I have requirements in a project to generate sequential rows and columns which are alphanumeric values.
The end user will pass the start value of row and column he would like to start from, and how many rows and columns he wants to generate.
For letters the max value is Z
For numbers the max values is 9
If the end user passed these parameters:
StartRow = 0A
StartColumn = A9Z
rowsCount = 2
columnsCount = 5
I would like to get this result:
You might want to reconsider your approach. Rather than maintaining an alphanumeric value and trying to increment it, maintain the value as a class containing Row and Column values, and then use ToString to convert it to the alphanumeric representation. Like this:
class RowCol
{
private int _row;
private int _col;
public int Row
{
get { return _row; }
set
{
// Row is of the form <digit><letter
// giving you 260 possible values.
if (value < 0 || value > 259)
throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException();
_row = value;
}
}
public int Col
{
get { return _col; }
set
{
// Col is <letter><digit><letter>,
// giving you 6,760 possible values
if (value < 0 || value > 6759)
throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException();
_col = value;
}
}
public string RowString
{
get
{
// convert Row value to string
int r, c;
r = Math.DivMod(_row, 26, out c);
r += '0';
c += 'A';
return string.Concat((char)r, (char)c);
}
set
{
// convert string to number.
// String is of the form <letter><digit>
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(value) || value.Length != 2
|| !Char.IsDigit(value[0] || !Char.IsUpper(value[1]))
throw new ArgumentException();
_row = 26*(value[0]-'0') + (value[1]-'A');
}
}
public string ColString
{
get
{
int left, middle, right remainder;
left = Math.DivRem(_col, 260, out remainder);
middle = Math.DivRem(remainder, 26, out right);
left += 'A';
middle += '0';
right += 'A';
return string.Concat((char)left, (char)middle, (char)right);
}
set
{
// Do standard checking here to make sure it's in the right form.
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(value) || value.Length != 3
|| !Char.IsUpper(value[0] || !Char.IsDigit(value[1]) || !Char.IsUpper(value[2]))
throw new ArgumentException();
_col = 260*(value[0] - 'A');
_col += 26*(value[1] - '0');
_col += value[2] - 'A';
}
}
public override string ToString()
{
return RowString + '-' + ColString;
}
public RowCol(int row, int col)
{
Row = _row;
Col = _col;
}
public RowCol(string row, string col)
{
RowString = row;
RowString = col;
}
}
(Code not yet tested, but that's the general idea.)
That's a bit more code than you have, it hides the complexity in the RowCol class rather than forcing you to deal with it in your main program logic. The point here is that you just want to increment the row or column; you don't want to have to think about how that's done. It makes your main program logic easier to understand. For example:
string startRow = "0A";
string startCol = "B0A";
RowCol rc = new RowCol("0A", "B0A");
for (int r = 0; r < rowsCount; r++)
{
rc.ColString = "B0A";
for (int c = 0; c < columnsCount; c++)
{
Console.WriteLine(rc);
rc.Row = rc.Row + 1;
}
rc.Col = rc.Col + 1;
}
By casting this as a simple conversion problem and encapsulating it in a class, I've made the code more robust and flexible, and easier to test, understand, and use.
