Just got to this code example and am confussed (again). Here is the code...

var inputName = "";
var namesArray = new Array();

while ( (inputName = prompt("Enter a name","")) != "")
{
   namesArray[namesArray.length] = inputName;
}
   namesArray.sort();

var namesList = namesArray.join("<BR>")
document.write(namesList);[/i]

I'm sure this is real basic to most, but I don't remember anywhere so far where we are shown how to populate array's with data from another variable or prompt - we have always populated the array ourselves so far that I can remember.

Does this mean that whatever the user enters in the prompt will be placed into the Array based on the.. what? ...length property - I guess meaning that it will be placed at the end of the array?

Confussed again...thanks folks.

Yes, correct. You can add elements to the array using this syntax:

myArray[indexer] = YourValue;

The length of the array indicates the number of items that are present in the array. This length is then used to put the new Names you get from the user in the array. The first name will be placed at namesArray[0], the second at [1] and so on. So, the names are added at the end of the array.

A the end, the array is sorted and its contents are written to the screen.

Does this help?

Imar


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Imar Spaanjaars
Everyone is unique, except for me.

Thanks Imar. That helps. I totally understand the sort, join, concat, etc. methods of the array object but I didn't get the part about adding values to the array 'on the fly' so to speak. So anytime I want to take a value from a variable and place it in an array, I just use the .length method?

var yourName = "";
var friends = new Array();
yourName = prompt("Enter your name", "")
friends[friends.length] = yourName;

So that would store whatever was entered in the prompt in the friends array right?

I think I get it now if that is correct. Thanks a million sir !!!

Well, it depends. The length property will return the current size of the array. Since the indexers of an array are zero based, but the length is one based, using the length will always put a new item at the end of the array. For example, consider your loop code:

Array has 0 elements. Length = 0. New item will be added at index 0 (the first item)
Array has 1 element. Length = 1. New item will be added at index 1 (the second item)

If you want to store elements at a specific location in the array, you can do that too (again, using the indexers). If you know your visitor has three friends, this code will ask their names and store them in an array with three elements (number 0, 1 and 2): Cheers,

Imar



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Imar Spaanjaars
Everyone is unique, except for me.