i want alert user once if search is not == to name or 'quit' but my alert runs 5 times

Question

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'
  }
];
var message = '' 
var z= true;




while(z){
  var search =prompt('student search:please type in student name or quit')

for(x=0;x<students.length;x+=1){
    if(search.toUpperCase()==students[x]['name'].toUpperCase()){
      for(info in students[x]){
      message+=info+':'+students[x][info]+'<br>'
      z=false
      }
    }
  else if (search === null || search.toUpperCase()=='QUIT'){
    z=false;}

      else if(search.toUpperCase()!=students[x]['name'].toUpperCase()||"QUIT"){
   alert("this name doesn't exist")
  }



 }
}

document.write(message)

Answer 1 · 2017-06-06T06:07:49Z

June 6, 2017 6:07am

If you look at where you alert is placed you can see it's in the for loop which is checking for each student. So each time the user does match with your search then it trigger the alert.

Try to set a studentFound variable which equals false at the beginning If you ever find a student then you set the variable to true.

After your for loop. The studentFound variable can be equal to true or false. Make a condition and if the value is false you can trigger your alert.

I would do it like this :

var students = [...];
var message = '';

while (true) { // We can while:true because if we need to exit the loop we do it manually with break
  var search = prompt('Search');
  var studentFound = false;

  // Exit loop if search equals 'QUIT'
  if (search.toLowerCase() === 'quit') break;

  // Search for a student
  for (var i = 0; i < students.length; i += 1) {
    if (search.toLowerCase() === students[i].name.toLowerCase()) {
      studentFound = true; 
      message = ''; // Set your message here
      break; // Student found, exiting for loop
    }
  }

  if (studentFound) { // If student found exit while loop
    break; 
  } else { // Else showing your alert and loop again
    alert('Not found');
  }
}

document.write(message);

Answer 2 · 2017-06-06T12:36:39Z

June 6, 2017 12:36pm

thank you son much i struggled with this for a few days

Answer 3 · 2017-06-06T13:30:40Z

June 6, 2017 1:30pm

You're welcome. Loop when beginner can cause some headaches =) Happy coding

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olu adesina

olu adesina

i want alert user once if search is not == to name or 'quit' but my alert runs 5 times

3 Answers

Christopher Debove

Christopher Debove

olu adesina

olu adesina

Christopher Debove

Christopher Debove