Card Playing Web App using Next.js
Published: 2023-09-24 15:49:48

Here's the github link to the full project discussed here:

[github link](https://github.com/CKalt/crdpapp)


My goal here is to use the latest version of ChatGPT Plus to generate a web based card playing application. My question is-- there are so many out there, why create "yet another one"? In short I really miss the days when Yahoo had a whole bunch so I popped over to ask bard and got a whole list of them. So now instead of the great Yahoo card community sadly dead, what we have is a very fragmented world and I'm curious how well the total of all those subscribers among the fragmented set compares to what Yahoo had at its peak. I suppose the marketing people at these top ones could answer that.

But at a deeper level, I'm wondering whether the world will converge upon, especially with the help of AI, a card playing forum driven by AI.

What a concept?

So, let's see what happens when we ask ChatGBT to build a basic card game for us.  But hold on Charlie. Not so fast.  What we want is something the user can design, right? We want a place or a space in which a human can develop their own game. The vision is a new form of Social media post, but now the "post" itself will hopefully mimic how all card games came into being. Just people goofing around and shit.

 _Side discussion: There's a lot more to this vision than meets the eye here. What we're talking about is not emulating a specific card game, but emulating a person or persons, just goofing around with a deck of cards, thinking up a game. That's something that AI seems up to the challenge for. AI is like the friendly butler making sure everyone's drinks are filled while they go about focusing on the game they want to build, but instead of drinks, AI provides the forum, the cards, and perhaps keeping track of the thoughts of the game as it develops, so, a buttler with a white board who takes notes. A Buttler/stenographer/forum supplier.  Hmmmm, some sort of mythical beast I guess.  I hope you get my point._

So let's not be so specific about any game, let's just act like we have a deck of cards and we want to deal out a hand to a single opponent. So here we go.....  (I'm using ChatGPT plus and so I login, and at the top I pick GPT-4 and click that and among the 3 extension options I select  "Advanced Data Analysis Beta" option

---

![Screenshot: Start new session with ChatGPTPlus GPT-4 w Advanced Aata Analysis beta](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/6l84jlp16jgvgmfsvzyo.png)

-------------------------------------------
ME:

Please create a next.js application that presents a dec of cards shuffled and deals two hands of 6 cards each.  One hand will be visible and the other will be face down.

-------------------------------------------
ChatGPT:

Creating a Next.js application involves several steps that require a development environment, including Node.js and a text editor. I'll guide you through the process step-by-step. Unfortunately, I can't execute the code or create files for you, but I can certainly help you with the code and the structure.

Below is a basic outline and code snippets to create a Next.js application to deal two hands of 6 cards each, with one hand visible and the other face down.
Step 1: Set Up the Next.js Project

    First, make sure you have Node.js installed. You can download it from here.
    Create a new Next.js application by running the following command in your terminal:

    bash
```
npx create-next-app card-dealing-app
```
Change to the project directory:

bash
```
    cd card-dealing-app
```
Step 2: Install Additional Dependencies

Install the lodash library for shuffling the deck.

bash
```
npm install lodash
```
Step 3: Create the Card Deck and Shuffle Function

    Create a new file called deck.js in the utils folder (create the folder if it doesn’t exist) and add the following code:

javascript
```
import _ from 'lodash';

const suits = ['♠', '♣', '♦', '♥'];
const values = ['2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9', '10', 'J', 'Q', 'K', 'A'];

export const getShuffledDeck = () => {
  const deck = [];
  suits.forEach(suit => {
    values.forEach(value => {
      deck.push({ value, suit });
    });
  });

  return _.shuffle(deck);
};
```
Step 4: Create the Card Component

    Create a new file called Card.js inside the components folder and add the following code:

javascript
```
function Card({ value, suit, faceDown }) {
  return (
    <div style={{ border: '1px solid black', padding: '10px', margin: '5px', width: '50px', height: '70px' }}>
      {faceDown ? '?' : `${value} ${suit}`}
    </div>
  );
}

export default Card;
```
Step 5: Create the Main Page

