Thread: game timer

Consider

• Using a Swing Timer to do your counting for you. There's an excellent tutorial on its use which can be found here: How to Use Swing Timers
• Using [code=java] [/code] tags around your code that you've posted in the forum so that it retains its formatting and is readable.

Welcome to the javaprogrammingforums by the way!

thank you,,,

You're welcome. Consider also using the AWT/Swing layout managers to help you size and position your GUI and its components for you. It may easier to use null layout and absolute positioning via setBounds(...), but in the long run, it's actually much easier to use and especially maintain a Swing GUI if you use layouts. Also, this will allow your GUI to size itself correctly on different platforms (something that your current GUI does not do).

Oh, an example of using code tags as I described above:

import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
 
public class TextTwist extends javax.swing.JFrame
implements java.awt.event.ActionListener
{
 
   // hard code, should be picked from a Problem class
   private String[] letters = {"U","Y","I","I","V","R","E","S","N","T"};
 
   // hard code, should be picked from a Problem class
   private String[] solutions = {"ITS", "NET", "NIT", "RUN", "SET", "SIN", "SIR", "SIT", "SUN",
      "TEN", "TER", "TIE", "TIN", "TIR", "TRY", "UNI", "URN", "USE", "VET", "VIN", "YEN", "YET", 
      "NEST", "NETS", "NUTS", "REIN", "RENT", "REST", "RITE", "RUNS", "RUST", "SENT", "SINE",
      "SITE", "TENS", "TIES", "TIRE", "UNIT", "USER", "VEIN", "VENT", "VEST", "VETS", "VINE", "VISE",
      "ENTRY", "RENTS", "TIRES", "TRIES", "UNITE", "UNITY", "URINE", "VENTS", "VINES", "VIRUS", "VISIT",
      "INSERT", "INVERT", "INVEST", "INVITE", "UNITES", "VIRTUE", "UNIVERSITY"};
 
   // required designer variables
   private javax.swing.JButton[] letterButtons;
   private javax.swing.JButton enterButton;
   private javax.swing.JButton clearButton;
   private javax.swing.JLabel bufferLabel;
   private javax.swing.JLabel CountdownTimer;
   private javax.swing.JLabel[] solutionLabels;
 
   // these are the GUI components
 
   public TextTwist()
   {
      // needed for the Windows GUI
      initializeComponent();
   }
 
 
   private void CountdownTimer(){
 
   }
 
   private void initializeComponent()
   {
      this.letterButtons = new javax.swing.JButton[10];
 
      for (int i=0;i<this.letterButtons.length;i++)
      {
         this.letterButtons[i] = new javax.swing.JButton();
      }
 
 
      this.solutionLabels = new javax.swing.JLabel[solutions.length];
      for (int i=0;i<this.solutions.length;i++)
      {
         this.solutionLabels[i] = new javax.swing.JLabel();
      }
 
      this.setLayout(null);
 
      javax.swing.JButton button = null;
      for (int i=0;i<letterButtons.length;i++)
      {
         button = this.letterButtons[i];
         button.setBounds(500+80*i, 300, 65, 65);
         button.setActionCommand("letterButton"+i);
         button.setText(letters[i]);
         button.setFocusable(false);
         button.addActionListener(this);
         button.setFont(new Font("Arial Black", Font.BOLD, 30));
         button.setForeground(Color.black);
         button.setBackground(Color.pink);
      }
 
      // 
      button = enterButton = new javax.swing.JButton();
      button.setBounds(690, 400, 100, 60);
      button.setActionCommand("enterButton");
      button.setText("Enter");
      button.setFocusable(false);
      button.addActionListener(this);
      enterButton.setFont(new Font("Arial Black", Font.PLAIN, 20));
      enterButton.setForeground(Color.PINK);
      enterButton.setBackground(Color.GRAY);
 
      button = clearButton = new javax.swing.JButton();
      button.setBounds(900, 400, 100, 60);
      button.setActionCommand("clearButton");
      button.setText("Clear");
      button.setFocusable(false);
      button.addActionListener(this);
      clearButton.setFont(new Font("Arial Black", Font.PLAIN, 20));
      clearButton.setForeground(Color.PINK);
      clearButton.setBackground(Color.GRAY);
 
 
 
      // 
      // bufferLabel
      // 
      javax.swing.JLabel label = null;
      label = this.bufferLabel = new javax.swing.JLabel();
      label.setBounds(750,60,600,150);
      label.setFont(new Font("Arial Black", Font.PLAIN, 40));
      label.setForeground(Color.black);
      label.setBackground(Color.GRAY);
 
      for (int i=0;i<solutionLabels.length;i++)
      {
         label = this.solutionLabels[i];
         int row=i%10;
         int column=i/10;
         label.setBounds(70+column*65, 50+row*65, 250, 25);
         label.setFont(new Font("calibri", Font.PLAIN, 15));
         label.setForeground(Color.BLACK);
         for (int letterCount=0;letterCount<solutions[i].length();letterCount++)
         {
            label.setText( label.getText() + "-" );
            label.setFont(new Font("Calibri",Font.ITALIC, 20));
            label.setForeground(Color.black);
         }
      }
 
 
      // basic Window Frame
      // 
      this.setBounds(0, 0, 1000,1000);
 
 
      for (int i=0;i<letterButtons.length;i++)
      {
         this.add(this.letterButtons[i]);
      }
      this.add(this.enterButton);
      this.add(this.clearButton);
      this.add(this.bufferLabel);
      for (int i=0;i<solutionLabels.length;i++)
      {
         this.add(this.solutionLabels[i]);
      }
 
 
 
      this.setTitle("Text Twist");
      this.setDefaultCloseOperation(javax.swing.JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
      this.setVisible(true);
   }
 
   public void actionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent ev)
   {
      String command = ev.getActionCommand();
      if (command.equals("clearButton"))
      {
         clearButton_click(clearButton, ev);
      }
      else if (command.equals("enterButton"))
      {
         enterButton_click(enterButton, ev);
      }
      else if (command.startsWith("letterButton"))
      {
         int i = Integer.parseInt(command.substring(command.length( )-1,command.length()));
         letterButton_click(letterButtons[i], ev);
      }
 
   }
 
   private void letterButton_click(Object sender, java.awt.event.ActionEvent ev)
   {
      javax.swing.JButton button = (javax.swing.JButton) sender;
      String letter = button.getText();
      button.setEnabled(false);
      bufferLabel.setText(bufferLabel.getText() + letter);
   }
 
   private void clearButton_click(Object sender, java.awt.event.ActionEvent ev)
   {
      clearBuffer();
   }
 
   private void clearBuffer()
   {
      for (int i=0;i<letterButtons.length;i++)
      {
         letterButtons[i].setEnabled(true);
      }
      bufferLabel.setText("");
   }
 
   private void enterButton_click(Object sender, java.awt.event.ActionEvent ev)
   {
      for (int i=0;i<solutions.length;i++)
      {
         if (bufferLabel.getText().equals(solutions[i]))
         {
            solutionLabels[i].setText(solutions[i]);
            clearBuffer();
         }
      }
   }
 
 
   public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception
   {
      new TextTwist();
   }
 
} // class TextTwist

Notice how much easier the posted code is when these are used.

Best of luck!