Tutorial Series: Free C# Fundamentals via ASP.NET Web Apps
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This is the solution for the challenge titled ChallengeForXmenBattleCount, dealing with arrays and using the for loop. This challenge isn't very complicated, but the details are tricky. Read on as much as you need in order to solve the problem facing you, then finish as much as you can on your own.
In the CS-ASP_026-Challenge folder, navigate to the ChallengeForXmenBattleCount folder, then copy and paste it into your Visual Studio Projects directory.
Once this is done, open it and go to the Default.aspx.cs page. In the Page_Load, you'll find two starting arrays called names and numbers, as well as an empty string result. As described in the challenge document, the numbers and names in the arrays correspond to each other. So index 1 in both arrays would be "Iceman" in the names and 9 in the numbers array, meaning Iceman has fought 9 battles:
Our task is to loop through these arrays and locate the X-Man with the most battles, and the X-Man with the least battles. In order to do this, we'll create a for loop like so:
Tip:
Remember that you can either manually type this code, or you can create a "code snippet". To do this, type 'for' and press the Tab key twice to create a template that you can then edit.
This loop will continue to increment i until it it reaches the end of the names array, meaning that we will be able to evaluate every entry in it.
In order to keep track of the X-Men with the most and fewest battles, we'll create a few variables outside the scope of the loop:
The purpose of these variables will be to hold the value of the index that has the smallest and largest number, respectively. To do this, we'll create two if() statements within the loop:
These statements check to see if the value of numbers[i] (whatever index it is currently at) is smaller than numbers[smallestNumberIndex] (the current minimum value). If it is, then it replaces the current value of smallestNumberIndex with the value of i. This will continue to loop through every value of numbers, and will set the smallestNumberIndex variable to the index value with the minimum integer value; in this case numbers[6]. And, because the names and numbers are directly related, the same index will satisfy the requirement for the names index. The reverse is also true of the latter statement.
Tip:
This method for evaluating the array is used because it logically makes the most sense to explain. If the current value is less than the previous lowest value, replace that value with the current value. However, you could also code it to evaluate if the current index is the minimum (or maximum) value in the array:
Now that we have found the index that houses the least and greatest value, we need to create a result to print out in the resultLabel. Per the requirements of the challenge, the result should look like:
We now know the index values for both arrays that will give us both the name and number, so we can use a String.Format() method to display the desired result:
This takes the values of the arrays at the index with the largest and smallest values, then assigns the names and numbers to their correct places. It is separated into two different methods for readability and simplicity's sake. If you wanted, it would be perfectly acceptable to type it like this:
Finally, set the resultLabel.Text equal to the result. Save and run your project to see the result:
This completes the ChallengeForXmenBattleCount solution. While this challenge didn't require much code to solve, it did take a lot of thinking and applying several concepts we've covered up to this point. Hopefully you were able to complete it on your own. If not, come back and try it again later. Do it differently, come up with your own solution or tailor it to your tastes. Keep trying until you understand the concepts, then move on and continue with the course. Great job!
Lesson 1 - Series Introduction
Lesson 2 - Installing Visual Studio 2015
Lesson 3 - Building Your First Web App
Lesson 4 - Understanding What You Just Did
Lesson 5 - Working with Projects in Visual Studio
Lesson 6 - Simple Web Page Formatting in Visual Studio
Lesson 7 - Variables and Data Types
Lesson 8 - Data Type Conversion
Lesson 9 - Arithmetic Operators
Challenge 2 - ChallengeSimpleCalculator
Solution - ChallengeSimpleCalculator
Lesson 11 - Conditional If Statements
Lesson 12 - The Conditional Ternary Operator
Challenge 3 - ChallengeConditionalRadioButton
