"self" seemingly absent from gmod documentation

[MrPlaidSquirrel]

I know "self" is a base lua thing, but I really don't understand how it works in the context of a swep. self.Owner doesn't show up in the wiki at all

[c👌de_g🎷]

Here is the PIL explanation: Programming in Lua
"self" is the calling object in a class method. For SWEP's, this is the actual weapon entity. Ex.
function SWEP:PrimaryAttack()
print(self)
end
Will print the weapon. You can also use self to call more methods, like self:Clip1() or self:GetColor(). self.Owner is actually a deprecated hack that redirects to self:GetOwner() - you should use the latter, instead.

[MrPlaidSquirrel]

Thank you again.
Also quick stupid question, I tried running self.Owner:Flashlight(true) within a SWEP:DrawHUD hook and it said that the Flashlight method was nil, despite it working in other hooks such as Secondary and PrimaryAttack

[bigdogmat]

Player/Flashlight is a server side function, WEAPON/DrawHUD is called client side.

[SweptThrone]

Flashlight is on the server, while HUD is on the client. The HUD doesn’t even know the Flashlight function exists.

[MrPlaidSquirrel]

So I'd have to use networking if I wanted a client hook to run a server function?

[MrPlaidSquirrel]

Oh jeez

[stealthpaw]

The day i learned that i could use self in tables was the day i finally understood how to properly use Lua.
Previous to that everything had been hacky and unreliable.

[Bobblehead]

If we're just enabling a flashlight, it's not a big deal. Don't scare the lad.
Besides, you can always just do RunConsoleCommand("impulse",100). That toggles the flashlight. Impulse