    Replace the code in pages/index.js with the following code:

javascript
```
import { useEffect, useState } from 'react';
import Card from '../components/Card';
import { getShuffledDeck } from '../utils/deck';

export default function Home() {
  const [deck, setDeck] = useState([]);
  const [hand1, setHand1] = useState([]);
  const [hand2, setHand2] = useState([]);

  useEffect(() => {
    const shuffledDeck = getShuffledDeck();
    setDeck(shuffledDeck);
    setHand1(shuffledDeck.slice(0, 6));
    setHand2(shuffledDeck.slice(6, 12));
  }, []);

  return (
    <div>
      <div style={{ display: 'flex' }}>
        {hand1.map((card, index) => (
          <Card key={index} value={card.value} suit={card.suit} />
        ))}
      </div>
      <div style={{ display: 'flex' }}>
        {hand2.map((card, index) => (
          <Card key={index} faceDown={true} />
        ))}
      </div>
    </div>
  );
}
```
Step 6: Run the Application

    Run the application by executing the following command:

bash
```
npm run dev
```
    Open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:3000. You should see the two hands of cards, with one hand face down.

Note: This is a basic implementation and does not include any styling or error handling. You may want to add styles and error handling as needed.

------------------------------------------- 
ME: Please add some nice styling.
-------------------------------------------
ChatGPT:

ChatGPT

Sure, let's enhance the styling by adding some card-like appearance, and also include some animations for dealing the cards. For simplicity, we can use inline styles, but for a larger project, consider using CSS modules or a CSS-in-JS library like styled-components.
Step 1: Update the Card Component

Update the Card.js component to add some nice styling. Here is an updated version of the Card.js file:

javascript
```
function Card({ value, suit, faceDown }) {
  const cardStyle = {
    border: '2px solid black',
    padding: '10px',
    margin: '5px',
    width: '50px',
    height: '70px',
    textAlign: 'center',
    lineHeight: '70px',
    fontSize: '20px',
    backgroundColor: faceDown ? 'gray' : 'white',
    color: suit === '♦' || suit === '♥' ? 'red' : 'black',
    borderRadius: '5px',
    boxShadow: '2px 2px 5px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5)',
    transition: 'transform 0.3s ease'
  };

  return (
    <div style={cardStyle}>
      {faceDown ? '?' : `${value} ${suit}`}
    </div>
  );
}

export default Card;
```
In this updated Card.js, the card has a shadow for a 3D effect, rounded corners, and a transition effect. The color of the card text changes based on the suit, with red suits (hearts and diamonds) in red text, and black suits (spades and clubs) in black text.
Step 2: Add Animation for Dealing Cards

You can add animations by updating the Home component in pages/index.js to delay the dealing of each card. Here's how you can update the Home component:

javascript
```
import { useEffect, useState } from 'react';
import Card from '../components/Card';
import { getShuffledDeck } from '../utils/deck';

export default function Home() {
  const [hand1, setHand1] = useState([]);
  const [hand2, setHand2] = useState([]);

  useEffect(() => {
    const shuffledDeck = getShuffledDeck();
    const dealCards = async () => {
      for (let i = 0; i < 6; i++) {
        setHand1(prev => [...prev, shuffledDeck[i]]);
        await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 300)); // Delay for 300ms
      }
      for (let i = 6; i < 12; i++) {
        setHand2(prev => [...prev, shuffledDeck[i]]);
        await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 300)); // Delay for 300ms
      }
    };
    dealCards();
  }, []);

  return (
    <div>
      <div style={{ display: 'flex' }}>
        {hand1.map((card, index) => (
          <Card key={index} value={card.value} suit={card.suit} />
        ))}
      </div>
      <div style={{ display: 'flex' }}>
        {hand2.map((card, index) => (
          <Card key={index} faceDown={true} />
        ))}
      </div>
    </div>
  );
}
```
In this updated Home component, cards are dealt one by one with a delay of 300ms between each card. This should give a nice animation effect of cards being dealt to each hand one by one.

Now your application should have a more polished look with animations and improved card styling!

---------------------------------------------------
ME:

Can you please package this all up into a zip file for download. I should only have to do an npm install because you will populate the package.json correctly.