I have come up with very simple solution to implement that and I would like to share this Console application :
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var row = "0A";
var column = "A9Z";
var rowsCount = 2;
var columnsCount = 5;
var rowCharArray =row.ToArray().Reverse().ToArray();
var columnCharArray = column.ToArray().Reverse().ToArray();
for (int i = 0; i < rowsCount; i++)
{
for (int j = 0; j < columnsCount; j++)
{
columnCharArray = incrementChar(columnCharArray);
var currentColumn = string.Join("", columnCharArray.Reverse().ToArray());
var currentRow= string.Join("", rowCharArray.Reverse().ToArray());
Console.WriteLine(currentRow + "-" + currentColumn);
}
columnCharArray = column.ToArray().Reverse().ToArray();
rowCharArray= incrementChar(rowCharArray);
Console.WriteLine("-------------------------------");
}
Console.ReadLine();
}
static char[] incrementChar(char[] charArray,int currentIndex=0)
{
char temp = charArray[currentIndex];
if (charArray.Length -1 == currentIndex && (temp == '9' || temp == 'Z'))
throw new Exception();
temp++;
if(Regex.IsMatch(temp.ToString(),"[A-Z]"))
{
charArray[currentIndex] = temp;
}
else
{
if (Regex.IsMatch(temp.ToString(), "[0-9]"))
{
charArray[currentIndex] = temp;
}
else
{
currentIndex++;
incrementChar(charArray, currentIndex);
}
}
if (currentIndex != 0)
charArray = resetChar(charArray, currentIndex);
return charArray;
}
static char[] resetChar(char[] charArray,int currentIndex)
{
for (int i = 0; i < currentIndex; i++)
{
if (charArray[i] == 'Z')
charArray[i] = 'A';
else if (charArray[i] == '9')
charArray[i] = '0';
}
return charArray;
}
}
Related
I'm trying to validate a password string in a .NET for sequential patterns (forward or reverse) with numbers or letters of 5 or more.
Examples of patterns that will not be accepted:
"ABCDE",
"12345",
"54321",
"edcba"
I cannot find a decent regex pattern that handles finding the characters in order, currently just returning any sequence of 5 letters or numbers:
public bool CheckForSequence(string input)
{
return Regex.IsMatch(input.ToUpper(), #"([A-Z])(?!\1)([A-Z])(?!\1|\2)([A-Z])(?!\1|\2|\3)([A-Z])(?!\1|\2|\3|\4)([A-Z])") ||
Regex.IsMatch(input, #"([1-9])(?!\1)([1-9])(?!\1|\2)([1-9])(?!\1|\2|\3)([1-9])(?!\1|\2|\3|\4)([1-9])");
}
There are probably way better ways to do this, but, just for fun, I've made a simple brute-force algorithm:
bool CheckForSequence(string inp) {
bool InRange(int c) {
const int minLower = (int)'a';
const int maxLower = (int)'z';
const int minUpper = (int)'A';
const int maxUpper = (int)'Z';
const int minNumber = (int)'0';
const int maxNumber = (int)'9';
return (c >= minLower && c <= maxLower) || (c >= minUpper && c <= maxUpper) || (c >= minNumber && c <= maxNumber);
}
if(inp.Length < 5) return false;
for(var i = 0; i < inp.Length - 4; i++)
{
var c = (int)inp[i];
if(InRange(c))
{
var vM = c;
int x;
for(x = i+1; x < i + 5; x++)
{
if(inp[x] != vM+1 || !InRange(inp[x])) break;
vM++;
}
if(x == i+5) return true;
for(x = i+1; x < i + 5; x++)
{
if(inp[x] != vM-1 || !InRange(inp[x])) break;
vM--;
}
if(x == i+5) return true;
}
}
return false;
}
You can see it in action in this fiddle
Wiktor is correct - regex is the wrong tool for this.
Here's one possible implementation:
public static class SequenceChecker
{
private static char MapChar(char c) => c switch
{
>= '0' and <= '9' => c,
>= 'A' and <= 'Z' => c,
>= 'a' and <= 'z' => (char)(c - 'a' + 'A'),
_ => default,
};
private static bool IsSequence(ReadOnlySpan<char> input)
{
char x = MapChar(input[0]);
if (x == default) return false;
char y = MapChar(input[1]);
if (y == default) return false;
int direction = y - x;
if (Math.Abs(direction) != 1) return false;
for (int index = 2; index < input.Length; index++)
{
x = y;
y = MapChar(input[index]);
if (y == default) return false;
int nextDirection = y - x;
if (nextDirection != direction) return false;
}
return true;
}
public static bool ContainsSequence(string input, int sequenceLength = 5)
{
if (sequenceLength < 2) throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException(nameof(sequenceLength));
if (input is null) return false;
if (input.Length < sequenceLength) return false;
for (int startIndex = 0; startIndex < 1 + input.Length - sequenceLength; startIndex++)
{
if (IsSequence(input.AsSpan(startIndex, sequenceLength)))
{
return true;
}
}
return false;
}
}
Just to add to the plethora of solutions posted so far:
public static int LongestAscendingOrDescendingRun(string s)
{
if (s.Length <= 1)
return 0;
int longest = 0;
int current = 0;
bool ascending = false;
for (int i = 1; i < s.Length; i++)
{
bool isAscending () => s[i]-s[i-1] == +1;
bool isDescending() => s[i]-s[i-1] == -1;
if (current > 0)
{
if (ascending)
{
if (isAscending())
{
longest = Math.Max(longest, ++current);
}
else // No longer ascending.
