I'm stuck on how to get this while loop to function properly. I want the program to prompt the user with a question 'Rock, paper, or scissors?' to which they can correctly enter 'rock', 'paper', 'scissors', or 'bomb' (cheat code for auto-win... lol). If they type in anything other than those 4 acceptable inputs, an alert should appear. Then they should be prompted with the same question again. This should repeat until they enter one of those 4 acceptable inputs.
So far, it works if they type in their choice correctly the first time the prompt appears. However, if they type something other than the above 4 acceptable inputs, triggering the alert and the prompt in the while loop, the program does not run correctly even if they enter one of the 4 inputs the next time they are prompted. It gets stuck alternating between the alert and the prompt for eternity.
So how can I get this while loop to work?
function playGame () {
var input = prompt ('Rock, paper, or scissors?').toLowerCase();
// testing 123
// console.log (input);
var jkl = 0;
if (input === 'rock' || input === 'paper' || input === 'scissors' || input === 'bomb') {
jkl++
};
while (jkl === 0) {
alert ('ErRoR eRrOr 3rR0r!!!!11');
prompt ('Rock, paper, or scissors?').toLowerCase();
if (input === 'rock' || input === 'paper' || input === 'scissors' || input === 'bomb') {
jkl++
};
}
console.log (input);
var userChoice = getUserChoice (input);
var computerChoice = getComputerChoice ();
console.log (`You: ${userChoice}`);
console.log (`Computer: ${computerChoice}`);
console.log (determineWinner (userChoice, computerChoice));
};
playGame ();
After the attempted while loop there is more code that pertains to functions appearing earlier in the program. Ignore that I suppose. Unless anyone thinks it's relevant, in which case I can post that too. Just didn't want to paste a massive wall of code in here.
You need to update the input variable in the loop.
const options = ['rock', 'paper', 'scissors', 'bomb']
const getOptionPrompt = () => prompt('Rock, paper, or scissors?').toLowerCase();
const checkOption = (input, options) => options.includes(input)
function playGame() {
let input = getOptionPrompt();
// testing 123
// console.log (input);
var jkl = 0;
if (checkOption(input, options)) {
jkl++
};
while (jkl === 0) {
alert('ErRoR eRrOr 3rR0r!!!!11');
input = getOptionPrompt();
if (checkOption(input, options)) {
jkl++
};
}
console.log(input);
// the functions after this are not defined in the example
/*
var userChoice = getUserChoice(input);
var computerChoice = getComputerChoice();
console.log(`You: ${userChoice}`);
console.log(`Computer: ${computerChoice}`);
console.log(determineWinner(userChoice, computerChoice));
*/
};
playGame();But I would definitely update the logic a bit:
const options = ['rock', 'paper', 'scissors', 'bomb']
const getOptionPrompt = () => prompt('Rock, paper, or scissors?')?.toLowerCase() || null;
const checkOption = (input, options) => options.includes(input)
function playGame(options) {
const input = getOptionPrompt();
if (!checkOption(input, options) && input != null) {
alert('ErRoR eRrOr 3rR0r!!!!11');
playGame(options)
} else if (input == null) {
console.log("game canceled")
} else {
console.log("result:", input)
}
};
playGame(options);This way you don't need the jkl variable, no need for the while loop - if an answer is typed in that is not acceptable, then an error alert shows & the game starts anew.
You can change this line
prompt ('Rock, paper, or scissors?').toLowerCase();
to
input = prompt ('Rock, paper, or scissors?').toLowerCase();
Your code is checking the input variable without updating it.