Need Advice and Review of my Hangman code

Question

so I developed a code for a hangman game and what i need help in is basically simplifying, correcting and removing parts of the code that are not needed (or there is an easier way to do it). I think there are parts where i could have done it easier but i do not know where they are. I would appreciate any/ all help and will welcome all constructive criticism.

package hangman;

import javax.swing.*;

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;

import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;

@SuppressWarnings("serial")
public class HangManGUI extends JFrame implements ActionListener, KeyListener {
    private final DrwPnl dPnl2 = new DrwPnl();
    private final DrwPnl pnlBoard = new DrwPnl();

    private final JPanel align = new JPanel();

    private String playerOne = "Exikle";
    private String playerTwo = "Computer";
    private String puz = "";
    private String categorySelected = "Easy";

    private String[] allPuz;

    private final JTextField customPuzzleField = new JTextField("Custom Puzzle");
    private final JTextField txtName = new JTextField("Player");
    private final JTextField txtOpponent = new JTextField("Opponent");

    private final JLabel lblName = new JLabel();
    private final JLabel lblOpponent = new JLabel();
    private final JLabel wordlist = new JLabel();

    private final HangmanButton[] lblWordList = new HangmanButton[8];
    private final HangmanButton[] closeButton = new HangmanButton[3];
    private final HangmanButton player1 = new HangmanButton();
    private final HangmanButton player2 = new HangmanButton();
    private final HangmanButton btnBack = new HangmanButton("Back");
    private final HangmanButton btnStart = new HangmanButton("Start");
    private final HangmanButton resetBtn = new HangmanButton("Reset Scores");
    private final HangmanButton newGameBtn = new HangmanButton("New Game");
    private final HangmanButton btnMain = new HangmanButton("Menu");

    private int length;
    private int count = 0;
    private int linenum;
    private int playersScore = 0;
    private int opponentsScore = 0;
    private int theSource = 1;
    private int move = 0;
    private int wrongAmount;
    private int players = 1;
    private final int[] wrLetter = new int[26];
    private final int[] checked = new int[26];

    private final Icon name = new ImageIcon("Name.png");
    private final Icon opponent = new ImageIcon("Opponent.png");

    private char[] puzzleSplit;
    private char[] hid;
    private final char[] letter = { 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'F', 'G', 'H',
            'I', 'J', 'K', 'L', 'M', 'N', 'O', 'P', 'Q', 'R', 'S', 'T', 'U',
            'V', 'W', 'X', 'Y', 'Z' };
    private final char[] letter2 = { 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g', 'h',
            'i', 'j', 'k', 'l', 'm', 'n', 'o', 'p', 'q', 'r', 's', 't', 'u',
            'v', 'w', 'x', 'y', 'z' };

    private Boolean gameDone = false;

    private final JFrame fr1 = new JFrame("");
    private final JFrame fr2 = new JFrame("");

    private final ClassLoader cl = HangManGUI.class.getClassLoader();
    private final Image[] image = new Image[3];
    private final URL[] imageURL = { cl.getResource("chalkBG.png"),
            cl.getResource("hanger.png"), cl.getResource("alphaDock.png") };

    private final Toolkit toolkit = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit();

    private HangManGUI() {
        this.addKeyListener(this);
        this.setFocusable(true);

        for (int x = 0; x < 3; x++) {
            closeButton[x] = new HangmanButton("closeButton");
            closeButton[x].addActionListener(this);
            closeButton[x].setBounds(275, 0, 25, 25);
        }
        DrwPnl dPnl1 = new DrwPnl();
        dPnl1.add(closeButton[0]);// Add closeButton button to 1st Screen
        dPnl2.add(closeButton[1]);// Add closeButton button to 2nd Screen
        this.add(closeButton[2]);// Add closeButton button to Board
        closeButton[2].setBounds(475, 0, 25, 25);

        if (imageURL != null) {
            for (int x = 0; x < 3; x++)
                image[x] = toolkit.createImage(imageURL[x]);
        }

