Thread: Logic error while programming a quizzer whic hquizzes people on Scrabble three letter words

Hey Jchang504,

I compiled and run the above code which generates a popup box, but as soon as I click Continue, it falls over and dies

Exception in thread "main" java.io.FileNotFoundException: TWL_Dic_3.txt (The system cannot find the file specified)

What is the content of TWL_Dic_3.txt?

Hey Jchang504.

I have downloaded the wordlist and compiled the program.

It all seems to be working fine for me. I am a bit unsure as to what the problem is?

Could you please give me an example of the problem?

I made my own TWL_Dic_3.txt file with only 5, 3 letter words in it but it is giving me combinations which are not in the list.

I can see the application generating combinations, so why is the word list needed?

Originally Posted by Jchang504

You see, the program itself generates random word combinations. The text file contains all the valid three letter words that are acceptable in Scrabble. The text file is used to check the random word combination to see if it's a word. The user is supposed to guess whether it is a word or not and then the program checks and displays the results. However, the program seems to get stuck on a decision about a word (whether it's good or phony) and then say that all the words that are subsequently displayed are good or phony depending upon the first word's status, regardless of what the actual dictionary contains.

Hello Jchang504.

Thank you, I fully understand this application now. I will take a look at it as soon as possible and try to offer a solution.

Hello,

I have fixed the problem. The program seems to be working as expected now after I made some changes.

You can see the changes I made in bold. Please give this code a try and let me know if it works

import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import java.util.Random;
import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.IOException;
[B]import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.io.FileInputStream;[/B]
 
public class Quizzer3
{
 
   [B] public static String testWord;[/B]
 
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException
   {
   boolean mainEnd = false;
   Object[] options = {"Continue", "Quit"};
   while(!mainEnd)
   {
   int userOption = JOptionPane.showOptionDialog(null, "Welcome to Quizzer3! This program was designed to test your knowledge of official three letter Scrabble words.\nPress continue to proceed to the Quizzer.", "Quizzer3", JOptionPane.YES_NO_OPTION, JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE, null, options, options[0]);
   if(userOption == JOptionPane.NO_OPTION)
      {
      int userReply = JOptionPane.showConfirmDialog(null, "Are you sure you want to exit?", "Quit Quizzer3", JOptionPane.YES_NO_OPTION, JOptionPane.WARNING_MESSAGE);
      if(userReply == JOptionPane.YES_OPTION)
         {
         mainEnd = true;
         System.exit(0);
         }
      }
   if(userOption == JOptionPane.YES_OPTION)
      {
      boolean quizEnd = false;
      Random generator = new Random();
      char[] vowels = {'A', 'E', 'I', 'O', 'U', 'Y'};
      char[] consonants = {'B', 'C', 'D', 'F', 'G', 'H', 'J', 'K', 'L', 'M', 'N', 'P', 'Q', 'R', 'S', 'T', 'V', 'W', 'X', 'Y', 'Z'};
      char[] letters = {'n', 'n', 'n'};
      Object[] choices = {"It's good.", "It's phony!"};
      boolean good = false;
 
