Thread: Help with Simple Text-Based Hangman Game (No Arrays or Object-Oriented Programming)

As the title suggests, I need help creating a simple text-based hangman game without using arrays or object-oriented programming. No classes, no StringBuilder, no arrays of any kind. Everything I need must be in the main method. I've searched for any potential solutions to my problems the past few days before I asked for help myself, but I couldn't find the solutions I needed.

The goal of the game is to guess the correct letters within a hidden word, and eventually the entire word is revealed once the user guesses all correct letters. What I'm struggling most with at the moment is revealing the guessed letters one at a time, out of a series of dashes that represents the hidden word. So, for instance, say the secret word is "loops". The displayed word to the user would simply look like this: ----- with each letter represented as a single dash. When the user guesses a correct letter, the letter is then "revealed" at the correct index of the string of dashes. If the user guessed "p", the new displayed word would look like this: ---p- as that is where the "p" in "loops" should be. In addition to this, I also need to have the user provide which indices s/he would like to guess, and only loop over those indices to check if the letter falls within them. Honestly, I have no idea of how to go about this, and would greatly appreciate any advice. I've posted all the code I have below.

Note: The set of words that are drawn from in order to play the game are in another class known as RandomWord, which I don't have access to. This is where the String variable secretWord comes from, but it isn't necessary to have that code provided in order to help me.

This is how I would like my program to work on a basic level:
1. The program generates a random word (called secretWord) from a separate class.
2. The random word is printed as a series of dashes (called displayWord) in order to "hide" the word from the user.
3. The user enters the amount of spaces within the word s/he would like to guess.
4. While the number of guesses allowed hasn't reached 0, and the user hasn't guessed the word, the program will loop the game process:
5. The program asks the user which letter s/he would like to guess.
6. The program asks the user which indicies s/he would like to check (separated by spaces) within secretWord (such as indicies: 0 1 2 3).
7. The user enters the letter s/he would like to guess on one line, and the indices s/he would like to check on another, and the program determines whether or not that letter is found within that range of indices within secretWord.
8. If the letter is not found within that range of indicies within secretWord, the program removes 1 guess from the number of guesses remaining, and asks the user again what letter s/he would like to guess and keeps looping through that process.
9. If the letter is found within secretWord, the program will determine at exactly which index the letter occurs, and replaces one of the dashes in displayWord with that letter at the specified index (the index matching that of secretWord).
10. The game will loop this process until either the user has guessed all the letters within secretWord, or s/he runs out of guesses.
11. At this point, the program will ask the user if s/he wants to play again.
12. If the user enters "Y" then the program will start over, generating another secretWord and starting the process of guesses over again.
13. If the user enters "N" then the program will close.

My code:

import java.util.Scanner;
public class Hangman2 
{
	private static final boolean testingMode = true;
	public static void main(String[] args) 
	{
		// Variable Declarations
		char playAgain;
		int numGames, numSpacesAllowed, roundScore, totalScore, guessesRemaining;
		String displayWord, numSpaces, secretWord, guess, substringOne, substringTwo;
 
		// Variable Initializations
		guess = "";
		numGames = 20;
		totalScore = 0;
		roundScore = 0;
		playAgain = ' ';
		displayWord = "";
		substringOne = "";
		substringTwo = "";
		guessesRemaining = 20;
		secretWord = RandomWord.newWord();
 
		// Scanner Object Declaration
		Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);
 
		// Bulk of the game
		do
		{
			// Game Setup
			System.out.println("The secret word is: " + secretWord);
			System.out.print("The word is: ");
			displayWord = secretWord.replaceAll(".", "-");
			System.out.println(displayWord);
 
