WoWInterface - Better Saved Variables Tutorial?

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WoWInterface (https://www.wowinterface.com/forums/index.php)

- General Authoring Discussion (https://www.wowinterface.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=20)

- - Better Saved Variables Tutorial? (https://www.wowinterface.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19104)

HyperGig

11-04-08 03:20 PM

Better Saved Variables Tutorial?

The new guy here (again) and i was looking for better Saved Variables Tutorial. The only one that i see is the one from wowwiki which has ## Interface: 1300 in its demo toc file, which is slightly unnerving , and i don't think is all that clear. What did you peoplez use when you where getting started?

http://www.wowwiki.com/Saving_variab..._game_sessions

Thanks in advanced!! (again) :banana:

Cralor

11-04-08 05:03 PM

I'm still new to this, but I think I have the gist of it.

First, you need to enable the SV in the TOC (shown in that tutorial).

Code:

SavedVariables: TESTDB

or

SavedVariablesPerCharacter: TESTDB

Second, you need to set up the default variables to save.
Example:

Code:

TESTDB = {

    variable1 = true;

    variable2 = true;

    variable3 = true;

    scale = 1.5;

    parent = "UIParent";

    point = "CENTER";

    parentPoint = "CENTER";

    x = 0;

    y = -100;

};

Third, you need to set it up so that you load the saved variables.
Example:

Code:

function FRAME_Update()

    FRAME:ClearAllPoints()

    FRAME:SetPoint(TESTDB.point, TESTDB.parent, TESTDB.parentPoint, TESTDB.x, TESTDB.y)

    FRAME:SetScale(RuneMoverDB.scale);

    if (FRAME:IsMouseEnabled()) then

        TESTDB.point, relativeTo, TESTDB.parentPoint, TESTDB.x, TESTDB.y = FRAME:GetPoint();

    end

end

(NOTE: This will vary drastically based on what variables you are looking to save. In this example, I have a frame's position saved and it's scale.)

Lastly, you need to update the saved variables if the user wishes to change them.

This is the basics of it. I hope this helped you a little. I am sorry if I have said something wrong. I am still really new :)

Akryn

11-04-08 05:23 PM

the simple version is that global variables that you indicate in your .toc will get saved in whatever state they're in at logout/reload (after PLAYER_LEAVING_WORLD, etc. fire, so you can change them at the last second if you want to).

they are then restored after your addon is loaded. note that the *after* means that OnLoad handlers, etc. will run before the saved variables are loaded (see the events ADDON_LOADED and VARIABLES_LOADED)

HyperGig

11-05-08 08:42 AM

Where do i put the

Code:

if (not my_var) then my_var = "default Val" end

part?

Slakah

11-05-08 09:32 AM

Quote:

Where do i put the

Code:

if (not my_var) then my_var = "default Val" end

In your function which is fired on "ADDON_LOADED" or "VARIABLES_LOADED".

The code I generally use for saved variables goes as follows (although I have started mucking about with metatables):

Code:

local addon = CreateFrame("Frame")

addon:RegisterEvent("ADDON_LOADED") --I use "ADDON_LOADED" because the majority of my mods use "AddonLoader".



local function OnEnable(self, event, addon)

        if addon ~= "my addon name" then return end

        

        if not AddonDB then

                AddonDB = {<defaults here>}

        end

        self:UnregisterEvent("ADDON_LOADED")



        <Register any events you want to register here>

        self:SetScript("OnEvent", MyEventHandler)

end



addon:SetScript("OnEvent", OnEnable)

Hope this helps you.

p3lim

11-05-08 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HyperGig (Post 108145)

Where do i put the

Code:

if (not my_var) then my_var = "default Val" end

part?

much easier/cleaner would be like this:

Code:

TESTDB = TESTDB or {defaulttable}

Seerah

11-05-08 10:22 AM

In the past I have used AceDB-3.0 for working with my saved variables. In my current project, I wanted to try not using it. One problem that I have bumped into while using MYVAR = MYVAR or defaults is this:

When I add a new variable to be saved after MYVAR has been created, MYVAR doesn't pick it up. I get errors because even though it's defined in the defaults table, the addon is looking for it in MYVAR. Which is the best way to go about this?

edit: and P3lim, I don't think you need to put defaulttable in brackets {}, as it is already a table.

