derpy's script loader - Global Variables

gDerpyScriptLoader

Set to the current version of DSL.

You can use this value to conditionally support certain features of DSL, or to check for the presence of DSL when making a script that should work anywhere.

This value does actually refer to the full version number. This means if you're running a version like 7.1, this value will actually be 7.1 and not just 7.

if gDerpyScriptLoader then
	DrawTextInline("You can make use of DSL functions!", 3, 1)
else
	TextPrintString("Support running this script without DSL.", 3, 1)
end

dsl

DSL7 This feature was introduced in version 7.

The dsl table can be used to get shared tables from script collections that used GetScriptSharedTable. A shared table can be retrieved by indexing dsl using the desired script collection's name (case-insensitive). If the collection does not exist, is shutting down, or isn't sharing its table then you will get nil. You should not set values in dsl.

If you are making network scripts, it is suggested you use the net table instead since the dsl table does not differentiate between local and network scripts. This would mean that a table from a local script could override the one you may expect from a network script.

Usually you should only use dsl instead of net if you are not making network scripts.

net

DSL8 This feature was introduced in version 8.

The net table behaves very similarly to the dsl table, but it gets tables from GetScriptNetworkTable instead. Only network scripts (client scripts from a server or main scripts on a server) can make these tables, so it helps ensure that network scripts have their own "namespace" independent from local scripts.

When making client network scripts, it is suggested you use net instead of dsl. Although server scripts can't have naming conflicts like the client can, using net will still make your code more consistent.

Sometimes it may seem more tempting to just make a global function or put a value in shared, but using a shared table from net is often the better choice for a few reasons.

• It naturally creates a namespace for each mod (since you must do net.modname), so shared function names will never conflict with other mods.
• The presence of a network table can be tested for by checking if net.modname is nil, allowing simple conditional usage of shared functions from other mods.
• Tables from net are only accessible while the collection is running, which ensures shared functions can only be called when the mod they came from is running.
• It is DSL's standard way of sharing functions between multiple script collections, so using it will make your mod more consistent with other scripts and official DSL scripts.

chat/sv_chat.lua:

api = GetScriptNetworkTable()

api.notify = function(text)
	-- some code that sends some notification message to all players
end

test.lua:

function main()
	if net.chat then
		net.chat.notify("a chat notification from an entirely different mod")
	end
end