{
current = 0;
}
}
else // Descending.
{
if (isDescending())
{
longest = Math.Max(longest, ++current);
}
else // No longer descending.
{
current = 0;
}
}
}
else // No current.
{
if (isAscending())
{
ascending = true;
current = 2;
longest = Math.Max(longest, current);
}
else if (isDescending())
{
ascending = false;
current = 2;
longest = Math.Max(longest, current);
}
}
}
return longest;
}
Like Wiktor has already said, regex isn't a good way to do this. You could find the difference between consecutive characters of the string, and complain if you find a sequence of four or more ones (or -1s).
public bool CheckForSequence(string pass)
{
int curr_diff = 0; // The difference between the i-1th and i-2th character
int consec_diff = 0; // The number of consecutive pairs having the same difference
for (int i = 1; i < pass.Length; i++)
{
int diff = pass[i] - pass[i - 1]; // The difference between the ith and i-1th character
if (Math.Abs(diff) == 1 && curr_diff == diff)
{
// If the difference is the same, increment consec_diff
// And check if the password is invalid
consec_diff++;
if (consec_diff >= 4)
return false;
}
else
{
// New diff. reset curr_diff and consec_diff
curr_diff = diff;
consec_diff = Math.Abs(diff)==1 ? 1 : 0;
// If the difference is 1, set consec_diff to 1 else 0
}
}
return consec_diff < 4;
}
How to parse a link as example: 'a/b/c' ?
How could I fix this code that returns: 1. 'a' 2. 'b/c' 3. empty
int getSizeOfParser(string links, char c)
{
int size = 0;
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(links))
{
for (int i = 0; i < links.Length; i++)
{
if (links[i] == c)
size++;
}
return size + 1;
}
return -1;
}
string[] parsedLink(string links, char c)
{
int size = getSizeOfParser(links, c);
if (size == -1)
return null;
string[] parsed = new string[size];
int i = 0, index = 0, tmp = 0;
while (i < links.Length)
{
if (links[i] == c)
{
parsed[index++] = links.Substring(tmp, i++);
tmp = i;
}
else
i++;
}
return parsed;
}
According to documentation, the second argument of SubString is its length from the index int he first argument:
Substring(Int32, Int32)
Retrieves a substring from this instance. The substring starts at a specified character position and has a specified length.
So what you want to do is:
if (links[i] == c)
{
parsed[index++] = links.Substring(tmp, i-tmp);
tmp = i+1;
}
i++;
instead of:
if (links[i] == c)
{
parsed[index++] = links.Substring(tmp, i++);
tmp = i;
}
else
i++;
I'm trying to implement the MinMax algorithm for four in a row (or connect4 or connect four) game.
I think I got the idea of it, it should build a tree of possible boards up to a certain depth, evaluate them and return their score, then we just take the max of those scores.
So, aiChooseCol() checks the score of every possible column by calling MinMax() and returns the column with the max score.
Now I wasn't sure, is this the right way to call MinMax()?
Is it right to check temp = Math.Max(temp, 1000);?
