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POTreating a bidimensional text (Ruzzle solver)
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copied!<p>I am trying to program a Ruzzle solver Java application for learning purpose. I have a little problem in th ematter of "finding words" in a Ruzzle-type map.</p> <p>Example of a Ruzzle map (it is composed of 4 rows and 4 columns of 1 letter in each cell) :</p> <pre><code>Z O O H E Y L H I E L I H O F M </code></pre> <p><a href="http://www.maclife.com/files/imagecache/futureus_imagegallery_fullsize/gallery/ruzzle1.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://www.maclife.com/files/imagecache/futureus_imagegallery_fullsize/gallery/ruzzle1.jpg</a></p> <p>I would like to obtain a list of all possible words you can find in such a map. </p> <p>The difficulty : you can find a word by appending letters vertically, horizontally and diagonally (example : "HELLO").</p> <p>So far, I created 3 classes :</p> <ul> <li><p><b>Ruzzlesolver.java</b></p></li> <li><p><b>Letter.java</b></p></li> <li><p><b>Map.java</b></p></li> </ul> <h1>The Letter class</h1> <p>Describes a single Letter of the map, its fields are the X and Y positions and the character of the cell.</p> <h1>The Ruzzlesolver class</h1> <p>This is the main class.</p> <ul> <li>it reads the <i>Ruzzle map</i> (an line by line input in the console)</li> <li>it reads the <i>dictionnary.txt</i> file </li> <li>it compares the map with the dictionnary file</li> <li>it writes into the <i>results.txt</i> file</li> </ul> <p>Each line is stored in a char array. Then I create a new Map object from the 4 obtained arrays.</p> <h1>The Map class</h1> <p>This is the constructor of the Map objects :</p> <pre><code>public Map(final char[] pTab1, final char[] pTab2, final char[] pTab3, final char[] pTab4) { this.aLettres = new ArrayList<Letter>(); for (int i = 0 ; i < 4 ; i++) { this.aLettres.add(new Letter(1, i+1, pTab1[i]));} for (int i = 0 ; i < 4 ; i++) { this.aLettres.add(new Letter(2, i+1, pTab2[i]));} for (int i = 0 ; i < 4 ; i++) { this.aLettres.add(new Letter(3, i+1, pTab3[i]));} for (int i = 0 ; i < 4 ; i++) { this.aLettres.add(new Letter(4, i+1, pTab4[i]));} } </code></pre> <p>this.aLettres is the ArrayList that contains each of the 16 letters of the map.</p> <p>Each Letter knows its column (X position : "i+1"), its row (Y position : "1, 2, 3 and 4") and its character ("pTab[i]").</p> <p>Now that we know the map and the place of each letter, we can begin to find the words.</p> <h2>The contains() method</h2> <p>This is my problem : I am stuck using the following method :</p> <h3>How it is called</h3> <ol> <li>I pick a word from the dictionnary in the Ruzzlesolver class.</li> <li><p>I call the contains() method on my Map object, with this word as a parameter :</p> <pre><code>if (this.aMap.contains(vMot)) {/*print vMot in the result.txt file*/} </code></pre></li> </ol> <h3>How does the contains() method work</h3> <ol> <li><p>Variables :</p> <pre><code> char[] vChars = new char[pMot.length()]; ArrayList<Letter> vFoundCharS1 = new ArrayList<Letter>(); </code></pre></li> <li><p>Stocking each characters of pMot in an ArrayList :</p> <pre><code> for (int i = 0 ; i < pMot.length() ; i++) { vChars[i] = pMot.charAt(i); } </code></pre></li> <li><p>Searching for the first character of pMot :</p> <pre><code> for (Letter vL : this.aLettres) { if (vL.getChar() == vChars[0]) { vFoundCharS1.add(vL); return true; } } </code></pre></li> <li>I am stuck.</li> </ol> <p><br/></p> <p>If I continue this method, I will have to create longer and longer blocks as I progress. Besides, I would need to write 16 blocks to consider every length possibility.</p> <p>I am sure this is a wrong method. How would you implement such a treatment ?</p> <p>Thanks a lot in advance for your help.</p> <p>PS : I apologize for grammar/English mistakes, English is not my natal language.</p>

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