Swift array not maintaining items properly - ios

Question

Bear with me as I try to describe this. I'm creating a trivia game in Xcode which reads questions, answer choices, and the correct answer expected from a file. The file contains 20 questions worth of data separated by an asterisk (*) for each line. The first line is the question, the next four lines are the choices, and the last line is the correct answer (this format is repeated for each question).
In the code I create a string (questionFileContents) which contains all the text from the text file containing the questions.
In my createArrays() method I create a new array which contains each piece of the file as a separate string (determined by where the * is). I create a new array which contains 6 pieces of info (question, choices, and the correct answer) - this array gets loaded into the arrayOfArrays once it is full with the 6 pieces of info and then it moves on to adding a new array with another 6 pieces of info.
Hopefully, that makes sense.
The problem that I am getting is that when I use print(arrayOfArrays.count) it states that I only have 17 items within that array even though I should be getting 20 (for each of the 20 different questions). When I add a bunch of empty text to the text file (equivalent to the number of questions the arrayOfArrays was disregarding) it then disregards that and includes the questions which it had been disregarding before. So... what is causing the arrayOfArrays to not contain the 20 items it should be containing? Is this a compiler error, if not, where is my logic wrong?
I've included my code as well as the text file from which I am reading the question contents.
Thanks in advance!
import UIKit
class QuestionAnswerController: UIViewController {
#IBOutlet weak var textViewForQuestions: UITextView! // the textview which displays the current question text
#IBOutlet weak var questionNumberView: UITextView!
#IBOutlet weak var button1Text: UITextView! // these are the different textviews which correspond to the buttons and answers
#IBOutlet weak var button2Text: UITextView!
#IBOutlet weak var button3Text: UITextView!
#IBOutlet weak var button4Text: UITextView!
#IBOutlet weak var scoreView: UITextView! // textview which indicates the user's score
var questionFileContents : String = "" // blank string which will contain the different contents (questions, choices, answers)
var arrayOfArrays : Array = [[String]]() // array which contains the different arrays with their question components
var currentTrackerOfArrays : Int = 0 // keeps track of which item from the string is being added to the addingToArray array
var currentAnswer : String = "" // keeps track of what the correct answer is for this question
var userScore : Int = 0 // keeps track of the user's current score
var userSelectedAnswer : String = "" // keeps track of the user's current answer provided when they hit the answer button
var currentQuestion : Int = 1
#IBAction func answerButtonPressed(_ sender: UIButton) { // do something when the user presses a button
if sender.tag == 0 { // if the button pressed is (insert num here), do this
// sets the user's selected answer to whatever they chose
userSelectedAnswer = """
A
"""
checkForCorrectAnswer() // checks to see if the answer was correct
}
else if sender.tag == 1 {
userSelectedAnswer = """
B
"""
checkForCorrectAnswer()
}
else if sender.tag == 2 {
userSelectedAnswer = """
C
"""
checkForCorrectAnswer()
}
else if sender.tag == 3 {
userSelectedAnswer = """
D
"""
checkForCorrectAnswer()
}
newQuestionSet() // updates the list of choices as well as the question which is presented to the user
}
override func viewDidLoad() { // upon the view loading, do...
super.viewDidLoad()
// Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.
createArrays()
updateUI()
newQuestionSet()
}
override func didReceiveMemoryWarning() {
super.didReceiveMemoryWarning()
// Dispose of any resources that can be recreated.
}
func createQuestionsListString() { // takes all content from the questions file and makes a string with the content
if let filepath = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "TriviaQuestions-Formatted", ofType: "txt") { // the main filepath for the file
do {
let contents = try String(contentsOfFile: filepath) // attempts to make string with file
questionFileContents = contents // sets the questionFileContents variable to the contents of the file
} catch let error as NSError { // in the event of an error, do...
// contents could not be loaded
print("Contents could not be loaded.")
print(error.description)
}
}
}
func newQuestionSet() { // sets all the different elements of the user interface for the next question
if arrayOfArrays.count > 0 { // if there is still questions left in the array, do...
let randomQuestionInt = Int(arc4random_uniform(UInt32(arrayOfArrays.count) - 1)) // chooses a random question number
textViewForQuestions.text = arrayOfArrays[randomQuestionInt][0] // sets the text of the question
button1Text.text = arrayOfArrays[randomQuestionInt][1] // these set the different choices' text to be the choices from the question array
button2Text.text = arrayOfArrays[randomQuestionInt][2]
button3Text.text = arrayOfArrays[randomQuestionInt][3]
