I need help with my hangman project

Question

I'm working on a project where we are developing a text based version of the game hangman. For every project we add a new piece to the game. Well for my project i have to test for a loser and winner for the game and take away a piece of the game when the user guesses incorrectly. these are the instrcutions given by my professor:
This semester we will develop a text based version of the Game Hangman. In each project we will add a new a piece to the game. In project 4 you will declare the 'figure', 'disp', and 'soln' arrays to be attributes of the class P4. However do not create the space for the arrays until main (declaration and creation on separate lines). If the user enters an incorrect guess, remove a piece of the figure, starting with the right leg (looking at the figure on the screen, the backslash is the right leg) and following this order: the left leg (forward slash), the right arm (the dash or minus sign), the left arm (the dash or minus sign), the body (vertical bar), and finally the head (capital O).
Not only will you need to check for a winner, but now you will also check to see if all the parts of the figure have been removed, checking to see if the user has lost. If the user has lost, print an error message and end the program. You are required to complete the following operations using for loops:
intializing appropriate (possible) variables, testing to see if the user has guessed the correct solution, testing to see if the user has guessed a correct letter in the solution, and determining / removing the next appropriate part of the figure. All other parts of the program will work as before.
Declare figure, disp, and soln arrays as attributes of the class
Creation of the arrays will remain inside of main
Delete figure parts
Check for loss (all parts removed)
Implement for loops
Init of appropriate arrays
Test for winner
Test if guess is part of the solution
Removal of correct position from figure
Output must be
C:\jdk1.3.1\bin>java P3
|
|
O
-|-
Enter a letter: t
|
|
O
-|-
t _ _ t
Enter a letter: a
|
|
O
-|-
t _ _ t
Enter a letter: e
|
|
O
-|-
t e _ t
Enter a letter: l
|
|
O
-|-
t e _ t
Enter a letter: s
|
|
O
-|-
t e s t
YOU WIN!
C:\jdk1.3.1\bin>java P3
Pete Dobbins
Period 5, 7, & 8
|
|
O
-|-
Enter a letter: a
|
|
O
-|-
Enter a letter: b
|
|
O
-|-
Enter a letter: c
|
|
O
-|
Enter a letter: d
|
|
O
|
Enter a letter: e
|
|
O
|
_ e _ _
Enter a letter: f
|
|
O
_ e _ _
Enter a letter: g
|
|
_ e _ _
YOU LOSE!
Well i have worked on this and come up with this so far and am having great dificulty as to i am struggling with this class. the beginning is just what i was suppose to comment out. We are suppose to jave for loops for anything that can be put into a for loop also.
/* Anita Desai
Period 5
P4 description:
1.Declare figure, disp, and soln arrays as attributes of the class
2.Creation of the arrays will remain inside of main
3.Delete figure parts
4.Check for loss (all parts removed)
5.Implement for loops
A.Init of appropriate arrays
B.Test for winner
C.Test if guess is part of the solution
D.Removal of correct position from figure
//bringing the java Input / Output package
import java.io.*;
//declaring the program's class name
class P4
//declaring arrays as attributes of the class
public static char figure[];
public static char disp[];
public static char soln[];
// declaring the main method within the class P4
public static void main(String[] args)
//print out name and period
System.out.println("Anita Desai");
System.out.println("Period 5");
//creating the arrays
figure = new char[6];
soln = new char[4];
disp = new char[4];
figure[0] = 'O';
figure[1] = '-';
figure[2] = '|';
figure[3] = '-';
figure[4] = '<';
figure[5] = '>';
soln[0] = 't';
soln[1] = 'e';
soln[2] = 's';
soln[3] = 't';
//for loop for disp variables
int i;
for(i=0;i<4;i++)
disp='_';
//Using a while loop to control program flow
while(true)
//drawing the board again!
System.out.println("-----------");
System.out.println(" |");
System.out.println(" |");
System.out.println(" " + figure[0]);
System.out.println(" " + figure[1] + figure[2] + figure[3]);
System.out.println(" " + figure[4] + " " + figure[5]);
System.out.println("\n " + disp[0] + " " + disp[1] + " " + disp[2] + " " + disp[3]);
//getting input
System.out.print("Enter a letter: ");
//declaring a string variable
String data = " ";
// call the readString method
data = readString();
//retrieves the character at position zero
char temp;
temp=data.charAt(0);
int h;
for(h=0;h<4;h++)
if(temp==soln[h])
disp[h]=soln[h];
return;
if(disp[h]==soln[h])
System.out.println("You Win");
else
for(h=0;h<6;h++)
if(temp!=soln[h])
figure[h] = ' ';
return;
if(disp[h]!=soln[h])
System.out.println("You Lose");
///Test if statements to replace user input with soln if correct
int j;
for(j=0;j<4;j++)
if(temp==soln[j])
disp[j]=soln[j];
//declared the readString method, we specified that it would
//be returning a string
public static String readString()
//make connection to the command line
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
//declaring a string variable
String s = " ";
//try to do something that might cause an error
try
//reading in a line from the user
s = br.readLine();
catch(IOException ex)
//if the error occurs, we will handle it in a special way
//give back to the place that called us
//the string we read in
return s;
If anyone cann please help me i would greatly appreciate it. I have an exam coming up on wednesday also so i really need to understand this material and see where my mistakes are. If anyoone knows how to delete the parts of the hangman figure one by one each time user guessesincorrectly i would appreciate it greatly. Any other help in solving this program would be great help. thanks.

