Calling Lua from C - lua

I'm trying to call a user-defined Lua function from C. I've seen some discussion on this, and the solution seems clear. I need to grab the index of the function with luaL_ref(), and save the returned index for use later.
In my case, I've saved the value with luaL_ref, and I'm at a point where my C code needs to invoke the Lua function saved with luaL_ref. For that, I'm using lua_rawgeti as follows:
lua_rawgeti(l, LUA_REGISTRYINDEX, fIndex);
This causes a crash in lua_rawgeti.
The fIndex I'm using is the value I received from luaL_ref, so I'm not sure what's going on here.
EDIT:
I'm running a Lua script as follows:
function errorFunc()
print("Error")
end
function savedFunc()
print("Saved")
end
mylib.save(savedFunc, errorFunc)
I've defined my own Lua library 'mylib', with a C function:
static int save(lua_State *L)
{
int cIdx = myCIndex = luaL_ref(L, LUA_REGISTRYINDEX);
int eIdx = luaL_ref(L, LUA_REGISTRYINDEX);
I save cIdx and eIdx away until a later point in time when I receive some external event at which point I would like to invoke one of the functions set as parameters in my Lua script. Here, (on the same thread, using the same lua_State*), I call:
lua_rawgeti(L, LUA_REGISTRYINDEX, myCIndex);
Which is causing the crash.

My first suggestion is to get it working without storing the function in C at all. Just assign your function to a global in Lua, then in C use the Lua state (L) to get the global, push the args, call the function, and use the results. Once that's working, you've got the basics and know your function is working, you can change the way you get at the function to use the registry. Good luck!

As #Schollii mentioned, I was making this call after doing a lua_close(L).

Related

Possible to create Graal native function callable from C without isolate?

I'd like to create a library, written in Java, callable from C, with simple method signatures:
int addThree(int in) {
return in + 3;
}
I know it's possible to do this with GraalVM if you do a little dance and create an Isolate in your C program and pass it in as the first parameter in every function call. There is good sample code here.
The problem is that the system I'm writing for, Postgres, can load C libraries and call functions in them, but I would have to create a wrapper function in C that would wrap every function I wanted to expose. This really limits the value of being able to slap something together in Java and use it in Postgres directly. I'd have to do something like this:
int myPublicAddThreeFunction(int in) {
graal_isolatethread_t *thread = NULL;
if (graal_create_isolate(NULL, NULL, &thread) != 0) {
fprintf(stderr, "error on isolate creation or attach\n");
return 1;
}
return SomeClassName_addThree_big_random_string_here(thread, in);
}
Is there a way, in Java alone, to expose a simple C function? I'm thinking I could create the isolate in a static method that gets loaded once on startup, somehow set it as the current isolate, and have the Java method just use it. Haven't been able to figure it out, though.
Also, it would be real nice not to have to append a big random string to every function name.

How to modify a metatable which was created by C API?

I want to add some methods or properties to a lua object witch metadata was created by C API. I can't add property in normal way, for example:
local foo = libc.new()
foo.bar = "hello"
it say:
Failed to run script: attempt to index a libc_meta value (local 'foo')
So I think maybe need to modify metatable, so I change my code:
local foo = libc.new()
local mt = getmetatable(foo)
foo[bar] = "hello"
setmetable(foo, mt)
Unfortunately, it still doesn't work.
Failed to run script: bad argument #1 to 'setmetatable' (table expected, got libc_meta)
So how can I add methods or properties to this 'foo'?
BTW, c code is here:
static int libc_new(lua_State *L) {
...
lua_lib_space *libc = lua_newuserdata(L, sizeof(*libc));
libc->L = L;
libc->cb_enter = cb_enter;
libc->cb_leave = cb_leave;
luaL_getmetatable(L, "libc_meta");
lua_setmetatable(L, -2);
lib_space *lib = lib_new(enter, leave, libc);
libc->space = lib;
return 1;
}
Userdata is meant to be created by C, manipulated by C code, and for only the purposes that C code intends. Lua can talk to it, but only in the ways that C allows it to. As such, while userdata can have a metatable (and those metamethods are the only way Lua can "directly" interact with the userdata), only C functions (and the debug library, but that's cheating) can directly manipulate that metatable. Lua is an embedded language, and C has primacy; if some C library wants to shut you out, it can.
What you can do is take the userdata and stick it in a table of your own, then give that table a metatable. In your __index metamethod, if you have an override or new method for a particular key, then you forward the accesses to that. Otherwise, it will just access the stored userdata.
However, if what you get in the userdata is a function, then you may have a problem. See, most userdata functions take the userdata as a parameter; indeed, most are meant to be called via "ud:func_name(params). But if thatud` is actually the table wrapper, then the first parameter passed to the function will be the wrapper, not the userdata itself.
That poses a problem. When the thing you get from the userdata is a function, you would need to return a wrapper for that function which goes through the parameters and converts any references to the wrapper table into the actual userdata.

