Thread: Error: Invalid method declaration; return type required. Related to JFrames.

Hello -

I am currently practicing on developing a small game where you have to guess a number from 1 to 10, with three attempts allowed. The game will tell you if the secret number is lower or greater than your guess. I have already done it with user's keyboard input; now I want to do it using only the mouse.

My problem is that I'm missing something, and I believe it's somethng simple, but I still can't find it. Here's the code:

/*
 * Filename: GTNB.java
 * Created:  10-24-2012 by MH
 *
 * Purpose:  Conversion of Guess The Number game to button input.
*/
 
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.util.Random;
 
public class GTNB extends JFrame
{
 
   // set frame size
   private static final int WIDTH = 500;
   private static final int HEIGHT = 175;
 
   // declare component objects
   private JLabel labelB;
   private JButton j1B, j2B, j3B, j4B, j5B, j6B, j7B, j8B, j9B, j10B, jYB, jNB;
 
   // declare reference variables for event handlers
   private button1Handler  j1BHandler;
   private button2Handler  j2BHandler;
   private button3Handler  j3BHandler;
   private button4Handler  j4BHandler;
   private button5Handler  j5BHandler;
   private button6Handler  j6BHandler;
   private button7Handler  j7BHandler;
   private button8Handler  j8BHandler;
   private button9Handler  j9BHandler;
   private button10Handler j10BHandler;
   private buttonYHandler  jYBHandler;
   private buttonNHandler  jNBHandler;
 
   //frame constructor
   public GuessTheNumberButton()
   {
 
      // frame properties
      JFrame frame = new JFrame();
      setTitle("Guess The Number");
      setSize( WIDTH, HEIGHT );
      Container pane = getContentPane();  // JFrame method
 
      // create panel A
      JPanel panelA = new JPanel();
      // create panel B
      JPanel panelB = new JPanel();
 
      // instantiate panel A buttons
      JButton j1B = new JButton("1");
      JButton j2B = new JButton("2");
      JButton j3B = new JButton("3");
      JButton j4B = new JButton("4");
      JButton j5B = new JButton("5");
      JButton j6B = new JButton("6");
      JButton j7B = new JButton("7");
      JButton j8B = new JButton("8");
      JButton j9B = new JButton("9");
      JButton j10B = new JButton("10");
 
      // instantiate panel B label
      JLabel labelB = new JLabel(" ");
 
      // instantiate panel B buttons
      JButton jYB = new JButton("Yes");
      JButton jNB = new JButton("No");
 
      // add panel A buttons
      panelA.add(j1B); 
      panelA.add(j2B);
      panelA.add(j3B);
      panelA.add(j4B);
      panelA.add(j5B);
      panelA.add(j6B);
      panelA.add(j7B);
      panelA.add(j8B); 
      panelA.add(j9B);
      panelA.add(j10B);
 
      // add panel B label
      panelB.add(labelB);
      // yes/no buttons to be added later
 
      return 0;
   }  // end method
 
   public static void main (Strings[] args)
   {
      JFrame aGuessTheNumberButton = new GuessTheNumberButton(); //GuessTheNumberButton();
      aGuessTheNumberButton.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
      aGuessTheNumberButton.getContentPane().add(BorderLayout.NORTH,panelA);
      aGuessTheNumberButton.setVisible(true);
   } // end main
 
} // end class

I haven't written the event handling yet; I'm just creating the frame at this moment. My problem is in line 38, the declaration of the method, where I get "Invalid method declaration; return type required". It can't be void, so what would it be then? Can someone provide a hint?

Thanks!

Is GuessTheNumberButton supposed to be a method, or the class name? If the former, you must specify what is to be returned (eg void, etc...). If the latter, the name must match the definition of the class it contains (eg here you have it named GTNB)

OK, I've gone back and cleaned up the code a bit, as it's been messy. Below is the code without references to event listeners or action handlers:

/*
 * Filename: GTNB.java
 * Created:  10-24-2012 by MH
 *
 * Purpose:  Conversion of Guess The Number game to button input.
*/
 
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.util.Random;
 
 
public class GTNB extends JFrame
{
 
   //frame constructor
   public GTNB()
   {
   // create top panel, to go on top border
   JPanel topPanel = new JPanel();
 
   // instantiate panel A buttons - components
   JButton j1B = new JButton("1");
   JButton j2B = new JButton("2");
   JButton j3B = new JButton("3");
   JButton j4B = new JButton("4");
   JButton j5B = new JButton("5");
   JButton j6B = new JButton("6");
   JButton j7B = new JButton("7");
   JButton j8B = new JButton("8");
   JButton j9B = new JButton("9");
   JButton j10B = new JButton("10");
 
   // add panel A buttons
   topPanel.add(j1B); 
   topPanel.add(j2B);
   topPanel.add(j3B);
   topPanel.add(j4B);
   topPanel.add(j5B);
   topPanel.add(j6B);
   topPanel.add(j7B);
   topPanel.add(j8B); 
   topPanel.add(j9B);
   topPanel.add(j10B);
 
   // create frame in which panels will be placed
   JFrame frameBig = new JFrame();
   frameBig.add(topPanel); //, BorderLayout.NORTH);
   }
 
   public static void main (String[] args)
   {
      JFrame window = new GTNB();
      window.setSize(500,175);
      window.setTitle("Test");
      window.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
      window.getContentPane().add(BorderLayout.NORTH,topPanel);
      window.setVisible(true);
   } // end main
 
} // end class

The error is now the following: on line 57, error: cannot find symbol. The symbol is topPanel. I want the window to use the Border layout, so in NORTH I can have the 10 buttons and on SOUTH I can have labels.

Do I have to declare topPanel somewhere? If so, where and how? And why (I'm making reference to it in main, but should have declared it elsewhere)?

Thanks!