Modding Help Attempt to index a nil value (global 'player')

I'm outputting functions to strings so I can concatenate them. However, stuff like this happens.
Tech output:

Code:

[Info] Current tech aim position: table: 0x7f2fa0be7540
[Error] Exception while calling script init: (LuaException) Error code 2, [string "/tech/distortionsphere/techdebug.lua"]:12: attempt to index a nil value (global 'player')
stack traceback:
    [C]: in metamethod '__index'
    [string "/tech/distortionsphere/techdebug.lua"]:12: in global 'debugCommands'
    [string "/tech/distortionsphere/techdebug.lua"]:6: in function <[string "/tech/distortionsphere/techdebug.lua"]:5>

Tech Lua:

Code:

require "/scripts/vec2.lua"
require "/scripts/keybinds.lua"

--create binding on f to run the thing
function init()
  Bind.create("f", debugCommands())
end

--the meat of the thing
function debugCommands()
  sb.logInfo("Current tech aim position: " .. tostring(tech.aimPosition()))
  sb.logInfo("Current gender/species: " .. tostring(player.gender()) .. " / " .. tostring(player.species()))
  sb.logInfo("Current player entity ID: " .. tostring(player.id()))
  sb.logInfo("Current unique player ID: " .. tostring(player.uniqueID()))
  if player.isAdmin() == true then
    sb.logInfo("Player is currently the Admin.")
  else
    sb.logInfo("Player is not currently the Admin.")
  end
end
function update(args)
end
function uninit()
end

I attempted to use typeof() on player, but that didn't help as it returned a similar result (attempt to index a nil value).
I have little to no clue what's going on anymore.

 

This may help: http://community.playstarbound.com/threads/auto-lounge-the-player-in-a-vehicle.135855/

 

Didn't help. I attempted to call the functions as a variable in init(), but the same error happened with init(). However, debugCommands() didn't fail this time, but outputted "nil" for all the player.*() functions.
Output:

Code:

[Info] Current tech aim position: table: 0x7f59b6d3c180
[Info] Current gender/species: nil / nil
[Info] Current player entity ID: nil
[Info] Current unique player ID: nil
[Error] Exception while calling script init: (LuaException) Error code 2, [string "/tech/distortionsphere/techdebug.lua"]:19: attempt to index a nil value (global 'player')
stack traceback:
    [C]: in metamethod '__index'
    [string "/tech/distortionsphere/techdebug.lua"]:19: in global 'debugCommands'
    [string "/tech/distortionsphere/techdebug.lua"]:6: in function <[string "/tech/distortionsphere/techdebug.lua"]:5>

New code:

Code:

require "/scripts/vec2.lua"
require "/scripts/keybinds.lua"

--create binding on f to run the thing
function init()
  Bind.create("f", debugCommands())
  gender = player.gender()
  species = player.species()
  pid = player.id()
  uid = player.uniqueId()
end

--the meat of the thing
function debugCommands()
  sb.logInfo("Current tech aim position: " .. tostring(tech.aimPosition()))
  sb.logInfo("Current gender/species: " .. tostring(gender) .. " / " .. tostring(species))
  sb.logInfo("Current player entity ID: " .. tostring(pid))
  sb.logInfo("Current unique player ID: " .. tostring(uid))
  if player.isAdmin() == true then
    sb.logInfo("Player is currently the Admin.")
  else
    sb.logInfo("Player is not currently the Admin.")
  end
end
function update(args)
end
function uninit()
end

EDIT: Maybe I read the post you linked wrong. I don't know.
(Also I should make it pull values from the table instead of just turning it into a string, but whatever. That's a problem for another time.)

 

That only means you don't have a populated player table in the context you are calling this script. Did you try calling it from update() instead of init()?

