How can I pinpoint the logic Errors in my Boggle game and how do I fix them?

Question

I am having some logic errors with my Boggle Project and can't pinpoint them. The the only thing I can do is exit out of the boggle game. Can anyone help me out? In this program I need to start a new game whenever the JMenu Item new game is clicked, the letters to randomize whenever the Shake Dice button is clicked, the Jpanel that contains the submit word Jbutton along with the score and current word jlabels, and for the current word label to update whenever the submit word button is clicked and for the score to update.

Boggle UI Code:

package userInterface;

/**
 *
 * @author Zac
 */

import core.Board;
import core.Die;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.Timer;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.util.ArrayList;


public class BoggleUi extends JFrame{

  Board boggleBoard;//creating a board object

  //components

  private static JMenuBar menuBar;//declare menubar

  private static JMenu Boggle;// declare Jmenu

  private static JMenuItem game;// set menu item for game

    private static JMenuItem exit;// set menu item for exit

    //buttons

    private static JButton Shakedice;//button for shaking the dice

    private static JButton submitWord;// button to submit word

    //layout of the UI

    private JPanel diceButtons;//jpanel for the dice buttons

    private JPanel componentLayout;//jpanel for other components

    private JPanel wordPanel;// Jpanel for word related ui

    private static JScrollPane scrollPane;//scrollpane

    private static JTextArea textArea;//textarea

    private static JLabel timeLeft;// Jlabel for countdown

    private static JLabel timer;//label for above time left

    private static JLabel wordsLeft;//label for words entered in text area

    private static JLabel currentWord;//label for current word

    private static JLabel playerScore;// label for score

    private static JLabel dieButton;// label for dice button

    //handlers

     private GameListener gameListener;// listener for the Boggle game

     private PanelListener panelListener;// listener for dice

     //timer variables

     int timeMili; //miliseconds

     int timeMin;// minutes

     int timeSec;//seconds

     Timer countdownTimer;//timer

public BoggleUi(Board boggleBoard,ArrayList Readdictionary ){

    this.boggleBoard = boggleBoard;//calls the boggle board

    initComponents();

}


public void initComponents(){ //initialzes components

    this.setSize(800,800);//set size of JFrame

    this.setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);//remove window if closed

   menuBar = new JMenuBar();//creates a menu bar

    Boggle = new JMenu("Boggle");

     game = new JMenuItem("New Game");// menu item for new game

      exit = new JMenuItem("Exit");// menu item for exiting the game

      exit.addActionListener(new ExitListener());//adding an action listener to the exit menu item

      Boggle.add(game);

      Boggle.add(exit);

      menuBar.add(Boggle);

      this.setJMenuBar(menuBar);

      //actionlistener


   gameListener = new GameListener();//make a new game listener

    game.addActionListener(gameListener);//add game listener

    panelListener = new PanelListener();//make new panel listener

    Boggle.addActionListener(panelListener);// add panel listener

    Shakedice = new JButton("Shake Dice");

    Shakedice.addActionListener(new ShakeListener());// make shake listener

    submitWord = new JButton("Submit Word");

     submitWord.addActionListener(new SubmitWordListener());// make submit listener

     //inititialize timer and listener

     countdownTimer = new Timer(1000, new TimerListener());//setting timer and listener

     countdownTimer.start();// start timer

      //set up textarea and jscroll pane and other components

      Dicepanels();//set up for panels and components

        textArea = new JTextArea();//creates new text area

        textArea.setLineWrap(true);//wraps text

        scrollPane = new JScrollPane(textArea);//creates new scroll pane

        scrollPane.setMinimumSize(new Dimension(200, 300));// set minimum size

        scrollPane.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(200, 300));// preferred size of scroll pane

        scrollPane.setMaximumSize(new Dimension(400, 600));//set max size

        scrollPane.setHorizontalScrollBarPolicy(JScrollPane.HORIZONTAL_SCROLLBAR_NEVER);//never allows horizontal bar

        scrollPane.setVerticalScrollBarPolicy(JScrollPane.VERTICAL_SCROLLBAR_AS_NEEDED);//calls for vertical bar

        componentLayout.setLayout(new BoxLayout(componentLayout,BoxLayout.Y_AXIS));//sets to y axis

        componentLayout.add(wordsLeft);

        componentLayout.add(scrollPane);//appears after a certain amount of lines are entered

        componentLayout.add(timer);// adds time left label

        componentLayout.add(timeLeft);//adds time label

        componentLayout.add(Shakedice);//adds shake dice button

      this.add(diceButtons);//adds dice buttons

      this.add(componentLayout,BorderLayout.EAST);//adds the components

       this.add(wordPanel,BorderLayout.SOUTH);//adds word panel

      this.setVisible(true);// makes the entire jframe visible
}



private JFrame getThisParent(){// method to retrieve the JFrame

    return this;
}

//code for text area
public void updateText(String boggleData){//method to update the text


        textArea.append(boggleData+ "\n");

    textArea.setCaretPosition(textArea.getDocument().getLength());



