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Ruby Ruby Collections Build a Grocery List Program Build a Grocery List Program: Part 4

Posted by Spencer Ruiz
Spencer Ruiz
2,262 Points

My Attempt At The Grocery List *Extra Credit*

I spent a good four to five hours working on this. Between hashes not pushing and loops not looping I thought I was going to go insane. I used a global variable to remove the question from the list_name method to stop the program from asking the name of the grocery list twice. I think I read somewhere global variables are a bad idea but I couldn't think of another way to do it. Let me know what you think!

#this program is a loop that asks for items to retun a list with a title and quantites

print "Please title your list: "
@name = gets.chomp

def list_name
  list_name = @name
  hash = { "name" => list_name, "items" => Array.new }
  return hash
end

def add_item
  print "What item would you like to add?: "
  item = gets.chomp

  print "How much?: "
  quantity = gets.chomp.to_i

  hash = { "item" => item, "quantity" => quantity }
  return hash
end

list = list_name

def print_list(list)
  print "List Title: #{list_name['name']}\n\n"

  list["items"].each do |item|
    print "Item: " + item['item']
    print "\t\t\t"
    print "Quantity: " + item['quantity'].to_s + "\n"
  end
end

def continue_list()
  print "Would you like to add an item? (Y/N): "
  continue = gets.chomp.upcase
  if continue == "Y"
    return true
  else
    return false
  end
end

while continue_list() == true do
  list["items"].push(add_item())
end


puts "\n\nHere is your complete list!\n\n"
print_list(list)
Daniel Cunningham
Daniel Cunningham
21,109 Points
Daniel Cunningham
Daniel Cunningham
21,109 Points

It looks like it works, but there are a lot of return statements... Just to share, I took a stab at this myself and came up with this.

class GroceryList
  attr_accessor :name, :list

  def initialize
    print "What is the list name?"
    @name = gets.chomp
    @list = {'name' => @name, "items" => []}
  end

  def add_list_item
    print "What is the item called?"
    item_name = gets.chomp

    print "How much?"
    quantity = gets.chomp.to_i
    hash = { "name" => item_name, "quantity" => quantity }
    list["items"] << hash
    add_item_check
  end

  def print_list
    puts "List: #{list['name']}"
    2.times {puts "----"}

    list["items"].each do |item|
      puts "Item: " + item['name'] + " || "+"Quantity: " + item['quantity'].to_s
      puts "----"
    end  
  end

  def add_item_check
    puts "add more items?"
    x = gets.chomp.upcase
    if x == "Y" || x== "YES"
      add_list_item()
    end
  end

end  


list = GroceryList.new 
list.add_list_item
list.print_list

I made a Class out of this and called an instance of the class. Turning it into a class isnt necessary at all, but I wanted to experiment with it. In this case, create_list() was replaced by an "initialize" method that will create the attributes and the name for the list. Then it has the following elements:

  1. Add_list_item calls the method "add_item_check" at the end <br>
  2. Add_item_check creates the loop if subject answers "yes" or "y", otherwise it ends the method.
  3. outside of the class methods, print_list is called when you're done adding items.

another way to clean up my code might be to put the add_item_check code directly into the add_list_item method, but this works for now.

2 Answers

Jacob Moyle
Jacob Moyle
6,150 Points
Jacob Moyle
Jacob Moyle
6,150 Points

Hi Spencer,

Like Daniel Cunningham said, there are a lot of return statements. Remember, Ruby has implicit returns.

Daniel also has a cool idea of using a class. It would be cool to see a 'runner' loop containing a case statement that allows a user to call the various methods that have been created. Just a thought!

Cheers, Jacob

ben leonard
ben leonard
1,096 Points
ben leonard
ben leonard
1,096 Points

Here's my take on this :) 

def list_name
  puts "What do you want to call your list? "
  name = gets.chomp

  hash = {:name => name, :items => Array.new}
  return hash
end

def list_items
  puts "What item do you need? "
  item = gets.chomp
  puts "How many do you need? "
  quantity = gets.chomp.to_i

  hash = {:item => item, :quantity => quantity}
  return hash
end

def seperator(character='-')
  print character * 80
end

list = list_name
list[:items].push(list_items)

def list_output(list)
  list[:items].each do |item|
    puts "\tItem: " + item[:item] + "\t\t\t" +
    "Quantity: " + item[:quantity].to_s
    seperator()
  end
end

def list_loop(list)
  puts "Do you want to add another item, yes or no? "
  answer = gets.chomp.downcase
  if answer == "yes"
    list[:items].push(list_items)
    list_loop(list)
  else
    list_output(list)

  end

end

list
list_loop(list)
list_output(list)