why does routingTable->getRouterId() return a <unspeci> address at the begening of simulation?

[Lu Tongxing]

Hi, friends,  i use UDPBasicApp and i have a question about the routingTable, i use the the getSelfAddress() function to get the host address.

IPvXAddress UDPBasicAppCam::getSelfAddress() const
{
    return routingTable->getRouterId();
}

but if I put the getSelfAddress()   function in initialize() function, at the begening, it returns a <unspeci> address. but later it works well.

if i put the getSelfAddress()  in processStart() function, it works well always.

Can someone help me to explain it? 

[Michael Kirsche]

The address is initialized during the general initialization process of the simulation. All modules have their own initialize() functions, where they get their parameters assigned and so on.
The self-address you try to get is probably assigned somewhere in a different initialize() function of another protocol or module.
The processStart() function is called much later during the simulation, where presumably all parameters (and your address) is set.