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Java Java Objects Creating the MVP Scrabble Tiles

Solomon Asiedu-Ofei Jnr
Solomon Asiedu-Ofei Jnr
1,015 Points
Posted by Solomon Asiedu-Ofei Jnr
Solomon Asiedu-Ofei Jnr
1,015 Points

HELP!! I am supposed to return a true or false if my tiles already contain a tile I pass.

I have added a boolean to return a true when it contains a tile already in my tiles but how do I return a false??

ScrabblePlayer.java 
public class ScrabblePlayer {
  // A String representing all of the tiles that this player has
  private String tiles;

  public ScrabblePlayer() {
    tiles = "";
  }

  public String getTiles() {
    return tiles;
  }

  public void addTile(char tile) {
    // TODO: Add the tile to tiles
    tiles += tile;
  }

  public boolean hasTile(char tile) {
    // TODO: Determine if user has the tile passed in
    boolean containTile = tiles.indexOf(tile) != -1;
    return true;
  }

}

3 Answers

Vladut Astalos
Vladut Astalos
11,246 Points
Vladut Astalos
Vladut Astalos
11,246 Points

You don't need that if statement you basically check the same thing twice. When you say return tiles.indexOf(tile) != -1; that expression is checked for his truth value and will return whatever the result is. If that expression is considered to be true, method will return true, if is considered to be false, method will return false. You don't need to check one more time.

Solomon Asiedu-Ofei Jnr
Solomon Asiedu-Ofei Jnr
1,015 Points
Solomon Asiedu-Ofei Jnr
Solomon Asiedu-Ofei Jnr
1,015 Points

OOHHHH I now get. so containTile will be true or false depending on the out come of tiles.index(tiles) != -1 , so if I return containTile it will return true or false depending on the condition!!!

Thank you so much Vladut.

Craig Dennis
STAFF
Craig Dennis
Treehouse Teacher
Craig Dennis
Craig Dennis
Treehouse Teacher

Since the result of your checking code is actually a true or false...you can just 

return tiles.indexOf(tile) != -1;

That make sense?

Vladut Astalos
Vladut Astalos
11,246 Points
Vladut Astalos
Vladut Astalos
11,246 Points

In your method you return true all the time. You need to return the result of that statement. Since you store that result in a variable, all you need to do is to return that variable instead of true, something like this 

boolean containTile = tiles.indexOf(tile) != -1;
return containTile;

or simply 

return tiles.indexOf(tile) != -1;
Solomon Asiedu-Ofei Jnr
Solomon Asiedu-Ofei Jnr
1,015 Points
Solomon Asiedu-Ofei Jnr
Solomon Asiedu-Ofei Jnr
1,015 Points

Ok I get that bit. So how then would I be able to return a false statement. Will this make sense

boolean containTile = tiles.indexOf(tile) != -1;
return containTile;
if (containTile == true) {
return true;
}else {
return false;
}