2. Read and Process Input

Importing Packages

In Java, an efficient way to obtain user input is to use the Scanner class in java.util package. To use this class and all its methods, we need to import the class with the following line of code on the top of the file.

import java.util.Scanner;

Using the Scanner Class

In main(), we need to first create a Scanner object called sc by calling its constructor (shown below).

We want to Scanner to read our input from the standard input stream. To do that we need to pass in System.in(the standard input stream object).

// Create a Scanner object
Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in);

Obtaining User Input

In the previous activity, we prompt the user to enter numbers from 1 - 9. Hence, we will be expecting an int from the input stream.

To obtain the int the Scanner object stores, we call the method nextInt() on sc, the Scanner object.

int input = sc.nextInt();

Test Your Program (optional)

To test your program, add a print statement to print out the value you store from nextInt().

Try to run your program, and type in some numbers and click enter. You should see your number being correctly printed out. For example:

<<<~  Tic  Tac  Toe  ~>>>
* Choose number 1 - 9 to place your move
* Player: 'X' Computer: 'O'

 1 | 2 | 3 
---+---+---
 4 | 5 | 6 
---+---+---
 7 | 8 | 9 
Enter your move (1-9): 2                 <------- the number you typed in
Input Number: 2                          <------- Print statement printed the inputted number correctly

Exception in thread "main" java.util.InputMismatchException      <------ tells you what error it is
    at java.base/java.util.Scanner.throwFor(Scanner.java:939)
    at java.base/java.util.Scanner.next(Scanner.java:1594)
    at java.base/java.util.Scanner.nextInt(Scanner.java:2258)
    at java.base/java.util.Scanner.nextInt(Scanner.java:2212)
    at Main.main(Main.java:15)                                   <------ tells you which line of code causes the error (line 15 in Main.java)

Handling Invalid Inputs with Scanner

The Scanner class provides methods that check for valid or invalid inputs. For example, the method hasNextInt will check if the value of the user’s input is an integer and returns true or false. This method can be used to ensure that the user’s input is valid.

Use control structures to validate the users input. If the input is not valid, request for the valid input again.

if(sc.hasNextInt()) { //was an integer entered
	move = sc.nextInt(); // get integer input
   if (!(move > 0 && move <= 9)) { //is the integer between 1 and 9
		System.out.print("Invalid Position; re-enter your move (1-9): ");
   }
} else { // if an integer wasn't entered
   sc.next(); // clear the Scanner
	System.out.print("Invalid Input; re-enter your move (1-9): ");
}

Test Your Program (optional)

Test your program by clicking Run, you should see the message Invalid Position; re-enter your move (1-9): if you entered a non-number input, or a number that isn’t between 1 through 9.

Taking Multiple Inputs

Now we have a program that takes in one input and evaluates if it’s valid, we want to ask the player to do it again until the game ends.

To continue prompting the user to enter his/her next move, we put the whole hasNextInt if statement in a while loop. This while loop takes in an argument of true meaning the program will continuing looping until instructed to stop.

Note that we call printBoard(board) and prompt the user at the end of each iteration, shown below:

while(true){
    // insert the hasNextInt() if statement here

   // move these into the hasNextInt() if statement 
    printBoard(board);
    System.out.print("Enter your move (1-9): "); 
}

Handling Invalid Input

When a user enters an invalid input, we do not want the program to call printBoard(board) and print Enter your move (1-9): .

In other words, we want to program to continue on to the next iteration of in the while loop.

We put continue; in the code to indicate the computer to skip back and execute from to the top of the while loop again.

By the end of this exercise, you should have a program that prompts you to re-enter for any invalid inputs, and prints out an empty board with the prompt Enter your move (1-9): for any valid inputs!

<<<~  Tic  Tac  Toe  ~>>>
* Choose number 1 - 9 to place your move
* Player: 'X' Computer: 'O'

 1 | 2 | 3 
---+---+---
 4 | 5 | 6 
---+---+---
 7 | 8 | 9 
Enter your move (1-9): 1
   |   |   
---+---+---
   |   |                                    <--------------- The board doesn't have the player/computer moves
---+---+---
   |   |   
Enter your move (1-9): d
Invalid Input; re-enter your move (1-9): 3
   |   |   
---+---+---
   |   |                                    <--------------- The board doesn't have the player/computer moves
---+---+---
   |   |   
Enter your move (1-9): 

Let’s continue on the workshop to see how we should update our game board!