---------------------------------------------------
ChatGPT:

I can't directly execute commands or create files on your local machine, but I can guide you to create the files and package them up into a zip file.

Below are the steps and the content of each file you need to create the application. You can create these files manually in your local development environment.
1. Create a new directory for your project:

bash
```
mkdir card-dealing-app
cd card-dealing-app
```
2. Initialize a new Node.js project:

bash
```
npm init -y
```
3. Install the necessary dependencies:

bash
```
npm install next react react-dom lodash
```
4. Create the necessary directories and files:

bash
```
mkdir pages components utils
touch pages/index.js components/Card.js utils/deck.js
```
5. Populate the files with the code:

    pages/index.js:

javascript
```
import { useEffect, useState } from 'react';
import Card from '../components/Card';
import { getShuffledDeck } from '../utils/deck';

export default function Home() {
  const [hand1, setHand1] = useState([]);
  const [hand2, setHand2] = useState([]);

  useEffect(() => {
    const shuffledDeck = getShuffledDeck();
    const dealCards = async () => {
      for (let i = 0; i < 6; i++) {
        setHand1(prev => [...prev, shuffledDeck[i]]);
        await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 300));
      }
      for (let i = 6; i < 12; i++) {
        setHand2(prev => [...prev, shuffledDeck[i]]);
        await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 300));
      }
    };
    dealCards();
  }, []);

  return (
    <div>
      <div style={{ display: 'flex' }}>
        {hand1.map((card, index) => (
          <Card key={index} value={card.value} suit={card.suit} />
        ))}
      </div>
      <div style={{ display: 'flex' }}>
        {hand2.map((card, index) => (
          <Card key={index} faceDown={true} />
        ))}
      </div>
    </div>
  );
}
```
    components/Card.js:

javascript
```
function Card({ value, suit, faceDown }) {
  const cardStyle = {
    border: '2px solid black',
    padding: '10px',
    margin: '5px',
    width: '50px',
    height: '70px',
    textAlign: 'center',
    lineHeight: '70px',
    fontSize: '20px',
    backgroundColor: faceDown ? 'gray' : 'white',
    color: suit === '♦' || suit === '♥' ? 'red' : 'black',
    borderRadius: '5px',
    boxShadow: '2px 2px 5px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5)',
    transition: 'transform 0.3s ease'
  };

  return (
    <div style={cardStyle}>
      {faceDown ? '?' : `${value} ${suit}`}
    </div>
  );
}

export default Card;

    utils/deck.js:
```
javascript
```
import _ from 'lodash';

const suits = ['♠', '♣', '♦', '♥'];
const values = ['2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9', '10', 'J', 'Q', 'K', 'A'];

export const getShuffledDeck = () => {
  const deck = [];
  suits.forEach(suit => {
    values.forEach(value => {
      deck.push({ value, suit });
    });
  });

  return _.shuffle(deck);
};
```
6. Update the package.json file:

In your package.json, update the scripts section to add a dev script to start the Next.js development server:

json
```
"scripts": {
  "dev": "next dev",
  "build": "next build",
  "start": "next start"
},
```
7. Zip the Project Folder:

Now zip the card-dealing-app folder.

bash
```
zip -r card-dealing-app.zip card-dealing-app
```

-------------------------------------------

Now you have a zip file named card-dealing-app.zip that contains all the necessary files for the project. After extracting the zip file, you can run npm install to install the dependencies and npm run dev to start the development server.


-------------------------------------------
ME:

The last time I asked you to create a next.js application you allowed me to down load all the files in a zip format.

-------------------------------------------
ChatGPT:

I apologize for the inconvenience. Let me prepare the files and package them for you.


_ChatGPT churned for a bit here, presenting "Working" indicators._


The Next.js application is packaged and ready for download. You can download the zip file from the link below:

Download [card-dealing-app.zip](https://github.com/CKalt/crdpapp/blob/main/zips/card-dealing-app.zip)

After downloading, extract the zip file and navigate to the project directory in the terminal. Run the following command to install the necessary dependencies:

bash
```
npm install
```
Then, start the development server by running:

bash
```
npm run dev
```

Now, you can open your browser and navigate to `http://localhost:3000` to view the application.