About the post I quoted, did you read all the thread? It's about possible contexts for accessing `player`

 

Tried that; here's the code:

Code:

require "/scripts/vec2.lua"
require "/scripts/keybinds.lua"

function init()
end

--the meat of the thing
function debugCommands()
  sb.logInfo("Current tech aim position: " .. tostring(tech.aimPosition()))
  sb.logInfo("Current gender/species: " .. tostring(gender) .. " / " .. tostring(species))
  sb.logInfo("Current player entity ID: " .. tostring(pid))
  sb.logInfo("Current unique player ID: " .. tostring(uid))
  if adminCheck then
    sb.logInfo("Player is currently the Admin.")
  else
    sb.logInfo("Player is not currently the Admin.")
  end
end
function update(args)
  gender = player.gender()
  species = player.species()
  pid = player.id()
  uid = player.uniqueId()
  adminCheck = player.isAdmin()
  if args.moves["special1"] then
    debugCommands()
  end
end
function uninit()
end

Now the code whines about the exact same thing but within update.

As for that, I thought I read that correctly. Only the first half would be applicable here. Also, may I note that this is my first time using Lua?
Maybe I should just read up on Lua a tad more...

 

Nevermind; I didn't realize that you couldn't get player from the tech Lua.

 

Never tried to mod techs, but you probably can send messages between techs and entities which have access to player

 

Which entities would have access to player (other than quests)?

My basic understanding of how the quest thing might work (although as of right now I have little to no clue how to code quests) is this:
1. Quest calls player functions
2. Quest outputs player functions to message handler
3. Message handler outputs to tech
4. Tech outputs to log

 

Or: 2. If logging is all you want, you can log directly from the quest itself.

Code:

The player table contains functions with privileged access to the player which
run in a few contexts on the client such as scripted interface panes, quests,
and player companions.

 

But then the problem is that then my log would get flooded to no end. Anyway, thanks for all the help and sticking with me 'till the end, @cpeosphoros .

 

Code:

local doOnce = true
function update(dt)
    -- ...
    if doOnce then
       doOnce = false
       -- log
    end
    -- ...
end

 

That's correct. You can't access the player table from techs. To access the info from there, you'd need to use the messaging system, and hook the player scripts to add a handler to receive the message.

But there should be easier ways, given that the world table is accessible from techs and should be able to get that info.

Code:

local id = entity.id()
local species = world.entitySpecies(id)
local gender = world.entityGender(id)
local UUID = world.entityUniqueId(id)

and so forth

edit :

If you want something to dump tables to the log nicely

Code:

makeString = function(someTable, baseName, str)--debug purposes only
  str = str or ""
  local isEmpty = true
 
  if someTable == nil then
    str = str .. baseName .. " : nil\n"
    return str
  end
 
  local blank = function(v)
    for _, __ in pairs(v) do
      return false
    end
    return true
  end
 
  for k, v in pairs(someTable) do
    isEmpty = false
    if type(v) == "table" then
      if (#v == 2) and (type(v[1]) == "number") and (type(v[2]) == "number") then  --coordinate table
        str = str .. baseName .. "." .. tostring(k) .. " : {" .. v[1] .. ", " .. v[2]  .. "}\n"
      elseif blank(v) then
        str = str .. baseName .. "." .. tostring(k) .. " : { }\n"
      else
        str = str .. makeString(v , baseName .. "." .. tostring(k), "") --.. "\n"
        --recursive calls don't necessarily need the original string because the main function will still have it
      end

    elseif (type(v) == "string") then
      str = str .. baseName .. "." .. tostring(k) .. " : \"" .. v .. "\"\n"
    elseif not (type(v) == "function") then
      str = str .. baseName .. "." .. tostring(k) .. " : " .. tostring(v) .. "\n"
    end
  end
 
  if isEmpty then
    str = str .. baseName .. " : { }\n"
  end
 
  return str
end

The first argument is a table you pass to it.
The second argument is a string that describes the table - usually you'd use the table's own name
The 3rd argument is an optional string that would go at the beginning.

It will call itself recursively to handle nested tables.
Use it like this -

Code:

local dump = makeString(storage, "storage", "\n")
dump = makeString(self, "self", dump)
sb.logInfo(dump)

or

Code:

local dump = makeString(storage, "storage", "\n")
dump = dump .. makeString(self, "self")
sb.logInfo(dump)

etc. I'll probably improve on it later, but I think you'll find that nice enough for your debugging needs as is. I'm also writing something similar to turn most LUA tables(some can't be translated) into copy/paste ready JSON.

 

If you go recursively you must treat the special case of looping references.

