How to fix addons?

[Talentbdf]

how do you fix addons on a new patch and what does break them? i would like to know that.

edit: i do have curse client but i would like to use my addons on the ptr too.... btw i saw people say API changes where do i see those changes?

[Crush]

You re-instal them and don't know

[Adon]

Look at the top of your screen. See that "Curse Client" link? Click it, install, run it, update all your addons. After that, run wow, go to addons and load out of date addons from there.

If you are still encountering tons of LUA errors, report them to the addon developer.

[Nixxen]

how do you fix addons on a new patch and what does break them? i would like to know that.

1. How to fix?
Update them. Go to curse or wowinterface(Wherever you downloaded them from) and download the updated version.
If there is no updated version start searching for an alternate addon that fill the task the "broken" addon used to do.


2. What breaks them?
Wow API changes. Sometimes a function is removed or renamed. If an addon uses this function it is "broken".

[Maxatoria]

1. just grab the new version from the author when its available
2. blizz changes the rules on what can/cannot be done and also how it can be done quite often

[Adon]

Patches don't necessarily "break" the addons. Normally all thats changed from patch to patch is a line or two in the code, the developers normally take care of this quickly.

[Talentbdf]

Patches don't necessarily "break" the addons. Normally all thats changed from patch to patch is a line or two in the code, the developers normally take care of this quickly.

how do you know what has changed?

[Maxatoria]

blizz normal lets people know either in patch notes or the UI forum on the official site

[Deleted]

Seems people were misunderstanding the question posed in the OP.

Anyways, you can imagine the interaction between addons and the game world like this. We pass stuff ("arguments") to a Blizzard API (short for Application Programming Interface) function and get something back ("return values").

Example: An addon wants your target's current HP value. The API for this is

UnitHealth(unitID)

(Source)
so we give the blizzard function the unit ID "target", and get a numeric value back.

local curHP = UnitHealth("target")

Now let's say we divide this number by the target's max HP later:

local pctHP=curHP/maxHP

So far, so good. Now, in a major patch, Blizzard goes ahead and changes the return values of UnitHealth to, say, a health label (string) first, and the numeric value second. However, our non-updated code still assumes that return value 1 is curHP. The code above, which should divide current HP by max HP, now tries to divide a string by a number. It will error.



This and similar API changes are what cause non-maintained addons to break sooner or later. For an overview of upcoming API changes, the official UI & Macros forum is the best place to go.

[Talentbdf]

Seems people were misunderstanding the question posed in the OP.

Anyways, you can imagine the interaction between addons and the game world like this. We pass stuff ("arguments") to a Blizzard API (short for Application Programming Interface) function and get something back ("return values").

Example: An addon wants your target's current HP value. The API for this is

UnitHealth(unitID)

(Source)
so we give the blizzard function the unit ID "target", and get a numeric value back.

local curHP = UnitHealth("target")

Now let's say we divide this number by the target's max HP later:

local pctHP=curHP/maxHP

So far, so good. Now, in a major patch, Blizzard goes ahead and changes the return values of UnitHealth to, say, a health label (string) first, and the numeric value second. However, our non-updated code still assumes that return value 1 is curHP. The code above, which should divide current HP by max HP, now tries to divide a string by a number. It will error.



This and similar API changes are what cause non-maintained addons to break sooner or later. For an overview of upcoming API changes, the official UI & Macros forum is the best place to go.

Where in the forums you see it exactly and i see you are a "UI & AddOns expert | Interface & Macros moderator - My work" is there any chance you would pm me your skype?

[Deleted]

If there are changes announced for the next patch, there is usually a sticky thread in the UI forums or the US version.

[Deleted]

Wrong. 40000 is current version. It follows format "xyyzz" for patch x.yy.zz, but only updates for major (y-level) patches.

[blahssat]

Sounds like a noob reply, but I'll say it. Load out of date addons. :P

But if your addon is generating LUA errors and generally not working and you don't know how to write or modify addons, then you're better off just sitting there spamming refresh on curse.com waiting for an update.

[Talentbdf]

Sounds like a noob reply, but I'll say it. Load out of date addons. :P

But if your addon is generating LUA errors and generally not working and you don't know how to write or modify addons, then you're better off just sitting there spamming refresh on curse.com waiting for an update.

the only think i wanted to know is how and where do you see the changes that breaks the addons not a suggestion on how to bypass it

[Riboe]

the only think i wanted to know is how and where do you see the changes that breaks the addons not a suggestion on how to bypass it

The most common cause of an addon breaking, would be a change in the version number of the game. (I might be wrong - I'm not an addon author).
Like if an addon is made for version 4.00.00 of the game and there's a patch, which updates the game to version 4.10.00, the game won't load any addons that is not written for the new game version, unless you tick the 'Load Out of Date Addons' option.

Blizzard generally announces whenever they are planning a change in the API, which might affect addons. It can be read in the patch notes and in at the forums which Treeston linked earlier.