      while(!quizEnd)
         {
         int letterGroup = generator.nextInt(22);
         if(letterGroup < 6)
         {
         letters[0] = 'c';
         letters[1] = 'v';
         letters[2] = 'c';
         }
         if(letterGroup > 5 && letterGroup < 10)
         {
         letters[0] = 'v';
         letters[1] = 'c';
         letters[2] = 'v';
         }
         if(letterGroup > 9 && letterGroup < 13)
         {
         letters[0] = 'v';
         letters[1] = 'v';
         letters[2] = 'c';
         }
         if(letterGroup > 12 && letterGroup < 16)
         {
         letters[0] = 'c';
         letters[1] = 'v';
         letters[2] = 'v';
         }
         if(letterGroup > 15 && letterGroup < 18)
         {
         letters[0] = 'c';
         letters[1] = 'c';
         letters[2] = 'v';
         }
         if(letterGroup > 17 && letterGroup < 20)
         {
         letters[0] = 'v';
         letters[1] = 'c';
         letters[2] = 'c';
         }
         if(letterGroup == 20)
         {
         letters[0] = 'v';
         letters[1] = 'v';
         letters[2] = 'v';
         }
         if(letterGroup == 21)
         {
         letters[0] = 'c';
         letters[1] = 'c';
         letters[2] = 'c';
         }
         if(letters[0] == 'c')
         letters[0] = consonants[generator.nextInt(21)];
         else if(letters[0] == 'v')
         letters[0] = vowels[generator.nextInt(6)];
         if(letters[1] == 'c')
         letters[1] = consonants[generator.nextInt(21)];
         else if(letters[1] == 'v')
         letters[1] = vowels[generator.nextInt(6)];
         if(letters[2] == 'c')
         letters[2] = consonants[generator.nextInt(21)];
         else if(letters[2] == 'v')
         letters[2] = vowels[generator.nextInt(6)];
         String word = new String(letters);
         int userChoice = JOptionPane.showOptionDialog(null, "Is this a word?\n" + word, "Is " + word + " a word?", JOptionPane.YES_NO_OPTION, JOptionPane.QUESTION_MESSAGE, null, choices, choices[1]);
 
         if(userChoice == JOptionPane.CLOSED_OPTION)
            {
            quizEnd = true;
            }
 
         //Word checking here
[B]         try
         {
             FileInputStream fr = new FileInputStream("TWL_Dic_3.txt");
             BufferedReader readWord = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(fr));
         String strLine;
 
         while((strLine = readWord.readLine())!= null)
         {
          //System.out.println(strLine);
          testWord = strLine;
          if(testWord.startsWith(word))
          {
          System.out.println(word + " FOUND IN FILE!");
          good = true;
          break;
          }else
          //System.out.println("NOT FOUND IN FILE");
          good = false;
         }
 
         }catch(Exception e){
          System.out.println(e);
         }[/B]
 
         //System.out.println(word);
 
         if(userChoice == JOptionPane.YES_OPTION && good == true)
         JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Correct!\nYES, " + word + " is a word.", "IS a word", JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);
         if(userChoice == JOptionPane.YES_OPTION && good == false)
         JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Wrong!\nNO, " + word + " is not a word.", "NOT a word", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
         if(userChoice == JOptionPane.NO_OPTION && good == false)
         JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Correct!\nNO, " + word + " is not a word.", "NOT a word", JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);
         if(userChoice == JOptionPane.NO_OPTION && good == true)
         JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Wrong!\nYES, " + word + " is a word.", "IS a word", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
         }
      }
   }
   }
}

Originally Posted by Jchang504

Thank you so much for the help! I don't fully understand try blocks and stuff yet, so I'm not exactly sure what all this means, but as long as it works, I'm fine with it.

try/catch blocks are for catching errors. Some java classes require you to catch the errors before you can sussesfully compile the code. This is also known as error handling.

Everything you need to know about try/catch & error handling here:

The try Block (The Java™ Tutorials > Essential Classes > Exceptions)

However, in this example I didn't need to use a try/catch block because you are already throwing the exceptions (IOException) in the main method.
This is the lazy mans try/catch effectively.

Originally Posted by Jchang504

Also, is the statement System.out.println(e); necessary?

When you read about error handling you will see what this is for. This basically allows you to print any errors to the console.

Originally Posted by Jchang504

I am thinking of adding a definition feature to the program, so if I want to get the definition, (which follows each word in the same line) I could just add:

good = true;
[B]def = testWord.substring(4);[/B]
break;

Then I will display the definition on the results screen. Does that seem like it will work?

Yes that will work perfectly.

