Call a function by reference

[Neo Andersson 230]

I was wondering,,
can we just calll a function by referencing his name??

 

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or this is totally nonesense??

Edited October 28, 2025 by Neo Andersson

[Ronald Taal 0]

You can do the following

 

 

 

function myfun1(args);

end;

 

function myfun2(args);

end;

 

callTheseOnChange = {{name = function() myfun1(args) end , name = function() myfun2(args) end}}

 

--and somewhere in codes just call

for key, f in pairs(callTheseOnChange) do

  f.name()

end

 

[Łukasz997 117]

It's not a nonsense. In LUA function is just value 
You may do the following:

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As you see, function is in a table, call is indexed by table element name equal to function name...

 

As far as I know, even in statically typed languages like C++, you can call a function through a variable that is a pointer to it.

Edited October 28, 2025 by Łukasz997

[jgab 2,642]

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Yes, so global we can get via _G, but local functions we need to put in a table as we are a bit restricted in Fibaro's Lua environment.

...or put them directly in the callTheseOnChange table if they are small and dedicated for just that task...

[Neo Andersson 230]

44 minutes ago, jgab said:

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Yes, so global we can get via _G, but local functions we need to put in a table as we are a bit restricted in Fibaro's Lua environment.

...or put them directly in the callTheseOnChange table if they are small and dedicated for just that task...

 

 

@jgab jan this doesnt work. Throws error  complaining about fun is nil..
Can we call it like funTable[fun]() even if the keys are not strings?? Isnt the problem coming from that??

[Neo Andersson 230]

Guys thanks for the helps.
My goal was to list name of functions (strings) in a table,  (not define them there) just list them, so later
i can loop through that table and call the function that names are listed there..

[jgab 2,642]

18 minutes ago, Neo Andersson said:

Guys thanks for the helps.
My goal was to list name of functions (strings) in a table,  (not define them there) just list them, so later
i can loop through that table and call the function that names are listed there..

Myfun1 in table should be MyFun1 etc...

[Łukasz997 117]

Here you are exactly as you want, a mini API :). For sure it's working. By the way, how do you want to use it?
 

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[Neo Andersson 230]

2 minutes ago, Łukasz997 said:

Here you are exactly as you want, a mini API :). For sure it's working. By the way, how do you want to use it?
 

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Thanks..
usage is, i want to define some http calls that will plpulate some variable..Depending on what variable is populated, the code should fetch the variable name in _G table, and find the corresponding function (in our table that u showed) to be run, when that _G is set.

It can be done ofcoure easiliy in the http success callback, and hardcode it there what should be called, but if you have many many of these ocasions it makes my life easier, to predefine, what function should be called in case of some _G variable change

and ofcoure the reason is also to learn some new stuff