        // ////Chose Player Menu(1)==============>
        dPnl1.setLayout(null);
        // /Player 1 button initialize--------->
        player1.setBounds(25, 125, 250, 50);
        player1.addActionListener(this);
        player1.setText("Player 1");
        dPnl1.add(player1);
        // /Player 2 button initialize--------->
        player2.setBounds(25, 200, 250, 50);
        player2.addActionListener(this);
        player2.setText("Player 2");
        dPnl1.add(player2);
        // /End Player Button Initializing------->
        fr1.add(dPnl1);
        fr1.setUndecorated(true);// Take out preset border
        Boolean undecorated = fr1.isUndecorated();
        fr1.setVisible(true);
        fr1.setSize(300, 300);
        fr1.setLocation(300, 300);
        // ////<========End Chose Player Menu(1)

        // ////Chose Categories Menu(2)========>
        dPnl2.setLayout(null);
        // /Initialize WordList Icon\Label--->
        dPnl2.add(wordlist);
        wordlist.setBounds(100, 75, 150, 75);
        Icon wList = new ImageIcon("WordList.png");
        wordlist.setIcon(wList);
        // /Initialize Go To 1st Menu Button---------->
        dPnl2.add(btnBack);
        btnBack.setBounds(0, 250, 75, 25);
        btnBack.addActionListener(this);
        // /Initialize Start Game/Go to Board---------->
        dPnl2.add(btnStart);
        btnStart.setBounds(225, 250, 75, 25);
        btnStart.addActionListener(this);
        // /Add Categories into grid------------->
        align.setLayout(new GridLayout(4, 2));
        for (int x = 0; x < 8; x++) {
            String[] categories = { "Easy", "Food", "Standard", "Geography",
                    "Hard", "Holidays", "Animals", "Sports" };
            lblWordList[x] = new HangmanButton(categories[x] + "");
            lblWordList[x].addActionListener(this);
            align.add(lblWordList[x]);
        }
        // /<-------------End Category Initializing and Layout Setting
        fr2.add(dPnl2);
        fr2.setSize(300, 300);
        fr2.setLocation(300, 300);
        fr2.setUndecorated(true);// Take out preset border
        undecorated = fr2.isUndecorated();// Take out preset border
        // ////<==================End Chose Player Menu(2)

        // ////Create Playing Board================>
        // Add Board to main form------------->
        pnlBoard.setLayout(new GridLayout(1, 1));
        JPanel pnl2 = new JPanel();
        pnl2.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        pnl2.add(pnlBoard, BorderLayout.CENTER);
        // <---------End Add Board to main form
        JPanel pnl3 = new JPanel();
        pnl3.setLayout(new GridLayout(1, 1));
        pnl3.add(pnl2);
        // Initialize New Game Button---------->
        newGameBtn.addActionListener(this);
        newGameBtn.setBorderPainted(false);
        this.add(newGameBtn);
        newGameBtn.setBounds(225, 0, 100, 25);
        // Initialize Reset Scores Button---------->
        resetBtn.addActionListener(this);
        resetBtn.setBorderPainted(false);
        this.add(resetBtn);
        resetBtn.setBounds(100, 0, 125, 25);
        // Initialize Go To Main Menu Button---------->
        btnMain.addActionListener(this);
        btnMain.setBorderPainted(false);
        this.add(btnMain);
        btnMain.setBounds(0, 0, 100, 25);

        this.add(pnl3);
        this.setUndecorated(true);// Take out preset border
        undecorated = this.isUndecorated();// Take out preset border
        this.setVisible(false);
        this.setLocation(200, 200);
        this.setSize(500, 325);
        // ////<===========End Create Playing Board
    }

