I'm writting a basic event handler in lua which uses some code located in another module
require "caves"
script.on_event({defines.events.on_player_dropped_item}, function(e)
caves.init_layer(game)
player = game.players[e.player_index]
caves.move_down(player)
end
)
but whenever the event is triggered i get following error
attempt to index global 'caves' (a nil value)
why is this and how do i solve it?
You open up the module in question and see what it exports (which global variables are assigned and which locals are returned in the bottom of the file). Or pester the mod author to create interface.
Lua require(filename) only looks up a file filename.lua and runs it, which stands for module initialization. If anything is returned by running the file, it is assigned into lua's (not-so) hidden table (might as well say, a cache of the require function), if nothing is returned but there was no errors, the boolean true is assigned to that table to indicate that filename.lua has already been loaded before. The same true is returned to the variable to the left of equals in the caves = require('caves').
Anything else is left up to author's conscience.
If inside the module file functions are written like this (two variants shown):
init_layer = function(game)
%do smth
end
function move_down(player)
%do smth
end
then after call to require these functions are in your global environment, overwriting your variables with same names.
If they are like this:
local init_layer = function(game)
%do smth
end
local function move_down(player)
%do smth
end
then you won't get them from outside.
Your code expects that the module is written as:
caves = {
init_layer = function(game)
%do smth
end
}
caves.move_down=function(player)
%do smth
end
This is the old way of doing modules, it is currently moved away, but not forbidden. Many massive libraries like torch still use it because you'd end up assigning them to the same named globals anyway.
Кирилл's answer is relevant to newer style:
local caves={
%same as above
}
%same as above
return caves
We here cannot know more about this. The rest is up to you, lua scripts are de-facto open-source anyways.
Addendum: The event_handler is not part of lua language, it is something provided by your host program in which lua is embedded and the corresponding tag is redundant.
You should consult your software documentation on what script.on_event does in this particular case it is likely does not matter, but in general the function that takes another function as argument can dump it to string and then try to load it and run in the different environment without the upvalues and globals that the latter may reference.
require() does not create global table automatically, it returns module value to where you call this function. To access module via global variable, you should assign it manually:
local caves = require "caves"
Related
I'm writing a Julia macro that takes an expression and serializes it, so that I can run it somewhere else. The macro therefore takes the expression and replaces all symbols with variables. The expression is then serialized and evaluated somewhere else.
My problem is related to evaluating variables that are not in the global scope. I.e. the following works fine, as a is defined in the global scope:
macro myprintf(ex)
print(eval(ex))
end
# works
a = 2
#myprintf a
This throws an error as the macro doesn't see a, which is defined in the local scope of the loop (run in a new session):
macro myprintf(ex)
print(eval(ex))
end
# UndefVarError: a not defined
for j=1:3
a = 2
#myprintf a
end
Is there any way I can access a inside the macro if it is defined in a local scope such as a loop? I'm aware that I'm not necessarily using macros as intended as I am calling eval on the expression inside the macro definition. The overall idea is that I want to serialize the expression that's passed to the macro and evaluate it somewhere else later (e.g. in a different Julia session).
eval only works in global scope. But then I don't see how much use there is in replacing the variables by evaluated literals, resulting in an expression of literals.
Anyway, a different approach to the original problem could be mimick what R does: constructing thunks out of an expression plus its environment at the place where it was called. To recreate that in Julia, you'd have to
Figure out the free variables in the expression
Create an environment data structure of their values
Wrap the original expression in a closure such that it takes the local variables from the environment
Put everything into a new object
Example:
for j=1:3
a = 2
#saveexpr a + 2
end
should expand to something like
for j=1:3
a = 2
SerializedExpr(
(; a),
function (env)
let (a,) = env
a + 2
end
end,
:(a + 2))
end
If saving the closure is not feasible in your use case, I guess you have to either implement your own evaluator, or use something like JuliaInterpreter.jl.
I'm struggling with the "global" aspect of functions as it relates to modules. Maybe someone here could tell me if this example would work, explain why and then tell me the right way to do it.
If I have two modules:
f1.lua
local mod = T{}
function mod.print_msg(msg)
print(msg)
end
return mod
f2.lua
local mod = T{}
function mod.print_hello()
msgmod.print_msg('Hello')
end
return mod
and both are called in a "main" file
msgmod = assert(loadfile(file_path .. 'f1.lua'))()
himod = assert(loadfile(file_path .. 'f2.lua'))()
himod.print_hello()
Would print_hello still work if called from f2 or would I need to loadfile() f1.lua in f2?
