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🗃️U4LA1 Mini Project: Deck of Cards: Higher Lower

What does the use of APIs look like in a website.

Teacher Notes

In this lab, students will be working off a new open API, the DeckOfCardsAPI. The goal is to give students another chance to familiarize with another open API by practicing both writing API calls and reading responses.

The walkthrough consists of 3 parts:

  1. "Familiarize yourself with the API" - A chance to learn the new API through the browser

  2. "Use real API calls" - Students use async await functions in the api.js to access the same endpoints and responses.

  3. "Program the front end" - Students call their async functions in the script.js and connect functionality from the HTML front end.

In the extensions, after students feel comfortable using this new API, students have the opportunity to:

  • Connect the responses to the HTML code

  • Get another at-bat at creating an async function in api.js and connecting its functionality in script.js.

  • Turn the website into a card game "Higher or Lower". NOTE: this is a spicy extension and students shouldn't feel like they've failed if they don't get to this.

Students should utilize the Starter Code (repl.it | github) to begin this project.

Prompt

We'll be using a new open API for this lab. The DeckOfCardsAPI has endpoints that allow for users to get an ID for a deck of cards and do things like shuffle, deal, create piles, and more. In the walkthrough, you will get a chance to get familiar with API and put together a simple website that deals cards. In the extensions, you'll create a game of "Higher or Lower".

Familiarize yourself with the API:

  1. Head over to https://deckofcardsapi.com/ and look at the first 4 endpoints. We can test them out right in a new tab. The goal is to:

    • Get a new shuffled deck and its deck_id

    • Use the deck_id to draw a card.

    • Return and shuffle the cards to the deck.

  2. Get a new shuffled deck and its deck_id: Open a new tab and enter the following endpoint: https://deckofcardsapi.com/api/deck/new/shuffle/. Copy and save your deck_id. The one I got is 1aw91nywwotz. I'll be using it in the examples to follow.

  3. Use the deck_id to draw a card: Now, there's no way to see all the cards and their order in the deck, but we can start dealing or drawing them. Use the following endpoint to deal the top card of your shuffled deck: https://deckofcardsapi.com/api/deck/YOUR_DECK_ID/draw/. When I put my ID in, the endpoint looks like this https://deckofcardsapi.com/api/deck/1aw91nywwotz/draw/.

    You should have gotten a response like this:

  4. I got the 8 of clubs! Notice how there's even a link to a static image that can potentially be used in a website. If you visit the same endpoint again, notice how you will draw a different card. Do this a couple of times and notice the different cards that come up and how the remaining attribute goes down.

  5. Return and shuffle the cards to the deck: Last, let's return the cards you drew back to the deck and shuffle the deck at the same time. See if you can find this endpoint before checking here for the answer.

Use real API calls

  1. So the 2 API endpoints we used in the browser are:

    • https://deckofcardsapi.com/api/deck/new/shuffle/ - gets us a new deck that is shuffled.

    • https://deckofcardsapi.com/api/deck/YOUR_DECK_ID/draw/ - get us the next card off the top of the deck.

  2. In api.js, complete the two functions so that they return the following data. Also, throw in some console logs to ensure you're getting the desired output.

    • getNewDeck() - This will create a new deck and return the deck ID.

    • getNextCard(deck_id) - This will draw a single card and return the object of that card.

  3. When your done, it should look like this:

    const BASE_URL = "https://deckofcardsapi.com/api/deck";

// creates new shuffled deck - returns deckId
const getNewDeck = async () => {
    const endpoint = `${BASE_URL}/new/shuffle/`;
    const response = await fetch(endpoint);
    const data = await response.json();
    console.log(data);

    return data.deck_id;
};

Program the front end

  1. Open the script.js, and run the code to see what the website looks like. Recall the following 2 functions that you just created. You will use these in the script.js to draw cards from a shuffled deck. For now the cards will be logged in the console.

    1. getNewDeck() - This will create a new deck and return the deck ID.

    2. getNextCard(deck_id) - This will draw a single card and return the object of that card.

