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JavaScript JavaScript Loops, Arrays and Objects Tracking Data Using Objects The Student Record Search Challenge Solution

Dustin Kahn
Dustin Kahn
4,194 Points
Posted by Dustin Kahn
Dustin Kahn
4,194 Points

Part 1 Of Extra Challenge (JavaScript Loops, Arrays, Objects): What's wrong with my code?

I've looked over this code many times and I can't seem to figure out why when I add my final "else if" statement that my code no longer recognizes a correct student name input. Also, I'm new to Treehouse Forums. Could some instruct me on how to add screenshots of workspaces into a message? Thank you in advance for your help!

var message = ' '; var student; var search;

function print(message) { var outputDiv = document.getElementById('output'); outputDiv.innerHTML = message; }

function getStudentReport (student) { var report = '<h2>Student: ' + student.name + '</h2>'; report += '<p>Track: ' + student.track + '</p>'; report += '<p>Points: ' + student.points + '</p>'; report += '<p>Achievements: ' + student.achievements + '</p>'; return report; };

while (true) { search = prompt ("Search student records: type a name [Jody] (or type 'quit' to end)"); if (search === null || search.toLowerCase() === "quit") { break; } for (var i = 0; i < students.length; i += 1) { student = students[i]; if (student.name.toLowerCase() === search.toLowerCase() ) { message = getStudentReport (student); print (message); } else if (student.name.toLowerCase() !== search.toLowerCase() ) { message = "<h2>No student name was found</h2>"; print (message); } }
};

Dustin Kahn
Dustin Kahn
4,194 Points
Dustin Kahn
Dustin Kahn
4,194 Points 
var message = '';
var student;
var search;

function print(message) {
  var outputDiv = document.getElementById('output');
  outputDiv.innerHTML = message;
}

function getStudentReport (student) {
  var report = '<h2>Student: ' + student.name + '</h2>';
  report += '<p>Track: ' + student.track + '</p>';
  report += '<p>Points: ' + student.points + '</p>';
  report += '<p>Achievements: ' + student.achievements + '</p>';
  return report;
};

while (true) {
  search = prompt ("Search student records: type a name [Jody] (or type 'quit' to end)");
  if (search === null || search.toLowerCase() === "quit") {
      break; 
  }
  for (var i = 0; i < students.length; i += 1) {
    student = students[i];
    if (student.name.toLowerCase() === search.toLowerCase() ) {
      message = getStudentReport (student);
      print (message);
    } else if (student.name.toLowerCase() !== search.toLowerCase() ) {
      message = "<h2>No student name was found</h2>";
      print (message);
    }
  }      
};
LaToya Legemah
LaToya Legemah
12,600 Points
LaToya Legemah
LaToya Legemah
12,600 Points

May I ask for your HTML as well? I would like to run your code. Thanks

Dustin Kahn
Dustin Kahn
4,194 Points
Dustin Kahn
Dustin Kahn
4,194 Points 
var students = [ 
  { 
    name: 'Dave',
    track: 'Front End Development',
    achievements: 158,
    points: 14730
  },
  {
    name: 'Jody',
    track: 'iOS Development with Swift',
    achievements: '175',
    points: '16375'
  },
  {
    name: 'Jordan',
    track: 'PHP Development',
    achievements: '55',
    points: '2025'
  },
  {
    name: 'John',
    track: 'Learn WordPress',
    achievements: '40',
    points: '1950'
  },
  {
    name: 'Trish',
    track: 'Rails Development',
    achievements: '5',
    points: '350'
  }
];
Dustin Kahn
Dustin Kahn
4,194 Points
Dustin Kahn
Dustin Kahn
4,194 Points 
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <title>Students</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/styles.css">
</head>
<body>
<h1>Students</h1>
<div id="output">

</div>
<script src="js/students.js"></script>
<script src="js/student_report.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
Dustin Kahn
Dustin Kahn
4,194 Points
Dustin Kahn
Dustin Kahn
4,194 Points

Here you go! Thank you so much!!!

