Filling a Finite Array

[webguy08]

Hello all,
I am creating a game whereby two players are dealt 5 cards at random from a pack and have to take turns flipping them over; guessing whether or not the next card will be higher or lower.

I have created the following code:

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Random;

public class PackOfCards
{
    private ArrayList<Card> cards;
    private Random rnd;

    /**
     * Constructor for objects of class PackOfCards
     */
    public PackOfCards()
    {
        // initialise instance variables
        cards = new ArrayList<Card>();
        rnd = new Random();
        fillPack();
    }
    
    private void fillPack() {
	
        for (int i=0; i<52; i++) {
            cards.add(new Card(i));
        }
    }

    /**
     * Select a card at random from the pack
     * 
     * @return     the card that was selected, or null if the pack is empty
     */
    public Card selectCard()
    {
        if (cards.size() > 0) {
            return cards.remove(rnd.nextInt(cards.size()));
        } else {
            return null;
        }
    }
}

and

public class Player
{
    private String name;
    private Card[] card = new Card[5];
    private int score = 0;
    
    /**
     * Contructor for objects of class Player.
     * @param A String which initialises the name of the player.
     */
    public Player(String name)
    {
        this.name = name;
    }
    
    /**
     * Gets the score of the player.
     * @return An integer value representing the score of the player.
     */
    public int getScore()
    {
        return score;
    }
    
    /**
     * Gets the name of the player.
     * @return A String representing the name of the player.
     */
    public String getName()
    {
        return name;
    }
    
    /**
     * Gives the player 5 cards from the pack.
     */
    public void fill()
    {
        int i = 0;
        while(i < card.length) {
            card.add(PackOfCards.selectCard());
            card = new PackOfCards(selectCard());
            new PackOfCards();
THE ABOVE LINES COLOURED RED INDICATE WHERE I AM HAVING TROUBLE
            i++;
        }
    }
}

What I am trying to achieve from the code in red is to construct a PackOfCards and fill the player's array with 5 cards from the pack.

The above two classes are not all the classes in my program, but are the two relevant to my problem.

ANY HELP IS APPRECIATED

Thanks.

[Roelf]

You have an array where there are 5 slots for one card each.
Create one PackOfCards and use that in your loop. You shouldn't take a new PackOfCards each time you are trying to select a card. When you select a card from the pack, you have to specify where the card should go (in which slot)

So:

Before the loop:
// this gives a new deck of cards
PackOfCards deck = new PackOfCards();

then loop through your hand to fill each slot with a card:

int i = 0;
while(i < card.length) {
card[i] = deck.selectCard();
}

you might want to check for null if you do this, because the deck might be empty. In that case, you should create a new deck to continue

[webguy08]

Thanks for that!