Simple case:

a = {1, 2, 3}
a.b = a

This will throw a stack overflow exception with table recursion. You will ran into it both with table-to-string and with deep copy algorithms. Here is my take on these:

Code:

-- @LICENSE MIT
-- @author: CPE

-- convenience function
local function add(results, value)
    table.insert(results, value)
end

local cache

-- add a value to results, quoting value if it's a string
local function addValue(results, vPrefix, value, trail)

    local vValue

    if (type(value)=="string") then
        vValue = value:quotes()
    elseif (type(value)=="table") then
        vValue =  tostring(value) .. " *"
    else
        vValue =  tostring(value)
    end

    add(results, vPrefix .. vValue .. trail)
end

local _keys = {}
local revKeys = {}
local traverse = {}
local traversing = false
local errorLevel = 1

-- add a key,value pair to results, recursively if value is a table
local function addPair(results, key, value, indent)
    errorLevel = errorLevel + 1

    if table.isEmpty(_keys) or revKeys[key] or traversing then

    local oldTraversing = traversing

    traversing = traverse[key] ~= nil

        local vPrefix = indent .. tostring(key) .." : "

        -- check for recursivity - cache[value] is to avoid recursion loops
        if (type(value)=="table") and not cache[value] then

            cache[value] = true

            addValue(results, vPrefix, value, " {" )

            table.formatted( value, _keys,
                indent .. string.rep(" ", tostring(key):len() + 8 ), results
            )

            add(results, indent .. string.rep(" ", tostring(key):len() + 5 ).."},")
        else
            addValue(results, vPrefix , value, ",")
        end

        traversing = oldTraversing

    end

    errorLevel = errorLevel - 1
end


function table:reverse()
    errorLevel = errorLevel + 1
    -- not a table? Why are we messing with it?
    local rev = {}
    for i,v in ipairs(self) do
        rev[v] = i
    end
    errorLevel = errorLevel - 1
    return rev
end

function table:isEmpty()
    return next(self) == nil
end

--
-- handle the first level special case
-- @return a list of strings, not ending in "\n" formatted for printing
function table:formatted (keys, indent, results)
    errorLevel = errorLevel + 1

    if not keys or keys == "" then keys = {} end
    if type(keys) ~= "table" then keys = {keys} end

    _keys = keys
    traverse = table.reverse(_keys.traverse or {})
    revKeys = table.reverse(_keys)

    --defaults
    indent = indent or ""
    local oldIndent = indent
    local firstLevel

    --first level
    if not results then
        results = {}
        cache = {}
        firstLevel = true
    end

    if firstLevel then
        --blank line, then curly oopen
        add(results, "")
        addValue(results, indent, self, " {" )
        indent = indent .."  "
    end

    -- adds all key,value pairs into results
    for key,value in pairs(self) do
        addPair(results, key, value, indent)
    end

    -- close the first level curly, then blank line
    if firstLevel then
        add(results, oldIndent.."}")
        add(results, "")
        --TODO: include flag for this
        --add(results, "Tables traversed:")
        --table.formatted (cache, "", results)
    end

    errorLevel = errorLevel - 1

    -- the recursive call should ignore this. If it doesn't, an ugly mess insues
    return results
end

-- pretty printable string from a table
function table:tostring( keys, indent)
    errorLevel = errorLevel + 1
    local result = table.concat(table.formatted(self, keys, indent), "\n")
    errorLevel = errorLevel - 1
    return result
end

-- convenience function
function table:print(keys, indent)
    errorLevel = errorLevel + 1
    print( table.tostring(self, keys, indent ) )
    errorLevel = errorLevel - 1
end

return table

Code:

-- @LICENSE MIT
-- @author: CPE

local cCache
local cPromises
local cLevel = 0

function table:deepCopy()

    cLevel = cLevel + 1
    if cLevel == 1 then
        cCache    = {}
        cPromises = {}
    end
    local copy
    if type(self) == 'table' then
        print(cLevel ..": ".. tostring(self))
        if(cCache[self]) then
            -- print("Returning cached", cCache[self], "for", self)
            copy = cCache[self]
        else
            cPromises[self] = {}
            copy = {}
            for k, v in next, self, nil do
                print(k, v)
                local key   = cPromises[k] or table.deepCopy(k)
                local value = cPromises[v] or table.deepCopy(v)
                copy[key] = value
            end
            setmetatable(copy, table.deepCopy(getmetatable(self)))
            -- print("Caching", copy, "for", self)
            cCache[self] = copy
            cPromises[self] = copy
        end
    else -- number, string, boolean, etc
        copy = self
    end

    cLevel = cLevel - 1
    return copy
end

function table:shallowCopy()
    local copy = {}
    for k, v in pairs(self) do
        copy[k] = v
    end
    return copy
end

return table

I already have working code for that, based on this great library: http://regex.info/blog/lua/json

