Is it possible to use string contents as an image modifier for painting?

Question

I am currently working on a small Java game in eclipse, and am knee deep in a few thousand lines of code. Right now, I am specifically attempting to use a String's contents to paint an image, and am wondering if it is possible. If it is it would save me at least a few hundred lines of individual variables for each image.

Pasting the whole program would more than likely prove counter productive due to the length, so I will merely demonstrate what I am attemtping.

What I am attempting to do:

ImageIcon ladder = new ImageIcon (getClass ().getResource ("ladder.png"));
floorContents [currentX] [currentY] = "ladder";

public void paint (Graphics g)
{
     if (floorContents [currentX] [currentY] != "none") // painting item where standing
     {
         floorContents[currentX][currentY].paintIcon (this, g, 0, 0);
     }
}

Essentially I am attempting to get the program to see this line:

floorContents[currentX][currentY].paintIcon (this, g, 0, 0);

as this:

ladder.paintIcon (this, g, 0, 0);

If at all possible. This would save me from having to write in each image item seperately.

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 05 '13 at 22:35

Put each image in a Map keyed by the string

imageMap.put("ladder", new ImageIcon (getClass ().getResource ("ladder.png")));

//...

imageMap.get(floorContents [currentX] [currentY]).paintIcon (this, g, 0, 0);

Of course, you should key to see if the map contains the key first, or if the value returned is null...

if (imageMap.containsKey(floorContents [currentX] [currentY]) {
    //....
}

of

ImageIcon image = imageMap.get(floorContents [currentX] [currentY]);
if (image != null) {
    //...
}

But that's up to you

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:48

1

 if (floorContents [currentX] [currentY] != "none")

Should be more like:

 if (!floorContents [currentX] [currentY].equals("none"))

See String comparison in Java (and about 500 more) for details.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:48

Community

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answered Feb 05 '13 at 22:40

Andrew Thompson

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score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 05 '13 at 22:45

I would kill use of strings altogether. "none" is code-smell for null if I ever saw it. Why even match on a String at all.

ImageIcon[][] floorContents;
ImageIcon ladder = new ImageIcon (getClass ().getResource ("ladder.png"));
floorContents[currentX][currentY] = ladder;


public void paint (Graphics g) {
   if (floorContents [currentX] [currentY] != null) {
      floorContents[currentX][currentY].paintIcon (this, g, 0, 0);
   }
}

Is it possible to use string contents as an image modifier for painting?

3 Answers3