How come a larger variable can seem to have a lower value compared to a smaller variable

Issue Description:
I have developed a code that retrieves words from a database and displays them in boxes on my webpage. Each box can hold up to three words, and the height of each box is determined by the height of the word inside it. This height information is stored in an array for later comparison. The objective is to ensure that every row of three boxes has uniform height with the tallest box setting the height for all three. However, I encountered a problem when processing the third row (Id[Ten] = 1) where the logic fails to properly set the heights resulting in overlapping text within the boxes.

    var tempN = 0; //Temporary number holder
    var temp = []; //Array to store box heights

    for (var i = 0; i < Panels.length; i++) { 
        temp[i] = new Array(); 
        if (document.getElementById('Column'+i+Id[Ten])!=null) {
            document.getElementById('Column'+i+Id[Ten]).style.height = document.getElementById('Text'+i+Id[Ten]).clientHeight+"px";
            temp[i].push(document.getElementById('Column'+i+Id[Ten]).clientHeight); 
        } else {
            temp[i].push(0);
        }

        if (i%3 == 2) { 
            for (var x=2;x >= 0;x--) { 
                alert(temp[i-x]+" is greater than "+tempN); 
                if (tempN < temp[i-x]) { 
                    tempN = temp[i-x]; 
                    alert(tempN+' '+temp[i-x]); 
                    document.getElementById('Row'+BoxRow+Id[Ten]).style.height = tempN + "px";
                }
            }
            tempN = 0; 
        }
    }
    temp = []; 

Based on the current implementation, the array "temp" will contain the following values:

temp = [0,158,0,0,158,0,0,50,0] when Id[Ten] is 3
temp = [0,50,0,0,0,0,0,0,0] when Id[Ten] is 2
temp = [284,50,50,50,50,50] when Id[Ten] is 1

Error Identification:
The error manifests when processing the last scenario with Id[Ten] = 1. Even though the initial comparison correctly identifies the tallest box as 284, subsequent comparisons fail to recognize this and instead prioritize shorter heights like 50. This causes the final box height calculation to be incorrect leading to text overlap. It seems like the condition checks and comparisons are not working as expected causing inconsistency in the height calculations across the boxes. Any insights or suggestions on resolving this erratic behavior would be greatly appreciated.

Answer №1

The reason for this issue is that you are comparing strings to each other, which means JavaScript only considers their alphabetical order.

To resolve this problem, make sure to use parseInt on your variables.

Below is a test I conducted in the Chrome console:

var test1 = 50
var test2 = 200;

test1 > test2
false

--------

var test1 = "50"
var test2 = "200";

test1 > test2
true

parseInt(test1) > parseInt(test2)
false

Answer №2

Your code is currently comparing strings based on alphabetical order:

"Zoo" > "Apple" // true
"50" > "284" // true

To properly compare numbers, you should use a function like parseInt:

parseInt("50") > parseInt("284"); // false

var stringResult = "50" > "284"; // true
var intResult = parseInt("50") > parseInt("284"); // false

document.getElementById('strings').textContent = stringResult;
document.getElementById('ints').textContent = intResult;
<h3>Result of "50" > "284" = 
  <span id="strings"></span>
</h3>



<h3>
  Result of parseInt("50") > parseInt("284") =
  <span id="ints"></span>
</h3>

Answer №3

JavaScript treats everything as an object without specifying a type. The type is determined based on how it is declared. For example, when comparing (tempN < temp[i-x]), both tempN and temp[i-x] are treated as strings. To compare them correctly, you need to convert them to numbers first.

var number1 = parseInt(tempN, 10);
var number2 = parseInt(temp[i-x], 10);
console.log(number1 < number2);

If you want to sort an array of numbers numerically rather than alphabetically, you can use the following approach:

var numbers = [1, 90, 5, 8];
numbers.sort(sortCompare);
function sortCompare(a, b) {
    return a - b;
}

I hope this explanation helps!

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