I still haven't made the heuristic function but this should at least recognize a winning column and choose it, but currently it just choose the first free column from the left... I can't figure out what am I doing wrong.
private int AiChooseCol()
{
int best = -1000;
int col=0;
for (int i = 0; i < m_Board.Cols; i++)
{
if (m_Board.CheckIfColHasRoom(i))
{
m_Board.FillSignInBoardAccordingToCol(i, m_Sign);
int t = MinMax(5, m_Board, board.GetOtherPlayerSign(m_Sign));
if (t > best)
{
best = t;
col = i;
}
m_Board.RemoveTopCoinFromCol(i);
}
}
return col;
}
private int MinMax(int Depth, board Board, char PlayerSign)
{
int temp=0;
if (Depth <= 0)
{
// return from heurisitic function
return temp;
}
char otherPlayerSign = board.GetOtherPlayerSign(PlayerSign);
char checkBoard = Board.CheckBoardForWin();
if (checkBoard == PlayerSign)
{
return 1000;
}
else if (checkBoard == otherPlayerSign)
{
return -1000;
}
else if (!Board.CheckIfBoardIsNotFull())
{
return 0; // tie
}
if (PlayerSign == m_Sign) // maximizing Player is myself
{
temp = -1000;
for (int i = 0; i < Board.Cols; i++)
{
if (Board.FillSignInBoardAccordingToCol(i, PlayerSign)) // so we don't open another branch in a full column
{
var v = MinMax(Depth - 1, Board, otherPlayerSign);
temp = Math.Max(temp, v);
Board.RemoveTopCoinFromCol(i);
}
}
}
else
{
temp = 1000;
for (int i = 0; i < Board.Cols; i++)
{
if (Board.FillSignInBoardAccordingToCol(i, PlayerSign)) // so we don't open another branch in a full column
{
var v = MinMax(Depth - 1, Board, otherPlayerSign);
temp = Math.Min(temp, v);
Board.RemoveTopCoinFromCol(i);
}
}
}
return temp;
}
Some notes:
FillSignInBoardAccordingToCol() returns a boolean if it was successful.
The board type has a char[,] array with the actual board and signs of the players.
This code is in the AI Player class.
So I decided to write my own MinMax Connect 4. I used the depth to determine the value of a win or loss so that a move that gets you closer to winning or blocking a loss will take precedence. I also decide that I will randomly pick the move if more than one has the same heuristic. Finally I stretched out the depth to 6 as that's how many moves are required to find possible win paths from the start.
private static void Main(string[] args)
{
var board = new Board(8,7);
var random = new Random();
while (true)
{
Console.WriteLine("Pick a column 1 -8");
int move;
if (!int.TryParse(Console.ReadLine(), out move) || move < 1 || move > 8)
{
Console.WriteLine("Must enter a number 1-8.");
continue;
}
if (!board.DropCoin(1, move-1))
{
Console.WriteLine("That column is full, pick another one");
continue;
}
if (board.Winner == 1)
{
Console.WriteLine(board);
Console.WriteLine("You win!");
break;
}
if (board.IsFull)
{
Console.WriteLine(board);
Console.WriteLine("Tie!");
break;
}
var moves = new List<Tuple<int, int>>();
for (int i = 0; i < board.Columns; i++)
{
if (!board.DropCoin(2, i))
continue;
moves.Add(Tuple.Create(i, MinMax(6, board, false)));
board.RemoveTopCoin(i);
}
int maxMoveScore = moves.Max(t => t.Item2);
var bestMoves = moves.Where(t => t.Item2 == maxMoveScore).ToList();
board.DropCoin(2, bestMoves[random.Next(0,bestMoves.Count)].Item1);
Console.WriteLine(board);
if (board.Winner == 2)
{
Console.WriteLine("You lost!");
break;
}
if (board.IsFull)
{
Console.WriteLine("Tie!");
break;
}
}
Console.WriteLine("DONE");
Console.ReadKey();
}
private static int MinMax(int depth, Board board, bool maximizingPlayer)
{
if (depth <= 0)
return 0;
var winner = board.Winner;
if (winner == 2)
return depth;
if (winner == 1)
return -depth;
if (board.IsFull)
return 0;
int bestValue = maximizingPlayer ? -1 : 1;
for (int i = 0; i < board.Columns; i++)
{
if (!board.DropCoin(maximizingPlayer ? 2 : 1, i))
continue;
int v = MinMax(depth - 1, board, !maximizingPlayer);
bestValue = maximizingPlayer ? Math.Max(bestValue, v) : Math.Min(bestValue, v);
