Fairly simple strategy for beating challenges 1 - 5

elevator_saga_v1

{
    init: function(elevators, floors) {

        // set up an array to track which floors have people waiting
        floorStatus = [];
        $.each(floors, function(index, floor) {
            floorStatus.push(false);

            floor.on("down_button_pressed", function() {
                floorStatus[floor.floorNum()] = true;
            });
            
            floor.on("up_button_pressed", function() {
                floorStatus[floor.floorNum()] = true;
            });
        });

        $.each(elevators, function(index, elevator) {
            // for each elevator track which buttons have been pressed
            var buttonsPressed = [];

            elevator.on("idle", function() {
                if(buttonsPressed.length > 0) {
                    // remove duplicate button presses
                    var unique = [];
                    $.each(buttonsPressed, function(i, el){
                        if($.inArray(el, unique) === -1) 
                            unique.push(el);
                    });
                    buttonsPressed = unique;

                    // calculate closest floor to go to next
                    var minDist = 99999;
                    var minDistIndex = -1;
                    $.each(buttonsPressed, function(i, el) {
                        if(Math.abs(el - elevator.currentFloor()) < minDist) {
                            minDist = Math.abs(el - elevator.currentFloor());
                            minDistIndex = i;
                        }
                    });

                    elevator.goToFloor(buttonsPressed.splice(minDistIndex, 1)[0]);
                } else {
                    // elevator is empty, so look at which floors have people waiting and go to the closest one
                    var minDist = 99999;
                    var minDistIndex = index;
                    $.each(floorStatus, function(i, el) {
                        if(el) {
                            if(Math.abs(i - elevator.currentFloor()) < minDist) {
                                minDist = Math.abs(i - elevator.currentFloor());
                                minDistIndex = i;
                            }
                        }
                    });

                    elevator.goToFloor(minDistIndex);
                }
            });

            elevator.on("stopped_at_floor", function(floorNum) {
                floorStatus[floorNum] = false;
            });

            elevator.on("floor_button_pressed", function(floorNum) {
                buttonsPressed.push(floorNum);
            });
        });


    },
    update: function(dt, elevators, floors) {
        // We normally don't need to do anything here
    }
}