LUA Help, any help is greatly appreciated!

Trying to create a function that records on HIT. The script I am using is when any fired weapon hits within trigger zones defined in a table, then display message (going to change so that only artillery hits are recorded). However, since every hit is recorded, I would very much like to prevent a spam message on every hit. So when a hit occurs, the zone will be added into a separate table (recentTargetedZones) that will be "emptied" periodically. Here is what I have so far, no errors are occurring, but my outText is not displaying:

Any help is appreciated.

(Sorry for the sloppy code, still not great with writing)

myZoneTable = {

"FOB Alpha",

"FOB Bravo",

"FOB Charlie",

"FOB Delta",

"FOB Echo",

"FOB Foxtrot",

}

recentTargetedZones = {}

targetedZones = {}

function targetedZones:onEvent(event)

if world.event.S_EVENT_HIT == event.id and event.initiator:getPlayerName() == nil then

local grp = Unit.getGroup(event.initiator)

local groupName = grp:getName()

local groupCat = grp:getCategory()

local firedweapon = event.weapon

local weaponTarget = event.target

local tarPos = weaponTarget:getPoint()

for i = 1, #myZoneTable do --see if the hit occured from the zones listed

local zones = trigger.misc.getZone(myZoneTable) --should zone be local or global?

if (((tarPos.x - zones.point.x)^2 + (tarPos.z - zones.point.z)^2)^0.5 <= zones.radius) then

if recentTargetedZones == nil then -- check to see if the table is empty

table.insert(recentTargetedZones, zones)

trigger.action.outText("Zone Added", 60)

else

for x = 1, #recentTargetedZones do -- is the zone already listed in the recently target zones?

local targeted_zones = trigger.misc.getZone(recentTargetedZones)

if targeted_zones ~= zones then

table.insert(recentTargetedZones, zones)

trigger.action.outText("Zone Added", 60) --finish the function

end

end

end

end

end

end

end

world.addEventHandler(targetedZones)

Formatted for easier reading:

myZoneTable = {
   "FOB Alpha",
   "FOB Bravo",
   "FOB Charlie",
   "FOB Delta",
   "FOB Echo",
   "FOB Foxtrot",
}

recentTargetedZones = {}
targetedZones = {}
function targetedZones:onEvent(event)
   
   if world.event.S_EVENT_HIT == event.id and event.initiator:getPlayerName() == nil then

       local grp = Unit.getGroup(event.initiator)
       local groupName = grp:getName()
       local groupCat = grp:getCategory()
       local firedweapon = event.weapon
       local weaponTarget = event.target
       local tarPos = weaponTarget:getPoint()

       for i = 1, #myZoneTable do --see if the hit occured from the zones listed
           local zones = trigger.misc.getZone(myZoneTable[i]) --should zone be local or global?
           if (((tarPos.x - zones.point.x) ^ 2 + (tarPos.z - zones.point.z) ^ 2) ^ 0.5 <= zones.radius) then
               if recentTargetedZones == nil then -- check to see if the table is empty
                   table.insert(recentTargetedZones, zones[i])
                   trigger.action.outText("Zone Added", 60)
               else
                   for x = 1, #recentTargetedZones do -- is the zone already listed in the recently target zones?
                       local targeted_zones = trigger.misc.getZone(recentTargetedZones[i])
                       if targeted_zones ~= zones then
                           table.insert(recentTargetedZones, zones[i])
                           trigger.action.outText("Zone Added", 60) --finish the function
                           
                       end
                   end
               end
           end
       end
   end
end

world.addEventHandler(targetedZones)

The obvious questions would be

* Are you getting an event at all?

* Are you getting an event anywhere from AI?

* Is your zone table iteration doing what you expect?

* is trigger.misc.getZone() returning anything useful?

Couple of general notes -

- Lua table iteration is a bit safer using foreach .. pairs() or ipairs()

- don't use global variables *ever* if you can help it - accessing local variables is much faster. The variable you questioned about is in scope for every if-else check below it, so that shouldn't be a problem

You can set variables local anywhere if you understand the scope - eg local myZoneTable will be seen in your entire file & not outside it, which is *probably* what you want anyway.

@shnicklefritz

Please, format your code properly next time.

