Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

Ruby Ruby Booleans Build a Simple Todo List Program Finding Array Items

Jared Armes
PLUS
Jared Armes
Courses Plus Student 6,302 Points

I can't figure out how to find an index

I think the problem lies with the methodology of my "if" statement. I can't seem to figure out the syntax necessary to search the array for indexes. I know that I have been asking a lot of questions throughout this section, but it is starting to make sense, thanks to your help! Any input whatsoever would be greatly appreciated.

todo_list.rb
class TodoList
  attr_reader :name, :todo_items

  def initialize(name)
    @name = name
    @todo_items = []
  end

  def add_item(name)
    todo_items.push(TodoItem.new(name))
  end

  def find_index(name)
    index = 0
    found = false
    if todo_items(name)
      found = true
      return index
    else
      return nil
    end
  end

end

I think you're missing .each method to find the index

def find_index(name)
        index = 0
        found = false

        todo_items.each do |todo_item|
        if todo_item.name == name
            found = true
            break;
        end
        index += 1
    end

    if found
        return index
    else
        return nil
    end
end
Jared Armes
Jared Armes
Courses Plus Student 6,302 Points

Thank you! I've added your comment as an answer. Though, I'm not quite sure how it works, I appreciate your help!

Jared Armes
Jared Armes
Courses Plus Student 6,302 Points

Caleb, yes that would be nice to know if it were possible.

Caleb Kleveter
Caleb Kleveter
Treehouse Moderator 37,862 Points

There are actually a few people who can do that. 1) the poster can cut and paste the comment to an answer, or 2) MOD's can push a button on comments that change them to answers.

2 Answers

Jared Armes
PLUS
Jared Armes
Courses Plus Student 6,302 Points

A fellow coder, Nat Pham, assisted me. He said that I forgot to use the .each method:

def find_index(name)
        index = 0
        found = false

        todo_items.each do |todo_item|
        if todo_item.name == name
            found = true
            break;
        end
        index += 1
    end

    if found
        return index
    else
        return nil
    end
end

This solved my problem! Though, I am still unsure as to how it works.

each method will run a loop i think, and each loop they will return one by one in todo_items array into a block , in this case is | todo_item | <= this called block. And you will learn about block in the next videos . I hope this help