Corona SDK: Inserting into tables - coronasdk

Question

I've read the other topics related to this subject and cannot make sense of them in the sense of my code. In the code below, I cannot get the make other word buttons into the table. I can generate the words but they will not go into the table. The previous function with the correct word works fine. What am I doing wrong? Do I have problems elsewhere in the code?
--main text
local content = require "content"
--chooses a random number according to the maximum number available in the table
local defaultWidth = 1024
local defaultHeight = 768
local displayWidth = display.viewableContentWidth
local displayHeight = display.viewableContentHeight
local yMargin = 20
local centerX = defaultWidth/2;
local centerY = defaultHeight/2;
local xAdjust = (defaultWidth - display.viewableContentWidth)/2
local yAdjust = (defaultHeight - display.viewableContentHeight)/2
local rnd = math.random
local maxSightwords = 3
local currQuestion = 0
local playOrder
local letterButtons
local wrongGraphic
local correctButton
--local wordButtons
function getRandomOrder(amount)
local order ={}
local i
local temp
local temp1
for n = 1,amount do
order[n] = n
end
for i=0,9 do
for temp = 1,amount do
n = math.random(1, amount)
temp1 = order[temp]
order[temp] = order[n]
order[n] = temp1
end
end
return order
end
-- assign random order for words
playOrder = getRandomOrder(#content)
function nextQuestion()
-- update question number index
currQuestion = currQuestion+1
if currQuestion > #playOrder then
currQuestion = 1
end
local questionNumber = playOrder[currQuestion]
print("Question# "..currQuestion)
print("id "..content[questionNumber].id)
-- make word buttons
wordButtons = {}
-- make word button for correct word
local word = content[playOrder[currQuestion]].word
table.insert(wordButtons, newWordButton(word))
correctButton = wordButtons[1].graphics
local buttonWidth = 150
print ("correct: "..word)
print (#wordButtons)
---[[
-- ****make other word buttons***
local otherWords = getRandomWords(content.word)
--print (otherWords)
for i=1, maxSightwords-1 do
table.insert(wordButtons, otherWords)
end
--]]
print (#wordButtons)
-- position letter buttons and add touch event listener
local randomWordOrder = getRandomOrder(#wordButtons)
local buttonSpacing = buttonWidth * 1.5
local buttonsWidth = (#wordButtons * buttonWidth) + ((#wordButtons-1) * (buttonSpacing/4))
local buttonsX = centerX - (buttonWidth)
for i=1, #wordButtons do
local button = wordButtons[i].graphics
button.y = centerY
button.x = buttonsX + (buttonSpacing * (randomWordOrder[i]-1))
button:addEventListener("touch", onWordTouch)
--local randomDelay = transitionDuration + (math.random(1,10) * 10)
--transition.from(button, {time = 500, delay = randomDelay, y = defaultHeight + button.height})
end
end
function clearQuestion()
-- remove wrongGraphic if present
if wrongGraphic then
wrongGraphic:removeSelf()
wrongGraphic = nil
end
-- remove all word buttons
for i=1,#wordButtons do
wordButtons[i].graphics:removeSelf()
wordButtons[i].graphics = nil
end
end
function onWordTouch(event)
local t = event.target
if "ended" == event.phase then
if t == correctButton then
onCorrect()
else
onIncorrect(t)
end
end
end
function onIncorrect(incorrectButton)
media.playSound("sounds/splat.wav")
wrongGraphic = display.newImageRect("images/graphics/wrong.png", 137, 136)
wrongGraphic.x = incorrectButton.x + incorrectButton.width/2
wrongGraphic.y = incorrectButton.y + incorrectButton.height/2
transition.to(incorrectButton, {time=100, delay=500, alpha=0})
transition.to(wrongGraphic, {time=200, delay=500, alpha=0, onComplete=wrongCompleteListener})
local wrongCompleteListener = function(obj)
obj:removeSelf()
obj = nil
incorrectButton:removeSelf()
incorrectButton = nil
end
end
function onCorrect()
-- play correct sound then display word
media.playSound("sounds/correct.mp3", playWord)
-- remove the letter buttons
clearQuestion()
-- disable the home button until new screen is shown
homeEnabled = false
end
function newWordButton(word)
local wordGraphic = display.newImageRect("images/words/"..word..".png", 150, 75)
local wordButton = {}
wordButton.graphics = display.newGroup()
wordButton.graphics:insert(wordGraphic)
wordButton.word = word
return wordButton
end
function getRandomWords ()
local wordGraphic = display.newGroup ()
for i=1,maxSightwords-1 do
--remove a word from content using a random index #
--Since the index will be between 1 and the number of words in content
--and each time through the loop a word is removed, you can be sure
--You will get 3 different words without repeats.
local next_word = table.remove(content, math.random(#content))
--next_word is a table with 'word' and 'id' fields so you can make the text display object from next_word.word
local wordText = display.newImageRect("images/words/"..next_word.id..".png", 150, 75)
wordText.x = display.contentWidth/2
wordText.y = display.contentHeight/2 - 100
wordGraphic:insert(wordText)
print (next_word.id)
end
end
nextQuestion ()

Answer 1

I think your problem is that you are resetting the wordButton = {} again in function newWordButton. You already made the table in function nextQuestion(), so by calling it again in the newWordButton function is reseting the entire table.
Take a look at this links:
http://www.coronalabs.com/blog/2011/06/21/understanding-lua-tables-in-corona-sdk/
http://docs.coronalabs.com/api/library/table/insert.html
I'm pretty sure the function should look like this:
function newWordButton(word)
local wordGraphic = display.newImageRect("images/words/"..word..".png", 150, 75)
wordButton.graphics = display.newGroup()
wordButton.graphics:insert(wordGraphic)
wordButton.word = word
return wordButton
end