			System.out.println();
			System.out.print("Enter the number of spaces allowed: ");
			numSpacesAllowed = input.nextInt();
 
			while (numSpacesAllowed <= 0 || numSpacesAllowed > secretWord.length())
			{
				System.out.println("Invalid input. Try again.");
				System.out.println();
				System.out.print("Enter the number of spaces allowed: ");
				numSpacesAllowed = input.nextInt();
			}
 
			while (guessesRemaining > 0 && !secretWord.equals(displayWord)) //While game parameters are within range
			{
				System.out.print("Enter the letter you want to guess: ");
				guess = input.next().substring(0, 1);
 
				if (secretWord.indexOf(guess) >= 0) //If guess is in secretWord
				{
					System.out.println();
					System.out.println("Your guess is in the word!");
 
					//VARIABLE OUTPUTS FOR DEBUGGING PURPOSES ONLY
					System.out.println();
					System.out.println("VARIABLE OUTPUTS FOR DEBUGGING PURPOSES ONLY");
					System.out.println("index: " + secretWord.indexOf(guess)); //Print index
					System.out.println("displayWord: " + displayWord); //Print value of displayWord before change
					System.out.println();
 
					if (secretWord.charAt(secretWord.indexOf(guess)) == guess.charAt(0)) //If characters match at correct index
					{
						substringOne = displayWord.substring(0, secretWord.indexOf(guess));
						substringTwo = displayWord.substring(secretWord.indexOf(guess) + 1);
						displayWord = substringOne + guess + substringTwo;
					}
 
					//VARIABLE OUTPUTS FOR DEBUGGING PURPOSES ONLY
					System.out.println();
					System.out.println("VARIABLE OUTPUTS FOR DEBUGGING PURPOSES ONLY");
					System.out.println("secretWord: " + secretWord); //Print value of secretWord
					System.out.println("displayWord: " + displayWord); //Print value of displayWord
					System.out.println("index: " + secretWord.indexOf(guess)); //Print value of index
					System.out.println("guess: " + guess); //Print value of guess
					System.out.println("substringOne: " + substringOne); //Print value of substringOne
					System.out.println("substringTwo: " + substringTwo); //Print value of substringTwo
					System.out.println();
 
					System.out.println("The updated word is: " + displayWord);
					System.out.println("Guesses Remaining: " + guessesRemaining);
 
				} 
				else 
				{
					System.out.println();
					System.out.println("Your letter was not found in the spaces provided.");
 
					guessesRemaining--;
 
					System.out.println("Guesses Remaining: " + guessesRemaining);
					System.out.println();
				}
 
				roundScore = (guessesRemaining * 10) / numSpacesAllowed; //Calculates roundScore
 
				if (secretWord.indexOf(guess) >= 0) //Calculates totalScore if guess is in secretWord
				{
					totalScore += roundScore;
				} 
				else //If guess isn't in secretWord
				{
					roundScore = 0;
				}
 
				System.out.println("Score for this round: " + roundScore);
				System.out.println("Total Score: " + totalScore);
				System.out.println();
			}
 
			if (secretWord.equals(displayWord))
			{
				System.out.println("You have guessed the word! Congratulations!");
				System.out.print("Would you like to play again? Yes (y) or No (n) ");
				playAgain = (input.next().toUpperCase()).charAt(0);
 
				if (playAgain == 'N')
				{
					input.close();
					System.exit(0);
				}
 
				System.out.println();
			} 
			else if (!secretWord.equals(displayWord))
			{
				System.out.println("Sorry, you failed to guess the word.");
				System.out.print("Would you like to play again? Yes (y) or No (n) ");
				playAgain = (input.next().toUpperCase()).charAt(0);
 
				if (playAgain == 'N')
				{
					input.close();
					System.exit(0);
				}
 
				System.out.println();
			}
 
			if (numGames == 0) 
			{
				System.out.println("Sorry, you failed to guess the word.");
				input.close();
				System.exit(0);
			}
		} while (playAgain == 'Y');
	}
}

Here are some example outputs from the console as it exists now:
The secret word is: ASCII
The word is: -----

Enter the number of spaces allowed: 5
Enter the letter you want to guess: A
Your guess is in the word!

