Cant access variable in SWEP?

[Chizbang]

Im editing the lockpick in DRP (the shared.lua file obviously) and I have added a variable at the top of the file like so:

if SERVER then
SWEP.SpeedOfPick = 30
end

Then at the bottom of the file I have a netmessage receive function like so:

if SERVER then
	net.Receive("upgradeSpeed", function(len, ply) 
-- edited out surrounding shit here
				self.SpeedOfPick = 20 -- returns nil
		end
end)

Then I get this:
attempt to index global 'self' (a nil value)
Why? I declared it so it should work fine.

[Netheous]

You didn't declare it inside the function (2nd argument of net.Receive).
If you want to set something on the player that has sent the net message then do ply.SpeedOfPick = 20 instead.

In other words, self only works if you are executing functions via function meta:func()

[Acecool]

meta.func( self ) is identical to meta:func( ) as meta.func( self, blah ) is identical to meta:func( blah ), but Netheous is right, you don't have self assigned, and because it isn't assigned it returns that the table or variable expected is nil.

Further explanation: Just because you have it located in a SWEP file, doesn't mean it will take the self associated within SWEP functions because the net function is in a different realm than SWEP./:. you may be able to access that variable using the exact name: SWEP.xxx -- however it may be nilled when it gets copied into the Weapons table, so if you change it in a SWEP function, the two references may be different.