fungus/Docs/fungus_lua/lua_fungus_module.md

# Fungus Lua Module # {#lua_fungus_module}
[TOC]

This Lua module provides handy functions for working with Lua, Unity and %Fungus. 

In this page we cover some of the more generic functionality in the module, other major features are described elsewhere in the documentation.

# Inspecting Lua objects # {#inspecting_lua_objects}

You can use Lua's built in print() function to get a basic description of any object printed to the console. When you want to get a more detailed description of an object, use inspect().

```lua
-- Prints a short description of object v
print(v)

-- Prints a summary of object v in a human readable format.
inspect(v)
```

# Running Unity coroutines # {#run_unity_coroutines}

When you bind to a C# component using Lua Bindings, you can access any public method in the class. If a method returns IEnumerator then that method can be executed as a [Unity coroutine], which is a powerful way to run asynchronous code. 

The runwait() function allows you to call a C# coroutine method from Lua which may take multiple frames to finish its work, and then carry on with the rest of the Lua code once that C# method has finished executing. This is how the say() function works for example.

This is the list of available functions for waiting and working with coroutines.

```lua
-- Waits for a number of seconds, then continue execution of Lua script
wait(duration)

-- Waits until the Lua function provided returns true, or the timeout expires.
-- Returns true if the function succeeded, or false if the timeout expired
waitfor(fn, timeoutduration)

-- Run a C# coroutine and continue execution of Lua script
run(co)

-- Run a C# coroutine, wait until it completes, then continue execution of Lua script
runwait(co)
```

# Globals vs Table mode # {#globals_vs_tables}

The %Fungus module can be used in three modes, controlled by the %Fungus Module option in the LuaUtils component.  

1. Use Global Variables: all module functions are mapped to global functions. This allows for convenient access, but it runs the risk that you might accidentally declare a variable with the same name as a %Fungus module function.
2. Use %Fungus Variable: all module functions are accessed through a global table called 'fungus'. This gives a degree of namespace safety at the cost of more typing. 
3. No %Fungus Module: the %Fungus module will not be registered. Used if you don't want to use the %Fungus module.

Options 1 and 2 are functionaly equivalent, it's just a matter of personal preference which you want to use.

```lua
-- sub is a function in the %Fungus module, mapped to a global variable

-- Use Global Variables
sub('a string')

-- Use Fungus Variable
fungus.sub('a string')
```

[Unity coroutine]: http://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/Coroutines.html