basic function help

[suipsyco]

I'm sure I just have some simple syntax error, but I cant see it...

local tanks = {};

function FindTanks()
	for i = 1 .. 40 do
		local unit = "raid" .. i;
		if UnitGroupRolesAssigned(unit) == "TANK" 
		then table.add(tanks, unit) 
		end
	end
end

Incidentally, since the code won't run for me yet, I don't know that it will do what I want it to do. Anyone know if I'm on the right track? Goal is to loop through the raid and add all the players marked TANK into my list. Maybe there's a way to do this that I couldn't find. I just want a list of the tanks in the raid.

[Banknorris]

for i=1,40 do

[semlar]

Aside from the loop syntax, the function is table.insert, not table.add.

You also might want to add wipe(tanks) before your loop to clear out previous entries if this is going to be called repeatedly to avoid inserting the same units multiple times or keeping stale data around.

If you have lua errors enabled in-game (which you should do if you're writing an addon), they'll tell you what line the problem is on, which should help you work out what's causing it.

[Yukyuk]

You also might want to install BugGrabber and BugSack.
Both are usefull to detect and handle lua errors.

[suipsyco]

Thank you all I will make the changes and install bug grabber. The blizzard Lua Error grabber just told me a "." expected near do, which wasn't helping

[Fizzlemizz]

Originally Posted by suipsyco Thank you all I will make the changes and install bug grabber.

You will need BugSack (or Bugger) as well.

[Lombra]

Originally Posted by suipsyco Thank you all I will make the changes and install bug grabber. The blizzard Lua Error grabber just told me a "." expected near do, which wasn't helping

I can see how that error might not seem helpful when you're not used to this stuff, but it's actually spot on! Installing a different error handler will not change the error message you receive, but it might present them in a better way, and store them for review later and stuff.

The error would have said "," expected (comma, not a period) near "do". If we review the code:

for i = 1 .. 40 do

".." joins the two values (1 and 40) together so there's only one value here. A second value and a comma separating them was expected, hence the error. Actually it's not entirely obvious what the error means, I suppose, since a comma alone would not have made it work, but it's always (I think?) helpful in pinpointing where exactly the interpreter has trouble making sense of your code. Which isn't necessarily in the same place that you need to fix something. Errors mentioning "end"s and parentheses may be due to a missing or extra parenthesis somewhere else.