Invalid key to 'next' after adding items to array

[ColonelCreeper4]

For some strange reason, the following simple usage of next() in finding the next value is causing the error in the title.

local validObjects = {}
local validNames = {}

	for name, styleObject in pairs(PlayerCombatStyles) do
		if styleObject.WeaponClass == CurrentCombatStyle.WeaponClass then
			validObjects[name] = styleObject
			table.insert(validNames, name)
		end
	end
		
		--[[ This does not seem to affect it??
		table.sort(validNames, function(a,b)
			return a < b
		end)
		]]
		
	local nextStyleName, combatStyleValue = next(validNames, CurrentCombatStyle.Name)

What am I doing wrong? Thanks for the help!

[JarodOfOrbiter]

@ColonelCreeper4

--[[ This does not seem to affect it??

If this is a dictionary, dictionaries don’t have an order to them and can’t be sorted.

@ColonelCreeper4

next(validNames, CurrentCombatStyle.Name)

What is CurrentCombatStyle.Name and what is the content of the validNames table at the time this error occurs?

[ColonelCreeper4]

Right now I use table.sort() to sort the indices of the dictionary (which are strings contained in the validNames array) so that they are alphabetical.

CurrentCombatStyle.Name’s value is a string (this code won’t run if this is nil), and the validNames array should contain the string indices of the dictionary (which are names of combat styles).

Hope this helps!

[JarodOfOrbiter]

Oh yeah I see. What are you trying to do with that line? next is generally reserved for working with dictionaries and you pass it the key, not the value.

@ColonelCreeper4

table.insert(validNames, name)

I can see here that validNames is an array, so CurrentCombatStyle.Name (which you say is a string) will indeed cause an error with next because next expects in this case a valid integer key for the validNames array.

[ColonelCreeper4]

Ah I see. I’ll replace next() with something to do with table.find(). Thanks for the help!