Help with search function for the students object.

Hey there Allan, looks like you have a bit of work to do with this one :)

var studentName = students[i];

It doesn't make much sense to do this. Your loop should be looping over the entire students list, not trying to loop over the first item.

for (var i = 0; i < studentName.length; i++){
  // code removed
}

Your for loop should be inside your while loop. In your code the while loop continuously executes the prompt until it receives 'quit' and then attempts to find a student through the loop.

  // For my response, you can assume the loop is over the students array
  for (var i = 0; i < studentName.length; i++){
    if(searchName == studentName.name) {
     message += '<h2>Student: ' + studentName.name + '</h2>';
     message += '<p>Track: ' + studentName.track + '</p>';
     message += '<p>Points: ' + studentName.points + '</p>';
     message += '<p>Achievements: ' + studentName.achievements + '</p>';
    } else {
     alert('Name could not be found on the report')
     break;

    }

Your loop isn't quite correct. If the name is found, it will actually keep looping and not break out of it once the name is found. If the name is not found on the first loop, it will break, and not actually keep searching.

message += '<h2>Student: ' + studentName.name + '</h2>';

This actually causes an error because message is not defined. You haven't created it anywhere yet, and the best place to do it would be before the for loop:

var message = '';
for(var i = 0...

print(message);

This method should be called from inside your searchReport function. The print method also seems to not part of the initial code, and is something you have to write yourself.

Here's more of a skeleton of what I would do based on your approach, feel free to try using this. If you need anymore help just ask.

function searchReport() {
  while(true) {
    var searchName = prompt('Type a name of a student or press \"quit\" to end the search!');
    if (searchName === 'quit'){
       break;
    }
    var message = '';
    for (var i = 0; i < students.length; i++) {
          var student = students[i];
          if(searchName == student.name) {
           // build message here
           break;
          }
    }
    if (message == '') {
        alert('Name could not be found on the report')
    }
  }
}
searchReport();

Remember to set the message variable before the loop, otherwise the concatenation will cause an error. Lets take a look at how that loop runs.

First, lets say the user enters 'Dave':

1st iteration: first student is Dave, there is a match.
                     if condition checked, since there is a match, no alert
2nd iteration: secound student is Jody, there is no match
                     if condition checked, and 'Name not found alerted', then break

You see the loop finds the student correctly, but then it keeps searching because you don't break out of the loop once the user is found.

Next, lets say the user enters 'Trish':

1st iteration: first student is Dave, there is no match, and 'Name not found alerted', then break

Here, the loop never even continue's past the first student.

There's probably a million different ways to handle this problem, but the way I chose made sense to me. It makes sure the entire loop is run, then checks the message variable at the end. If message is an empty string, it knows no name was found and the user can be alerted.

    var message = '';
    for (var i = 0; i < students.length; i++) {
          var student = students[i];
          if(searchName == student.name) {
           // build message here
           break;
          }
    }
    if (message == '') {
        alert('Name could not be found on the report')
    }

In my example, lets enter 'Jordan':

1st iteration: student is Dave, no match
2nd iteration: student is Jody, no match
3rd iteration: student is Jordan, build message string, then break
Then check message variable

As to becoming proficient with JavaScript, I wouldn't be able to say. I enjoyed programming here and there, but it wasn't my my first choice of study, but then returned to it later on. I was really bad to start with, but sticking to it and practicing with own projects helps a lot.