Detecting adjacent label backcolor

[norman_bates]

Hello guys!

I am making a rather simple game and need some help building the logic.

Basically it is a game of strategy (probably not a very good one mind lol!). What it involves is a grid of 100 squares (10 x 10) and is a two player.

The players take it in turns to 'capture' a square by clicking on it to make it change the backcolor property to the colour of their team. Once all the squares have been changed from their default colour the game is over and the player with the most squares of their colour wins.

The really simple answer is, the first person that goes will win, unless I add some logic that will allow players to 'capture' other player's squares. However, I want there to be rules about what they can 'capture' and when, otherwise they'll just be able to keep capturing each others square willy nilly.

I have it so that the red player cannot simply 'capture' a blue square for the sake of it and vice versa. I want to be able to code the rules so that if a blue square is sharing two (or three, I haven't decided that bit yet) sides of red squares then the red player can 'capture' it. The rules are going to be a little more complicated than that to add a bit of a challenge once the board starts to get filled.

What I need to know, is how to make the application detect what the surrounding squares colours are if a player tries to capture another player's square.

The code I have so far is not really relevant to this bit of the exercise, it is merely detecting what colour the current square is at and if it's anything other than the default colour then it doesn't allow it to be selected again. However, if anyone wants to see what I've got let me know.

Cheers guys

[stanav]

I assume that each square is represented by a Label... If this is the case, you simply add the 100 labels to a 10x10 array and you can get to any specific label by the array index.

[norman_bates]

You are indeed correct. However, I'm crap when it comes to arrays. Would you be so kind as to show me how to add them then compare the info that I need please?

[dday9]

Take a look in my signature at my Connect4 game. I have a 7X7 grid of panels, and in my logic to check if there is a win would be similar to what you're needing.

[norman_bates]

Just so I can get this clear. I've looked at your Connect4 game dday9.

Is it best if I declare a grid and then check the co-ordinates of the surrounding squares to get the backcolor property? Or am I missing the point entirely?

[dday9]

It is best to do that, because you can easily get any square in that grid and any squares surrouding it.

[norman_bates]

Cool, so I've created the grid. Now how do I invoke a 'click' on a particular square within the grid?

[dday9]

Are you talking about the click event for the label? How are you loading them, dynamically or in the designer? If it's the former, then you'd add a handler:

For x As Integer = 0 To 9
   For y As Integer = 0 To 9
           Dim lbl As New Label
           With lbl
              .Text = "lbl" & x.ToString() & y.ToString()
              .Location = New Point(x * lbl.Size.Width + 1, y * lbl.Size.Height + 1)
           End With
           AddHandler lbl.Click AddressOf lbl_Click

          Next
Next

[norman_bates]

I'm trying it without the labels and just using the grid. I've got the following code.

Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Panel1.Controls.Clear()

        For x As Integer = 0 To 10
            For y As Integer = 0 To 10
                Dim pnl As New Panel
                With pnl
                    .BorderStyle = BorderStyle.FixedSingle
                    .Size = New Size(20, 20)
                    .Location = New Point(x * 26, y * 26)
                    .Tag = "null"
                End With
                grid(x, y) = pnl
                Panel1.Controls.Add(pnl)

            Next
        Next
    End Sub

    Private Sub Panel1_Click(sender As Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles Panel1.Click
        If grid(MousePosition.X, MousePosition.Y).Tag.ToString = "null" Then
            grid(Panel.MousePosition.X, Panel.MousePosition.Y).BackColor = Color.Red
        End If
    End Sub

And it isn't showing any errors in the code, however when I click an area within the grid nothing happens. But after trying a few clicks I get an error message pop up: "Index was outside the bounds of the array."

[dday9]

Well, something to remember is that your array is 0 based. So your grid would look like this:

Dim Grid(9, 9) As Panel

And the For loops would look like this:

For x As Integer = 0 To 9
            For y As Integer = 0 To 9

With the for loop you'll have it will go from Grid(0, 0) to Grid(10, 10). The way I show above will keep the index within the bounds. But as for your question about the click event, then I would do something like this: after Panel1.Controls.Add(pnl) add

AddHandler pnl.Click, AddressOf pnl_Click

that will raise an error saying that pnl_Click aint declared. Go ahead and generate the method stub. In the sub you'll get the panel that's clicked like this:

Dim pnl As Panel = DirectCast(sender, Panel)

from there you can change pnl's back color to w/e color. In the end it should look like this:

Option Strict On
Option Explicit On
Public Class Form1
    Private grid(9, 9) As Panel

    Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        For x As Integer = 0 To 9
            For y As Integer = 0 To 9
                Dim pnl As New Panel
                With pnl
                    .BorderStyle = BorderStyle.FixedSingle
                    .Size = New Size(20, 20)
                    .Location = New Point(x * 26, y * 26)
                    .Tag = "null"
                End With
                grid(x, y) = pnl
                Panel1.Controls.Add(pnl)

                AddHandler pnl.Click, AddressOf pnl_Click
            Next
        Next

    End Sub

    Private Sub pnl_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
        Dim pnl As Panel = DirectCast(sender, Panel)
        pnl.BackColor = Color.Red
    End Sub

End Class

[norman_bates]

You my friend are a genius!

Just one other question, sorry, is now the detection of the surrounding squares.

I presume I just need to get the co-ordinates of the squares around the select one and query the backcolor value, but don't know how lol

[dday9]

You don't necessarily need the coordinates, this is how I would get the surrounding panels:

Dim pnl As Panel = DirectCast(sender, Panel)
        pnl.BackColor = Color.Red


        Dim toppnl, leftpnl, bottompnl, rightpnl As Panel

        Dim col, row As Integer
        For x As Integer = 0 To 9
            For y As Integer = 0 To 9
                If pnl.Name = grid(x, y).Name Then
                    col = x
                    row = y
                    Exit For
                End If
            Next
        Next


        'The reason we check for the 0 and 9 is because grid(0,0) won't have top or left panel
        If col = 0 Then
            leftpnl = Nothing
            If row = 0 Then
                toppnl = Nothing
                rightpnl = grid(col + 1, row)
                bottompnl = grid(col, row + 1)
            ElseIf row = 9 Then
                bottompnl = Nothing
                toppnl = grid(col, row - 1)
                rightpnl = grid(col + 1, row)
            Else
                bottompnl = grid(col, row + 1)
                toppnl = grid(col, row - 1)
                rightpnl = grid(col + 1, row)
            End If
        ElseIf col = 9 Then
            rightpnl = Nothing
            If row = 0 Then
                toppnl = Nothing
                leftpnl = grid(col - 1, row)
                bottompnl = grid(col, row + 1)
            ElseIf row = 9 Then
                bottompnl = Nothing
                toppnl = grid(col, row - 1)
                leftpnl = grid(col - 1, row)
            Else
                bottompnl = grid(col, row + 1)
                toppnl = grid(col, row - 1)
                leftpnl = grid(col - 1, row)
            End If
        Else
            leftpnl = grid(col - 1, row)
            rightpnl = grid(col + 1, row)
            toppnl = grid(col, row - 1)
            bottompnl = grid(col, row + 1)
        End If

[stanav]

You could store the panel's coordinates in the Tag property as a Point when you create it. That way it's more efficient since you don't have to loop the whole grid to "search" for the panel.

[norman_bates]

Thanks guys. I have tried to digest what your suggestion is doing dday9 but I'm a total tard sometimes lol, what is it actually doing?. How would I do what you've suggested stanav?