Thread: Noobie in need of serious help

Hello Everyone,
I am trying to finish up my final assignment which is due in a few days and am confused on why the code I have is acting the way it is.

This is a list of variables I have initialized at the top of the class.

    // variables used in saving game
    String UserDogCount;
    String UserWolfCount;
    int playerMoveCount;
    int totalPoints;
    int points;
    int level;

This code is ONLY part of a method, which works perfectly,

        // for debugging ONLY
        System.out.println("Current Level # = " + level);
        System.out.println("Level Points = " + points);
        System.out.println("Total Points = " + totalPoints);
        System.out.println("Wolf's Found = " + userWolfCount);
        System.out.println("Sheep's Found = " + (level - 1));
        System.out.println("Dog's Found = " + userDogCount);
        System.out.println("Total # of moves = " + playerMoveCount);
        System.out.println();         
    } // end of newGrid method

all variables above keeps perfect track of their values with no issues, I need to save the above variables to a CSV file, which I have written and it kind of works. Saves all values, except all values get recorded as '0'.

So I create a temporary method for debugging purposes, you will notice that they are identical.

        public void resume(){  
 
        System.out.println("\n***************************************");
        System.out.println("Current Level # = " + level);
        System.out.println("Level Points = " + points);
        System.out.println("Total Points = " + totalPoints);
        System.out.println("Wolf's Found = " + userWolfCount);
        System.out.println("Sheep's Found = " + (level - 1));
        System.out.println("Dog's Found = " + userDogCount);
        System.out.println("Total # of moves = " + playerMoveCount);
        System.out.println("***************************************\n"); 
    }

The above is in the exact same class as the top code, but yet when I call the second code, (via a button on my GUI console), all values show as '0'.
I can not figure out why the variables are able to keep track in one method but not in the other.

Here is a representation of what my screen looks like.

 

   1  2  3  4  5

1 *  S  *  *  *  

2 *  *  *  D  *  

3 *  *  *  *  *  

4 *  *  *  *  *  

5 *  *  *  W  *  

Current Level # = 1

Level Points = 25

Total Points = 136

Wolf's Found = 1

Sheep's Found = 3

Dog's Found = 1

Total # of moves = 35





***************************************

Current Level # = 0

Level Points = 0

Total Points = 0

Wolf's Found = 0

Sheep's Found = -1

Dog's Found = 0

Total # of moves = 0

***************************************







BUILD SUCCESSFUL (total time: 1 minute 23 seconds)

Can someone explain to me why this is happening. I've been working on this assignment for 10-12 hours a day, for the last 8 days. Not sure if my mind is fried, or if I am just too tired to see the error.
Please help.

Hi Norm, to post all the code would be a lot. There are 6 different classes working together, along with fxml class.
I went through the entire class, line by line. Cannot, see them competing with another instance of itself.
I'll go though it again, maybe I missed something. I'll get back with what I find (if anything).

--- Update ---

Hi Norm,
Here's something that just confused me more, if I add one line to the first method

 
        // for debugging ONLY
        System.out.println("Current Level # = " + level);
        System.out.println("Level Points = " + points);
        System.out.println("Total Points = " + totalPoints);
        System.out.println("Wolf's Found = " + userWolfCount);
        System.out.println("Sheep's Found = " + (level - 1));
        System.out.println("Dog's Found = " + userDogCount);
        System.out.println("Total # of moves = " + playerMoveCount);
        System.out.println();
 
        resume(); // NEW LINE ADDED
    } // end of newGrid method

then the second method's values work, however when the second method is called independently, it displays zero's.

I'm wondering if somewhere, I screwed up and when the variables are assigned a value, they are not saved globally (even though I have instantiated them at the beginning of the class), so they can be retrieved by another method.

public class SheepHerder {
    // creates new instances
    GameSetUp newLevel = new GameSetUp();
    StringBuilder moves = new StringBuilder();   
 
    //initializing points system
    int points;
    int totalPoints;
 
    // variables used in saving game
    String status; // is the game ended or pending   
    int playerMoveCount; // tracks the number of moves the player makes      
    int userWolfCount; // number of wolves found    
    int level; // current level number

Here is what my screen looks like now,

 

  1  2  3  4  5

1 *  *  *  *  *  

2 *  *  *  *  *  

3 S  *  *  *  *  

4 *  HD *  *  *  

5 *  *  *  *  *  

Current Level # = 2

Level Points = 33

Total Points = 48

Wolf's Found = 1

Sheep's Found = 1

Dog's Found = 1

Total # of moves = 4





***************************************

Current Level # = 2

Level Points = 33

Total Points = 48

Wolf's Found = 1

Sheep's Found = 1

Dog's Found = 1

Total # of moves = 4

***************************************





***************************************

Current Level # = 0

Level Points = 0

Total Points = 0

Wolf's Found = 0

Sheep's Found = -1

Dog's Found = 0

Total # of moves = 0

***************************************

The bottom set of values show the variables values when that method ( 'resume()' ) is called independently.

Does this make any sense to you.

Hi Norm,
I do believe you are correct, I did the print statement in the constructor and found out and realized I have 2 classes instantiating that same class.
I can pretty much guarantee that is were the issue is coming from, I am now working on how to figure out the easiest way to fix this. I may have to join the code from two classes into one, eliminating the second instantiation.

Thanks Norm, your a genius, appreciate you time as always. Not sure if this will work, but I'll give it a go.

Hi Norm,
Once again you hit the nail right on the head. Once I removed the second instance call, things fell right into place.
Please accept my thanks for pointing me in the right direction.