reading a file

[gandalf5166]

Ok, I have code that reads a file. It says I need to declare these two exceptions for it to work. IOException and FileNotFoundException. I really don't care, since I'll be making sure that the file IS there. What's the simplest way to take care of this?

[gcalvin]

The simplest thing is to add a throws declaration to your method.

        public void readFile(String fileName) throws IOException, FileNotFoundException {
         }

-Gary-

[JosAH]

        public void readFile(String fileName) throws IOException, FileNotFoundException {
         }

Note that a FileNotFoundException extends an IOException so if the OP really doesn't care the following will do as well:

        public void readFile(String fileName) throws IOException {
         }

kind regards,

Jos

[Eranga]

Why you really want to let them away. I mean exceptions are there for the safety for your applications. So I think rather passing them in simple way, better to handle in it's best possible way.

[gcalvin]

Why you really want to let them away. I mean exceptions are there for the safety for your applications. So I think rather passing them in simple way, better to handle in it's best possible way.

I disagree in this case. OP has said he intends to make sure the Exceptions don't happen in the first place, so if they do, a stack trace and abort seems as good as anything. I think in general, unless you know exactly what you want to do with an Exception (such as prompt for another file name) you should leave them alone and let the default Exception handler work.

-Gary-

[gandalf5166]

Thank you! This is my homework, its not a program that's going to be widely used, so the file will be there. As such, I don't really need the whole try-catch thing. I'm glad there's an easier way. :P

[gandalf5166]

One more thing. What I'm trying to make is Boggle. I have to read in a dictionary. Problem: I'm pretty sure it only reads the first line. I'm not sure that that's the problem, but that's the assumption. Here's the code for my reader and printer.

while((temp = readFile.readLine()) != null) {
    		if (checkWord(temp)) {  
    			real.add(temp);
    		}
    	}

for (String i : real) {
    		System.out.println(i);
    	}

The checkWord method just checks to see if the word is in the board. If you can't find a problem with these two bits of code, then I'll post the code for the method.

[Eranga]

I disagree in this case. OP has said he intends to make sure the Exceptions don't happen in the first place, so if they do, a stack trace and abort seems as good as anything. I think in general, unless you know exactly what you want to do with an Exception (such as prompt for another file name) you should leave them alone and let the default Exception handler work.

-Gary-

I think you misunderstand what I've said. What OP says,

I really don't care, since I'll be making sure that the file IS there.

simply what happen if the file deleted by accident.

[gandalf5166]

My teacher has the file, he gave it to me in the first place. And like I've said, this is a homework assignment. I don't have to worry about what could happen if some idiot was using it. Just what would happen while my teacher's using it. Also, what would the catch do? It wouldn't be very helpful, since there's really nothing you can do if the file's not there. What I would probably tell it to do is abort, so I just let it abort.

[gandalf5166]

One more thing. What I'm trying to make is Boggle. I have to read in a dictionary. Problem: I'm pretty sure it only reads the first line. I'm not sure that that's the problem, but that's the assumption. Here's the code for my reader and printer.

while((temp = readFile.readLine()) != null) {
    		if (checkWord(temp)) {  
    			real.add(temp);
    		}
    	}

for (String i : real) {
    		System.out.println(i);
    	}

The checkWord method just checks to see if the word is in the board. If you can't find a problem with these two bits of code, then I'll post the code for the method.

Anyone? I really need help with this. If you can't find anything wrong, then tell me that, cause that means there's a problem with the method my teacher gave me.

[gcalvin]

I don't see a problem in your code. Of course, we can't see checkWord() or how readFile is set up, or how real is set up. Or what the file looks like, for that matter.

-Gary-

[gandalf5166]

Ok, thank you for looking at this. Here's the code for checkword. I know its ridiculous, but I didn't make it. My teacher gave it to me.

    private static void findWord(int row, int col, char[] word, int startLetterIndex) { 
char saveChar;
if (startLetterIndex == word.length) { 
wordFound = true; 
} else if (row >= 0 && row < ROWS && 
col >= 0 && col < COLS && 
board[row][col] == word[startLetterIndex]) { 
saveChar = board[row][col]; 
board[row][col] = ' '; 
findWord(row+1, col, word, startLetterIndex+1); 
if (!wordFound) 
findWord(row-1, col, word, startLetterIndex+1); 
if (!wordFound) 
findWord(row, col+1, word, startLetterIndex+1); 
if (!wordFound) 
findWord(row, col-1, word, startLetterIndex+1); 
if (!wordFound) 
findWord(row-1, col-1, word, startLetterIndex+1); 
if (!wordFound) 
findWord(row+1, col-1, word, startLetterIndex+1); 
if (!wordFound) 
findWord(row-1, col+1, word, startLetterIndex+1); 
if (!wordFound) 
findWord(row+1, col+1, word, startLetterIndex+1); 
board[row][col] = saveChar; 
} else { 
wordFound = false; 
} 
} 
    public static boolean checkWord(String word) {
                boolean found = false;
                int row, col;
                char[] wordLetters;

                wordLetters = word.toCharArray();
                row = 0;
                while (row < ROWS && !found) {                                                        //find the first letter of word
                        col =0;
                        while (col < COLS && !found) {
                                if (wordLetters[0] == board[row][col]) {
                                        findWord(row, col, wordLetters, 0);                        //check around first letter for word
                                        found = wordFound;
                                }
                                if (!found) {
                                        col += 1;
                                }
                        }
                        if (!found) {
                                row += 1;
                        }
                }
                return(found);
        }

I have no idea how it works, its an online course, and he's a horrible teacher. ReadFile is just a BufferedReader. real is a String ArrayList. The file is a "dictionary", really just a list of words. It has one word on each line. I would really appreciate any help you can give me with this. I can't figure out if this is a problem in my code or my teacher's.