Answer 1

Hi thanks for responding. Well to answer some of your questions. The professors instructions are the first 2 paragraphs of my post up until the ende of the output which is You lose!. I have to have the same output as the professor stated which is testing for a winner and loser. Yes the program under the output is what i have written so far. This is the 3rd project and in each we add a little piece to the game. I have no errors when i run the program my problem is when it runs it just prints the hangman figure, disp and then asks user ot enter a letter. Well once i enter a letter it just prints that letter to the screen and the prgram ends.
As far as the removal of the parts. the solution is TEST. When the user enters a letter lets say Tthen the figure should display again with the disp and filled in solution with T. Then ask for a letter again till user has won and TEST has been guessed correctly. Well then we have to test for a loser. So lets the user enters a R, well then the right leg of the hangman figure should be blank indicating a D the other leg will be blank until the parts are removed and then You lose will be printed to the screen.
For the program i am suppose to use a FOR LOOPto test for a winner, to remove the parts one at a time, and to see if the parts have been removed if the user guesses incorrectly.
so as u can see in what i have come up with so far i have done this to test for a winner and loser:
//declaring a string variable
String data = " ";
// call the readString method
data = readString();
//retrieves the character at position zero
char temp;
temp=data.charAt(0);
int h;
for(h=0;h<4;h++)
if(temp==soln[h])
disp[h]=soln[h];
return;
if(disp[h]==soln[h])
System.out.println("You Win");
else
for(h=0;h<6;h++)
if(temp!=soln[h])
figure[h] = ' ';
return;
if(disp[h]!=soln[h])
System.out.println("You Lose");
Obviously i have not writtern the for loops to do what is been asked to have the proper output. the first for loop i am trying to say if the user input is equal to the soln thencontinue till all 4 disp are guessed correctly and if all the disp=soln then the scrren prints you win.
then for the incorrect guesses i figured if the user input does not equal the soln then to leave a blank for the right leg and so on so i have a blank space for the figure as stated
:for(h=0;h<6;h++)
if(temp!=soln[h])
figure[h] = ' ';
well this doesnt work and im not getting the output i wanted and am very confused about what to do. I tried reading my book and have been trying to figure this out all night but i am unable to. I'm going to try for another hr then head to bed lol its 4am. thanks for your help. Sorry about posting in two different message boards. I wont' do it again. thanks again, anita