Slakah

11-05-08 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seerah (Post 108159)

When I add a new variable to be saved after MYVAR has been created, MYVAR doesn't pick it up. I get errors because even though it's defined in the defaults table, the addon is looking for it in MYVAR. Which is the best way to go about this?

You can use metatables to set a default value if no value for that key is found.

i.e.

Code:

local defaults = {

        foo = "bar",

        tbl = {

                cat = "meow",

                dog = "bark",

                cow = "moo"

        }

}



local myDB = setmetatable(myDB or {}, {__index = defaults})

so if I were to do

Code:

print(myDB.foo)

then it would output "bar", and

Code:

print(myDB.tbl.cow)

would output "moo".

but then if I were to do

Code:

myDB.tbl.cow = "asleep"

then

Code:

print(myDB.tbl.cow)

would output "asleep".

Hope this helps.

Seerah

11-05-08 10:51 AM

that last part confused me, where assigning a new value to the existing var still returned the old value, but...

I will look into metatables. I haven't worked with them yet. Just to clarify, my issue was with creating new options during development. Say I had

Code:

defaults = {

    scale = .9,

    fontsize = 14

}

Then, in my PEW function I put

Code:

MYMODDB = MYMODDB or defaults

That would make

Code:

print(MYMODDB.scale)

return .9

After playing with the code for a while, I decide I want to add an alpha option as well. So my defaults table changes to this

Code:

defaults = {

    scale = .9,

    fontsize = 14,

    alpha = .7

}



...



MYMODDB = MYMODDB or defaults

And somewhere in the code I have

Code:

f:SetAlpha(MYMODDB.alpha)

But, upon reloading the UI to pick up the changes made to the lua, I would get an error for

Code:

f:SetAlpha(MYMODDB.alpha)

because

Code:

print(MYMODDB.alpha)

would return nil

I probably didn't need to explain myself, as I'm sure you knew what I meant, and I will read up on metatables. :) Thanks, Slakah. :)

Slakah

11-05-08 10:57 AM

Quote:

that last part confused me, where assigning a new value to the existing var still returned the old value, but...

ahh that was just me being silly with copy and paste, it should say it would output "asleep".

Seerah

11-05-08 10:57 AM

Okies - was wondering if it was a typo :p

slizen

11-05-08 12:17 PM

Just checking your db table with:

Code:

MYMODDB = MYMODDB or defaults

is not enough.
The problem is it only checks if the table exists, not that all keys that are in the default table also exist in the MYMODB table.

So even if you add for example an alpha key to your defaults table, the table loaded from the saved variables where there is no alpha key will still be used.

Something like this should work:

Code:

for k,v in pairs(defaults) do

    if type(MYMODDB[k]) == "nil" then

        MYMODB[k] = v

    end

end

That or using a metatable as Slakah said.

HyperGig

11-05-08 12:24 PM

Thank you everyone for all your help... that why i love this community, everyone is always so helpful.

So the general consensus is to load previously / set default saved vars via the ADDON_LOADED event? Right now i can't do this unless I have a OnMouseUp on my frame set to executed another function that sets/loads the saved/default vars.

conner686

11-06-08 01:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slizen (Post 108171)

Just checking your db table with:

Code:

MYMODDB = MYMODDB or defaults

Code:

for k,v in pairs(defaults) do

    if type(MYMODDB[k]) == "nil" then

        MYMODB[k] = v

    end

end

That or using a metatable as Slakah said.

I use this method, and it provides *no* protection if performed within the VARIABLES_LOADED event. My solution was gross, involving a timed event one second after VARIABLES_LOADED. I guess you can also use a one-shot PLAYER_ENTERED_WORLD event, but that didn't occur to me at the time.

That metatable thing looks *amazing.* I wish I hadn't been intimidated by the underscores when I first stumbled upon the concept, it looks like quite the ideal solution.

Seerah

11-09-08 11:27 PM

Okay... a follow up... :)

This did not work for me. Gave me a PocketPlotDB is nil error.

