I've been staring at this forever. Why isn't this working?

Question

I was reviewing some older stuff on TreeHouse and I started watching videos I never finished. Since watching these particular JavaScript videos I have a acquired a bit more programming knowledge. Or at least so I thought. I was feeling confident I could recreate this Grocery List on my own. I opened up Codepen and started coding. I coded mine similar to Dave's but mine isn't working. I can't spot what I'm missing. Please help.

Here is Dave's code:

var inStock = [ 'apples', 'eggs', 'milk', 'cookies', 'cheese', 'bread', 'lettuce', 'carrot', 'broccoli', 'pizza', 'potato', 'crackers', 'onion', 'tofu', 'frozen dinner', 'cucumber'];

var search;

function print(message) {
  document.write( '<p>' + message + '</p>');
}

while (true) {
  search = prompt('Search our entire store for products. Type "List" to see all products and "Quit" to exit.');
  if ( search.toUpperCase() === 'QUIT') {
    break;
  } else if ( search.toUpperCase() === 'LIST') {
      print( inStock.join(', '));
    } else if ( inStock.indexOf ( search ) > -1 ) {
      print('Yes, we have ' + search + ' in the store');
    } else {
      print('We do not have ' + search + ' in stock');
    }
}

Here is my code:

//Store groceries
var groceries = ["Eggs", "Butter", "Milk", "Bread", "Apples", "Grapes"];

var search;

function print(message) {
  document.write("<p>" + message + "</p>");
}

while (true) {
   search = prompt("What are you looking for? Type 'List' to see all and 'Quit' to exit");
  if (search.toUpperCase() === "QUIT") {
      break;
   } else if (search.toUpperCase() === "LIST") {
        print(groceries.join(", "));
   } else if (groceries.indexOf(search) > -1) {
        print("Yes we have " + search + " in stock");
   } else {
     print( "We do not have " + search + " in stock");
   }
}

Answer 1 · 2017-08-13T10:50:43Z

August 13, 2017 10:50am

Hey Jeremy,

I tried to spot the difference between the two code examples. They are pretty much the same except that your grocery array is smaller and some variables are renamed.

Please tell us whats not working. Are you seeing the prompt? Or is it not showing up? You mentioned you are coding in Codepen. Are functions such as prompt() disabled there?

Tell us whats not working so we can help.

ps. when sharing code snippets, wrap them in Markdown markup so it will be joyful to read! :P

Answer 2 · 2017-08-13T08:21:48Z

August 13, 2017 8:21am

I want to help... but this is really hard to read. I'll take a look if you checkout markdown syntax and reformat your code with proper indentation

Answer 3 · 2017-08-13T20:05:14Z

August 13, 2017 8:05pm

Sorry about the format. I have never posted on here before. I have reformatted the code. To answer your question about not working.

And while I was reformatting my code I solved my problem. In the array I spelled all of the items with capital letters. I only used the toUpperCase() method on the "list" and "quit" commands. So in the prompt I was just searching eggs (all lower case) and it was saying the "not in stock". However when I searched Eggs (with a capital E) it worked. I forgot to convert the search using the toLowerCase() method. So I fixed my code to look like this:

var groceries = ["eggs", "butter", "milk", "bread", "apples", "grapes"];

var search;

function print(message) {
  document.write("<p>" + message + "</p>");
}

while (true) {
   search = prompt("What are you looking for? Type 'List' to see all and 'Quit' to exit");
   search = search.toLowerCase();
  if (search === "quit") {
      break;
   } else if (search === "list") {
        print(groceries.join(", "));
   } else if (groceries.indexOf(search) > -1) {
        print("Yes we have " + search + " in stock");
   } else {
     print( "We do not have " + search + " in stock");
   }
}

Honestly, making beginner mistakes like this is discouraging. I'm no where near a "seasoned" developer but I do feel like I know a decent amount. And to make such rookie mistakes is frustrating. I'm really thinking about taking a break from coding. I'm employed as a dev. I mainly work with HTML, CSS and Wordpress and occasionally JS so I play with code a lot. Recently Ive moved on to more advanced coding like working with API's and AJAX. I know this is off topic but how do you guys stay motivated when you make mistakes with such basic stuff like this? I don't know. It just seems like Ive forgotten a lot of the basic stuff since moving forward. Do you guys struggle with this stuff as well?

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Jeremy Marshall

Jeremy Marshall

I've been staring at this forever. Why isn't this working?

3 Answers

Lee Ravenberg

Lee Ravenberg

Jeremy Marshall

Jeremy Marshall

Mark Rinkel

Mark Rinkel

Jeremy Marshall

Jeremy Marshall

Mark Rinkel

Mark Rinkel

Lee Ravenberg

Lee Ravenberg