board.RemoveTopCoin(i);
}
return bestValue;
}
public class Board
{
private readonly int?[,] _board;
private int? _winner;
private bool _changed;
public Board(int cols, int rows)
{
Columns = cols;
Rows = rows;
_board = new int?[cols, rows];
}
public int Columns { get; }
public int Rows { get; }
public bool ColumnFree(int column)
{
return !_board[column, 0].HasValue;
}
public bool DropCoin(int playerId, int column)
{
int row = 0;
while (row < Rows && !_board[column,row].HasValue)
{
row++;
}
if (row == 0)
return false;
_board[column, row - 1] = playerId;
_changed = true;
return true;
}
public bool RemoveTopCoin(int column)
{
int row = 0;
while (row < Rows && !_board[column, row].HasValue)
{
row++;
}
if (row == Rows)
return false;
_board[column, row] = null;
_changed = true;
return true;
}
public int? Winner
{
get
{
if (!_changed)
return _winner;
_changed = false;
for (int i = 0; i < Columns; i++)
{
for (int j = 0; j < Rows; j++)
{
if (!_board[i, j].HasValue)
continue;
bool horizontal = i + 3 < Columns;
bool vertical = j + 3 < Rows;
if (!horizontal && !vertical)
continue;
bool forwardDiagonal = horizontal && vertical;
bool backwardDiagonal = vertical && i - 3 >= 0;
for (int k = 1; k < 4; k++)
{
horizontal = horizontal && _board[i, j] == _board[i + k, j];
vertical = vertical && _board[i, j] == _board[i, j + k];
forwardDiagonal = forwardDiagonal && _board[i, j] == _board[i + k, j + k];
backwardDiagonal = backwardDiagonal && _board[i, j] == _board[i - k, j + k];
if (!horizontal && !vertical && !forwardDiagonal && !backwardDiagonal)
break;
}
if (horizontal || vertical || forwardDiagonal || backwardDiagonal)
{
_winner = _board[i, j];
return _winner;
}
}
}
_winner = null;
return _winner;
}
}
public bool IsFull
{
get
{
for (int i = 0; i < Columns; i++)
{
if (!_board[i, 0].HasValue)
return false;
}
return true;
}
}
public override string ToString()
{
var builder = new StringBuilder();
for (int j = 0; j < Rows; j++)
{
builder.Append('|');
for (int i = 0; i < Columns; i++)
{
builder.Append(_board[i, j].HasValue ? _board[i,j].Value.ToString() : " ").Append('|');
}
builder.AppendLine();
}
return builder.ToString();
}
}
My goal is to create a score method for a simple game based in an array. The game consists of putting 'R's or 'B's in one of 11 positions in an array. Once the array is full, the score method will execute as follows:
Any single 'R' or 'B' is worth 0 points
Any pair of 'R's or 'B's is worth 4 points
Any triple of 'R's or 'B's is worth 6 points
... and so on.
I'm having trouble calculating the score and I feel like I am missing something obvious so I'm coming here. The code I have looks for pairs and adds 2 to the score, but I end up missing 2 points (since the first pair is worth 4 and each additional "pair" is worth another 2).
public int score(char color)
{
int score = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < gameBoard.Length - 1; i++)
{
if (gameBoard[i] == color && gameBoard[i + 1] == color)
score += 2;
else
score += 0;
}
return score;
}
Your problem can be solved by regular expressions.
public int CalculateScore(char color)
{
var boardStr = String.Join("", gameBoard);
return GetCharacterSequences(color, boardStr)
.Sum(str => str.Length * 2);
}
//Returns same character sequences of length more than two.
private IEnumerable<string> GetCharacterSequences(char color, string boardStr)
{
return Regex.Matches(boardStr, $#"({color})\1+").OfType<Match>()
.SelectMany(match => match.Groups.OfType<Group>())
.Select(#group => #group.Value)
.Where(str => str.Length > 1);
}
Idea of sum function: Each pair costs 4 points, each triple costs 6 points hence each single char costs 2 points.
GetCharacterSequences looks little bit complex but it makes CalculateScore method very simple.
Well you could create a boolean variable and use that to determine the number of points added.