    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
        if (e.getSource() == player1) {
            System.out.println("Player 1 was pressed");
            fr1.setVisible(false);
            fr2.setVisible(true);
            theSource = 2;
            players = 1;
            lblWordList[1].setForeground(Color.BLUE);

            dPnl2.add(align);
            align.setBounds(25, 125, 250, 100);
            align.setOpaque(false);

            dPnl2.add(lblName);
            lblName.setBounds(50, 50, 75, 25);
            lblName.setIcon(name);

            dPnl2.add(txtName);
            txtName.setBounds(125, 50, 125, 25);
            txtName.setOpaque(false);
            txtName.setBorder(null);

            dPnl2.add(wordlist);
            wordlist.setBounds(100, 75, 150, 75);

            dPnl2.remove(lblOpponent);
            dPnl2.remove(txtOpponent);
            dPnl2.remove(customPuzzleField);
        } else if (e.getSource() == player2) {
            System.out.println("Player 2 was pressed");
            lblWordList[1].setForeground(Color.BLUE);
            players = 2;
            theSource = 2;
            categorySelected = "Custom";
            fr1.setVisible(false);
            fr2.setVisible(true);
            dPnl2.remove(align);

            dPnl2.remove(wordlist);
            dPnl2.add(lblOpponent);

            lblOpponent.setBounds(75, 125, 100, 25);
            lblOpponent.setIcon(opponent);

            dPnl2.add(txtOpponent);
            txtOpponent.setBounds(175, 125, 100, 25);
            txtOpponent.setBorder(null);

            dPnl2.add(customPuzzleField);
            customPuzzleField.setBounds(100, 175, 100, 25);

            dPnl2.add(lblName);
            lblName.setBounds(75, 75, 75, 25);
            lblName.setIcon(name);

            dPnl2.add(txtName);
            txtName.setBounds(150, 75, 125, 25);
            txtName.setBorder(null);

        }
        if (e.getSource() == btnBack) {
            theSource = 1;
            System.out.println("Back was pressed");
            fr2.setVisible(false);
            fr1.setVisible(true);
        }
        for (int x = 0; x < 8; x++) {
            lblWordList[x].setForeground(Color.BLACK);
            if (e.getSource() == lblWordList[x]) {
                if (players == 1) {
                    categorySelected = lblWordList[x].getText();
                    lblWordList[x].setForeground(Color.BLUE);
                    System.out.println(x);
                } else
                    categorySelected = playerTwo + "'s Puzzle";
            }
        }
        if (e.getSource() == btnStart) {
            theSource = 3;
            System.out.println("Start was pressed");
            playerOne = txtName.getText();
            if (players == 2)
                playerTwo = txtOpponent.getText();
            fr2.setVisible(false);
            try {
                if (players == 1)
                    getPuz();
                createPuz();
            } catch (Exception f) {
                System.out.println("Problem Creating Puzzle");
            }
            this.setVisible(true);
        }
        for (int x = 0; x < 3; x++) {
            if (e.getSource() == closeButton[x]) {
                System.exit(0);
            }
        }
        if (e.getSource() == resetBtn) {
            opponentsScore = 0;
            playersScore = 0;
            repaint();
        } else if (e.getSource() == newGameBtn) {
            imageURL[1] = cl.getResource("hanger.png");
            image[1] = toolkit.createImage(imageURL[1]);
            move = 0;
            count = 0;
            gameDone = false;
            for (int x = 0; x < 26; x++) {
                checked[x] = 0;
                wrLetter[x] = 0;
            }
            try {
                getPuz();
                createPuz();
            } catch (Exception f) {
                System.out.println("Problem Creating Puzzle");
            }
            repaint();
        }
        if (e.getSource() == btnMain) {
            opponentsScore = 0;
            playersScore = 0;
            move = 0;
            count = 0;
            gameDone = false;
            playerTwo = "Opponent";
            playerOne = "Player";
            for (int x = 0; x < 26; x++) {
                checked[x] = 0;
                wrLetter[x] = 0;
            }
            this.setVisible(false);
            fr2.setVisible(true);
            theSource = 2;
        }
    }