Callback to Lua member function

I have a lua "animation variable" which has a callback function used in an animation loop.
local av = AnimationVariable(ticker.Position.Y)
...
av:addCallback( ** animation function goes here **)
Skipping over details, this addCallback function is defined as follows in C++:
void LuaUIAnimationVariable::addCallback(luabind::object callback);
and when the animation variable is updated, the callback is executed as such (we call the function with one argument):
luabind::call_function<void>(boost::ref(callback), newValue);
My question is the following: How can I use a member function with addCallback? Assuming I have a Ticker:animate(ypos) function, using addCallback on a Ticker instance addCallBack(ticker:animate) does not compile, and addCallBack(ticker.animate) does not work. I understand that member functions in lua have an implicit "self" first parameter.
Any solution or am I forced to use a global function?
Not sure if I understand your question, but if you mean a Lua member function, you can use a closure:
av:addCallback(function(yval) ticker:animate(yval) end)

Lua Error Attempt to perform arithmetic on local variable

Here is the function
calc.lua:
function foo(n)
return n*2
end
Here is my LuaJavaCall
L.getGlobal("foo");
L.pushJavaObject(8);
int retCode=L.pcall(1,1,0); // nResults)//L.pcall(1, 1,-2);
String errstr = L.toString(-1); // Attempt to perform arithmetic on local variable 'n'
Update: as indicated below I needed to use L.pushNumber(8.0) instead of L.pushJavaObject()
Try using L.pushNumber instead of L.pushJavaObject like this:
L.getGlobal("foo");
L.pushNumber(8.0);
int retCode = L.pcall(1,1,0);
String errstr = L.toString(-1);
Lua probably sees JavaObject as a type of 'userdata' in which case there are no predefined operations for it; Lua won't know what to do with a JavaObject * 2 since you didn't define how to handle it.
OTOH, Lua does know how to handle a number since that's a builtin primitive type. For the code snippet you presented, pushing a number would be the least painful way to get it working instead of writing extra code that tells Lua how to work with numbers wrapped inside a JavaObject.

How can I load an unnamed function in Lua?

I want users of my C++ application to be able to provide anonymous functions to perform small chunks of work.
Small fragments like this would be ideal.
function(arg) return arg*5 end
Now I'd like to be able to write something as simple as this for my C code,
// Push the function onto the lua stack
lua_xxx(L, "function(arg) return arg*5 end" )
// Store it away for later
int reg_index = luaL_ref(L, LUA_REGISTRY_INDEX);
However I dont think lua_loadstring will do "the right thing".
Am I left with what feels to me like a horrible hack?
void push_lua_function_from_string( lua_State * L, std::string code )
{
// Wrap our string so that we can get something useful for luaL_loadstring
std::string wrapped_code = "return "+code;
luaL_loadstring(L, wrapped_code.c_str());
lua_pcall( L, 0, 1, 0 );
}
push_lua_function_from_string(L, "function(arg) return arg*5 end" );
int reg_index = luaL_ref(L, LUA_REGISTRY_INDEX);
Is there a better solution?
If you need access to parameters, the way you have written is correct. lua_loadstring returns a function that represents the chunk/code you are compiling. If you want to actually get a function back from the code, you have to return it. I also do this (in Lua) for little "expression evaluators", and I don't consider it a "horrible hack" :)
If you only need some callbacks, without any parameters, you can directly write the code and use the function returned by lua_tostring. You can even pass parameters to this chunk, it will be accessible as the ... expression. Then you can get the parameters as:
local arg1, arg2 = ...
-- rest of code
You decide what is better for you - "ugly code" inside your library codebase, or "ugly code" in your Lua functions.
Have a look at my ae. It caches functions from expressions so you can simply say ae_eval("a*x^2+b*x+c") and it'll only compile it once.

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