Note: This code doesn't account for triple matches as you've mentioned in your question.
public int score(char color)
{
int score = 0;
bool firstMatch = true;
for (int i = 0; i < gameBoard.Length - 1; i++)
{
if (gameBoard[i] == color && gameBoard[i + 1] == color) {
if (firstMatch == true) {
score += 4;
firstMatch = false;
} else {
score += 2;
}
}
else
{
score += 0;
}
}
return score;
}
Here's another approach, based on a pair being 4 points, 3 being 6 points, and assuming 4 being 8 points and so forth (basically number of adjacent colors * 2 if there is at least a pair).
public int score(char color)
{
int adj = 0;
int score = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < gameBoard.Length; i++)
{
if (gameBoard[i] == color)
{
adj++;
}
else
{
if (adj > 1)
{
score += adj * 2;
}
adj = 0;
}
}
}
This code loops through the array, and keeps a count of the number of adjacent spots marked by the specified color. When it comes to an element of the array that is not the right color, it checks to see how many adjacent elements had the correct color.
If it's greater than 1, then it multiplies the number of adjacent elements by 2 and resets the adjacent elements counter to 0 and continues through the array.
Given an array of 'R', 'R', 'B', 'B', 'B', 'R', 'R', 'R', 'B', 'R', 'B', it produces a score of 10 for 'R' (4 + 6) and 6 for 'B' (6), as follows:
'R', 'R' = 4
'R', 'R', 'R' = 6
'R' = 0
'B', 'B', 'B' = 6
'B' = 0
Here is what i came up with
namespace TestApp1
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string[] test = GetValues();
string testView = String.Join(String.Empty, test);
string score = GetScore(test).ToString();
Console.WriteLine(testView);
Console.WriteLine(score);
Console.ReadLine();
}
public static int GetScore(string[] test)
{
int score = 0;
int occurence = 0;
string LastChar = string.Empty;
for (int i = 0; i < test.Length; i++)
{
if(LastChar == string.Empty)
{
LastChar = test[i];
occurence += 1;
continue;
}
if(LastChar == test[i])
{
occurence += 1;
if(i == test.Length - 1)
{
if (occurence > 1)
{
score += occurence * 2;
}
}
}
else
{
if(occurence > 1)
{
score += occurence * 2;
}
LastChar = test[i];
occurence = 1;
}
}
return score;
}
public static string[] GetValues()
{
List<string> values = new List<string>();
for (int i = 0; i < 12; i++)
{
var rnd = new Random(DateTime.Now.Millisecond);
int ticks = rnd.Next(0, 2);
values.Add(ticks == 1 ? "R" : "B");
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(2);
}
return values.ToArray();
}
}
}
To calculate each score independently
namespace TestApp1
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string[] test = GetValues();
string testView = String.Join(String.Empty, test);
int rScore = 0;
int bScore = 0;
GetScore(test,out rScore, out bScore);
string score = "R: " + rScore.ToString() + " B: " + bScore.ToString();
Console.WriteLine(testView);
Console.WriteLine(score);
Console.ReadLine();
}
public static void GetScore(string[] test, out int rScore, out int bScore)
{
int occurence = 0;
string LastChar = string.Empty;
rScore = 0;
bScore = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < test.Length; i++)
{
if(LastChar == string.Empty)
{
LastChar = test[i];
occurence += 1;
continue;
}
if(LastChar == test[i])
{
occurence += 1;
if(i == test.Length - 1)
{
if (occurence > 1)
{
if(LastChar == "R")
{
rScore += occurence * 2;
}
else
{
bScore += occurence * 2;
}
}
}
}
else
{
if(occurence > 1)
{
if (LastChar == "R")
{
rScore += occurence * 2;
}
else
{
bScore += occurence * 2;
}
}
LastChar = test[i];
occurence = 1;
}
}
}
public static string[] GetValues()
{
List<string> values = new List<string>();
for (int i = 0; i < 12; i++)
{
var rnd = new Random(DateTime.Now.Millisecond);
int ticks = rnd.Next(0, 2);
values.Add(ticks == 1 ? "R" : "B");
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(2);
}
return values.ToArray();
}
}
}
I'm currently having a hard time swapping two variables. I'd like to be able swap values once the user enters a value which is next to a blank cell
Apologies for my extremely messy code, I'm just picking up C#.