    private class DrwPnl extends JPanel {
        public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
            Graphics2D g2 = (Graphics2D) g;
            if ((theSource == 1) || (theSource == 2)) {
                g2.drawImage(image[0], 0, 0, 300, 300, 0, 0, 300, 300, this);
                g2.setColor(Color.WHITE);
                if (theSource == 1)
                    g2.drawString("Hang Man", 12, 100);
                g2.setColor(Color.BLACK);
            } else if (theSource == 3) {
                g2.drawImage(image[0], 0, 0, 500, 275, 0, 0, 300, 300, this);
                if ((move < 5) && (move >= 0))
                    g2.drawImage(image[1], 300 - 25 * move, 125,
                            350 - 25 * move, 200, 0, 0, 131, 300, this);
                if ((move >= 5) && (move < 7))
                    g2.drawImage(image[1], 300 - 25 * move, 100,
                            350 - 25 * move, 175, 0, 0, 131, 300, this);
                if ((move == 7) || (move >= 8)) {
                    g2.drawImage(image[1], 125, 50, 175, 150, 0, 0, 131, 300,
                            this);
                    if (move == 7) {
                        g2.setColor(Color.RED);
                        g2.fillRect(125, 150, 50, 25);
                    }
                }
                g2.setColor(Color.YELLOW);
                g2.drawLine(365, 25, 365, 215);
                g2.drawLine(25, 210, 375, 210);
                g2.setColor(Color.RED);
                g2.fillRect(50, 175, 125, 25);
                g2.fillRect(75, 25, 25, 150);
                g2.fillRect(100, 25, 75, 25);
                g2.fillRect(175, 175, 25, 25);
                g2.setStroke(new BasicStroke(10));
                g2.drawLine(100, 75, 125, 50);
                g2.setColor(Color.BLACK);
                g2.drawImage(image[2], 0, 275, 500, 325, 0, 0, 320, 48, this);
                for (int x = 0; x < 26; x++) {
                    if (wrLetter[x] == 0)
                        g2.setColor(Color.BLACK);
                    else if (wrLetter[x] == 1)
                        g2.setColor(Color.GREEN);
                    else if (wrLetter[x] == 2)
                        g2.setColor(Color.RED);
                    g2.drawString("" + letter[x], 5 + 19 * x, 305);
                }
                g2.setColor(Color.BLACK);
                for (int x = 0; x < length; x++)
                    g2.drawString("" + hid[x], 25 + 35 * x, 250);
                g2.setColor(Color.WHITE);
                g2.drawString("Category:", 375, 50);
                g2.drawString(playerOne, 375, 100);
                g2.drawString(playerTwo, 375, 150);
                g2.setColor(Color.BLACK);
                g2.drawString(categorySelected, 375, 75);
                g2.drawString("" + playersScore, 375, 125);
                g2.drawString("" + opponentsScore, 375, 175);
            }
        }
    }

    void getPuz() {
        BufferedReader in = null;
        String line = "";
        File f = new File("Word List/" + categorySelected + ".txt");
        int num = 0;
        LineNumberReader reader = null;

        try {
            reader = new LineNumberReader(new FileReader(f));
        } catch (FileNotFoundException e2) {
            System.out.println("File Not Found");
        }
        String lineRead = "";
        try {
            while ((lineRead = reader.readLine()) != null) {
            }
        } catch (IOException e1) {
            System.out.println("Error 1");
        }
        linenum = reader.getLineNumber();
        try {
            reader.close();
        } catch (IOException e1) {
            System.out.println("Error 2");
        }
        try {
            allPuz = new String[linenum];
            in = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(f));
            System.out.println("File Opening");
        } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
            System.out.println("Problem opening File");
        }
        while (line != null) {
            try {
                line = in.readLine();
                if (line != null) {
                    allPuz[num] = "" + line;
                    num++;
                }
            } catch (IOException e) {
                System.out.println("Problem reading data from file");
            }
        }
    }

    void createPuz() {
        int randomnum = (int) (Math.random() * linenum);
        if (players == 1)
            puz = "" + allPuz[randomnum];
        else if (players == 2)
            puz = customPuzzleField.getText();
        System.out.println(puz);
        length = puz.length();
        puzzleSplit = new char[length];
        hid = new char[length];
        for (int x = 0; x < length; x++) {
            puzzleSplit[x] = (puz.charAt(x));
            if (puzzleSplit[x] == ' ') {
                hid[x] = (' ');
                count += 1;
            } else
                hid[x] = ('_');
        }
    }