button4Text.text = arrayOfArrays[randomQuestionInt][4]
currentAnswer = arrayOfArrays[randomQuestionInt][5] // sets the current correct answer
arrayOfArrays.remove(at: randomQuestionInt) // prevents repeated questions
// print(arrayOfArrays.count)
}
else { // in the event that there are no more questions remaining, do...
textViewForQuestions.text = "Finished."
currentAnswer = ""
}
}
func updateUI() { // updates the user interface with the current score
scoreView.text = "Score: \(userScore)"
questionNumberView.text = "Question number: \(currentQuestion)"
}
func checkForCorrectAnswer() {
if userSelectedAnswer == String(currentAnswer) { // if the user selected answer is the same as the correct answer for the question, do...
userScore += 1 // update the score
currentQuestion += 1
updateUI() // update the UI with the new score
}
else {
currentQuestion += 1
updateUI()
}
}
func createArrays() { // creates the arrays for the questions and the array of arrays
createQuestionsListString() // calls the method to make the string from the questions file
let questionPiecesArray = questionFileContents.split(separator: "*") // breaks apart the string based on where an asterix is located (and puts the pieces in an array)
var addingToArray : Array = [String]() // the array which contains the different components of the question (question, choices, correct answer) which will be added to the array of arrays
for _ in questionPiecesArray { // for however many pieces are in the questionPiecesArray, do...
if addingToArray.count >= 6 { // if the array storing the current question gets filled with 6 or more objects, do...
arrayOfArrays.append(addingToArray) // adds the question array to the array containing all the question arrays
addingToArray.removeAll() // empties the question array to make room for new question components
}
else if addingToArray.count <= 6 { // if the array isn't full, do...
addingToArray.append(String(questionPiecesArray[currentTrackerOfArrays])) // addsar the current question component (from questionPiecesArray) to the question array
currentTrackerOfArrays += 1 // moves onto the next piece of information
}
}
print(arrayOfArrays.count)
print(questionPiecesArray.count)
print(arrayOfArrays)
// current problem, the array of arrays is maxing out at holding 17 arrays and won't hold anymore ...
// this problem makes no sense because the print(questionPiecesArray.count) method is showing ...
// that there are 120+ objects in the array so the for loop should add that many objects to the various arrays
// through testing it seems that the arrayOfArrays always has 4 less arrays than it should
// I'll just repeat the last 4 questions again so that they get included in the mix (?)...
// Perhaps it would be better to put in meaningless text for the last 4 blank question templates so that if a glitch occurs it will be more obvious
// Yeah, I'll do that
// Test: it seems to be working well with the empty text
}
}
This is what is contained in the txt file it is reading from:
How do crickets hear?*
Through their wings*
Through their belly*
Through their knees*
Through their tongue*
C*
Which American city invented plastic vomit?*
Chicago*
Detroit*
Columbus*
Baltimore*
A*
In ‘Ben Hur’, which modern thing can be seen during the chariot scene?*
A waitress*
A car*
A postbox*
A street lamp*
B*
What was Karl Marx’s favorite color?*
Brown*
Blue*
Red*
Purple*
C*
What’s the best way to stop crying while peeling onions?*
Lick almonds*
Suck lemons*
Eat cheese*
Chew gum*
D*
How old was the youngest Pope?*
11*
17*
22*
29*
A*
Which animal sleeps for only five minutes a day?*
A chameleon*
A koala*
A giraffe*
A beaver*
C*
How many words in the English language end in “dous"?*
Two*
Four*
Six*
Eight*
B*
One human hair can support how many kilograms?*
Three*
Five*
Seven*
Nine*
A*
The bikini was originally called the what?*
Poke*
Range*
Half*
Atom*
D*
Which European city is home to the Fairy Investigation Society?*
Poznan*
Dublin*
Bratislava*
Tallinn*
B*
What’s a frog’s favourite colour?*
Blue*
Orange*
Yellow*
Brown*
A*
Which one of these planets rotates clockwise?*
Uranus*
Mercury*
Pluto*
Venus*
D*
What perspires half a pint of fluid a day?*
Your scalp*
Your armpits*
Your feet*
Your buttocks*
C*
St Stephen is the patron saint of who?*
Plumbers*
Bricklayers*
Roofers*
Carpenters*
B*
Which country leads the world in cork production?*
Greece*
Australia*
Spain*
Mexico*
C*
On average, what do you do 15 times a day?*
Laugh*
Burp*
Break wind*
Lick your lips*
A*
What colour was Coca-Cola originally?*
Red*
Purple*
Beige*
Green*
D*
Bubble gum contains what?*
Plastic*
Calcium*
Rubber*
Pepper*
C*
The inventor of the paint roller was of which nationality?*
Hungarian*
Canadian*
Norwegian*
Argentinian*
B*
Please note: there were no problems with reading from the text file.

Answer 1

The problem is in your else if statement. Use this for loop to get the right result (I've tested it):
for item in questionPiecesArray {
// always add the current item to the array
addingToArray.append(String(item))
// if it was last for the current question, reset the addingToArray
if addingToArray.count >= 6 {
arrayOfArrays.append(addingToArray)
addingToArray.removeAll()
}
}
Also, using this you won't need currentTrackerOfArrays anymore.