Adding Object[] method to main()

Question

I am trying to pass this method through my main() function but The loadMap already has the bufferreader so I am trying to use that rather than creating my own new buffer reader. How can I do this?

public static void main(String args[]) {
    //throw exceptions here if args is empty
    filename = args[0];
    System.out.println(MapIO.loadMap(filename)[0]);
    System.out.println(MapIO.loadMap(filename)[1]);

    if (args.length < 1) {
        System.err.println("Usage:\n" +"java CrawlGui mapname");
        System.exit(1);
    }
    List<String> names=new LinkedList<String>();

    try (BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(new
            File(filename)))) {

        String line;
        while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null)
            names.add(line);
            System.out.println(names);

    } catch (IOException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }

    MapIO.loadMap(filename);


    launch(args);
} 


/** Read information from a file created with saveMap
 * @param filename Filename to read from
 * @return null if unsucessful. If successful, an array of two Objects.
        [0] being the Player object (if found) and 
        [1] being the start room. 
 * @detail. Do not add the player to the room they appear in, the caller 
        will be responsible for placing the player in the start room.
 */

public static Object[] loadMap(String filename) {
    Player player = null;

    try {
        BufferedReader bf = new BufferedReader(
                new FileReader(filename));
        String line = bf.readLine();
        int idcap = Integer.parseInt(line);
        Room[] rooms = new Room[idcap];
        for (int i = 0; i < idcap; ++i) {
            line = bf.readLine();
            if (line == null) {
                return null;
            }
            rooms[i] = new Room(line);
        }
        for (int i = 0; i < idcap; ++i) {  // for each room set up exits
            line = bf.readLine();
            int exitcount=Integer.parseInt(line);
            for (int j=0; j < exitcount; ++j) {
                line = bf.readLine();
                if (line == null) {
                    return null;
                }
                int pos = line.indexOf(' ');
                if (pos < 0) {
                    return null;
                }
                int target = Integer.parseInt(line.substring(0,pos));
                String exname = line.substring(pos+1);
                try {
                    rooms[i].addExit(exname, rooms[target]);
                } catch (ExitExistsException e) {
                    return null;
                } catch (NullRoomException e) {
                    return null;
                }
            }
        }
        for (int i = 0;i<idcap;++i) {
            line = bf.readLine();
            int itemcount = Integer.parseInt(line);
            for (int j = 0; j < itemcount; ++j) {
                line = bf.readLine();
                if (line == null) {
                    return null;
                }                    
                Thing t = decodeThing(line, rooms[0]);
                if (t == null) {
                    return null;
                }
                if (t instanceof Player) { // we don't add 
                    player = (Player)t;      // players to rooms
                } else {
                    rooms[i].enter(t);
                }
            }
        }
        Object[] res = new Object[2];                        
        res[0] = player;
        res[1] = rooms[0];
        return res;
    } catch (IOException ex) {
        return null;
    } catch (IndexOutOfBoundsException ex) {
        return null;
    } catch (NumberFormatException nfe) {
        return null;
    }
}

Answer 1

You shouldn't do anything in main() other than call launch(). Move all the other startup code to your start() method. You can get the content of the args array using getParameters().getRaw():

@Override
public void start(Stage primaryStage) {

    //throw exceptions here if args is empty
    filename = getParameters().getRaw().get(0);

    System.out.println(MapIO.loadMap(filename)[0]);
    System.out.println(MapIO.loadMap(filename)[1]);

    if (args.length < 1) {
        System.err.println("Usage:\n" +"java CrawlGui mapname");
        System.exit(1);
    }
    List<String> names=new LinkedList<String>();

    try (BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(new
            File(filename)))) {

        String line;
        while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null)
            names.add(line);
            System.out.println(names);

    } catch (IOException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }

    Object[] whateverThisThingIs = MapIO.loadMap(filename);

    // Now you have access to everything you need, at the point where you need it.

    // existing start() code goes here...

}

public static void main(String args[]) {
    launch(args);
}