What could be causing my prompt for a username to not work properly as I attempt to develop a system that generates a unique code using the user's initials?

I'm currently working on a script that will be used by the secretaries in our school district to generate unique codes for new students or hires. The code will consist of an 8-digit output, a randomly generated 6-digit number, and the user's initials at the end. This unique code will trigger automatic account creation in our systems. While we have the account creation process set up and working smoothly, we're facing challenges with generating the unique code. I've omitted the random number generation part of the script since my main obstacle lies in prompting for the user's name and extracting their initials.

function ID() {
    var userName = prompt("Please enter your name", "<User Name>");
}

function getInitials(name) {
  let initials = "";
  let waitingForSpace = false;

  for (var i = 0; i < name.length; i++) {
    if (!waitingForSpace) {
      initials += name[i];
      waitingForSpace = true;
    }

    if (name[i] === " ") {
      waitingForSpace = false;
    }
  }

  return initials;
}
console.log(getInitials(userName));


I expect to receive a prompt for the User Name, which will be stored as userName. This variable is then passed to the getInitials function. However, when attempting to run Node Initials.js, I encounter the following error message...

ReferenceError: userName is not defined
at Object. (/Users/dross/Documents/UserID/Initials.js:22:25)
at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:689:30)
at Object.Module._extensions..js(internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:700:10)
at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:599:32)
at tryModuleLoad (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:538:12)
at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:530:3)
at Function.Module.runMain (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:742:12)
at startup (internal/bootstrap/node.js:283:19)
at bootstrapNodeJSCore (internal/bootstrap/node.js:743:3)

javascript

Answer №1

There seems to be a missing } in your code snippet. To correct this issue, you can modify your code like this:

function retrieveUserName() {
  var user = prompt("Please enter your username", "<Your Username>");
  return user; // return the inputted username
}

function getInitials(fullname) {
  let initials = "";
  let spacePending = false;

  for (var j = 0; j < fullname.length; j++) {
    if (!spacePending) {
      initials += fullname[j];
      spacePending = true;
    }

    if (fullname[j] === " ") {
      spacePending = false;
    }
  }

  return initials;
}

var username = retrieveUserName(); // returns the entered username
console.log(getInitials(username));

Answer №2

Your initial post contained the entire function as a closure, making the inner 'username' function accessible from the outside. By the way, I believe there was no missing '{' as you mentioned.

In your updated code, 'username' is now a local variable since it is not assigned as a 'function'. This means that it is 'not defined' outside of its scope.

I recommend taking note of Peter B's comment advising you to call the (original) function like this: 

console.log(getInitials(userName()));

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