    public void keyTyped(KeyEvent f) {
        if (!gameDone) {
            String key = "" + f.getKeyChar();
            Boolean rightletter = false;
            Boolean wwrongAmount = true;
            for (int x = 0; x < 26; x++) {
                if (("" + letter[x]).equalsIgnoreCase(key)) {
                    if (checked[x] == 1) {
                        JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(this, "Already pressed "
                                + letter[x] + ".");
                        for (int y = 0; y < length; y++) {
                            if ((letter[x] == puzzleSplit[y])
                                    || (letter2[x] == puzzleSplit[y])) {
                                hid[y] = puzzleSplit[y];
                                rightletter = true;
                                wrLetter[x] = 1;
                                wwrongAmount = false;
                                checked[x] = 1;
                                if (count == length) {
                                    JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(this,
                                            "You Win");
                                    gameDone = true;
                                    playersScore += 1;
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    } else if (checked[x] == 0) {
                        for (int y = 0; y < length; y++) {
                            if ((letter[x] == puzzleSplit[y])
                                    || (letter2[x] == puzzleSplit[y])) {
                                hid[y] = puzzleSplit[y];
                                rightletter = true;
                                wrLetter[x] = 1;
                                count += 1;
                                wwrongAmount = false;
                                checked[x] = 1;
                                if (count == length) {
                                    JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(this,
                                            "You Win");
                                    gameDone = true;
                                    playersScore += 1;
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                    wrongAmount = x;
                }
            }
            if (!rightletter) {
                for (int x = 0; x < 26; x++) {
                    if (("" + letter[x]).equalsIgnoreCase(key)) {
                        move++;
                        wrLetter[x] = 2;
                        checked[x] = 1;
                        wrongAmount = x;
                    }
                }
            }
            if (wwrongAmount)
                wrLetter[wrongAmount] = 2;
            wwrongAmount = true;
            if (move == 7) {
                imageURL[1] = cl.getResource("hanger2.png");
                image[1] = toolkit.createImage(imageURL[1]);
            } else if (move >= 8) {
                imageURL[1] = cl.getResource("hanger3.png");
                JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(this, "You Lose");
                opponentsScore += 1;
                gameDone = true;
                pnlBoard.setEnabled(false);
                resetBtn.setEnabled(true);
                image[1] = toolkit.createImage(imageURL[1]);
                for (int x = 0; x < 26; x++) {
                    for (int y = 0; y < length; y++) {
                        if ((letter[x] == puzzleSplit[y])
                                || (letter2[x] == puzzleSplit[y])) {
                            hid[y] = puzzleSplit[y];
                        }
                    }
                }
            } else {
                imageURL[1] = cl.getResource("hanger.png");
                image[1] = toolkit.createImage(imageURL[1]);
            }
            repaint();
        }
    }

    public void keyPressed(KeyEvent f) {
    }

    public void keyReleased(KeyEvent f) {
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        new HangManGUI();
    }
}

EDIT: after modifying the code, i realized i could create a new class which extends a JButton and put the code for the buttons (the defaults and the font setting) in there to shorten and organize code.

package hangman;

import java.awt.Font;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import javax.swing.DefaultButtonModel;
import javax.swing.Icon;
import javax.swing.JButton;

class HangmanButton extends JButton {
    private static final Icon NO_ICON = null;
    private static final String NO_STRING = null;
    private Font dFont = null;

    public HangmanButton() {
        this(NO_STRING, NO_ICON);
    }

    public HangmanButton(String string) {
        this(string, NO_ICON);
    }

    public HangmanButton(Icon icon) {
        this(NO_STRING, icon);
    }

    private HangmanButton(String s, Icon i) {
        setModel(new DefaultButtonModel());
        init(s, i);
        this.setOpaque(false);
        this.setContentAreaFilled(false);
        this.setBorderPainted(false);

        try {
            File f = new File("VTK.ttf");
            FileInputStream in = new FileInputStream(f);
            dFont = Font.createFont(Font.TRUETYPE_FONT, in);
            this.setFont(dFont.deriveFont(10f));
        } catch (Exception e) {
            System.out.println("Problem Creating Font");
        }
    }

    public void setFont(int num) {
        this.setFont(dFont.deriveFont((float) num));
    }
}