VARIABLE OUTPUTS FOR DEBUGGING PURPOSES ONLY
index: 0
displayWord: -----


VARIABLE OUTPUTS FOR DEBUGGING PURPOSES ONLY
secretWord: ASCII
displayWord: A----
index: 0
guess: A
substringOne:
substringTwo: ----

The updated word is: A----
Guesses Remaining: 20
Score for this round: 40
Total Score: 40

Enter the letter you want to guess: S
Your guess is in the word!

VARIABLE OUTPUTS FOR DEBUGGING PURPOSES ONLY
index: 0
displayWord: A----


VARIABLE OUTPUTS FOR DEBUGGING PURPOSES ONLY
secretWord: ASCII
displayWord: A----
index: 0
guess: A
substringOne:
substringTwo: ----

The updated word is: A----
Guesses Remaining: 20
Score for this round: 40
Total Score: 80

Enter the letter you want to guess: C
Your guess is in the word!

VARIABLE OUTPUTS FOR DEBUGGING PURPOSES ONLY
index: 1
displayWord: A----


VARIABLE OUTPUTS FOR DEBUGGING PURPOSES ONLY
secretWord: ASCII
displayWord: AS---
index: 1
guess: S
substringOne: A
substringTwo: ---

The updated word is: AS---
Guesses Remaining: 20
Score for this round: 40
Total Score: 120

Can you copy the contents of the console from when you execute the program and paste it here so we can see what you have?
Add some comments showing and describing what you want the output to be.

I assume you are able to use all of the String class's methods.

Can you add some comments to the code describing what you are trying to do?
For example what is the logic for building the String to display after a match was found?

Can you add the logic steps that the code is using to build the contents of displayWord as comments?

Please copy and paste the contents of the command prompt window. No screen shot images.

In Windows: To copy the contents of the command prompt window:
Click on Icon in upper left corner
Select Edit
Select 'Select All' - The selection will show
Click in upper left again
Select Edit and click 'Copy'

Paste here.

I still do not see the logic for how the displayWord is used. Can you describe what displayWord is supposed to contain and how its value is built?

I'm using Eclipse IDE with Windows. I can right click, highlight, and copy from the console. You can't do that on a Mac?

Regards,
Jim

print out a series of dashes that is equal to the length of the secret word (say, "loops") and I've called it displayWord.

How many dashes does displayWorld contain after the loop?
How many should it contain?

displayWord should change to reflect that guess.

Ok, what does the program need to do to make that happen?
Your post describes the desired output but does not describe what the program needs to do to make it happen.
What steps should it take?
What values does it need to create the new contents for displayWord?

This is what I'm trying to figure out. I tried splitting it into substrings, like this:

System.out.print("Enter your guess: ");
String guess = input.next().substring(0, 1);
 
for(int index = 0; index < secretWord.length(); index++)
{
     if(secretWord.indexOf(guess) == index)
     {
          String substringOne = displayWord.substring(0, index);
          String substringTwo = displayWord.substring(index + 1);
     }
}
 
System.out.println("The updated word is: " + substringOne + guess + substringTwo);

Where displayWord is a series of dashes equal to the length of secretWord, and secretWord is a randomly generated word. I kept getting StringIndexOutOfBoundsException errors when I attempted this. After the loop, dashes should contain the same number of dashes - 1, because the user has guessed one letter correctly, and that letter should be placed in the correct index in displayWord corresponding to the index of that letter in secretWord.

displayWord is a series of dashes equal to the length of secretWord,

It only has one dash. Print it out to see what is in it.
The loop that builds it needs fixing.

I tried splitting it into substrings,

Please explain the logic the code is supposed to follow.
It helps to use paper and pencil to work out index values needed for using the substring method.

Don't write any more code until you have worked out good logic.

displayWord = "-";

That statement assigns ONE dash to displayWord every time the loop goes around. When the loop is finished, displayWord contains one dash.