static void SwapNums(string[,] theBoard)
{
int col, row;
string swap;
string number = ReadNumber();
for (col = 0; col if (theBoard[col, row] == "")
{
theBoard[col, row] = number;
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
} < 6; col++)
{
for (row = 0; row < 6; row++)
{
if (theBoard[col,row] == number)
{
if (theBoard[col + 1, row] == "-" || theBoard[col - 1, row] == "-" || theBoard[col, row + 1] == "" || theBoard[col, row - 1] == "-")
{
swap = theBoard[col, row];
theBoard[col, row] = "";
for (col = 0; col < 6; col++)
{
for (row = 0; row < 6; row++)
{
if (theBoard[col, row] == "")
{
theBoard[col, row] = number;
}
}
}
}
} if (theBoard[col, row] == "")
{
theBoard[col, row] = number;
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
At the moment, this code is replacing the blank cellwith what the user entered, but is not replacing the cell that contains the number to p.
Make a function that gets the "position" of an element. Something like this?
const int ROWS = 6;
const int COLUMNS = 6;
static Tuple<int, int> GetPosition(string[,] theBoard, string value)
{
for (int i = 0; i < ROWS; i++)
for (int j = 0; j < COLUMNS; j++)
if (theBoard[i, j] == value)
return new Tuple<int, int>(i, j);
return new Tuple<int, int>(-1, -1);
}
Then, just swap the elements, something like this:
var numberPosition = GetPosition(theBoard, number);
var minusPosition = GetPosition(theBoard, "-");
theBoard[numberPosition.Item1, numberPosition.Item2] = "-";
theBoard[minusPosition.Item1, minusPosition.Item2] = number;
Make sure to check if the element was found! (Item1 and Item2 will be -1 if not)
Here you go, complete code that illustrates the concept: http://pastebin.com/5kjDPeX8
Edit:
Oh yeah, it should be only swapped if the element is next to it, so then, just do a check on the returned positions. Here is a replacement for the SwapNums method: (I didn't update the pastebin code above)
static void SwapNums(string[,] theBoard, string number)
{
var numberPosition = GetPosition(theBoard, number);
var minusPosition = GetPosition(theBoard, "-");
if (numberPosition.Item1 == -1 || minusPosition.Item1 == -1)
throw new Exception("Element " + number + " or - was not found in theBoard!");
if (numberPosition.Item1 == minusPosition.Item1) //they are in the same row
{
if (numberPosition.Item2 + 1 == minusPosition.Item2 ||
numberPosition.Item2 - 1 == minusPosition.Item2) // if they are next to eachother
{
theBoard[numberPosition.Item1, numberPosition.Item2] = "-";
theBoard[minusPosition.Item1, minusPosition.Item2] = number;
}
}
else if (numberPosition.Item2 == minusPosition.Item2) // same column
{
if (numberPosition.Item1 + 1 == minusPosition.Item1 ||
numberPosition.Item1 - 1 == minusPosition.Item1) //if they are above or below
{
theBoard[numberPosition.Item1, numberPosition.Item2] = "-";
theBoard[minusPosition.Item1, minusPosition.Item2] = number;
}
}
}
A slight digression (might be educational):
That Tuple<int, int> thing is just a class that contains two elements (namely int Item1 and int Item2), which is really convenient to use when your function needs to return two things (in our case, the row and column position of the element).
The <int, int> part means that the types of Item1 and Item2 will be int. The <something something etc.> things on classes generally are a part of something called generics, which is an advanced programming concept.
In short (about generics), it allows you to create a 'general' kind of an object, which could manipulate different types of object. Tuple here can contain pairs of any type of object; Tuple<string, int> would have string Item1 and int Item2.
But this isn't something you should worry about right now. When you've made a few classes of your own, you'll understand why this is convenient. For now, the Tuple class is the thing when you need to return 2 somethings from a function quick and easy.