How do I get Connect 4 to recorgnise a winner

Question

0.00/5 (No votes)

See more:

Hi I am very new to programming and have very little experience. I am currently writing a code in C# to play connect 4. I cant seem to write code to recognise a winner.
Plus it is very messy

The only code I have so far is

C#

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows.Forms;


namespace WindowsFormsApplication4
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
       // bool Red = true;  // sets the bool red to equal true
       // bool there_is_a_winner = false;
        bool turn = true;
        int turn_count = 0;

        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();

        }
        // I added the menu-strip event, to be able to exit the game cleanly
        private void exitGameToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            Application.Exit();// This is the code to Exit game
        }
        // This event holds all 42 buttons under one name.
        private void Button_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            Button b = (Button)sender;// object is vague/generic so initiated it to button b.

            if (turn)  // if turn is true change back colour to Blue
                b.BackColor = Color.Blue;
            else
                b.BackColor = Color.Red; // if false change back colour to Red

            turn=!turn;  // turn is true then it becomes not true, false

           b.Enabled = false;  // This is to stop the button from executing the next colour
        }



   <pre>

Posted 29-Apr-14 0:44am

Emma Alford

Add a Solution

Comments

Dennis_E 29-Apr-14 7:10am

You need to know the positions in order to determine a winner. You could put the buttons into a 2-dimensional array, for instance. Then you can loop over the lines to check if 4 adjacent buttons have the same color.

1 solution

Add a Solution

Add your solution here

Treat my content as plain text, not as HTML

Preview 0

…

Existing Members

Sign in to your account

...or Join us

Download, Vote, Comment, Publish.

Your Email
Password
Forgot your password?

Your Email
This email is in use. Do you need your password?
Optional Password

I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Please subscribe me to the CodeProject newsletters

When answering a question please:

Read the question carefully.
Understand that English isn't everyone's first language so be lenient of bad spelling and grammar.
If a question is poorly phrased then either ask for clarification, ignore it, or edit the question and fix the problem. Insults are not welcome.
Don't tell someone to read the manual. Chances are they have and don't get it. Provide an answer or move on to the next question.

Let's work to help developers, not make them feel stupid.

This content, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

Dennis_E · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-29T02:55:00

Since only the last move can determine the winner, you only have to check its neighbors:
count the number of adjacent buttons with the same color.

C#

private const int RowCount = 6, ColumnCount = 7;
private Button[,] grid = new Button[RowCount, ColumnCount];
//You need to put the buttons in this grid somewhere in your code...

public bool Won(int row, int column) {
    return DownAdjacent(row, column) + 1 >= 4
        || LeftUpAdjacent(row, column) + RightDownAdjacent(row, column) + 1 >= 4
        || LeftDownAdjacent(row, column) + RightUpAdjacent(row, column) + 1 >= 4;
}

private int DownAdjacent(int row, int column) {
    Color color = grid[row, column].BackColor;
    int count = 0;
    for (int r = row - 1; r >= 0; --r, ++count) {
	if (grid[r, column].BackColor != color) break;
    }
    return count;
}

private int LeftUpAdjacent(int row, int column) {
    Color color = grid[row, column].BackColor;
    int count = 0;
    for (int r = row + 1, c = column - 1; r < RowCount && c >= 0; ++r, --c, ++count) {
	if (grid[r, c].BackColor != color) break;
    }
    return count;
}

private int RightDownAdjacent(int row, int column) {
    Color color = grid[row, column].BackColor;
    int count = 0;
    for (int r = row - 1, c = column + 1; r >= 0 && c < ColumnCount; --r, ++c, ++count) {
	if (grid[r, c].BackColor != color) break;
    }
    return count;
}

private int RightUpAdjacent(int row, int column) {
    Color color = grid[row, column].BackColor;
    int count = 0;
    for (int r = row + 1, c = column + 1; r < RowCount && c < ColumnCount; ++r, ++c, ++count) {
	if (grid[r, c].BackColor != color) break;
    }
    return count;
}

private int LeftDownAdjacent(int row, int column) {
    Color color = grid[row, column].BackColor;
    int count = 0;
    for (int r = row - 1, c = column - 1; r >= 0 && c >= 0; --r, --c, ++count) {
	if (grid[r, c].BackColor != color) break;
    }
    return count;
}