Here is the updated code with the definition feature:

import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import java.util.Random;
import java.io.FileReader;
import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
 
 
public class Quizzer3
{
 
    public static String testWord;
    [B]public static String def;[/B]
 
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException
   {
   boolean mainEnd = false;
   Object[] options = {"Continue", "Quit"};
   while(!mainEnd)
   {
   int userOption = JOptionPane.showOptionDialog(null, "Welcome to Quizzer3! This program was designed to test your knowledge of official three letter Scrabble words.\nPress continue to proceed to the Quizzer.", "Quizzer3", JOptionPane.YES_NO_OPTION, JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE, null, options, options[0]);
   if(userOption == JOptionPane.NO_OPTION)
      {
      int userReply = JOptionPane.showConfirmDialog(null, "Are you sure you want to exit?", "Quit Quizzer3", JOptionPane.YES_NO_OPTION, JOptionPane.WARNING_MESSAGE);
      if(userReply == JOptionPane.YES_OPTION)
         {
         mainEnd = true;
         System.exit(0);
         }
      }
   if(userOption == JOptionPane.YES_OPTION)
      {
      boolean quizEnd = false;
      Random generator = new Random();
      char[] vowels = {'A', 'E', 'I', 'O', 'U', 'Y'};
      char[] consonants = {'B', 'C', 'D', 'F', 'G', 'H', 'J', 'K', 'L', 'M', 'N', 'P', 'Q', 'R', 'S', 'T', 'V', 'W', 'X', 'Y', 'Z'};
      char[] letters = {'n', 'n', 'n'};
      Object[] choices = {"It's good.", "It's phony!"};
      boolean good = false;
 
      while(!quizEnd)
         {
         int letterGroup = generator.nextInt(22);
         if(letterGroup < 6)
         {
         letters[0] = 'c';
         letters[1] = 'v';
         letters[2] = 'c';
         }
         if(letterGroup > 5 && letterGroup < 10)
         {
         letters[0] = 'v';
         letters[1] = 'c';
         letters[2] = 'v';
         }
         if(letterGroup > 9 && letterGroup < 13)
         {
         letters[0] = 'v';
         letters[1] = 'v';
         letters[2] = 'c';
         }
         if(letterGroup > 12 && letterGroup < 16)
         {
         letters[0] = 'c';
         letters[1] = 'v';
         letters[2] = 'v';
         }
         if(letterGroup > 15 && letterGroup < 18)
         {
         letters[0] = 'c';
         letters[1] = 'c';
         letters[2] = 'v';
         }
         if(letterGroup > 17 && letterGroup < 20)
         {
         letters[0] = 'v';
         letters[1] = 'c';
         letters[2] = 'c';
         }
         if(letterGroup == 20)
         {
         letters[0] = 'v';
         letters[1] = 'v';
         letters[2] = 'v';
         }
         if(letterGroup == 21)
         {
         letters[0] = 'c';
         letters[1] = 'c';
         letters[2] = 'c';
         }
         if(letters[0] == 'c')
         letters[0] = consonants[generator.nextInt(21)];
         else if(letters[0] == 'v')
         letters[0] = vowels[generator.nextInt(6)];
         if(letters[1] == 'c')
         letters[1] = consonants[generator.nextInt(21)];
         else if(letters[1] == 'v')
         letters[1] = vowels[generator.nextInt(6)];
         if(letters[2] == 'c')
         letters[2] = consonants[generator.nextInt(21)];
         else if(letters[2] == 'v')
         letters[2] = vowels[generator.nextInt(6)];
         String word = new String(letters);
         int userChoice = JOptionPane.showOptionDialog(null, "Is this a word?\n" + word, "Is " + word + " a word?", JOptionPane.YES_NO_OPTION, JOptionPane.QUESTION_MESSAGE, null, choices, choices[1]);
 
         if(userChoice == JOptionPane.CLOSED_OPTION)
            {
            quizEnd = true;
            }
 
