Checking arrays in AS3 - arrays

Question

I'm collecting rows of answers from a database which are made in to arrays. Something like:
for (var i:int = 0; i < event.result.length; i++) {
var data = event.result[i];
var answer:Array = new Array(data["question_id"], data["focus_id"], data["attempts"], data["category"], data["answer"], data["correct"], data["score"]);
trace("answer: " + answer);
restoreAnswer(answer, i);
}
Now, if I trace answer, I typically get something like:
answer: 5,0,2,IK,1.a,3.1,0
answer: 5,0,1,IK,2.a,3.1,0
answer: 4,1,1,AK,3,3,2
From this we see that focus_id 0 (second array item) in question_id 5 (first array item) has been attempted twice (third array item), and I only want to use the last attempt in my restoreAnswer function.
My problem is that first attempt answers override the second attempts since the first are parsed last it seems. How do I go about only calling my restoreAnswer only when appropriate?
The options are:
1 attempts, correct score (2 points)
2 attempts, correct score (1 points)
1 attempt, wrong score (0 points)
2 attemps, wrong score (0 points)
There can be multiple focus_id in each question_id.
Thank you very much! :)

Answer 1

I would consider having the DB query return only the most recent attempt, or if that doesn't work efficiently, return the data in attempt order. You may score question 5 twice, but at least it'll score correctly on the last pass.
You can also filter or sort the data you get back from the server.

Answer 2

Michael Brewer-Davis suggested using the database query to resolve this; normally speaking, this would be the right solution.
If you wait until you get it back from the web method call or whatever in AS3, then consider creating an additional Vector variable:
var vAttempts:Vector.<Vector.<int>> = new Vector.<Vector.<int>>(this.m_iNumQuestions);
You mentioned that it seems that everything is sorted so that earlier attempts come last. First you want to make sure that's true. If so, then before you do any call to restoreAnswer(), you'll want to check vAttempts to make sure that you have not already called restoreAnswer() for that question_id and focus_id:
if (!vAttempts[data["question_id"]])
{
vAttempts[data["question_id"]] = new Vector.<int>(); // ensuring a second dimension
}
if (vAttempts[data["question_id"]].indexOf(data["focus_id"]) == -1)
{
restoreAnswer(answer, i);
vAttempts[data["question_id"]].push(data["focus_id"]);
}
So optimizing this just a little bit, what you'll have is as follows:
private final function resultHandler(event:ResultEvent):void {
var vAttempts:Vector.<Vector.<int>> = new Vector.<Vector.<int>>(this.m_iNumQuestions);
var result:Object = event.result;
var iLength:int = result.length;
for (var i:int = 0; i < iLength; i++) {
var data = result[i];
var iQuestionID:int = data["question_id"];
var iFocusID:int = data["focus_id"];
var answer:Array = [iQuestionID, iFocusID, data["attempts"],
data["category"], data["answer"], data["correct"], data["score"]];
trace("answer: " + answer);
var vFocusIDs:Vector.<int> = vAttempts[iQuestionID];
if (!vFocusIDs) {
vAttempts[iQuestionID] = new <int>[iFocusID];
restoreAnswer(answer, i);
} else if (vFocusIDs.indexOf(iFocusID) == -1) {
restoreAnswer(answer, i);
vFocusIDs.push(iFocusID);
}
}
}
Note: In AS3, Arrays can skip over certain indexes, but Vectors can't. So if your program doesn't already have some sort of foreknowledge as to the number of questions, you'll need to change vAttempts from a Vector to an Array. Also account for whether question IDs are 0-indexed (as this question assumes) or 1-indexed.