Thread: minimax for dot and box game

Hello all, new poster.

i need help with a dot and box game i am trying to do.

I understand how minimax works and understand how the tic-tac-toe process works but i cannot figure it out for the dot and box game. I would like to know how to return
a horizontal/vertical, column, row but cannot figure it out. in TTT you only get to input in a row/column but with d and b you have to add the dash in north/south/east/west.

any help would be great.

Nick

so if i have this code
//While the game is active
while (!((msg[0] == GameSocket.CLOSING) || (msg[0] == GameSocket.GAME_OVER))) {

do {// want to change this to MINIMAX instead of random
//play randomly
int HorV, row, col;
HorV = Math.random() < 0.5 ? 0 : 1;
if (HorV == 0) { //Play horizontal Horizontal
row = (int) (Math.random()*(size+1));
col = (int) (Math.random()*(size));
} else { //Play vertical
row = (int) (Math.random()*(size));
col = (int) (Math.random()*(size+1));
}
//Send move
gs.sendMove(HorV, row, col);
//Read result
msg = gs.readMessage();
//Read next message
msg = gs.readMessage();
} while (msg[0] == GameSocket.PLEASE_PLAY);

//Then wait for my turn
while (!((msg[0] == GameSocket.PLEASE_PLAY) || (msg[0] == GameSocket.CLOSING) || (msg[0] == GameSocket.GAME_OVER))) {
msg = gs.readMessage();

in the code above i want to change from random to MINIMAX with int HorV, row, col; being passed.

all i would need to do is make a minimax class and pass those parameters to the rest of the code? am i going in the right direction?

do {
 
//play randomly
int HorV, row, col;
HorV = Math.random() < 0.5 ? 0 : 1;
if (HorV == 0) { //Play horizontal Horizontal
row = (int) (Math.random()*(size+1));
col = (int) (Math.random()*(size));
} else { //Play vertical
row = (int) (Math.random()*(size));
col = (int) (Math.random()*(size+1));
}
//Send move
gs.sendMove(HorV, row, col);
//Read result
msg = gs.readMessage();
//Read next message
msg = gs.readMessage();
} while (msg[0] == GameSocket.PLEASE_PLAY);
 
//Then wait for my turn
while (!((msg[0] == GameSocket.PLEASE_PLAY) || (msg[0] == GameSocket.CLOSING) || (msg[0] == GameSocket.GAME_OVER))) {
msg = gs.readMessage();

sorry for last. this is just an extract of the rest of the code i have.