Writing Addons for WoW?

[JediPhreak]

I am curious what tools etc people use to write the various addons for WoW.

[chris1554]

I'm not totally sure but I believe alot of it is LUA scripting / writing it and editing blizzards LUA code or something. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[lawomous]

A really good text editor that can handle many languages like Notepad++ with syntax highlighting, and line count, etc is a must.

[Kruzux]

I'm not totally sure but I believe alot of it is LUA scripting / writing it and editing blizzards LUA code or something. Correct me if I'm wrong.

you're right and wrong: wow addons are written with LUA code, but are built without editing any of blizzard's codes. i think a common editor is notepad++ since it's free and has a really large amount of features. you can of course use windows' own notepad, but it's really ugly

[Deleted]

use windows' own notepad

For any larger project I would NOT recommend the basic Notepad.

[Ketho]

well if you are talking about just the "tools" ..

Editors: http://www.wowpedia.org/Lua_editors
WYSIWYG Editor: http://www.wowinterface.com/download...IDesigner.html
WoW syntax highlighting: http://www.wowinterface.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=18172

-- resources
FrameXML: http://www.wowpedia.org/Viewing_Bliz...interface_code
API: Wowpedia, wowprogramming

-- "addons"
DevTools: http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/cat35.html

Myself I'm using Notepad++ as the text editor

Edit: If this is just about text editors / IDEs, I might as well link to this WowAce thread

[Taryble]

I'm a fan of PSPad - it comes with a Lua highlighter, and is free.

[autopsy]

I have used ConTEXT for any addons i have worked with. It has lua syntax highlighting etc and can create projects combines all the lua and xml files you might use for your addon

[Calabera]

Notepad++

Supports a large array of programming languages and has highlighting.

[Deleted]

I've used Notepad++ (freeware) for writing my AddOns so far. I also once saw a development environment which reminded me a lot of Visual Studio and allowed drag-and-drop of graphical UI components if I remember correctly. You might want to look for that if you are planning on making an AddOn with graphical components. For basic slash command executing AddOns Notepad++ is sufficient. Also having a good API documentation of lua and wow specific functions is a must have. WoWWiki has all I've needed so far.

[madyrn]

You'll want something capable of both LUA and XML for highlighting. LUA is the functional end and XML covers layout and frame rendering. It's not hard to get started in addons but it can get complicated quickly if you've never programmed before so do your homework on the WoW api and LUA/XML in general before diving in.

[Deleted]

XML covers layout and frame rendering

Just going to throw that out there, Lua can do that too, and dynamically.

[Taryble]

I'm with Treeston - anything you can do in WoW's XML can be done in lua instead, and be easier to look at and fix to boot, since you're not having to swap between two entirely different ways of organizing code.

[Indiglo]

Can anyone recommend a good guide on how to get started with writing your own addon? Something I'm interested in trying...

[Ketho]

Can anyone recommend a good guide on how to get started with writing your own addon? Something I'm interested in trying...

• Creating Your Own WoW Addon
• Wowpedia: Getting started with writing addons
• WoWInterface: Wanting to Learn How: Addons, LUA, XML
• Lua: Garry's Mod Wiki

[Deleted]

And most importantly, if there's something you can't figure out how to do, read other authors' addons that do similar things.
Most authors will be happy to offer explanation over PM/IRC regarding their code if you're unable to grasp what it does right away.

[Indiglo]

• Creating Your Own WoW Addon
• Wowpedia: Getting started with writing addons
• WoWInterface: Wanting to Learn How: Addons, LUA, XML
• Lua: Garry's Mod Wiki

Very awesome, thanks bud.