         //Word checking here
         try
         {
             FileInputStream fr = new FileInputStream("TWL_Dic_3.txt");
             BufferedReader readWord = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(fr));
         String strLine;
 
         while((strLine = readWord.readLine())!= null)
         {
          //System.out.println(strLine);
          testWord = strLine;
          if(testWord.startsWith(word))
          {
          System.out.println(word + " FOUND IN FILE!");
          good = true;
          [B]def = testWord.substring(4);
          System.out.println(def);[/B]
          break;
          }else
          //System.out.println("NOT FOUND IN FILE");
          good = false;
         }
 
         }catch(Exception e){
          System.out.println(e);
         }
 
         //System.out.println(word);
 
         if(userChoice == JOptionPane.YES_OPTION && good == true)
         JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Correct!\nYES, " + word + " is a word.", "IS a word", JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);
         if(userChoice == JOptionPane.YES_OPTION && good == false)
         JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Wrong!\nNO, " + word + " is not a word.", "NOT a word", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
         if(userChoice == JOptionPane.NO_OPTION && good == false)
         JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Correct!\nNO, " + word + " is not a word.", "NOT a word", JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);
         if(userChoice == JOptionPane.NO_OPTION && good == true)
         JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Wrong!\nYES, " + word + " is a word.", "IS a word", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
         }
      }
   }
   }
}

Originally Posted by Jchang504

What I meant when I asked if the command to print the error was necessary was, will omitting it impair the program's function in any way? My understanding is that this command is used to display the cause of the error so that the programmer can understand it/troubleshoot the problem. I am going to package this application to a .jar file, so what would happen to this command which displays the message in command prompt if I executed the .jar file? Would it automatically open up a command prompt window to display the message? If it won't cause any problems with the .jar file, then I will be glad to leave it in and just package the application with the current code.

You do not have to put anything in the catch block if you don't want to. This will not effect the running of the application. Like you say, the System.out.println(e); is so the programmer can see a better description of the problem when an error occurs.

Will you be running the .jar through a command prompt? As far as im aware, the String will be printed to the console in the original command window. It won't cause any problems.

You could easily edit that code so the description is included in the popup box. I think that would be better use of the description function. I had it printing to the console as an example...

So you just want to get a line randomly from the text file? What is this for?

I have put this quick example together. It will randomly grab a line from your wordlist and print to the console.

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.util.*;
 
public class RandomLine {
 
    public static int numberOfLines;
    public static String randomLine;
 
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
 
        Random random = new Random();
 
        FileInputStream fr = new FileInputStream("TWL_Dic_3.txt");
        BufferedReader readWord = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(fr));
        String strLine;
 
        // Tells us how many lines are in the file.
        while ((strLine = readWord.readLine()) != null) {
            numberOfLines++;
        }
 
        //Generate random number upto the numberOfLines value
        int myRand = random.nextInt(numberOfLines);
 
        FileInputStream fr2 = new FileInputStream("TWL_Dic_3.txt");
        BufferedReader readWord2 = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(fr2));
        String strLine2 = "";
 
        //Loop through to the random line number
        for(int a = 0; a < myRand; a++){
            randomLine = readWord2.readLine();
        }
 
        //System.out.println(numberOfLines);
        //System.out.println(myRand);
        System.out.println("Random Word: " + randomLine);
    }
 
}

I am now away over the Easter Holidays but I will try to reply whenever possible.

Best of luck.

Originally Posted by Jchang504

Thanks, this is an enormous help. I could just run this program once, removing "//" from the print statements, and then i would know how many lines there are and I wouldn't need the first half or so of the program, I could just use the preset number (which doesn't change) for the random generator, correct?

I think you would need to incorporate most of that code. See what you can do and post your updated code if you get stuck..

Hey Jchang504,

Did you manage to incorporate the new code OK?

Originally Posted by Jchang504

Actually, by editing the ratio of the word patterns (ex. Consonant-Vowel-Consonant, Vowel-Consonant-Vowel, etc.) I was able to improve the ratio of valid words to above 50%, so I didn't think it was necessary to incorporate the random word-pulling from the list. However, that code I'm sure will come in handy with my next project that I'm working on. Thanks.

Brilliant. I am glad you found another solution.