Anybody want to test an addon for me?

[Arcilux]

Hello all,

I am a senior computer science student and for one of my classes I have to come up with a project that gathers information and does some sort of statistical analysis on it. I chose to use WoW character names/realms but need some help gathering data to process. I created an addon that will track the names and realms of players you meet via dungeon, battleground, etc. and saves this data in a SavedVariables file.

If anybody is willing you can download the addon from WoWInterface

http://www.wowinterface.com/download...alProject.html

It doesn't do anything visual, so you won't see it working. Just play WoW like normal and every once in a while send me your saved variables.

Saved Variables can be found at:

World of Warcraft\WTF\Account\<ACCOUNT_NAME>\SavedVariables\CS490Final.lua

Just right click on the file and choose either Open With or Edit and copy the contents of the file. Alternatively you can email the file to me as an attachment. PM me for my email address if you wish to send it that way.

Any help in this would be appreciated.

Arcilux

Just in case anybody is concerned if this is considered data mining, I asked for a response from Blizzard before making the addon. Their response was:

I don't believe the addon you mentioned would be a data mining issue. Just please be sure you do not do anything that gives you an unfair advantage in the game. You can always review our policies here (http://us.blizzard.com/support/artic...chQuery=policy) for more information or you can contact our legal department (legal@blizzard.com)
Game Master Beshahl

[Deleted]

Quite a few useless globals there. If you don't specify "local" on a variable (your AllCharNames), it's global by default. Also, all tables are a reference, so all that assigning you're doing between _G and an already global variable is pretty much useless.
Also, you definining AllCharNames in line1 of your code is also useless, as it's overriden by the time your SavedVars are loaded.

Also, craptons of global namespace violations. And I mean craptons.

---------- Post added 2011-04-13 at 08:32 AM ----------

There. Scrap your xml file. Replace your lua file. I ripped out the global leaks and renamed your SavedVar table. Adjust your toc accordingly.

local addon = CreateFrame("Frame","CS490Frame")
local country = GetCVar("realmList"):sub(1,2)
local realm
local UnitName, GetNumRaidMembers, GetNumPartyMembers, UnitIsPlayer =
	  UnitName, GetNumRaidMembers, GetNumPartyMembers, UnitIsPlayer

local function savePlayerInfo(uID)
	local unitname, unitrealm = UnitName(uID)
	realm=realm or GetRealmName()
	CS490_CharNames[unitname.."-"..(unitrealm or realm).."-"..country]=""
end

local function GetPartyInfo()
	if GetNumRaidMembers() > 0 then
		for i=1, GetNumRaidMembers() do
			savePlayerInfo("raid"..i)
		end
	elseif GetNumPartyMembers() > 0 then
		for i=1, GetNumPartyMembers() do
			savePlayerInfo("party"..i)
		end
	end
end

local function GetTargetInfo()
	if UnitIsPlayer("target") then
		savePlayerInfo("target")
	end
end

local function GetChatInfo(author)
	if author then
		realm = realm or GetRealmName()
		if not author:find("-") then
			author = author.."-"..realm
		end
		CS490_CharNames[author.."-"..country]=""
	end
end

addon:SetScript("OnEvent", function(self, event, arg1, arg2)
	if event == "PLAYER_TARGET_CHANGED" then
		GetTargetInfo()
	elseif event == "PARTY_MEMBERS_CHANGED" then
		GetPartyInfo()
	elseif event == "ADDON_LOADED" and arg1 == "CS490Final" then
		CS490_CharNames = CS490_CharNames or {}
	elseif arg2 then
		GetChatInfo(arg2)
	end
end)
for _, event in ipairs({"PLAYER_TARGET_CHANGED", "PARTY_MEMBERS_CHANGED", "ADDON_LOADED", "CHAT_MSG_CHANNEL", "CHAT_MSG_ACHIEVEMENT", "CHAT_MSG_BATTLEGROUND", "CHAT_MSG_EMOTE", "CHAT_MSG_GUILD", "CHAT_MSG_SAY", "CHAT_MSG_YELL", "CHAT_MSG_WHISPER", "CHAT_MSG_TEXT_EMOTE", "CHAT_MSG_WHISPER_INFORM", "CHAT_MSG_RAID", "CHAT_MSG_PARTY"}) do
	addon:RegisterEvent(event)
end

[Arcilux]

My bad, I am more used to languages where local is the default scope. Just a few questions for understanding purposes:

Why create local instances of the API functions? The local UnitName, GetNumRaidMembers, etc.

Why handle the event listening in the lua rather than the xml?

[Deleted]

Like Meorawr said, locals have a far faster lookup speed - fetching a global requires looking up the global table, then looking up the variable, while locals are already included in the callstack.
If you come from languages that have a fixed name for functions and keep them seperate from variables (PHP comes to mind), this may all seem weird for you, however consider this: Every function in lua is unnamed at a memory address, the variable just contains a reference to that memory. (Same goes for tables - you can see this when you tostring() then).

Example:

local a = {answer = "unknown"}
local b=a
b.answer = 42
print(a.answer)
> 42

If you want an independent instance of the table, you have to manually go through and copy each single entry using pairs - I've written a function I usually c+p to all of my addons as needed:

local function tcopy(intable,outtable,overwrite,written)
	--written is an internal table to track references to already copied tables and keep those intact
	--create outtable if it doesn't exist
	outtable = outtable or {}
	--create written if this is the first call (user call)
	written = written or {}
	--add copied table to written
	written[tostring(intable)] = outtable
	--loop through data
	for key, data in pairs(intable) do
		--if overwrite or not exists, write value
		if (not outtable[key]) or overwrite then
			if type(data) == "table" then
				outtable[key] = written[tostring(data)] or tcopy(data,nil,nil,written)
			else
				outtable[key] = data
			end
		end
	end
	return outtable
end

[Ketho]

Why handle the event listening in the lua rather than the xml?

There are pros and cons to using XML over Lua and vice versa. I'd recommend reading this thread for a debate on "Lua vs XML".
Myself I prefer to do everything in Lua, since I lack basic (WoW) XML knowledge

It's good you're already checking the Chat Events; I would recommend also using COMBAT_LOG_EVENT_UNFILTERED to get player names
This is how I gathered player names according to their UnitGUID/"Player ID" in one of my (Ace3) addons

local realm = MyAddOn.db.realm -- just some AceDB table lookup shortcut

function MyAddOn:COMBAT_LOG_EVENT_UNFILTERED(event, ...)
	local sourceGUID, sourceName, _, destGUID, destName = select(3, ...)
	local sourceID = tonumber(strsub(sourceGUID, 12, 18), 16)
	local destID = tonumber(strsub(destGUID, 12, 18), 16)

	if sourceName and strsub(sourceGUID, 5, 5) == "0" and not realm[sourceID] then
		realm[sourceID] = sourceName
	end
	if destName and strsub(destGUID, 5, 5) == "0" and not realm[destID] then
		realm[destID] = destName
	end
end

My coding is a bit wierd and unexplanatory, but you could remove the unneeded playerID stuff from this example, and modify it a bit (maybe with "pattern matching") to adapt to cross-realm battlegrounds and instances, since realm names are also included in the sourceName/destName when in cross-realm servers

Anyway, aside from all the Lua stuff; you're a computer science student, and obviously know a lot more than me, in general, about programming
I'm playing on the PTR now, and will use your addon there