DTextEntry:SetText not working? Possibly because of net error?

[Hnaknaw]

Okay, I try not to clutter the forums with dumb questions but this one truly is stumping me. So my last resort is to outsource and ask the community. Little run down... I'm making a death-menu, which essentially makes you click "Respawn" every time you die, it also has a button for "Log". So, for the log button, I'm wanting to display DTextBoxes (CGTextBoxes [my custom designed element]) which all have values like the below:

LocalPlayer():Nick()
LocalPlayer():SteamID()

Now here's my problem... I'm trying to get my CGTextEntry to show the killer (attacker) via a:

net.Receive()

but I get the following error when I do so...

[ERROR] addons/cogent/lua/autorun/client/cl_death_popup.lua:154: Tried to use invalid object (type Panel) (Object was NULL or not of the right type)
  1. SetText - [C]:-1
   2. func - addons/cogent/lua/autorun/client/cl_death_popup.lua:154
    3. unknown - lua/includes/extensions/net.lua:32

So here's the file locations and code in those files that pertain to this menu and the networking items:

/lua/autorun/sv_networking.lua

if (SERVER) then
    util.AddNetworkString("WinterIsComing")
    hook.Add("PlayerDeath","Hnaknaw",function(victim, inflictor, attacker)
        if IsValid( victim ) then -- Make sure the dead player exists
            net.Start( "WinterIsComing" )
            net.WriteEntity( attacker )
            net.Send(victim)
        end
    end)
end

net.Receive( "WinterIsComing", function()
    vgui.Create("CogentDeathScreen")
end )

/lua/autorun/client/cl_death_popup.lua

        self[5.1] = vgui.Create('CGTextEntry',self[2])
        self[5.1]:SetFont('Cogent24')
        self[5.1]:SetText("")
        self[5.1]:SetTextColor(Color(255,20,20))
        self[5.1]:SetEditable(false)
        self[5.1]:SetDisabled(true)
            net.Receive( "WinterIsComing", function()
                local ply = net.ReadEntity()
                    if ply:GetClass() == "prop_physics" then
                        local plx = ply:GetModel()
                        self[5.1]:SetText(plx)
                    elseif ply:IsWorld() then
                        self[5.1]:SetText("World")
                    elseif IsValid(ply) then
                        local plx = ply:Nick()
                        local plz = tostring(plx)
                        self[5.1]:SetText(plz)
                    else
                        self[5.1]:SetText("Hnaknaw")
                    end
            end )
        self[5.1]:SetSize(surface.GetTextWidth(self[5.1]:GetText(),self[5.1]:GetFont())+4,30)
        self[5.1]:SetPos(surface.GetTextWidth(self[5]:GetText(),self[5]:GetFont())+20,130)

[B]

Any help at all is much appreciated!!! Just a point in the right direction is really all I'm asking for, but if you're able to change the provided code to fix that is also greatly appreciated!
[/B]

[zamboni]

Well net receivers don't work exactly how you're wanting, unfortunately.

Are you at all storing the created panel in a global variable?
I'd suggest when the client initially receives the message to create the panel/in the panel's Init() function, do like

MYGLOBALPANEL = vgui.Create("CogentDeathScreen")

-- or if you choose PANEL:Init()

function PANEL:Init()
    MYGLOBALPANEL = self
end

and then your net receiver which handles the text setting could do

net.Receive("WinterIsComing", function()
    local ply = net.ReadEntity()

    local panel = MYGLOBALPANEL

    if (!IsValid(panel)) then return end

    if ply:GetClass() == "prop_physics" then
        local plx = ply:GetModel()
        panel[5.1]:SetText(plx)
    elseif ply:IsWorld() then
        panel[5.1]:SetText("World")
    elseif IsValid(ply) then
        local plx = ply:Nick()
        local plz = tostring(plx)
        panel[5.1]:SetText(plz)
    else
        panel[5.1]:SetText("Hnaknaw")
    end
end)

Also you have in your sv_networking file a net receiver that creates vgui? That's not right, the server can't create vgui elements.

[Hnaknaw]

[QUOTE=Z0mb1n3;52275729]Well net receivers don't work exactly how you're wanting, unfortunately.

Are you at all storing the created panel in a global variable?
I'd suggest when the client initially receives the message to create the panel/in the panel's Init() function, do like

MYGLOBALPANEL = vgui.Create("CogentDeathScreen")

-- or if you choose PANEL:Init()

function PANEL:Init()
    MYGLOBALPANEL = self
end

and then your net receiver which handles the text setting could do

net.Receive("WinterIsComing", function()
    local ply = net.ReadEntity()

    local panel = MYGLOBALPANEL

    if (!IsValid(panel)) then return end

    if ply:GetClass() == "prop_physics" then
        local plx = ply:GetModel()
        panel[5.1]:SetText(plx)
    elseif ply:IsWorld() then
        panel[5.1]:SetText("World")
    elseif IsValid(ply) then
        local plx = ply:Nick()
        local plz = tostring(plx)
        panel[5.1]:SetText(plz)
    else
        panel[5.1]:SetText("Hnaknaw")
    end
end)