Code:

-- @LICENSE MIT
-- @author: CPE

-- Strip C style comments from a string
return function (pInput, pOutput)
    local function strip(str)
        local _, _, pre, com, pos = string.find(str, "^(.*)/%*(.+)%*/(.*)$")
        pre = pre or ""
        com = com or ""
        pos = pos or ""
        if com ~= "" then str = strip(pre .. pos) end
        return str
    end
    local function eolCom(str, pattern, subs)
        while str:find(pattern) do
            str = string.gsub(str, pattern, subs)
        end
        return str
    end
    repeat
        local str
        if type(pInput) == "function" then
            str = pInput()
        else
            str = pInput
        end
        if str then
            str = strip(str)
            str = eolCom(str,"(\".-\",)(%s*%/[%/%*].-)\n", "%1\n")
            str = eolCom(str,"(\n%s*%/[%/%*].-)\n", "\n")
            str = eolCom(str,"^(%s*%/[%/%*].-)\n", "\n")
            str = eolCom(str,"(%],?)%s*%/[%/%*].-\n", "%1\n")
        end
        if type(pOutput) == "function" then
            pOutput(str)
        else
            return str
        end
    until not str
end

Code:

-- @LICENSE MIT
-- @author: CPE

local stripComments = require ("stripComments")

-- Decodes json files into tables. We use Jeffrey Friedl's JSON.lua for being
-- pure Lua and providing error treatment callbacks, which we need for stray C
-- style comments.
return function (pInput, pOutput)
    local JSON = require "JSON"

    local decodeError = {}
    function JSON:onDecodeError(message, text, location)
        decodeError = {location, message, text}
    end

    local function tryFix(text, pos)
        local prefix = string.sub(text, 1, pos - 1)
        local suffix = string.sub(text, pos)

        local str = prefix..stripComments(suffix)

        if str ~= text then
            return JSON:decode(str)
        end
    end

    function JSON:onTrailingGarbage(json_text, location)
        local res = tryFix(json_text, location)
        if res then return res end
        return nil, "trailing garbage"
    end

    local str

    if type(pInput) == "function" then str = pInput() end
    if type(pInput) == "string" then str = pInput end

    if not str then return end

    local res = JSON:decode(str)

    local isError = #decodeError ~= 0

    local fakeErrors ={
        ["expected comma or '}'"] = true,
        ["expected colon"       ] = true,
    }

    if isError and fakeErrors[decodeError[2]] then
        local pos  = decodeError[1]
        local text = decodeError[3]
        local fix  = tryFix(text, pos)
        if fix then
            res = fix
            isError = false
        end
    end

    local function returns()
        return isError, isError and decodeError or res
    end

    if type(pOutput) == "function" then
        pOutput(returns())
    else
        return returns()
    end
end

Usage:

Code:

-- @LICENSE MIT
-- @author: CPE

local stripComments = require "stripComments"
local jsonDecode = require "jsonDecode"

local assetCache = {}
function getJsonAsset(path)
    if not assetCache[path] then
        local src = readfile(path)
        src = stripComments(src)
        local isError, res = jsonDecode(src)
        if isError then
            error ("Invalid json file "..path.." "..res[2].." at pos "..res[1]..".")
        end
        assetCache[path] = res
    end
    return assetCache[path]
end
local table = getJsonAsset("/path/to/whatever.object")

readfile() is a function which reads the entire contents of a file, preserving line breaks.

As for transforming a table into json, JSON:encode(tbl) , from Jeffrey Friedl's JSON.lua, will handle almost any imaginable case.

 

This is... a lot. Thanks for the in-depth support! Will dive into when I can.