MixMatcher

Directions To Run MixMatcher With The Tower Project:

1. Download the new zip file here. 
2. Decompress the zip file.  On some systems you can do this by double-clicking; on others you might right-click to bring up a WinZip option, or you might have to locate a program, etc.  The result will be a directory named tower.  It is best if the path on which this directory resides not contain any spaces (for example, if you put it in My Documents you may have problems).
3. To test your components against others posted on the web, you need to put copies of your compiled (.class) files in the proper places.  Browse through the resultant tower directory and read the various README.txt files to see which files to place where.  Note that you need to have .class files of your three components, not .java files.  If you are using DrJava, these are probably easy to find -- in the same directory as the corresponding .java files.  If you are using Eclipse, it may not be so obvious where the generated .class files are; it varies depending on how the project is configured.
4. Run the MixMatcher.jar file one of two ways.
   • Double click MixMatcher.jar.
   • Run it via the command line via:
         $ java -jar MixMatcher.jar
     where $ is your command prompt. You can also examine the possible arguments by passing the '-help' argument.
The program should start immediately showing a window with several main sections, each with a colorful list of files.
5. Select one class file from each of the sections and press the 'Run' button.  Immediately you should see the familiar TowerStarter window.
6. Goto step 5.
7. If you managed to get to this step then you found a bug. Please file a bug report.
8. Seriously, stop.

But Steve, I'm too lazy to read the README.txt. Can you help?

Alright, I supppose I can help at that. Inside the tower/files directory you'll see mvc373Hw3 and towerHw3. Both of these should be familiar to you by this point. The mvc373Hw3 directory contains the .class files from the interfaces that came with homework 3 while towerHw3 is where you put the .java files (and thus the .class files) that you wrote. Inside towerHw3 you'll find the tcontroller, tmodel, tstarter, and tview directories. The only one that contains a .class file (actually it contains several) is the tstarter which was distributed with the assignment.

To test your files without having to turn them in, put your Tower*.class files in the appropriate directories and then goto step 4 above.
Note: I said the .class files, not the .java files.

What is that crazy TowerProject.class file?

Good question. For now lets just say that it is required for MixMatcher to work (try removing it and see what happens). Actually, I'm quite proud of that file but it is really not important for this assignment so don't worry about it.

Um, Steve, goto is not a standard English word.