Question persona_state is sometimes null

[Ron]

Hey,

 

Running into a bit of an issue sometimes with persona_state, it's sometimes null for some reason.

 

Code:

Bot.prototype.sendMessage = function(steam_id, send_offline, message) {
    if (this.client.myFriends[steam_id] === undefined || this.client.myFriends[steam_id] === 2 || this.client.myFriends[steam_id] === 4) {
        log.error(this.data.name, 'The message recipient is not a friend.');
        return false;
    }

    this.client.getPersonas([steam_id], (personas) => {
        if (send_offline == false && personas[steam_id].persona_state == 0) {
            log.info(this.data.name, 'The recipient is offline, and the request has disabled offline sending.');
            return false;
        } else {
            // temp. debug
            log.info(this.data.name, 'Name: ' + personas[steam_id].player_name + ', State: ' + personas[steam_id].persona_state);
        }

        log.info(this.data.name, 'Sending the message...');
        this.client.chatMessage(steam_id, message);

        log.success(this.data.name, 'Success!');

        return true;
    });
};

What could cause this? The player it tries to send the message to is a friend, so that's not the issue.

 

[Dr. McKay]

1. Is the bot itself online on Steam? You can't get some persona data unless you're online.

2. Since it appears that you're only sending stuff to friends, there's no need to use getPersonas to get up to date data. There is a property (I think it's users?) which contains up to date persona data for all friends, provided you own state isn't offline. Steam sends updates for friends automatically.

[rektbot]

I also found personas function sub-optimal compared with users. A very simple example illustrates this below. No need for callbacks.

 

 console.log((client.users[steamIDhere].persona_state==1) ? "online" : "offline");

Nb. Per the documentation we only get data for "users we've encountered or requested data for" so be careful. I would handle it like this.

var userInfo = client.users[steamIDhere];

if(userInfo){
// output info
} 
else {
// no data on user
} 

Disclaimer: I'm a n00b, could be wrong.

Edited February 25, 2017 by rektbot

[Dr. McKay]

users we've encountered

 

Friends do count as users we've encountered. That said, to be 100% safe it might be better to do it your way and check if the user's data is present and request it if not, but that shouldn't be necessary for friends (then again, this is Steam we're talking about).

[rektbot]

^ yeh. i quoted your wiki on that one. 

[Ron]

1. Is the bot itself online on Steam? You can't get some persona data unless you're online.

2. Since it appears that you're only sending stuff to friends, there's no need to use getPersonas to get up to date data. There is a property (I think it's users?) which contains up to date persona data for all friends, provided you own state isn't offline. Steam sends updates for friends automatically.

1. Yes, since it succeeded sending the message to other players.

2. client.users doesn't provide the data for all users. I have a user who is a Steam friend (myFriends[steam_id] returns 3, aka friend enum), and when using client.users it doesn't find him. Any idea?

[Dr. McKay]

Please show the code you're using to look them up in client.users.

[Ron]

log.info(this.data.name, 'Recipient: ' + this.client.users[steam_id].player_name + ', Player state: ' + this.client.users[steam_id].persona_state);

[Dr. McKay]

this.client.users[steam_id] is undefined?

 

When are you calling this? Very soon after logon? Some time after?

[Ron]

Yeah this.client.users[steam_id] is undefined.

 

Roughly 1 minute after the login, it's called upon an API HTTP request.

[rektbot]

Yeah this.client.users[steam_id] is undefined.

 

Roughly 1 minute after the login, it's called upon an API HTTP request.

 

What happens if you listen for the user data eg. client.on('user'); does their info get emitted?

Have you got an output of this.client.users? Is it definitely missing?