If you want to concatenate dashes, the use the += operator like you did here:

displayWord += secretWord.charAt(index);

Thank you! That makes a lot of sense, I overlooked that. I changed to a substring method in the for loop over displayWord because I thought it would help more, and I think I've made a bit of progress. Those changes are now reflected in the code I provided in my initial question at the top of the screen. Now when I print, it adds the guessed letter after the fourth dash is printed of the string of dashes. This is what my console is showing:

The secret word is: debugging
The word is: ---------
Enter the number of spaces allowed: 9
Enter the letter you want to guess: u

Your guess is in the word!
The updated word is: ---u-
Guesses Remaining: 20
Score for this round: 22
Total Score: 440

Enter the letter you want to guess: d

Your guess is in the word!
The updated word is: d----------
Guesses Remaining: 20
Score for this round: 22
Total Score: 440

I'm assuming that there's a problem with how I've created my index. Do you know what I might be able to do to remedy this?

Do you know what I might be able to do to remedy this?

How are you trying to debug the code? Add some print statements that print out the value of variables that are being changed and used so you can see exactly what the code is doing. The print out will help you see the problem.

Have you used a paper and pencil to check the values that the code should be using?

I can't help you with using the debugger. If you use print statements that print the values of variables, the print out could be posted and I might be able to point out problems I see.

Also as a start, you need to post the current code with the debugging print statements.

Here are some print statements for relevant variables:

VARIABLE OUTPUTS FOR DEBUGGING PURPOSES ONLY
Value of secretWord: algorithms
Value of displayWord: -----------
Value of index at end of string: 9
Value of guess: r
Value of substringOne: ----
Value of substringTwo: --
Value of updatedDisplayWord: ----r--

i've updated the code in the initial post as well.

What is wrong with what was printed in post #18? Be sure to add comments to values that are not what is expected.

More debug print outs needed.
displayWord before and after changes
the value of the for loop index
The value of the arguments to the substring methods.

Note: When printing a variable's value be sure to give its name: ("Value of" is redundant)

   System.out.println("theVariable="+theVariable);  // print value of theVariable

The code needs some design work done and then comments describing the logic needs to be added.
I've added some questions:

					for (int index = 0; index < secretWord.length(); index++) //Loop over secretWord      WHY?? 
					{
						displayWord += "-";                 //????  why add dash here
						if (secretWord.indexOf(guess) == index) //If indices match           Then what???
						{
							substringOne = displayWord.substring(0, index);
							substringTwo = displayWord.substring(index);
							updatedDisplayWord = substringOne + guess + substringTwo;     //  What is done with this?
                                                       // why continue.  Code only handles first match
						}

I need substringTwo to print as ------ (six dashes) which is the number of dashes afte the guessed letter "r". However, it only printed two dashes.

Are you talking about this statement:
substringTwo = displayWord.substring(index);
What was in displayWord?
What was the value of index?

Are those values what you expected from your paper and pencil tests?

This doesn't look right:

guess: v
substringOne: --
substringTwo: --
updatedDisplayWord: --v--

Shouldn't the updated value be: --v-?

the value of index changes as it loops

Why is there a loop?

The value of displayWord is ----

No it's not. This statement is constantly changing it:

   displayWord += "-";

You still have not described the necessary, logical steps the program needs to take to work.
Continually changing the code without a design makes it very hard to get the program to work.

What is supposed to be in displayWord? How and when should its contents be changed?
Can you write some details on the use of displayWord?

must be updated every round of the game (every guess).

How should the code do that? The current code changes displayWord by appending dashes inside the loop.
Also the current code does not save the updated String contained in updatedDisplayWord

value of displayWord is constantly changing with the line: displayWord += "-"; I need its length in dashes to match the length of secretWord.

displayWord was filled with dashes at the beginning of the program so that its length matched secretWord's length. Why continue filling it?