It would work if called after the msgmod = ... has been executed (in any file), but not before. This is a confusing situation due to the usage of globals.
Typically, you do not want to use globals like this in modules. You should handle dependencies using require just as you would #include them in C++. So, f2.lua, which wants to use print_msg defined in f1.lua, might look like this:
local f1 = require('f1')
local mod = T{}
function mod.print_hello()
f1.print_msg('Hello')
end
return mod
You should also use require in your main file (and get in the habit of making everything local):
local msgmod = require('f1')
local himod = require('f2')
himod.print_hello()
Note that we could have omitted the first line, since we aren't actually using f1 in main, and f2 will require it automatically when we require f2. Unlike loadfile, require automatically caches loaded modules such that they are loaded only once. Again, require is almost always what you want to use.
The general pattern for writing modules is to require all dependency modules into locals, then use them as you like to implement your module functions:
local dep1 = require('dep1')
local dep2 = require('dep2')
...
local mod = {}
function mod.foo ()
return dep1.bar(dep2.bazz())
end
return mod
Now I have an import(a) function, that in short words dofile's header in .framework like this:
import("<Kakao/KARect>") => dofile("/System/Library/Frameworks/Kakao.framework/Headers/KARect.lua")
And in KARect.lua for example I have:
KARect = {}
function KARect:new(_x, _y, _width, _height, _colorBack)
local new = setmetatable({}, {__index = self})
new.id = KAEntities:generateID()
...
return new
end
function KARect:draw()
...
end
After some time I thought about reworking this system and making "headers" work like typical Lua modules with advanced require() so function will do e.g.:
import("<Kakao/KARect>") => package.path = "/System/Library/Frameworks/Kakao.framework/Headers/?.lua"; KARect = require("KARect")
and file will contain:
local KARect = {}
...
return KARect
Because headers should not contain anything but only classes with their names? I'm getting confused when thinking about it, as I never used Obj C :s
I never used Obj C
Then why are you trying to implement its headers in a language, that does not use headers at all?
Header! What is a header?
Header files in C-like languages store more than just a name. They store constants and macro commands, function and class method argument and return types, structure and class fields. In essence, the contents of the header file are forward declarations. They came into existence due to the need to perform the same forward-declarations across many files.
I don't know what additional rules and functions were added to header files in Obj-C, but you can get general understanding of what they do in the following links: 1, 2, 3, 4 with the last one being the most spot-on.
Answer to the question present
Lua is dynamically-typed interpreted language. It does not do compile time type checks and, typically, Lua programs can and should be structured in a way that does not need forward declarations across files. So there is no meaningful way for a programmer to create and for lua bytecode generator and interpreter to use header files.
Lua does not have classes at all. The code you've posted is a syntactic sugar for an assignment of a function with a slightly different signature to a table which imitates class:
KARect.new = function( first_arg_is_self, _x, _y, _width, _height, _colorBack)
local new = setmetatable({}, {__index = first_arg_is_self})
return new
end
There is no declarations here, only generation of an anonymous function and its assignment to a field in a table. Other parts of program do not need to know anything about a particular field, variable or function (which is stored in variable) in advance (unlike C).
So, no declaration means nothing to separate from implementation. You of course can first list fields of the class-table and do dummy assignments to them, but, again, Lua will have no use for those. If you want to give hints to humans, it is probably better to write a dedicated manual or put comments in the implementation.
Lua has situations where forward declarations are needed to reference local functions. But this situation does not arise in object oriented code, as all methods are accessed through reference to the object, and by the time first object is created, the class itself is usually fully constructed.
Here's some much-simiplified Lua code I'm working with. I need to know how to dynamically call another module ('zebra'):
avar = require "avar"
bvar = require "bvar"
function create(zebra)
print(zebra.new())
end
print(create(avar))
And here are two modules:
local Avar = {}
function Avar.new()
return "avar"
end
return Avar
local Bvar = {}
function Bvar.new()
return "new"
end
function Bvar.old()
return "old"
end
return Bvar
If I try to pass in the string "avar" to my 'create' function, it doesn't work. If I pass in the word 'avar' with no quotes, it does work, however, I don't understand what avar with no quotes is? It seems to be a blank table? Not sure how to pass a blank table as an argument in my main program.
But maybe I'm totally on the wrong path. How do I dynamically call modules?
You can require any time:
function create(zebraModuleName)
zebraType = require(zebraModuleName)
print(zebraType .new())
end
print(create("avar"))
print(create("bvar"))
avar without the quotes is a global variable you created. It is initialized to the value returned by the require function1, which is the value returned by the module you are invoking. In this case, its a table with the new field that happens to be a function.