If any one wants to see the images/files and/or download them to use while checking, I uploaded this code to Github.

https://github.com/Exikle/HangmanOriginal

Answer 1

I'd like to focus on the getPuz() function to make the work of codesparkle more manageable. :)

Exceptions handling

The first, high-level problem is the way you use try/catch blocks. Exceptions are not here to get into your way! They're great tools that let you write robust programs and focus on error conditions only where necessary. Writing "Problem opening file" and continuing execution as if nothing had happened is a really bad idea. The truth is that if you can't open that file then your program is useless. So you might as well show the error to your users and quit the program once they acknowledged it. I removed all try/catch blocks from the code since your function already says throws Exception and because getPuz() is not the place to handle exceptions.

Declarations

public void getPuz() throws IOException {
    BufferedReader in = null;
    String line = "A B 1";

Why "A B 1"? When programming, you optimize for reading: reading your code should be effortles. This is not the case when an arbitrary string shows up like this. Also try avoiding setting anything to null when possible. Here this means not declaring the BufferedReader right away.

Line count and better container

    File f = new File("Word List/" + selected + ".txt");
    int num = 0;
    LineNumberReader reader = new LineNumberReader(new FileReader(f));
    String lineRead = "";
    while ((lineRead = reader.readLine()) != null) {
    }
    linenum = reader.getLineNumber();
    reader.close();

You're going through a lot of trouble to count the number of lines in the file. The first think a reader thinks when looking at this is "wtf?". This is where good comments can help: you could have written "Count the number of lines in f". But the better thing to do is to actually use a better container for allPuz. You could use a ArrayList instead which allows you to append new elements without losing performance. This would allow you to change the real reading code:

    allPuz = new ArrayList<String>();
    BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(f));
    System.out.println("File Opening");

See, it's simpler to declare in here. Also, allPuz is a ArrayList now, I'll be able to use the add method later on.

Reading lines

    while (line != null) {
        line = in.readLine();
        if (line != null) {
            allPuz[num] = "" + line;
            num++;
        }
    }

There's another way to write this kind of code which avoids you from writing the null test twice:

    while ((line = in.readline()) != null) {
        allPuz.append(line)
    }

    if (line != null) {
    }

Useless declarations

As codesparkle mentioned for other declaration, this is useless: remove it!

    in.close();
    System.out.println("Closing File");
}

Answer 2

Thank you for sharing your code. Quite frankly, it's a bit of a mess, so let's try to clean it up.

General Code Issues

Here are a few examples of issues with your code that can easily be corrected. All these issues can be automatically detected by a good IDE such as the free, open-source and excellent IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition¹ (Analyze->Inspect Code).

• You import many classes that you never use. Remove all unnecessary imports, keeping only the ones your code requires. You should also be consistent in your use of * wildcards; either use them always or never.

• Why are you suppressing a warning that is not affecting your code? Remove it.

  @SuppressWarnings("serial")
  

• Why are you declaring but never using pnl3, pnl4, pnl5 and pnl6? Remove them.
• Why are you declaring the constructor and main as throws Exception when they don't? Remove. The same goes for throws IOException on createPuz.
• Package names in Java are expected to be lower-case,
  so you should change package Hangman; to package hangman;
• Version logs should be kept in source control, not in the source files (I noticed this in your upload)

• Remove redundant comments that say nothing, such as this one:

  // Panels where everything is drawn on
  

• There's no need to add compare Boolean values with true or false literals, just use them directly:

  • if (gameDone == false) becomes if (gameDone)
  • if (rightletter == false) becomes if (!rightletter)
  • if (wrong == true) becomes if (wrong)

---

Footnotes

¹ If you download it, be sure to use the new Darcula theme.