Code:

local PocketPlotDB = setmetatable(PocketPlotDB or {}, {__index = defaults})

Added

Code:

PocketPlotDB = PocketPlotDB or {}

in front of it and it worked for everything except the table of r,g,b,a values for my frame's background. Every other subtable (frame positions) worked... :confused: Then again, those subtables (frame positions) do not exist in the defaults table and are only added once the frame is actually moved.

This, modeled after what was shown in WoW Programming, gave me the same result as above. Worked for everything *except* the background color subtable.

Code:

PocketPlotDB = PocketPlotDB or {}

local ppdb = {}

setmetatable(PocketPlotDB, ppdb)

ppdb.__index = defaults

I finally went with conner686's method (since I do it at PLAYER_LOGIN anyhow) and it works perfectly.

Code:

for k,v in pairs(defaults) do

    if type(PocketPlotDB[k]) == "nil" then

          PocketPlotDB[k] = v

    end

end

lieandswell

11-12-08 08:14 AM

I'd like to use metatables for default settings, but I never got it to work. Instead, I do a version check at VARIABLES_LOADED, and if the user has an older version, I do something like this:

Code:

function MyAddOn.AddNewSettings(settings, defaults)

        for k, v in pairs(defaults) do

                if ( not settings[k] ) then

                        if ( type(v) == "table" ) then

                                settings[k] = {};

                                settings[k] = MyAddOn.AddNewSettings(settings[k], defaults[k]);

                        else

                                settings[k] = v;

                        end

                elseif ( type(v) == "table" ) then

                        settings[k] = MyAddOn.AddNewSettings(settings[k], defaults[k]);

                end

        end

        return settings;

end

It goes through the settings table and adds any new ones that may have appeared in more recent versions.

dafire

11-12-08 08:34 AM

look at this if you look for an easy way how to store settings and maybe if you need easy localisation: http://github.com/tekkub/addontemplate/tree/master

the way tekkub does it it will only save changed settings.. it will remove values from the table if they are default on logout. However this will not work if you want to use subtables.

Slakah

11-12-08 10:15 AM

Too my knowledge :

Code:

local PocketPlotDB = setmetatable(PocketPlotDB or {}, {__index = defaults})

is the same as

Code:

PocketPlotDB = PocketPlotDB or {}

local ppdb = {}

setmetatable(PocketPlotDB, ppdb)

ppdb.__index = defaults

The only difference is that in the first method PocketPlotDB is local, so I'm guessing your "PocketPlotDB is nil" error is due to variable scope. i.e.

Code:

function printvar()

  print(var)

end

local var = "cat"

printvar()

would print nil.

As for your other problem of the metatable not being applied to existing substables, you could do this:

Code:

local function DeepMetatable(tbl, defaulttbl) --I couldn't think of a better name

    for i, v in pairs(tbl) do

        if type(v) == "table" and defaulttbl[i] then

            DeepMetatable(tbl, defaulttbl[i])

        end

    end

    return setmetatable(tbl, {__index = defaulttbl})

end



local defaults = {

    color = {

        r = 1,

        g = 0.6,

        b = 0.6

    }

}



PocketPlotDB = {

    color = {}

}

PocketPlotDB = DeepMetatable(PocketPlotDB or {}, defaults)

print(PocketPlotDB.color.r)

Would output 1.

Whereas the other

Code:

PocketPlotDB = setmetatable(PocketPlotDB or {}, {__index = defaults})

print(PocketPlotDB.color.r)

would give you nil.

I think the reason why the previous method I posted didn't work because the __index metatable wasn't applied to pre-existing subtables, so if those pre-existing subtables were missing values there was no __index metatable to get the default value.

Hope this helps.

p3lim

11-12-08 10:45 AM

Thanks for the tips btw, gonna implement it for pMinimap now (sick of all those bugreports people toss at me because of nil variables)

Seerah

11-12-08 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slakah (Post 109006)

The only difference is that in the first method PocketPlotDB is local, so I'm guessing your "PocketPlotDB is nil" error is due to variable scope. i.e.

I listed PocketPlotDB as a local at the top of the file, so scope was not it. As I mentioned, it did work after adding

Code:

PocketPlotDB = PocketPlotDB or defaults

(and removed the "or defaults" from the metatable assignment) *except* for the color table.

Anyway, the inpairs solution works for me. :) Thanks. :)

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