Ruby arrays - cannot access value

Question

Hey,
So I am doing a small, simple project for my class and for some reason I can't access a value using a variable.

This is my class: (I am having problems with the getAnswer method, in particular the answerArray array)

#Create random fact array
class RandomFact
    def initialize()
     @randomNum = rand(5)
    end

    def getQuestion
     randomNum = @randomNum
     questionArray = Array.new
     questionArray[0] = "Do you liek mudkipz?"
     questionArray[1] = "Question2"
     questionArray[2] = "Three"
     questionArray[3] = "Reddit"
     questionArray[4] = "4chan"

     puts questionArray[randomNum]
     return randomNum
    end

    def getAnswer(randomNum,answer)
     answerArray = Array.new
     answerArray[0] = "one"
     answerArray[1] = "two"
     answerArray[2] = "three"
     answerArray[3] = "four"
     answerArray[4] = "five"

     return answerArray[randomNum]
    end

end

This is my class to the class:

    randomNum = cgi['randomNum']
    answer = cgi['answer']
    puts newQuestion.getAnswer(randomNum,answer)

Now the thing is that randomNum holds a value from a previous form. If I print out randomNum right under where I pull the value from the form I get it.
if I print out randomNum inside of the method getAnswer I get it.
If I print out answerArray[0] I get a value.
If I print out answerArray[randomNum] I get nothing.

It is pretty much an exact copy of the getQuestion method from above and that one works. Any input?

Answer 1

The random number is probably coming in as a string from your CGI. Cast it to an integer using randomNum.to_i and you'll be set.

Answer 2

It must be your input. When I tried it in irb, it worked for me.

>> new_q = RandomFact.new
=> #<RandomFact:0x41028e74 @randomNum=2>
>> new_q.getQuestion
Three
=> 2
>> new_q.getAnswer(2, "")
=> "three"

Answer 3

I'm not sure what you're really trying to do here, but if you're really only trying to do what your example shows, then you don't need to be creating classes and functions. A single array of questions and answers would work great.

QA = [
  ["What is the capital of Estonia?","Tallinn"],
  ["How many times to 6 go into 18?","3"],
  ["What have I got in my pocket?","The Ring"]
]

qnum = cgi["qnum"].to_i
question = QA[qnum].first
answer = QA[qnum].last

Answer 4

Are you initializing newQuestion somewhere? In the example you gave it will be nil.

A couple of not-relevant-to-the-question tidbits: you don't need the return statement. Ruby always returns the last value. Just put the value there by itself. And in Ruby the standard practice is to write your variables as new_question, not newQuestion.

Answer 5

There's a number of things in your code that look quite irregular.

Describing the questions and answers in two separate arrays is trouble no matter how you slice it. What's better is to define them in a simple, consistent array of arrays, then pick one of those elements using the built-in Array#rand method that will select one of them at random.

For example

  class RandomFact
    QUESTIONS = [
      [ 'How many nuts can a squirrel eat?', '2' ],
      [ 'What is my favorite color?', 'blue' ]
    ]

    def self.rand
      QUESTIONS.rand
    end
  end

  (question, answer) = RandomFact.rand

  puts "Question: #{question}"
  puts "Answer: #{answer}"