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by: Whitehead, James; Roe, Rick

ISBN: 9780470481288 | 0470481285

Your secret weapon against the Lich King's wrathWorld of Warcraft has entered a new dimension. Take command of it by modifying the interface with your own unique addons. Whether your goal is to enhance addons you already use, to enlarge your arsenal by creating some all-new features, or to immerse yourself in the programming as well as the game, this book will be your oracle. Learn the arcane languages of Lua and XML and master the craft of addon creation!Understand the anatomy of an addonWork with frames, widgets, and other graphical elementsE... MORExplore basic and advanced functions and control structuresTrack damage with CombatTracker, and respond to the combat log and threat informationTrack, filter, and sort your inventory by writing BagBuddy, a fully functional addonCreate slash commands, custom graphics, scroll frames, and dropdown menusWho are you?Apprentice programmers with no prior experience - learn Lua and XML in Part IJourneymen who have done some programming - skim Part I and start with the details about addon creation in Part IIMaster programmers with addons already in their arsenal - dive right into Advanced Addon Techniques in Part III

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World of Warcraft Programming: A Guide and Reference for Creating WoW Addons, 2nd Edition is an updated and improved all-in-one guide to writing addons for version 3 of the World of Warcraft (including the new Wrath of the Lich King expansion). This book will lead the reader through a tutorial on Lua programming, guide them through the process of creating several example addons, and provide them with a comprehensive reference for the World of Warcraft API.The book starts out with an overview of Lua and XML, the programming languages used to write addons. This tutorial is geared specifically towards using Lua in World of Warcraft, allowing a tight focus on the material most relevant to WoW addon developers. This also allows specific coverage of a number of pitfalls and common mistakes that the reader may experience as they work with the WoW API; even experienced users will find this useful.Once the reader is comfortable using Lua, they are introduced to the specific nuances of the World of Warcraft API through a series of guided examples. Each example highlights a specific aspect of writing addons for World of Warcraft and builds on the skills the reader has already acquired. Readers will learn how to respond to events, create frames, and use the World of Warcraft API to interact with the game.The book continues by teaching the reader how to implement a number of specific addon concepts such as saved variables, slash commands, secure templates, dynamic frames, parsing tooltips, creating dropdown menus and more. Once you've created your own addons, the book then discusses ways to distribute and host your addons so others can download and use them.The final section is a printed comprehensive reference guide to the World of Warcraft API, combining the original documentation from WoWWiki and the original research for this book. Having a fully indexed, consistent set of reference documentation can make finding the specific function you need that much easier.

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The #1 bestselling programming book is back with updated and expanded coverage of the newest release of WoW!World of Warcraft (WoW) is currently the world's largest massively multiplayer online role-playing game. The newest release, "Wrath of the Lich King," has created a demand for updated information on writing addons.

Introduction.

Part I Learning to Program.

Chapter 1 Programming for World of Warcraft.

Chapter 2 Exploring Lua Basics.

Chapter 3 Basic Functions and Control Structures.

Chapter 4 Working with Tables.

Chapter 5 Advanced Functions and Control Structures.

Chapter 6 Lua Standard Libraries.

Chapter 7 Learning XML.

Part II Programming in World of Warcraft.

Chapter 8 Anatomy of an Addon.

Chapter 9 Working with Frames, Widgets, and Other Graphical Elements.

Chapter 10 Saving Time with Frame Templates.

Chapter 11 ... MOREExploring the World of Warcraft API.

Chapter 12 Interacting with Widgets.

Chapter 13 Responding to Game Events.

Chapter 14 Tracking Damage with CombatTracker.

Part III Advanced Addon Techniques 283

Chapter 15 Taking Action with Secure Templates.

Chapter 16 Binding Keys and Clicks to Addon Code.

Chapter 17 Creating Slash Commands.

Chapter 18 Responding to Graphic Updates with OnUpdate.

Chapter 19 Altering Existing Behavior with Function Hooking.

Chapter 20 Creating Custom Graphics.

Chapter 21 Responding to the Combat Log and Threat Information.

Chapter 22 Creating Scroll Frames.

Chapter 23 Creating Dropdown Menus.

Chapter 24 Scanning and Constructing Tooltips.

Chapter 25 Taking Protected Action in Combat.

Chapter 26 Creating Unit Frames with Group Templates.

Part IV Reference.

Chapter 27 API Reference.

Chapter 28 API Categories.

Chapter 29 Widget Reference.

Chapter 30 Events Reference.

Part V Appendixes.

Appendix A Best Practices.

Appendix B Utilizing Addon Libraries.

Appendix C Tracking History Using Version Control Systems.

Appendix D Addon Author Resources.

Index.

James Whitehead II, aka Cladhaire, is the creator of PerfectRaid, Clique, TomTom, and LightHeaded, and coauthor of Hacking World of Warcraft.

Rick Roe, aka the crazy goblin tinker Gazmik Fizzwidget, created Feed-O-Matic, FactionFriend, and some other addons so awesome that Blizzard rolled their functionality into its new UI.