Display random value of text from an array

Question

I have the following:

var movie;

var myMovies = ['Bones', 'Psych', 'Big Bang Theory', 'Mad Men', 
'Breaking Bad', 'Modern Family', 'Game of Thrones', 'Dexter','Bones', 'Psych', 'Big Bang Theory', 'Mad Men', 
'Breaking Bad', 'Modern Family', 'Game of Thrones', 'Dexter','Bones', 'Psych', 'Big Bang Theory', 'Mad Men', 
'Breaking Bad', 'Modern Family', 'Game of Thrones', 'Dexter'];

function generateMovies () {
  var movie = myMovies[Math.floor(Math.random() * myMovies.length)];
}


function displayMovie() {
  generateMovies();
  console.log(movie);
  $('body').text(movie);

  setTimeout(function(){
    displayMovie();
},1000);
}

displayMovie();

I would like to generate a different movie name and show them on the screen. Seems to be straight forward but obviously not! Seems like may variable is undefined.

Thanks!

Fiddle: https://jsfiddle.net/4ggwva4f/8/

D. Vargas · Accepted Answer · 2018-03-06 01:19:23Z

2

You are declaring the variable movie inside the function, so you are not assigning the value to the global variable.

answered Mar 6, 2018 at 1:19

D. Vargas

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2 Comments

user1525612 Over a year ago

Thanks, that was the problem!

J-Cake Over a year ago

Yeah, it would help to set the variable that you'll be using. :D

theGrizz · Accepted Answer · 2018-03-13 16:55:46Z

1

Just remove var in your generateMovies function.

function generateMovies () {
  movie = myMovies[Math.floor(Math.random() * myMovies.length)];
}

Basically, you're declaring movie first at the start of your script, then again within your generateMovies function, so movies is not being returned into your global scope.

edited Mar 13, 2018 at 16:55

answered Mar 6, 2018 at 1:24

theGrizz

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Comments

DarkAjax · Accepted Answer · 2018-03-06 01:30:05Z

As the other guys mentioned, you have a scope problem. Also, you don't really need the global movie variable, you could change your code to return the expected value like this:

var myMovies = ['Bones', 'Psych', 'Big Bang Theory', 'Mad Men', 
'Breaking Bad', 'Modern Family', 'Game of Thrones', 'Dexter','Bones', 'Psych', 'Big Bang Theory', 'Mad Men', 
'Breaking Bad', 'Modern Family', 'Game of Thrones', 'Dexter','Bones', 'Psych', 'Big Bang Theory', 'Mad Men', 
'Breaking Bad', 'Modern Family', 'Game of Thrones', 'Dexter'];

function generateMovies () {
  return myMovies[Math.floor(Math.random() * myMovies.length)];
}

function displayMovie() {
  var movie = generateMovies();
  console.log(movie);
  $('body').text(movie);

  setTimeout(function(){
    displayMovie();
},1000);
}

displayMovie();

Or if you don't really need to do the console.log just: $('body').text(generateMovies())

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