# Arrays not working as I expected - help

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/arrays-not-working-as-i-expected-help/120785>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [November 20, 2007, 5:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/arrays-not-working-as-i-expected-help/120785 "2007-11-20T17:00:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 5:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/arrays-not-working-as-i-expected-help/120785/1 "2007-11-20T17:00:53Z")

</div>

Hi  
I am new programmer to Ruby. Just 1 days old. I do have some  
background in java.

I am having a problem that is troubling me since yesterday and having  
spend several hours on it, I still dont have any idea.

CODE WORKING GREAT BELOW

require ‘rubygems’  
require ‘hpricot’  
require ‘open-uri’

page = Hpricot(open(“[http://finance.google.com/finance/historical](http://finance.google.com/finance/historical)?  
q=ORCL&histperiod=weekly&start=01&num=2”))

page.search(“#prices”).each do |timesection|

```
  values=timesection.search("td")
datePointValue = {
  "date" => values[0].inner_html,
  "open" => values[1].inner_html,
  "high" => values[2].inner_html,
  "low" => values[3].inner_html,
  "close" => values[4].inner_html,
  "volume" => values[5].inner_html
}

datePointValue.each do |key, value|
  puts key + " - " + value
end
end

```

But when I add a loop and change the code as follows. It gives me  
error message  
UPDATED CODE - NOT WORKING -

page = Hpricot(open(“[http://finance.google.com/finance/historical](http://finance.google.com/finance/historical)?  
q=ORCL&histperiod=weekly&start=01&num=1”))

page.search(“#prices”).each do |timesection|

```
  timesection.search("tr").each do |datePointSets|
  values = datePointSets.search("td")

  datePointValue = {
    "date" => values[0].inner_html,
    "open" => values[1].inner_html,
    "high" => values[2].inner_html,
    "low" => values[3].inner_html,
    "close" => values[4].inner_html,
    "volume" => values[5].inner_html
  }

  datePointValue.each do |key, value|
    puts key + " - " + value
  end
end
end

```

ERROR MESSAGE  
htest.rb:14: undefined method `inner_html' for nil:NilClass (NoMethodError) from htest.rb:10:in `each’  
from htest.rb:10  
from htest.rb:8:in `each’  
from htest.rb:8

Kindly suggest.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 5:12pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/arrays-not-working-as-i-expected-help/120785/2 "2007-11-20T17:12:10Z")

</div>

Hello,

On Nov 20, 2007 11:00 AM, [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> require ‘hpricot’  
> “open” =\> values[1].inner\_html,
> 
> ```
> timesection.search("tr").each do |datePointSets|
> 
> from htest.rb:10
> from htest.rb:8:in `each'
> from htest.rb:8
> 
> ```
> 
> Kindly suggest.

At a knee-jerk guess, you’ve changed how ‘values’ is populated. I’d  
wager that the values result from the Hpricot search isn’t properly  
set. You should print values before you set the datePointValue hash  
and see what it contains.

In addition, you might consider another sanity check if you explicitly  
access 6 elements of an array. Like

raise “Parsing Error: values not set correctly” if (values.nil? or  
values.size \< 6)

Cheers.

Cameron

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 5:48pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/arrays-not-working-as-i-expected-help/120785/3 "2007-11-20T17:48:32Z")

</div>

On Nov 20, 11:11 am, Cameron McBride [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)  
wrote:

> > background in java.  
> > page = Hpricot(open("[http://finance.google.com/finance/historical](http://finance.google.com/finance/historical)?  
> > “close” =\> values[4].inner\_html,  
> > UPDATED CODE - NOT WORKING -  
> > “date” =\> values[0].inner\_html,  
> > end  
> > Kindly suggest.  
> > values.size \< 6)
> 
> Cheers.
> 
> Cameron- Hide quoted text -
> 
> - Show quoted text -

Thats is exactly what i thought so I printed the values as shown  
below. this worked fine…

page = Hpricot(open(“[http://finance.google.com/finance/historical](http://finance.google.com/finance/historical)?  
q=ORCL&histperiod=weekly&start=01&num=1”))

page.search(“#prices”).each do |timesection|

```
  timesection.search("tr").each do |datePointSets|
  values = datePointSets.search("td")

  values.length.times do |i|
    puts values[i].inner_html # WORKS GREAT!! Prints 5 values
  end
end
end

```

Interestingly the loop prints the values correctly but when access  
these as shown below I get the same error.  
page = Hpricot(open(“[http://finance.google.com/finance/historical](http://finance.google.com/finance/historical)?  
q=ORCL&histperiod=weekly&start=01&num=1”))

page.search(“#prices”).each do |timesection|

```
  timesection.search("tr").each do |datePointSets|
  values = datePointSets.search("td")

  puts values[0].inner_html # ERRORS HERE
  puts values[1].inner_html # ERRORS HERE

end
end

```