GameHelper.java

import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;

public class GameHelper {

	private static final String alphabet = "abcdefg";
	private int gridLength = 7;
	private int gridSize = 49;
	private int[] grid = new int[gridSize];
	private int comCount = 0;
	
	public String getUserInput(String prompt) {
	String inputLine = null;
	System.out.println(prompt + " ");
	try {
		BufferedReader is = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
		inputLine = is.readLine();
		if (inputLine.length() == 0) return null;
	}
	catch (IOException e) {
		System.out.println("IOException: " + e);
	}
	return inputLine;
}

	public ArrayList<String> placeDotCom(int comSize) {
		ArrayList<String> alphaCells = new ArrayList<String>();
		String[] alphacoords = new String[comSize];
		String temp = null;
		int[] coords = new int[comSize];
		int attempts = 0 ;
		boolean success = false;
		int location = 0;
		comCount++;
		int incr = 1;
		
		if((comCount %2) == 1){
			incr = gridLength;
		}
		
		while (!success & attempts++ < 200) {
			location = (int) (Math.random()*gridSize);
			//System.out.println(location)
			int x = 0;
			success = true;
			while (success && x < comSize) {
				if (grid[location] == 0) {
					coords[x++] = location;
					location += incr;
					if(location >= gridSize) {
						success = false;
					}
					if (x>0 && (location % gridLength == 0)) {
						success = false;
					}
				}else {
					success = false;
				}
			}
		}
	 int x = 0 ;
	 int row = 0 ;
	 int column = 0;
	 while (x < comSize) {
	 	grid[coords[x]] = 1;
	 	row = (int) (coords[x] / gridLength);
	 	column = coords[x] % gridLength;
	 	temp = String.valueOf(alphabet.charAt(column));
	 	
	 	alphaCells.add(temp.concat(Integer.toString(row)));
	 	x++;
	 }
	return alphaCells;
	} 		
}