CIT 594 Assignment 7: Robot GUI
Spring 2012, David Matuszek

Purposes of this assignment

• To give you more experience with GUIs
• To familiarize you with code that you will use in a later assignment.

General idea of the assignment

Implement a "robot" that moves about in a GUI and responds to commands. The GUI "game board" will contain other kinds of objects (Pieces), including Blocks.

Detailed specification

BoardGame

For this assignment you will use a BoardGame package that I have developed.

• About the BoardGame package (introductory documentation)
• boardGame.zip (the basic software)
• examples.zip (two examples of using the software)
• doc.zip (the API)

Notes:

• Known bug: When a piece is moving, resizing the GUI or dragging another piece will cause display artifacts. These are temporary and harmless.
• There are two code examples, Test.java and BigGui.java. These are just throwaway programs that do somewhat random things that aren't worth documenting. You can use these as models for your own code.
• Block.java is a subclass of Piece that you can adapt to your own needs.

Your assignment

Start a new package for your code. Use your login name (or actual name, or something similar) as the name of your package.

RobotPiece

Create a RobotPiece singleton object that extends Piece. This object needs to implement the public void paint(Graphics g, Rectangle r) method.

• The robot will be able to move horizontally or vertically, but not diagonally. Accordingly, it will be able to face in the four cardinal directions (north, south, east, west). The robot should be drawn differently for each direction, so that it is easy to tell which way it is facing.
• The size of the robot drawing should depend on the given java.awt.Rectangle.
• Piece objects are not expected to include any logic beyond what is necessary to draw them properly.

RobotGUI

Setup

The RobotGUI singleton object will:

• Create a display containing a Board and assorted controls.
• Create a number of Pieces, including some Blocks, and place them randomly on the Board.
  • Recommended piece types: Coins, Tazers, Diamonds, OilCans.
  • A square may contain any number of Pieces, of the same or different types, except for Blocks.
  • A square that contains a Block may not contain anything else. (Blocks are basically "walls.")
• Create one RobotController.
• Take commands from the user and convey them to the RobotController, which controls the RobotPiece.

The GUI should accept the following commands from the user:

• Turn the robot to face in a given direction.
• Turn the robot left, right, or around (180°).
• Move the robot a given (integer) number of squares, in the direction that it is facing.
• Pick up an item that is on the same square as the robot.
• Drop an item into the same square as the robot.
• Remove the robot from the board.
• Place the robot in a new location on the board.

The details of the GUI (buttons, text fields, etc.) are up to your discretion, but should be reasonably intuitive. Remember that your instructor and/or your TAs will have to try to use it.

RobotController

Your RobotController object should create just one RobotPiece, which is not immediately placed on the Board. The RobotController then handles all the logic for the RobotPiece. It provides methods that are called by the GUI, and attempts to do what the GUI tells it to do, subject to the constraints listed below.

Here's what the RobotController should be able to do:

• Place the RobotPiece on the Board, in a given location.
  • This will fail if the location is illegal, or if it contains a Block. (It is okay to place the robot where there are other types of objects.)
• Remove the RobotPiece from the Board.
  • While the RobotPiece is not on the Board, it will be unable to move, to pick up objects, or to drop objects. It will, however, be able to turn.
• Turn the RobotPiece to face in a given direction.
• Turn the RobotPiece 90° to the left or right, or 180°.
• Move the RobotPiece forward (in the direction it is facing) some non-negative integral number of squares.
  • The robot cannot move off the board.
  • The robot cannot move through or onto a Block.
  • If the robot cannot move as far as requested, it will move as far as it can.
• Pick up a particular kind of object that is in the same square as the RobotPiece.
  • This will fail if the square does not contain any objects of that kind.
  • If the square contains multiple objects of the specified kind, only one will be picked up.
  • The RobotController must maintain a list of the objects that it is "holding."
• Drop a particular kind of object into the same square as the RobotPiece.
  • This will fail if the RobotController is not holding any of the specified kind of object.
  • If holding more than one of the specified kind of object, only one will be dropped.
  • If an object is dropped, the RobotPiece must move to "on top" of it, so that the display of the RobotPiece is not obscured.

What to turn in

Due date

Your program is due before 6am Tuesday, March 20. Zip up the entire directory for this project, and submit via Blackboard. Only assignments submitted via Blackboard will be accepted--any assignments emailed to me will be discarded without comment. A late penalty of 5 points per day (out of 100 points) will apply.

Because many of you are interviewing this semester, a limited number of 48-hour extensions will be available. To get an extension, email me before 5pm Friday, stating the reason you need the extension. No extensions will be granted after Friday. If you get an extension and fail to get the project in by the extended due date, late points will be counted from the original due date.