Need help making my AddOn (first addon ever)
 

Hey, this would be my first addon to be made and I really don't know where to start. I made a image in PS how I want it to look like, but where to start?
I could do some XML and lua tutorials, but I also read that you could do only XML or only LUA for a complete addon - LUA being less Memory Using.

This is my image:


It may ofcourse look a bit different, depending on whats the most user friendly and neatest. But thats not the real issue.

I could tell what I want to make:
The main idea is that you can make pieces of text (like when you create a macro with "/g Hey guildies :)" and use the button every time you log in or such) and then are able to select one (on the left list) and click "Send" to send it into your chat.

The functions shouldn't be to much of a problem, but I always find those outdated tutorials and stupid IDE's (*cough*WOW Addon studio*cough*) that don't do what I want and output messed up code where I don't know what I actually did...

So anyone knows where I could possibly start with a GOOD tutorial. I'd rather write it completely in LUA but I don't know if that's the smartest to do.

I can create simple apps in C++ and Java, but I'm not experienced

Thanks in advance

~Deep92

There are a number of tutorials found throughout the internet... the api is at Wowwiki.com and such....

A good book to start with and worth the read for anyone who wants to write addons is at http://wowprogramming.com/

Also start with the development package that blizzard has on their site.

good luck

What I found doing my 1st AddOn
 

Most of the info I needed for my 1st WoW AddOn I found at wowwiki.
Sounds from what you describe like we have simular programming exp, most of my expierance has been in VB though.

I opted to create the basic interface in XML, and use the LUA to do the work and updates to the interface. Learning how Blizzard implamented XML was the biggest challenge for me, know/knew basic XML prior. But part of my objective was to NOT use any of the librarys and such out there, as I HATE those extra dependancies that can break my stuff when those authors update on a whim.


Usefull info/tutorials found at the following URL's
http://www.wowwiki.com/Category:Interface_customization
http://www.wowwiki.com/Category:HOWTOs
http://www.wowwiki.com/World_of_Warcraft_API
http://www.wowwiki.com/Widget_API
http://www.wowwiki.com/Lua_functions
http://www.wowwiki.com/Events_%28API%29

Following might be usefull too:
http://www.wowwiki.com/Global_functions

My top Favorites (have been most useful) as my project has progressed
http://www.wowwiki.com/World_of_Warcraft_API
http://www.wowwiki.com/Widget_API
http://www.wowwiki.com/Lua_functions

Some Tutorials I have found that could be usefull
http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/26414


Good luck,
Henry
aka Del

I found out a lot by looking at some of the smaller addons and tracked down the functionality for each change and tweaked it to see what it did. A few tweaks later and although I don't feel like a pro I do feel more confident that I can write a base addon and plug in the extra functionality as required. And like hschade I opt to ignore the libraries out there but instead of using xml/lua combination I use pure lua. Was an interesting learning curve.

But yeah, as has been mentioned wowwiki.com is the best place for you to browse around and see whats possible. I use it so much nowadays that I don't even need to bookmark it and it stays in my 7 day history cache.