2 Answers

LaToya Legemah
LaToya Legemah
12,600 Points
LaToya Legemah
LaToya Legemah
12,600 Points

Ok, I got it to work. It looks like you need a break in the if statement in the for loop

 for (var i = 0; i < students.length; i += 1) {
    student = students[i];
    if (student.name.toLowerCase() === search.toLowerCase() ) {
      message = getStudentReport (student);
      print (message);
      break;
    } else if (student.name.toLowerCase() !== search.toLowerCase() ) {
      message = "<h2>No student name was found</h2>";
      print (message);
    }
  }      
};

Your code goes through each element in the array. When you put in Dave you always got his information but not Jody's. It seemed to me that the code always hit the "else if" never returning the first print(message).

If anyone else cares to clarify please do :) Also I used https://jsfiddle.net/ to help run the code and alerts to help figure out what part of the code is running. That may help in the future. :)

Your entire code is below.

var message = '';
var student;
var search;

var students = [ 
  { 
    name: 'Dave',
    track: 'Front End Development',
    achievements: 158,
    points: 14730
  },
  {
    name: 'Jody',
    track: 'iOS Development with Swift',
    achievements: '175',
    points: '16375'
  },
  {
    name: 'Jordan',
    track: 'PHP Development',
    achievements: '55',
    points: '2025'
  },
  {
    name: 'John',
    track: 'Learn WordPress',
    achievements: '40',
    points: '1950'
  },
  {
    name: 'Trish',
    track: 'Rails Development',
    achievements: '5',
    points: '350'
  }
];

function print(message) {
 var outputDiv = document.getElementById('output');
  outputDiv.innerHTML = message;
};

function getStudentReport (student) {
  var report = '<h2>Student: ' + student.name + '</h2>';
  report += '<p>Track: ' + student.track + '</p>';
  report += '<p>Points: ' + student.points + '</p>';
  report += '<p>Achievements: ' + student.achievements + '</p>';
  return report;
};

while (true) {
  search = prompt ("Search student records: type a name [Jody] (or type 'quit' to end)");
  if (search === null || search.toLowerCase() === "quit") {
      break; 
  }
  for (var i = 0; i < students.length; i += 1) {
    student = students[i];
    if (student.name.toLowerCase() === search.toLowerCase() ) {
      message = getStudentReport (student);
      print (message);
      break;
    } else if (student.name.toLowerCase() !== search.toLowerCase() ) {
      message = "<h2>No student name was found</h2>";
      print (message);
    }
  }      
};
Dustin Kahn
Dustin Kahn
4,194 Points
Dustin Kahn
Dustin Kahn
4,194 Points

Thank you! I'm still a bit confused as to why a "break" is needed. The loop shouldn't required it based on the parameters...or am I mistaken?

LaToya Legemah
LaToya Legemah
12,600 Points
LaToya Legemah
LaToya Legemah
12,600 Points

There is an icon on the top right of the workspace. It looks like a box with a dot in the middle. Click that to take a snapshot of your workspace, then share the link.

LaToya Legemah
LaToya Legemah
12,600 Points
LaToya Legemah
LaToya Legemah
12,600 Points

I am breaking because when the program finds what it needs, it needs to stop and display the information. So the code was reading:

WHILE TRUE

IF the search is not empty and the user does not in QUIT do the following:

FOR (LOOP )

        IF the student name is equal to the student name
        show the student information
        ELSE  IF the student name is not equal to the student name
       show the no student name was found message

In your original code it just kept looping. The new code reads

WHILE TRUE

IF the search is not empty and the user does not in QUIT do the following:

FOR (LOOP )

        IF the student name is equal to the student name
        show the student information
         BREAK  go back to the top of the while loop
        ELSE  IF the student name is not equal to the student name
        show the no student name was found message

After looking at the code, I realize it can be better. I changed the way the code is written to make it a bit more efficient. I took out the else since it's no longer needed.

while (true) {
  search = prompt ("Search student records: type a name [Jody] (or type 'quit' to end)");
  if (search === null || search.toLowerCase() === "quit" ) {
      break; 
  }
  for (var i = 0; i < students.length; i += 1) {
    student = students[i];
    if (student.name.toLowerCase() === search.toLowerCase() ) {
      message = getStudentReport (student);
      print (message);
      break;
    } 
    if (student.name.toLowerCase() !== search.toLowerCase() ) {
      message = "<h2>No student name was found</h2>";
      print (message);
    }
  }      
};

Let me know if you have any more questions :)