  2. In the script.js, finish the startGame() function to create a new deck and draw the first card:

    • Turn the function to an async function, and await a call to getNewDeck(). Console log the deck ID that's returned.

      const startGame = async () => {
    // create a new deck and save the deck ID
    deckId = await getNewDeck();
    console.log(deckId);
};

    • Then, await for the response for getNextCard(deck_id), and console log that as well.

      const startGame = async () => {
    // create a new deck and save the deck ID
    deckId = await getNewDeck();
    console.log(deckId);

    let firstCard = await getNextCard(deckId);
    console.log(firstCard);
};

    Run the code and check the console for the response. You should see the first card.

  3. Now, finish the drawCard() function that will be activated when the draw button is clicked. It should get the next card using the function getNextCard() and log it to the console for now (in the same way it's done in startGame()).

    const drawCard = async () => {
    // draw a card from deck
    let nextCard = await getNextCard(deckId);
    console.log(nextCard);
};

  4. Test the website while keeping the console open. You should see the first card when the site is run, and every time you press "Draw", you should see the next card in the deck.

  5. Great! lets fine tune some things. Since the second half of startGame() is doing the same thing that drawCard() is doing, replace that code with the function call instead as follows:

    const startGame = async () => {
    // create a new deck and save the deck ID
    deckId = await getNewDeck();
    console.log(deckId);

    drawCard();
};

Exemplar

Take a look at this finished example (repl.it | github) for the finished version of the site.

Culturally Responsive Best Practice

This lab uses a standard 52 deck of cards. Some students may not have any experience playing with such a deck or regardless may not know the value of a jack, queen, king, or ace. Consider having your students play a game of higher or lower, or war with each other in preparation for this lab.

The goal of this lab is to have students feel comfortable with using open APIs and incorporating the response data into a website. Feel free to choose a different API if you find that your students will better resonate.

Extra Help?

Extensions

Mild

  • Instead of console logging the whole object, log just the value of the card ('2', '6', 'KING', etc.)

  • Adjust the drawCard() function so that the image of the card displays on the website. Note: the link to the image is a part of the response of each card.

    • In the index.html, find the Span ID that contains the image of the drawn card.

    • In the script.js, every time drawCard() is called, it should use the card object to put the image in the innerHTML of the span. Look at Extra Help for more assistance on this.

Medium

  • Create a function convertValue(value) in the script.js that takes in a value (eg. '9', 'ACE', 'KING') and returns the numeric representation of the value ('9' => 9, 'ACE' => 1, 'KING' => 13).

  • In the drawCard() function, use convertValue(value) to console log the true numerical value of the card being drawn.

  • Program the Refresh Button. Add a shuffleDeck(deckId) function in the api.js.

Spicy

  • API calls are typically made in a try/catch statement to ensure any 404 responses are caught. Check out this example and the link in the Extra Help section above, and incorporate it in the script.js.

    try {
    // try this stuff
    data = await getData();
    console.log(data[0]);
} catch(error) {
    // if it doesn't work do this
    console.log("You've encountered an error:", error);
}

  • "Higher Lower" - Follow the following steps to turn this use of an API into a little game:

    1. In the index.html, replace the section id="buttons" with the following HTML code:

      <!-- Score -->
<p id="score">Correct Guesses = <span id="scoreCount">0</span></p>

<!-- Buttons -->
<section id="buttons">
    <button id="lower" class="button">Lower</button>
    <button id="higher" class="button">Higher</button>
</section>

      You should now see a score and two new buttons.

    2. In the script.js, in the drawCard() function, instead of logging the value of the card, return it. Then, create 2 global variables: previousValue and newValue. The first card should be set to the previousValue when the game is started, and any other time the function is called, save it to newValue.

    3. Create a new function that will trigger when the buttons higher or lower are clicked. It should...

      • Draw a card

      • If the user picked the button that represents the value of the new card compared to the previous card, give them a point. (For example, if a 3 is showing and an ACE (value 1) is drawn, then the ACE is "lower". So if the user clicked lower, then award them a point, and if they predicted higher by clicking higher, then do not give them a point.)

      • If the same value comes out, automatically draw the next card.

Reflection Questions:

  • What are you most proud of? What did you struggle the most with?

  • What do you think would be the benefit of using an API to access data instead of accessing the data straight from the database? What are the drawbacks?

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