Extra brainwork: The Student Record Search Challenge

Question

I have tried my best to make this as efficient as possible. It combines listing all students with listing only queried students , and showing them separately. Please advice if I have made any mistake or you guys have a better idea. Thank you.

/*******************************
FUNCTION
*******************************/

/* Capitalize the first letter */
function capFirst(string) {
  return string.charAt(0).toUpperCase() + string.slice(1);
}

/* Generate and return HTML code */
function printHTML(i) {
  var html = "";
  html += '<h2>Student No.' + (i + 1) + ':</h2>'; /* Student ID based on the array */
  html += '<ol>';
  for (var key in students[i]) {
    html += '<li>' + capFirst(key) + ': ' + students[i][key] + '</li>';
  }
  html += '</ol>';
  return html;
}

/* ---- Logic Part -------
Scan through all elements in the array
IF input is 'list' (means listing all students)
  Generate all students info
OR input is a valid student name
  Generate specific student's info
ELSE
  Variable html remains blank
END IF
Return variable: html
---------- END -------- */

function search(input) {
  var html = "";
  for (var i = 0; i < students.length; i++) {
    if ((input !== 'list' && input === students[i].name) || input === 'list') {
      html += printHTML(i);
    }
  }
  return html;
}

/* Print out HTML code to div left (outputList) or div right (outputSearch) */
function print(output, message) {
  var output = document.getElementById(output);
  output.innerHTML = message;
}

/*******************************
EXECUTE
*******************************/

var outputHTML = "";

/* List down all students info */
print('outputList', search('list'));

/* Search student's profile */
while(true) {
  var input = prompt("Search student records: type a name [Jody] (or type 'quit' to end)");
  if (input === 'quit') { /* Exit query */
    break;
  }
  outputHTML += search(input);
  print('outputSearch', outputHTML);
}

Answer 1 · 2015-09-03T05:03:42Z

September 3, 2015 5:03am

Good work with the functions. I had something similar, though I was allowing for names that contained the search term, and had separate functions for building the HTML of both the overall list of matching students and an individual student.

Here's mine:

var html = '';
var query;


function print(nodeID, message) {
  document.getElementById(nodeID).innerHTML = message;
}

function buildDefinitionList(obj) {
  var prop;
  var dListHTML = '<dl>';
  for (prop in obj) {
    dListHTML += '<dt>' + prop.charAt(0).toUpperCase() + prop.slice(1) + '</dt>';
    dListHTML += '<dd>' + obj[prop] + '</dd>';
  }
  dListHTML += '</dl>';
  return dListHTML;
}

function buildStudentList(list) {
  var i;
  var uListHTML = '<ul>';
  for (i = 0; i < list.length; i++) {
    uListHTML += '<li>' + buildDefinitionList(list[i]) + '</li>';
  }
  uListHTML += '</ul>';
  return uListHTML;
}

function getMatchingStudents(list) {
  var i;
  var resultList;
  // keep looping until the user quits
  while(true) {
    // reset the result list
    resultList = [];
    // prompt and convert to lowercase
    query = prompt("Search student records: type a name [Iain] (or type 'quit' to end)").toLowerCase();
    // check if they want to quit
    if (query === 'quit') {
      break;
    }
    // loop through students and check if the name contains the search query
    for (i = 0; i < list.length; i++) {
      if (list[i].name.toLowerCase().indexOf(query) > -1) {
        // if so, push to the result list
        resultList.push(list[i]);
      }
    }    
    // if there are results
    if (resultList.length > 0) {
      // build the list of matching students
      html = buildStudentList(resultList);
    } else {
      // otherwise print a friendly not found message
      html = '<p>Sorry, there are no students matching that name</p>';
    }    
    // print html to output div
    print('output', html);
  }
}

getMatchingStudents(students);

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Chuen Hong See

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Extra brainwork: The Student Record Search Challenge

1 Answer

Iain Simmons

Iain Simmons