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My trouble is coming from trying to record which array is being chosen. As in, if I have an array of 5 elements, recording that the 3rd element is being chosen. To put into context, I have 2 different arrays each with 10 elements; one array is made up of integers (called money), and the other is an array of JButtons.

public class Game extends JFrame {

JPanel cases = new JPanel(new GridLayout(2, 5)); //Section containing game cases
JButton[] caseButton = new JButton[10];                                   // Declaration of the
String gameCase[] = {"1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9", "10"};  //    case buttons
int[] money = {1, 2, 5, 10, 100, 1000, 5000, 10000, 20000, 30000}; //money values
}

public void StartGame() {
    Shuffle(money); //Shuffle the money
    //Initialising case buttons
    for (int i = 0; i < caseButton.length; i++) {
        caseButton[i] = new JButton(gameCase[i]);
        cases.add(caseButton[i]);
        caseButton[i].setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100, 100));
        caseButton[i].setFont(new Font("Dialog", Font.BOLD, 35));
        caseButton[i].setForeground(new Color(255, 215, 0));
        caseButton[i].setActionCommand(gameCase[i]);
    }

The Money array is being shuffled at the start of the program to allow for a different order on each run. What I want to know is when one of these JButtons is selected, how can I record which Array element was selected? So I can then do stuff with the corresponding money array. (Eg, the 7th JButton is chosen, I want to then change the text of the JButton to the number held in the 7th money array.) Help would be greatly appreciated. This is due next week and there's still so much more that needs to be done.

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  • You need to show more of your code and setup. In the current state the question is just too broad. It can not be answered without a back and forth discussion of how your project is structured and how exactly a solution needs to look like. Commented Aug 21, 2018 at 0:26
  • How do you even determine that a button was selected at all? Do you have some event listener? Do you have one or one per button? Do the buttons know their index? Does the listener know the index? Why isn't every button associated with a different action? The action corresponding to its index. Commented Aug 21, 2018 at 0:28
  • Added more of the code. Sorry about that. There is an event listener later on, but It has nothing in it atm (or at least nothing that works) because I don't know what to put in it that will give the desired result. Also, what do you mean by whether the button/listener knowing the index? What would that do, and how could I set it up? Commented Aug 21, 2018 at 0:44
  • Well, typically you associate an action with each button. And you have a listener responding to the event when some is selected. Either you have one listener which triggers for all buttons or you have a listener per button. The latter solution knows its corresponding button and can trigger the corresponding action. The first solution needs to iterate the buttons and check which is selected. And then use the appropriate action based on the selected button. A general tutorial is probably more helpful than StackOverflow. Commented Aug 21, 2018 at 0:47
  • I have the first listener. It'll activate for all buttons (as the only buttons that window contains is the array). What you've said though is basically what I need. Knowing which button is being selected in a way that allows me to perform a corresponding action in the money array. Commented Aug 21, 2018 at 0:50

2 Answers 2

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I would recommend creating a custom button class that holds the index of the corresponding value in the money array. For example:

public class MyButton extends JButton {
    private int moneyIndex;

    public MyButton(String text, int moneyIndex){
        super(text);
        this.moneyIndex = monexIndex;
    }

    public int getMoneyIndex(){
        return moneyIndex;
    }
}

Then, you can create a button in the same way you did before, but pass it the money index:

for (int i = 0; i < caseButton.length; i++) {
    // I suspect you want the moneyIndex to match the index of the button
    caseButton[i] = new MyButton("?", i);

    cases.add(caseButton[i]);

    // These can be moved to the custom button class if all MyButtons have these customizations
    caseButton[i].setPreferredSize(new Dimension(100, 100));
    caseButton[i].setFont(new Font("Dialog", Font.BOLD, 35));
    caseButton[i].setForeground(new Color(255, 215, 0));

    // Set this class as the action listener
    caseButton[i].setActionListener(this);
}

Then, in your action listener (I assume your main class already extends ActionListener), you can access the moneyIndex variable:

public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
    // Get the source of the click as a MyButton
    MyButton source = (MyButton) e.getSource();

    // Get the moneyIndex of the source button
    int moneyIndex = source.getMoneyIndex();

    // Update the button's text according to the moneyIndex
    source.setText(Integer.toString(money[moneyIndex]));
}

This approach has the advantage that the index is stored by the button, so you don't need to search through all the buttons to check which has been pressed. This is more important as the number of buttons you have increases, but it's something to think about at any size.

Additionally, this method will make your life easier when this project gets more complicated, as each button can store information that is specific to it without a need for a bunch of arrays or action commands.

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Alternative to the custom button class solution, you can keep the buttons in a map, with their indexes and on the action handler, get the index based on the source:

Map<JButton, Integer> caseButtons = new HashMap<>(10);
for(int i=0; i<10; i++) {
    JButton button = ...
    // all the other setup goes here
    caseButtons.put(button, i);
}
...

public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
    // Get the source of the click as a MyButton
    JButton source = (JButton) e.getSource();
    int index = caseButtons.get(source);
    ...
}
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1 Comment

Trying to use this solution. Both the button setup and action performed is in a public void. However in the actionPerformed it can't find caseButtons in 'int index = caseButtons.get(source);'

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