Solution - Challenge Conditional RadioButton
Lesson 13 - Comparison and Logical Operators
Lesson 13 Challenge - First Papa Bob's Website
Solution - Challenge First Papa Bob's Website
Lesson 14 - Working with Dates and Times
Lesson 15 - Working With Spans of Time
Lesson 16 - Working with the Calendar Server Control
Challenge 4 - Challenge Days Between Dates
Solution - Challenge Days Between Dates
Lesson 17 - Page_Load and Page.IsPostBack
Lesson 18 - Setting a Break Point and Debugging
Lesson 19 - Formatting Strings
Challenge 5 - Challenge Epic Spies Assignment
Solution - Challenge Epic Spies Assignment
Lesson 20 - Maintaining State with ViewState
Lesson 21 - Storing Values in Arrays
Lesson 22 - Understanding Multidimensional Arrays
Lesson 23 - Changing the Length of an Array
Challenge 6 - Challenge Epic Spies Asset Tracker
Solution - Challenge Epic Spies Asset Tracker
Lesson 24 - Understanding Variable Scope
Lesson 25 - Code Blocks and Nested If Statements
Lesson 26 - Looping with the For Iteration Statement
Challenge 7 - Challenge For Xmen Battle Count
Solution - Challenge For Xmen Battle Count
Lesson 27 - Looping with the while() & do...while() Iteration Statements
Lesson 28 - Creating and Calling Simple Helper Methods
Lesson 29 - Creating Methods with Input Parameters
Lesson 30 - Returning Values from Methods
Lesson 31 - Creating Overloaded Methods
Lesson 32 - Creating Optional Parameters
Lesson 33 - Creating Names Parameters
Lesson 34 - Creating Methods with Output Parameters
Challenge 8 - Challenge Postal Calculator Helper Methods
Solution - Challenge Postal Calculator Helper Methods
Solution - Mega Challenge Casino
Lesson 35 - Manipulating Strings
Challenge 9 - Phun With Strings
Solution - Challenge Phun With Strings
Lesson 36 - Introduction to Classes and Objects
Challenge - Hero Monster Classes Part 1
Solution - Hero Monster Classes Part 1
Challenge - Hero Monster Classes Part 2
Solution - Challenge Hero Monster Classes Part 2
Lesson 37 - Creating Class Files Creating Cohesive Classes and Code Navigation
Lesson 38 - Understanding Object References and Object Lifetime
Lesson 39 - Understanding the .NET Framework and Compilation
Lesson 40 - Namespaces and Using Directives
Lesson 41 - Creating Class Libraries and Adding References to Assemblies
Lesson 42 - Accessibility Modifiers, Fields and Properties
Lesson 43 - Creating Constructor Methods
Lesson 44 - Naming Conventions for Identifiers
Lesson 45 - Static vs Instance Members
Challenge 10 - Challenge Simple Darts
Solution - Challenge Simple Darts
Lesson 46 - Working with the List Collection
Lesson 47 - Object Initializers
Lesson 48 - Collection Initializers
Lesson 49 - Working with the Dictionary Collection
Lesson 50 - Looping with the foreach Iteration Statement
Lesson 51 - Implicitly-Typed Variables with the var Keyword
Challenge 11 - Challenge Student Courses
Solution - Challenge Student Courses
Lesson 53 - Working with Enumerations
Lesson 54 - Understanding the switch() Statement
Lesson 55 - First Pass at the Separation of Concerns Principle
Lesson 56 - Understanding Exception Handling
Lesson 57 - Understanding Global Exception Handling
Lesson 58 - Understanding Custom Exceptions
Lesson 59 - Creating a Database in Visual Studio
Lesson 60 - Creating an Entity Data Model
Lesson 61 - Displaying the DbSet Result in an ASP.NET GridView
Lesson 62 - Implementing a Button Command in a GridView
Lesson 63 - Using a Tools-Centric Approach to Building a Database Application
Lesson 64 - Using a Maintenance-Driven Approach to Building a Database Application
Lesson 65 - Creating a New Instance of an Entity and Persisting it to the Database
Lesson 66 - Package Management with NuGet
Lesson 67 - NuGet No-Commit Workflow
Lesson 68 - Introduction the Twitter Bootstrap CSS Framework
Lesson 69 - Mapping Enum Types to Entity Properties in the Framework Designer
Lesson 70 - Deploying the App to Microsoft Azure Web Services Web Apps
Papa Bob's Mega Solution Part 1 - Setting up the Solution
Papa Bob's Mega Solution Part 2 - Adding an Order to the Database
Papa Bob's Mega Solution Part 3 - Passing an Order from the Presentation Layer
Papa Bob's Mega Solution Part 4 - Creating the Order Form
Papa Bob's Mega Solution Part 5 - Adding Enums
Papa Bob's Mega Solution Part 6 - Creating an Order with Validation
Papa Bob's Mega Solution Part 7 - Calculating the Order Price
Papa Bob's Mega Solution Part 8 - Displaying the Price to the User
Papa Bob's Mega Solution Part 9 - Creating the Order Management Page