1 Importing a modules in Lua is done via regular functions instead of a special syntax. The function call parenthesis can be ommited because parens are optional if you write a function call with a single argument and that argument is a string or a table.
Other than that, there are also some other things you are confusing here:
The table you are storing on avar is not empty! You can print its contents by doing for k,v in pairs(avar) do print(k,v) end to see that.
The avar, bvar and create variables are global by default and will be seen by other modules. Most of the time you would rather make them local instead.
local avar = -- ...
local bvar = -- ...
local function create (zebra)
-- ...
end
The create function clearly expects a table since it does table indexing on its argument (getting the new key and calling it). The string doesn't have a "new" key so it won't work.
You aren't really dynamically calling a module. You are requiring that module in a regular way and it just happens that you pass the module return value into a function.
create always returns nil so there is no point in doing print(create(avar)). You probablu want to modify create to return its object instead of printing it.
You can use standard require from lua language or build your own loader using metatables/metamethods.
1. create a global function:
function dynrequire (module)
return setmetatable ({},{
__index = function (table,key)
return require(module..'.'..key)
end
})
end
2. Create your project tree visible to package.path
./MySwiss/
\___ init.lua
\___ cut.lua
\___ glue.lua
\___ dosomething.lua
3. Make your module dynamic
you only need to put this line on your MySwiss/init.lua (as if you were namespacing a PHP class):
return dynrequire('MySwiss')
4. Require your module and use subproperties dynamically
On your script you only need to require MySwiss, and the folder file (or subfolders with dynrequire('MySwiss.SubFolderName').
var X = require('MySwiss')
X.glue()
Note that MySwiss doesn't have glue key. But when you try access de glue key the metamethod __index try to require submodule. You can the full project tree using this technique. The only downside is the external dependencies not packed this way.
i'd like to know if there is any possibility to read out dynamic variable names?
Since the programm that passes the variables to my script calls them just "in1, in2, in3" etc.
Hopefully there is any way to make a loop, because it is pretty annoying to handle every input separately...
Here is what i've tried so far, but it just gives me an error.
for i=1,19,2 do
myvar[i] = ["in"..i]
end
I'm quite new to Lua, but i hope the solution is not that difficult :D
Edit:
Oh I'll try to give you some more information. The "Main" Program is no not written in Lua and just set theese "in1 ... " variables. It is a kind of robotic programmic software and has a lot of funktions build in. Thats the whole thing so i can not simply use other variable names or an array. So it is not a function or anything else related to Lua...
Here is a little Screenshot http://www.bilderload.com/daten/unbenanntFAQET.jpg
At the moment the Lua script just passes the the first input.
It depends on what you mean by "dynamic variable names."
The names of local variables do not exist. Local variables are any variable declared as a function parameter or with the local keyword. Local variables are compiled into offsets into the Lua stack, so their names don't exist. You can't index something by name to get them.
Global variables are members of the global table. Therefore, these ways to set a global variable are equivalent:
globalVar = 4
_G.globalVar = 4
_G["globalVar"] = 4
Since the programm that passes the variables to my script calls them just "in1, in2, in3" etc.
The program that passes variables to your script doesn't get to name them. A variable is just a placeholder for a value. It has no ownership of that value. When your function gets arguments, your function gets to name them.
You haven't said much about the structure of your program, so I can't really give good advice. But if you just want to take some number of values as parameters and access them as inputs, you can do that in two ways. You can take a table containing values as a parameter, or you can take a varargs:
function MyFunc1(theArgs)
for i, arg in ipairs(theArgs) do
--Do something with arg.
end
end
function MyFunc2(...)
for i, arg in ipairs({...}) do
--Do something with arg.
end
end
MyFunc1 {2, 44, 22} --Can be called with no () because it takes a single value as an expression. The table.
MyFunc2(2, 44, 22)
Whoever wrote the code that spits out these "dynamic variables" didn't do a good job. Having them is a bad habit, and might result in data loss, cluttering of the global name space, ...
If you can change it, it'd be much better to just output a table containing the results.
That said, you're not to far off with your solution, but ["in"..i] is no valid Lua syntax. You're indexing into nothing. If those variables are globals, your code should read:
for i=1,19,2 do
myvar[i] = _G["in"..i]
end
This reads the values contained by your variables out of the global table.
Try this
myvar={ in1, in2, in3, in4, in5, in6, in7, in8, in9, in10, in11,
in12, in13, in14, in15, in16, in17, in18, in19 }
if the variables are passed as global variables, or this
myvar = {...}
if the variables are passed as arguments to the script.