Also you have in your sv_networking file a net receiver that creates vgui? That's not right, the server can't create vgui elements.[/QUOTE]

So I tried the first one by putting the following, and still resulted in an error... Second one also resulted in the same error.
Error:

[ERROR] addons/cogent/lua/autorun/sv_networking.lua:83: attempt to index a nil value
  1. func - addons/cogent/lua/autorun/sv_networking.lua:83
   2. unknown - lua/includes/extensions/net.lua:32

CODE:

/lua/autorun/sv_networking.lua

net.Receive( "WinterIsComing", function()
    local ply = net.ReadEntity()
    MYGLOBALPANEL = vgui.Create("CogentDeathScreen")
    local panel = MYGLOBALPANEL

    if (!IsValid(panel)) then return end

    if ply:GetClass() == "prop_physics" then
        local plx = ply:GetModel()
        panel[5.1]:SetText(plx)
    elseif ply:IsWorld() then
        panel[5.1]:SetText("World")
    elseif IsValid(ply) and ply:IsPlayer() then
        local plx = ply:Nick()
        local plz = tostring(plx)
        panel[5.1]:SetText(plz) [B]*Errored line*[/B]
    else
        panel[5.1]:SetText("Hnaknaw")
    end
    panel[5.1]:SetSize(surface.GetTextWidth(panel[5.1]:GetText(),panel[5.1]:GetFont())+4,30)
    panel[5.1]:SetPos(surface.GetTextWidth(panel[5]:GetText(),panel[5]:GetFont())+20,130)
end )

[zamboni]

[QUOTE=Richtofen;52275776]So I tried the first one by putting the following, and still resulted in an error... Second one also resulted in the same error.
Error:

[ERROR] addons/cogent/lua/autorun/sv_networking.lua:83: attempt to index a nil value
  1. func - addons/cogent/lua/autorun/sv_networking.lua:83
   2. unknown - lua/includes/extensions/net.lua:32

CODE:

/lua/autorun/sv_networking.lua

net.Receive( "WinterIsComing", function()
    local ply = net.ReadEntity()
    MYGLOBALPANEL = vgui.Create("CogentDeathScreen")
    local panel = MYGLOBALPANEL

    if (!IsValid(panel)) then return end

    if ply:GetClass() == "prop_physics" then
        local plx = ply:GetModel()
        panel[5.1]:SetText(plx)
    elseif ply:IsWorld() then
        panel[5.1]:SetText("World")
    elseif IsValid(ply) and ply:IsPlayer() then
        local plx = ply:Nick()
        local plz = tostring(plx)
        panel[5.1]:SetText(plz) [B]*Errored line*[/B]
    else
        panel[5.1]:SetText("Hnaknaw")
    end
    panel[5.1]:SetSize(surface.GetTextWidth(panel[5.1]:GetText(),panel[5.1]:GetFont())+4,30)
    panel[5.1]:SetPos(surface.GetTextWidth(panel[5]:GetText(),panel[5]:GetFont())+20,130)
end )

[/QUOTE]

Well, you're putting that in the wrong file. That should be in your cl_death_popup file.
As well, you're creating the panel inside the net receive, so it's no longer necessary to have the MYGLOBALPANEL, instead you can just set

local panel = vgui.Create("CogentDeathScreen")

The original error you posted was due to the code trying to set the text of a panel that didn't exist or was invalid, and the second error you're getting now is because you're creating VGUI on the server.

[Hnaknaw]

Okay, i've narrowed it down to not picking up the CGTextEntry "panel[5.1]". It won't let me set text because it can't find what "panel is" when it's already localized at the top of the function...?

local function PopulateDeathMenu()

        local ply = net.ReadEntity()
    local panel = vgui.Create("CogentDeathScreen")

    panel:SetTitle("Hi :)")
    if (!IsValid(panel)) then return end

    if ply:GetClass() == "prop_physics" then
        local plx = ply:GetModel()
        panel[5.1]:SetText(plx)
    elseif ply:IsWorld() then
        panel[5.1]:SetText("World")
    elseif IsValid(ply) then
        local plx = ply:Nick()
        local plz = tostring(plx)
        panel[5.1]:SetText("Hi")
    else
        panel[5.1]:SetText("Hnaknaw")
    end
    panel[5.1]:SetSize(surface.GetTextWidth(panel[5.1]:GetText(),panel[5.1]:GetFont())+4,30)
    panel[5.1]:SetPos(surface.GetTextWidth(panel[5]:GetText(),panel[5]:GetFont())+20,130)

end

net.Receive( "WinterIsComing", PopulateDeathMenu)

Now the really weird thing is that I can change the the panel title via:

 panel:SetTitle("Example")

And I can also change the menu buttons as well

self[1]:SetButtonText("Boobies")

[B]Could nested panels be the underlying issue here?

EDIT:
I will rework my custom vgui element tomorrow and see if that helps with the nested frames. Will report back afterwards :) Thanks for your input! [/B]