Quiz strcmp Checking

Ascendancy

I have a script that checks answers to a quiz in this fashion:

if (strcmp($ques1, 'ques1answer')) {
$wrong=$wrong+1;
}
else{
$right=$right+1;
}

However, I have one question that has two text fields, and both of them need to be correct in order to get the point. I tried this, but it didn't work:

if (strcmp($ques1a, 'answer1') & strcmp($ques1b, 'answer2')) {
$wrong=$wrong+1;
}
else{
$right=$right+1;
}

Does anybody have an idea of what I could try?

NogDog

Why strcmp()? It is normally used for sorting. It does not return boolean true/false, but rather a number that can be negative (string1 is evaluated as "less" than string2), 0 (they sort the same), or positive (string1 is evaluates as "greater" than string2).

Also, when "anding" two expressions in an if condition, you use "&&" or "and", not "&".

Ascendancy

Oh yea that's what I meant, my code has "&&" in it, I just didn't copy correctly.

But uhm, what could I do instead of strcmp()? I tried having a simple "if(ques1 = "the answer...", but that didn't work for some reason.

NogDog

Well, I'd probably do multiple choice with radio buttons so that you are not dependent upon the user typing it exactly the way you expect. But I suppose I'd at least make it case-insensitive:

if(strtoupper(trim($ques1)) == strtolower('ques1answer')) // make sure it's "==" not "="
{
   // correct answer
}
else
{
   // incorrect answer
}

Ascendancy

I understand why I would be using the trim function, but why would I want to change the answer to uppercase, and then change the submitted answer to lowercase? Maybe I just read the script wrong, but that just seems a little confusing to me.

NogDog

Ascendancy wrote:
I understand why I would be using the trim function, but why would I want to change the answer to uppercase, and then change the submitted answer to lowercase? Maybe I just read the script wrong, but that just seems a little confusing to me.

Either (a) because I wanted to see if you really were reading my code, or (b) because I didn't proofread my code. :p

They should both be either strtoupper or strtolower.

Ascendancy

Haha, oh yes I am reading very well. 🙂

Well, I have a CSS style on the input that sets text-transform to lowercase, so everything that they type will be in lowercase anyways. However, I tested it out by typing in the letters in all uppercase. Even though the CSS transformed it to lowercase, the data was sent in uppercase, so I do need to use the functions that you gave me. If I use those, it works perfectly, so thanks so much for the help.