Lua Networking Extensions

Various extension and helper functions for converting data types that may not normally be convertible into a string, into a string and back into their original type.

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Net:TableToString( tbl )

Converts a table into a string which is able to sent through the Networking functions. It will only perform a shallow conversion, meaning it should not be used with nested tables.
tbl The table to be converted into a string.
returns A string representation of the table passed into the function.

local tbl = { 1, 2, 3, 4, "hello world!" }
local str = Net:TableToString( tbl )
Net:SendToPeers( "NetworkTableStringTest", str )

Net:StringToTable( str )

Converts a formatted string into a table. Should be used for turning a networked table sent as a string back into its original table.
str The formatted string to attempt to convert back into a table.
returns A table containing the formatted data from str.

local str = "key|value,key2|another value,another key|yet another value"
local tbl = Net:StringToTable( str )

Net:ColourToString( col )

Converts a colour into a formatted string, which is able to be sent through the Networking functions.
col The colour to be converted into a formatted string.
returns A formatted string containing the colour data from col.

local color = Color.red
local col_str = Net:ColourToString( color )
Net:SendToPeers( "NetworkColourStringTest", col_str )

Net:StringToColour( str )

Converts a formatted string into a colour. Should be used for turning a networking colour sent as a string back to its original object.
str The formatted string to attempt to convert back into a Color object.
returns A Color object containing the original colour.

local col_str = "r:1.0000|g:0.2125|b:0.4568|a:1.0000"
local color = Net:StringToColor( col_str )