[gcalvin]

Yeah, your teacher's code looks pretty bad. His findWord() method is trying to use recursion (a good idea) but doing it pretty badly. He's written a void method and he's updating a boolean instance variable, where he should have written a boolean method. He's doing a rather clumsy thing with a char[] and index, where it would be simpler if he just used a String. His checkWord() has some clumsy construction too. Having said that, it looks like they should probably work, depending on how board[][] is set up (if it's not sized larger than the actual boggle board, then findWord() is going to have some ArrayIndexOutOfBounds problems). It's hard to say for sure, because confused code is confusing code.

I've formatted the code a bit better to make it easier for others to read.

-Gary-

        private static void findWord(int row, int col, char[] word, int startLetterIndex) { 
                char saveChar;
                if (startLetterIndex == word.length) { 
                        wordFound = true; 
                } else if (row >= 0 && row < ROWS && 
                           col >= 0 && col < COLS && 
                           board[row][col] == word[startLetterIndex]) { 
                        saveChar = board[row][col]; 
                        board[row][col] = ' '; 
                        findWord(row+1, col, word, startLetterIndex+1); 
                        if (!wordFound) 
                                findWord(row-1, col, word, startLetterIndex+1); 
                        if (!wordFound) 
                                findWord(row, col+1, word, startLetterIndex+1); 
                        if (!wordFound) 
                                findWord(row, col-1, word, startLetterIndex+1); 
                        if (!wordFound) 
                                findWord(row-1, col-1, word, startLetterIndex+1); 
                        if (!wordFound) 
                                findWord(row+1, col-1, word, startLetterIndex+1); 
                        if (!wordFound) 
                                findWord(row-1, col+1, word, startLetterIndex+1); 
                        if (!wordFound) 
                                findWord(row+1, col+1, word, startLetterIndex+1); 
                        board[row][col] = saveChar; 
                } else { 
                        wordFound = false; 
                } 
        }
 
        public static boolean checkWord(String word) {
                boolean found = false;
                int row, col;
                char[] wordLetters;

                wordLetters = word.toCharArray();
                row = 0;
                while (row < ROWS && !found) {  //find the first letter of word
                        col =0;
                        while (col < COLS && !found) {
                                if (wordLetters[0] == board[row][col]) {
                                        findWord(row, col, wordLetters, 0);  //check around first letter for word
                                        found = wordFound;
                                }
                                if (!found) {
                                        col += 1;
                                }
                        }
                        if (!found) {
                                row += 1;
                        }
                }
                return(found);
        }

[gcalvin]

Actually, after another look I don't see how he's avoiding ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException in this code. checkWord() is going to call findWord() with row=0 and col=0, and pretty quickly, findWord is going to try to look at board[-1][0], and that should cause an Exception. Are you seeing any Exceptions when you run this?

EDIT: Never mind. I do see it now.

-Gary-

[gandalf5166]

Nope. No exceptions, just bad results.

[gandalf5166]

One strange thing. It never runs findWord. It calls on checkWord, but never uses findWord. I found this out with print statements.

[gcalvin]

Here's a crack at a better findWord() and checkWord() -- not tested or debugged or even compiled:

        private static boolean findWord(int row, int col, String word) {
                if (word.length() == 0) return true;
                if (row < 0 || row >= ROWS) return false;
                if (col < 0 || col >= COLS) return false;
                if (word.charAt(0) != board[row][col]) return false;
                char saveChar = board[row][col];
                board[row][col] = ' ';
                for (int r = row - 1; r <= row + 1; r++)
                        for (int c = col - 1; c <= col + 1; c++)
                                // this will end up checking the cell we're in again,
                                // but it will have a space character in it, so it will
                                // return false above -- no harm done
                                if (findWord(r, c, word.substring(1))) {
                                        board[row][col] = saveChar;
                                        return true;
                                }
                        }
                }
                board[row][col] = saveChar;
                return false;
        }

        private static boolean checkWord(String word) {
                for (int row = 0; row < ROWS; row++) {
                        for (int col = 0; col < COLS; col++) {
                                if (findWord(row, col, word)) return true;
                        }
                }
                return false;
        }

-Gary-

[gandalf5166]

I'll have to go for a little while. Thanks for all your help!

[Eranga]

My teacher has the file, he gave it to me in the first place. And like I've said, this is a homework assignment. I don't have to worry about what could happen if some idiot was using it. Just what would happen while my teacher's using it. Also, what would the catch do? It wouldn't be very helpful, since there's really nothing you can do if the file's not there. What I would probably tell it to do is abort, so I just let it abort.

I don't care what your application does is. You may have nothing to do with it, if the file is missing. But those things are based in what you are doing in your application. If more clear the code, more easy to understand to all.

[gandalf5166]

Ok, I checked out your code. Problem: The for loop never executes, since at the start, the col/row value is 0. You subtract one, and you have negative one, so it automatically returns false. How do we solve that?