I might take a deeper look later, but at first glance there might be an issue with the grp variable.

local grp = Unit.getGroup(event.initiator) [color="Blue"]-- This isn't how you get the group from the event initiator (it's not the typical way)[/color]

[color="blue"]-- This is how I'd do it:[/color]
local grp = event.initiator:getGroup()

Regarding that for loop, I'd do what Richard Dastardly suggested, use either pairs or ipairs (ipairs only works with numeric indices, keep it in mind)

If you aren't getting the messages, either the conditions aren't being met or there's a scripting error along the way (chances are that you won't see it in dcs.log) .

The obvious questions would be

 

* Are you getting an event at all?

* Are you getting an event anywhere from AI?

* Is your zone table iteration doing what you expect?

* is trigger.misc.getZone() returning anything useful?

 

Couple of general notes -

 

- Lua table iteration is a bit safer using foreach .. pairs() or ipairs()

- don't use global variables *ever* if you can help it - accessing local variables is much faster. The variable you questioned about is in scope for every if-else check below it, so that shouldn't be a problem

 

You can set variables local anywhere if you understand the scope - eg local myZoneTable will be seen in your entire file & not outside it, which is *probably* what you want anyway.

Thank you for the reply. I should have mentioned that some of this script was taken from other sources, i.e., from Grimes as well as Smarter SAMs, and "reverse engineering" (for lack of better terminology) to suit my needs.

I am getting an event; in the ME, artillery are firing at a point within the one of the zones listed. Before I was using getPosition() instead of getPoint(). I will look into this more.

I suspect it has to do with the table iteration. As mentioned, I am new with lua and I do not have a wealth of knowledge in the topic. I will look into pairs or ipairs; thank you for the suggestion.

My apologies for the sloppy formatting of the code; I copied it in and it didn't keep the formatting that I had. Thank you again for looking at it.

Best,

Shnickle

@shnicklefritz

 

Please, format your code properly next time.

 

I might take a deeper look later, but at first glance there might be an issue with the grp variable.

 

local grp = Unit.getGroup(event.initiator) [color="Blue"]-- This isn't how you get the group from the event initiator (it's not the typical way)[/color]

[color="blue"]-- This is how I'd do it:[/color]
local grp = event.initiator:getGroup()

 

Regarding that for loop, I'd do what Richard Dastardly suggested, use either pairs or ipairs (ipairs only works with numeric indices, keep it in mind)

 

If you aren't getting the messages, either the conditions aren't being met or there's a scripting error along the way (chances are that you won't see it in dcs.log) .

Thank you for the reply. I suspect the conditions aren't being met, but I will look into "pairs." Sorry again for the sloppy code; it is formatted differently in my program and was lost when I pasted. I will make some changes and keep you posted. Thanks again.

Best,

Shnickle

Sorry again for the sloppy code; it is formatted differently in my program and was lost when I pasted.

Your code isn't sloppy, it's just unformatted, which makes it a pita to read ;)

Use the CODE wrap next time, it should keep the original format.

Like I said, I'll probably take a deeper look some other time, but so far here is my main suspect:

• I don't think this is a valid way to check whether a table is empty
   
  

  if recentTargetedZones == nil then [color="Blue"]-- check to see if the table is empty[/color]

  
   
  I don't see how recentTargetedZones would be nil, since it's a table (an empty table, sure, but a table nonetheless)
   
  If you run this simple test code in a lua environment, you'll see how table isn't nil (you'll get the second message):
  

  local table = {}
  
  if table == nil then
    
    print("table is nil!")
  
  elseif table ~= nil then
    
    print("table isn't nil!")
  end 

  
   
  I'd use a for loop with pairs, check all indices within the table, see if they are paired with a nil value (if they are, that means the table is effectively empty)
   
  If there are no indices in the table, that would also indicate it's empty, ofc. In that case, this should do the trick:
  

  if next(recentTargetedZones) == nil then

  
   
  

Table equality does not work.

Best way to check a table is to use an iterator loop, like Hardcard suggested.

Something like this:

for key, value in pairs(mytable) do
 ..code..
end

If 'value' is ever nil, the code will not execute for that key, value pair, so something like:

local mytable =
{
 value1 = 3,
 value2 = nil,
 value3 = "a string",
}

for key, value in pairs(mytable) do
 print(key.."  "..value)
end

Will produce the following results:

value1 3

value3 a string

If the table is empty, or all values in the table are nil, no code is executed.

Hope that helps.