need help with UnitName("pet") (bad first time author)

[jackfrosty]

i am trying to make a probably simple addon but i suck at this i thought i almost had it done but i am getting a bug at line 17:attempt to concatenate local 'petName' (a nil value)

local HEMOTE_OUTPUT_INFO = "Type /HunterEmoteOff to turn the Emotes off or /HunterEmoteOn to turn them on";
local HEMOTE_OUTPUT_OFF = "Hunter Emote is now Off";
local HEMOTE_OUTPUT_ON = "Hunter Emote is now On";
local petName = UnitName("pet");

HEon = "1"

HEmoteDelay = {
'1';
'2';
'3';
'4';
'5';
};

HEmoteMsg = {
'Charge! ' .. petName ;
'Rip it to shreds! ' ..petName;
'Ravage it! ' ..petName;
petName..' Help me!';
'Go for the Throat! ' ..petName;
petName..' Attack!';
'Kill em! ' ..petName;
'Get em! ' ..petName;
'Sick em! ' ..petName;
'Go for the Ankles! ' ..petName;
'Get off your lazy butt ' ..petName;
};

function HEmote_OnLoad (self)
 this:RegisterEvent("PET_ATTACK_START");
  
 SlashCmdList["HEMOTE_INFO"] = HEmoteinfo;
 SLASH_HEMOTE_INFO1 = "/hunteremote";
 SLASH_HEMOTE_INFO2 = "/hemote";
 
 SlashCmdList["HEMOTE_OFF"] = HEmoteoff;
 SLASH_HEMOTE_OFF1 = "/hunteremoteoff";
 SLASH_HEMOTE_OFF2 = "/hemoteoff";

 SlashCmdList["HEMOTE_ON"] = HEmoteon;
 SLASH_HEMOTE_ON1 = "/hunteremoteon";
 SLASH_HEMOTE_ON2= "/hemoteon";
end

function HEmoteOutput(msg)
 if(DEFAULT_CHAT_FRAME) then
  DEFAULT_CHAT_FRAME:AddMessage(msg);
 end
end

function HEmoteinfo(msg)
 local echo = HEMOTE_OUTPUT_INFO .. msg;
 HEmoteOutput(echo);
end

function HEmoteoff(msg)
 HEon = "0"
 local echo = HEMOTE_OUTPUT_OFF .. msg;
 HEmoteOutput(echo);
end

function HEmoteon(msg)
 HEon = "1"
 local echo = HEMOTE_OUTPUT_ON .. msg;
 HEmoteOutput(echo);
end

function HEmote_OnEvent(self, event, ...)
 if HEon == "1" then
  local Delaynum = table.getn(HEmoteDelay);
  local delaykey = math.random(Delaynum);
   if (delaykey > 3) then
    local RanEmotes = table.getn(HEmoteMsg);
    local randomKey = math.random(RanEmotes);
     SendChatMessage(HEmoteMsg[randomKey], "SAY");
   end
  end
 end

if i reload my ui it will work the way i want it too i looked up the problem and i guess it is happening because it takes a sec for the pet to load into the world and meanwhile having a nil value in my HEmotemsg table is messing it up so i was wondering if there was a way i could put the pets name into the table still and have it work or maybe some other way or something this is my first coding experience so most of the stuff i have up there was from just reading and is probably pretty messy lol

[Duugu]

This prevents petName from being nil:

local petName = UnitName("pet") or ""

You could save petName. Declare petName as global

petName = UnitName("pet") or ""

and add

## SavedVariablesPerCharacter: petName

to your toc.

[Akryn]

Originally Posted by Duugu This prevents petName from being nil: local petName = UnitName("pet") or "" You could save petName. Declare petName as global petName = UnitName("pet") or "" and add ## SavedVariablesPerCharacter: petName to your toc.

this is good advice, except that "petName" is not a good global variable name, since it's very generic and could end up being used by another addon. if nothing else, i would suggest using something like myAddonsNameHere_petName

or if you have more than one that you set up a namespace:

myAddon_savedVariables = {
     petName = "",
     somethingElse = value,
     etc
}

[Slakah]

You tried getting the petname after the event "ADDON_LOADED"?

[Mahiro]

you could try

local petName; if UnitExists("pet") then petName = UnitName("pet"); end

[Taffu]

Originally Posted by Mahiro you could try local petName; if UnitExists("pet") then petName = UnitName("pet"); end

If it's called when you first login and your pet isn't called (dismiss/call while in-game) the local will have to be reup'd via an event or update call of some sort doing it this way.

Because pets go in and out as far as existence is concerned...you may want to try attaching the variable update to an event. Try UNIT_PET or PET_BAR_UPDATE (or both) for variable updates. Something like:

local petName

function MyAddOn:UNIT_PET()
  if ( UnitExists("pet") ) then
    petName = UnitName("pet")
  else
    petName = ""
  end  
end

There's a few different ways you could do it. This is just one. This requires seperate OnEvent handlers for each event, so might have to make some adjustments there.

[LBXZero]

Taffu is correct. With the original code in the first post, if the player logs in with out a pet or the mod loads too early, petName will be nil. It is because it only sets petName when the script is read the first time.

The best solution is to register for event UNIT_PET because it fires when something happens to your pet. It should always occur during loading if the pet is out when logging in.

function HEmote_OnLoad (self)
 this:RegisterEvent("PET_ATTACK_START");
 self:RegisterEvent("UNIT_PET");
...

function HEmote_OnEvent(self, event, ...)
if (event == "UNIT_PET") then
  petName = UnitName("pet");
 elseif (petName and HEon == "1") then
 ...