}

//area to place dice buttons and other components

    private void Dicepanels() {

        //setup dice buttons

        diceButtons = new JPanel(new GridLayout(4, 4));// set buttons in a 4x4 grid

        diceButtons.setMinimumSize(new Dimension(400, 400));//set minimum size

        diceButtons.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(400, 400));//set preferred size

        //setup components

        componentLayout = new JPanel();

        wordsLeft = new JLabel("Enter Words Found");

        timer = new JLabel("Time Left");

      timeLeft = new JLabel("3:00");//JLabel for timer

      timeLeft.setMinimumSize(new Dimension(500,500));//sets size for label

        Shakedice = new JButton("Shake Dice");

        //dimensions for the shake dice button

         Shakedice.setMinimumSize(new Dimension(120, 60));

       Shakedice.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(120, 60));

       Shakedice.setMaximumSize(new Dimension(120, 60));

        Shakedice.setFont(null);//font size

        //setup Word panel

        wordPanel = new JPanel();

        currentWord = new JLabel();// label to show current word

        playerScore = new JLabel("Score:" + "0");// label that shows the player's score

        submitWord = new JButton("Submit Word");

        //dimensions for the submit word button

         submitWord.setMinimumSize(new Dimension(100, 50));

       submitWord.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100, 50));

       submitWord.setMaximumSize(new Dimension(100, 50));

        submitWord.setFont(null);//font size

        //JButton ArrayList



    ArrayList <Die> dice = boggleBoard.shakeDice();

       int counter = 0;     

               for(int row = 0; row < 4; row++){

                     for(int col = 0; col < 4; col++){

        Die die = dice.get(counter);

        JButton button = new JButton();

         button.setText(die.getLetter());

        button.putClientProperty("letter",die.getLetter());

        button.putClientProperty("row",row);

        button.putClientProperty("col",col);

         diceButtons.add(button);

         diceButtons.setFont(null);

         counter++;

        }
    }     


        }


     private class ExitListener implements ActionListener { //action for exiting

         public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e)

         {

             //dialogue to confirm quiting the game

             int response = JOptionPane.showConfirmDialog(null, "Confirm to exit Boggle?", 
                    "Exit?", JOptionPane.YES_NO_OPTION);

            if (response == JOptionPane.YES_OPTION)

             System.exit(0);//exit game

         }


     }




private class GameListener implements ActionListener{//implement actionlistener for game

     public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){


        textArea.revalidate();//revailidate text area

        timeLeft.repaint(); //repaint time left Jpanel

        Shakedice.setEnabled(true);//reenable shake dice button

}




        }


    private class ShakeListener implements ActionListener{




        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){

        boggleBoard.shakeDice();//call shake dice method into shake listener

        //Random randomDie = new Random();//new radomization 

         //String placement = randomDie.(diceButtons);

        diceButtons.revalidate();// revalidates dice buttons

        playerScore.repaint();//reset score

        playerScore.setText("Score:" + "0");// set to 0

        currentWord.repaint();// reset current word

         timeLeft.repaint();// reset timer

         Shakedice.setEnabled(false);//disable shake dice button




        }


    }



     private class SubmitWordListener implements ActionListener{

         boolean wordValidate = false;

     public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){

             if(wordValidate = true){

        System.out.println("TemporaryDictionary.txt");

       textArea.append("" + currentWord);

        currentWord.revalidate();//update current word j label

             }

         }


        }         

    private class PanelListener implements ActionListener{

        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){

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

            if(e.getSource()instanceof JButton){

                //create Jbutton with get properties

                JButton button = (JButton)e.getSource();

                String letter = button.getClientProperty("letter").toString();

                int rowClick = (int) button.getClientProperty("row");

                int colClick = (int) button.getClientProperty("col");

                //get text in label

                String word = currentWord.getText();

                currentWord.setText(word + letter);

                int MIN_INDEX = 0;// minimum index

                int MAX_INDEX = 3;// maximum index

                // enable/disable the buttons

                int count = 0;

                for(int row = 0; row < 4;)

                   for(int col = 0; col < 4;){

                    if(row == rowClick && col == colClick)

                        button.setEnabled(false);

                    if(colClick > MIN_INDEX && colClick < MAX_INDEX && rowClick > MIN_INDEX && rowClick < MAX_INDEX){

                        buttons.get(count).setEnabled(true);

                        count++;

                    }

                }
            }

        }

    }

    private class TimerListener implements ActionListener{

        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){

            timeMili -= 1000;

            //conversion into minutes and seconds

            if(timeSec == 0){

                timeSec = 59;

                timeMin --;

            }

            else{

                timeSec --;

            }

            timeLeft.setText("3:00");//enable time left to start countdown

        }

    }


    }

Answer 1

If you're running this in an IDE such as eclipse, you can place a breakpoint, then run your application and step through it, to see just what your code is really doing.

If you don't have access to a debugger, you could simply use System.out.println() calls to report the current state of your program - it's not elegant, but it works.