Leaderboard problems: FindFirstChild a nil value...????
Hello. So I have a mainscript, and within that a function that looks like this:
function awardcredit(player, credits)
if player and credits then
local leaderstats = player:FindFirstChild("leaderstats") -- line 32 btw
if leaderstats then
local value = leaderstats:FindFirstChild("BlitzCreditz")
if value then
value.Value = value.Value + credits
end
end
end
end
This is supposed to add some credits (A value on the leaderboard. More on that in a moment...) This is where I call this function in the script
awardcredit(activecontestants, 4)
I also have my leaderboard set up like this...
function playeradded(player)
local leaderstats = Instance.new("Model")
leaderstats.Name = "leaderstats"
leaderstats.Parent = player
local points = Instance.new("IntValue")
points.Name = "Wins"
points.Parent = leaderstats
points.Value = 0
local BC = Instance.new("IntValue")
BC.Name = "BlitzCreditz"
BC.Parent = leaderstats
BC.Value = 0
end
game.Players.PlayerAdded:connect(playeradded)
for _, player in pairs(game.Players:GetPlayers()) do
playeradded(player)
end
The output says this when I get to the
awardcredit(activecontestants, 4)
in the script...
workspace.MainScript:32: attempt to call method 'FindFirstChild (a nil value)
Any idea why?
0
2 answers
I assume that activecontestants is a table, and that the players referenced inside of the table are actual player objects and not just their Names. If yes, then you cannot simply award the four points to the table activeconstestants * because the *parameter of function * awardcredit* expects a player instead.
Your error simply means that FindFirstChild is not a valid member of the argument passed in as player -- which makes sense because it's a table, and not an object.
You could solve your issue by doing looping through the table when the function is called to award the players individually,like so...
function awardcredit(players, credits)
if type(players) == type({}) then
for i = 1, #players do
if players[i]:FindFirstChild('leaderstats') then
if players[i].leaderstats:FindFirstChild('BlitzCreditz') then
local stat = players[i].leaderstats.BlitzCreditz
stat.Value = stat.Value + tonumber(credits)
end
end
end
end
end
0
0
FindFirstChild
Although I am not exactly sure as to what activecontestants has been initialized as, the error you are getting often is from the mistake of calling FindFirstChild on an array. The FindFirstChild method can only be used on instances. Arrays, although they are technically objects, arrays are not instances. You may be slightly confounded on why I am repeating array again and again, although you haven't initialized an array anywhere. The main reason for this is that I'm assuming [since you haven't shown it] that activecontestants was the product of using GetChildren or GetPlayers on a prior instance
For example:
local activecontestants = game.Players:GetPlayers()
print(activecontestants:FindFirstChild("Player1"))
--Error
Again, the main explanation for this is the fact that using GetChildren or GetPlayers returns an array, which FindFirstChild can NOT be used on.
Using FindFirstChild Properly
The proper way to use FindFirstChild is to use on the instance instead. For example, let's make a script that looks for a player 'Player1' inside the Players service.
local plr = game.Players:FindFirstChild("Player1")
if plr then
print(plr.Name .. " is in the Server!")
end
This is how FindFirstChild should be used.
Here is an example of what NOT to do:
local plr = game.Players:GetChildren():FindFirstChild("Player1")
if plr then
print(plr.Name .. " is in the Server!")
end
Fixing The Issue
Using what has been discussed, let's try fixing your code. Again, I'm under the assumption that players and activecontestants are both meant to be arrays.
function awardcredit(activePlayers, credits)
for _,v in pairs(activePlayers) do
local stats = v:FindFirstChild("leaderstats")
local blitz = v:FindFirstChild("BlitzCreditz")
if stats and blitz then
blitz.Value = blitz.Value + credits
emd
end
Useful Links
FindFirstChild: http://wiki.roblox.com/index.php?title=API:Class/Instance/FindFirstChild
GetChildren: http://wiki.roblox.com/index.php?title=API:Class/Instance/GetChildren
Instance Type: http://wiki.roblox.com/index.php?title=API:Class/Instance
Handling Arrays: http://wiki.roblox.com/index.php?title=Table#Reading_from_and_writing_to_arrays