeground(Color.white);
		titleLabel.setText("SUDOKU || CALKURO");
		
		userLabel.setText("Username:                     ");
		userLabel.setForeground(Color.white);
		puzzleLabel.setText("Puzzle:");
		puzzleLabel.setForeground(Color.white);
		difficultyLabel.setText("Difficulty:");
		difficultyLabel.setForeground(Color.white);
		
		userLoginButton.addActionListener(this);
		
		this.setSize(PANEL_WIDTH, PANEL_HEIGHT);
		this.setBackground(Color.DARK_GRAY);
		this.add(titleLabel);
		
		dataInput.setBackground(Color.DARK_GRAY);
		dataInput.setLayout(new GridLayout(5, 5));
		dataInput.add(userLabel);
		dataInput.add(userTextField);
		dataInput.add(puzzleLabel);
		dataInput.add(puzzlesBox);
		dataInput.add(difficultyLabel);
		dataInput.add(difficultiesBox);
		dataInput.add(userLoginButton);

		this.add(dataInput);	
	}

	@Override
	public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
		Loader.createUser(userTextField.getText());
		Loader.createPuzzle(puzzlesBox.getSelectedItem().toString(), difficultiesBox.getSelectedItem().toString());
		this.setVisible(false);
		
	}

	@Override
	public void update() {}

	@Override
	public void handleInput() {}
}

The “Loader” Class - (Is this even logical?)

public class Loader {

	private static Puzzle sudokuPuzzle;
	private static Puzzle calkuroPuzzle;
	private User user;

	public static void createPuzzle(String puzzleName, String difficulty) {
		if (puzzleName.equals("Sudoku"))
			sudokuPuzzle = new SudokuPuzzle(difficulty);
		if (puzzleName.equals("Calkuro"))
			calkuroPuzzle = new CalkuroPuzzle(difficulty);
	}

	public static void createUser(String userName) {
		User user = new User(userName);
		
	}
}
#2

Have you looked at CardPanel?

As for instantiating game state objects I actually have a class called GameState that holds everything I need regarding the game. Then I instantiate it and hold a reference within my main frame instance. Thus it’s accessible wherever I need it.

Naturally the GameState class doesn’t include GUI code, loading/saving, etc… just the raw data that represents the guts of the game itself.

My golden rule is “get it working first”. Then refactor if it smells really bad or if you think of a better way to do it later on.

#3

Cheers for the response Loom! :slight_smile: I have had a look at the CardPanel layout manager earlier tonight, but I think after working on this for like 10 hours straight my ability to retain any sort of information is very limited! haha

I manage to get everything working, then look at the code, and re-do the code to make it more readable and cleaner, which is a endless cycle.

I think I have to study more good examples of class structure? (Am I even making sense?) haha, I think it’s bed time.