Tic Tac Toe Problem

Question

I need help on a Tic Tac Toe game I am making for a class. I had finished a "2 Player" version and my instructor wants me to simulate a computer "AI" now. I cannot figure out what I'm doing wrong. The order of precedence is this:
1. X moves first (the player)
2. Computer moves to win.
3. If it can't win, it moves to block a win
4. If it can't block a win, it moves to the best possible spot to set up a win.
I think my problems are with several methods, but I cannot figure out what I'm doing wrong. Every time I look at my code, it just makes "sense". I think my problems could probably be found in 4 methods, setButtonText(), findOpen(), findBestOpen() and tempCheck(). I would like hints or maybe if I could get a second look at it for me.
public class VangTicTacToe extends javax.swing.JFrame {
    private boolean isX;
    private int turnCount;
    private boolean gameWon;
    private boolean isTemp;
    /** Creates new form VangTicTacToe */
    public VangTicTacToe() {
        initComponents();
        resetGame();
        isX = true;
        turnCount = 0;
    private void checkWinner(String pressedButton){
        //an multi-dimensional array of winning combinations
        JButton[][] winningCombos = {{oneJButton, twoJButton,
        threeJButton}, {oneJButton, fourJButton,
        sevenJButton}, {oneJButton, fiveJButton, nineJButton},
        {twoJButton, fiveJButton, eightJButton}, {threeJButton, sixJButton,
        nineJButton}, {fourJButton, fiveJButton, sixJButton}, {sevenJButton,
        eightJButton, nineJButton}, {sevenJButton, fiveJButton, threeJButton}};
        String buttonPressed = pressedButton;
        //loops and determines if any of the possible winning combinations have been
        //met for X and displays output accordingly
        for(JButton[] row : winningCombos){
            for(JButton button : row){
                if(button.getText().equals(buttonPressed)){
                    gameWon = true;
                else{
                    gameWon = false;
                    break;
            }//end inner for
            if(gameWon == true && isTemp == false){
                for(JButton button : row){
                    button.setBackground(Color.green);
                }//end inner for
                if(pressedButton.equals("X"))
                    outputJLabel.setText("Congratulations! Player 1 (\"X\") Wins!");
                else
                    outputJLabel.setText("Sorry, computer wins.");
                disableButtons();
                break;
            }//end if
            else{
                continue;//go to next outer loop and keep searching
        }//end outer for
    }//end method checkWinner
    private void setButtonText(JButton buttonPressed){
        if(isX == true){
            buttonPressed.setText("X");
            isX = false;
            checkWinner("X");
            outputJLabel.setText("Computer's turn");
            isTemp = true; //sets isTemp to true so that the test is temporary
            findOpen();//calls findOpen to start computer move
        //disable the button so it cannot be pressed again
        buttonPressed.setEnabled(false);
        //increment the turn count number
        turnCount++;
        if(turnCount == 9)
            outputJLabel.setText("Cats Game! You both are losers!");
    }//end method setText
    //the following 3 methods are for a computer move
     //find next open space
    private void findOpen(){
        //array of buttons
        JButton[] buttons = {oneJButton, twoJButton, threeJButton, fourJButton,
        fiveJButton, sixJButton, sevenJButton, eightJButton, nineJButton};
        //moves through array of buttons and looks for empty.  If empty,
        //it calls temporary select method.
        for (int count = 0; count < buttons.length; count++){
            if(buttons[count].getText().isEmpty())
                tempCheck(buttons[count]);
        }//end for loop
        //if gameWon is false, call findBestButton to find the best open spot
        if(gameWon == false){
            findBestButton();
    }//end method findOpen
    private void findBestButton(){
        //an multi-dimensional array of winning combinations
        JButton[][] winningCombos = {{oneJButton, twoJButton,
        threeJButton}, {oneJButton, fourJButton,
        sevenJButton}, {oneJButton, fiveJButton, nineJButton},
        {twoJButton, fiveJButton, eightJButton}, {threeJButton, sixJButton,
        nineJButton}, {fourJButton, fiveJButton, sixJButton}, {sevenJButton,
        eightJButton, nineJButton}, {sevenJButton, fiveJButton, threeJButton}};
        boolean placeO = false;
        int buttonCount = 0;
        for(JButton[] row : winningCombos){
            for(JButton button : row){
                if(button.getText().equals("O") || button.getText().equals("")){
                    placeO = true;
                else{
                    placeO = false;
                    buttonCount = 0;
                if(placeO == true){
                    ++buttonCount;
                else{
                    break;
                if(buttonCount == 3 && placeO == true){
                    button.setText("O");
            }//end inner for
            if(placeO == true){
                isX = true;
                break;
            else{
                continue;
        }//end outer for
    }//end method findBestButton
    //checks if temp move would win
    private void tempCheck(JButton tempButton){
        //temporarily assigns "O" to a square and checks if it wins
        tempButton.setText("O");
        checkWinner("O");
        if(gameWon == true){//if it wins then set temp to false and call
            isTemp = false;//checkWinner();
            checkWinner("0");
        else{
            tempButton.setText("");//else, set buttonText to empty
        }//end if
        if(gameWon == false){//if gameWon is false, check if "X" would win
            tempButton.setText("X");
            isTemp = true;
            checkWinner("X");
            if(gameWon == true){//if x is going to win,
                tempButton.setText("O");//block the player from winning
            else{
                tempButton.setText("X");
    }//end method tempCheck()
}

Answer 1

touandcim wrote:
I click to make "X"'s (the player's move). X appears but O never does, although a button is highlighted. If I keep pressing the buttons, all X's appear until the last move, when an "O" appears.I don't know if it's the problem, but
checkWinner("0");looks suspicious. (2nd invocation in your tempCheck() method).
Your program seems awfully brittle. How would you do it if you had a 4 x 4 board? Or 5 x 5?
Also, your 'winningCombos' array is repeated everywhere it's used. There's no need for that; just make it an instance variable/constant.
Winston