Looking for a SIMPLE tutorial to make a 'window'

Aglaea · 07-04-12, 10:44 AM

I am looking for a simple tutorial that shows me how to make a simple window with a background in a colour of choice, some lines of text and that is movable. May be in Lua or FrameXML, but please motivate your choice. So far, tutorials and code examples I see are just overdone and give much more than this. For me this makes it confusing to get this done.

jeffy162 · 07-04-12, 11:15 AM

It might help if you post your use for this "simple window".

That would go a long way to getting the help you are asking for without having to go through a long, drawn-out process to get you an example (or links to API's) for your code.

Haleth · 07-04-12, 11:30 AM

Code:

-- (1)
local f = CreateFrame("Frame", "YourFrameName", UIParent)
f:SetSize(400, 400)
f:SetPoint("CENTER")

-- (2)
f:SetBackdrop({
	bgFile = "Interface\\ChatFrame\\ChatFrameBackground",
	edgeFile = "Interface\\ChatFrame\\ChatFrameBackground",
	edgeSize = 1,
})
f:SetBackdropColor(0, 0, 0, .5)
f:SetBackdropBorderColor(0, 0, 0)

-- (3)
f:EnableMouse(true)
f:SetMovable(true)
f:RegisterForDrag("LeftButton")
f:SetScript("OnDragStart", f.StartMoving)
f:SetScript("OnDragStop", f.StopMovingOrSizing)
f:SetScript("OnHide", f.StopMovingOrSizing)

-- (4)
local close = CreateFrame("Button", "YourCloseButtonName", f, "UIPanelCloseButton")
close:SetPoint("TOPRIGHT", f, "TOPRIGHT")
close:SetScript("OnClick", function()
	f:Hide()
end)

-- (5)
local text = f:CreateFontString(nil, "ARTWORK", "GameFontHighlight")
text:SetPoint("CENTER")
text:SetText("Hello World!")

(1) http://www.wowwiki.com/API_CreateFrame
(2) http://www.wowwiki.com/API_Frame_SetBackdrop
(3) http://www.wowwiki.com/Making_Draggable_Frames
(4) http://wowprogramming.com/docs/widgets/Button/
(5) http://www.wowwiki.com/API_Frame_CreateFontString

Phanx · 07-04-12, 02:56 PM

Originally Posted by Haleth

Code:

-- (3)
f:SetScript("OnDragStart", f.StartMoving)
f:SetScript("OnDragStop", f.StopMovingOrSizing)

Should be:

Code:

-- (3)
f:EnableMouse(true)
f:SetMovable(true)
f:RegisterForDrag("LeftButton")
f:SetScript("OnDragStart", f.StartMoving)
f:SetScript("OnDragStop", f.StopMovingOrSizing)
f:SetScript("OnHide", f.StopMovingOrSizing)

The first three lines are needed to actually make the frame movable and tell it which mouse buttons may be used to move it; otherwise the drag scripts will be ignored.

The last line is basically a safety check to make sure that if you're dragging the frame and the UI gets hidden for some reason (eg. pressing Alt+Z) the frame doesn't get stuck to the mouse cursor.

Originally Posted by Haleth

[code]
-- (4)
local close = CreateFrame("Button", "YourCloseButtonName", f, "UIPanelCloseButton")
close:SetPoint("TOPRIGHT", f, "TOPRIGHT")
close:SetScript("OnClick", function()
f:Hide()
end)

I'd recommend not giving the button a global name, and attaching it to the parent frame as a table member to make it easily accessible through code without cluttering up the global namespace:

Code:

local close = CreateFrame("Button", nil, f, "UIPanelCloseButton")
f.closeButton = close

Similarly, you should also attach the text object the same way:

Code:

-- (5)
local text = f:CreateFontString(nil, "ARTWORK", "GameFontHighlight")
f.text = text

Other than that, you'll have to be more specific about how you want the frame to look an act if you want more specific suggestions or examples. What kind of information do you want it to show? Is it meant to be displayed all the time (a small status window) or only sometimes (a togglable panel)? Will it show only short pieces of text (like character stats) or longer pieces of text (like paragraphs)? Will it need to have other objects on top of it, like status bars, icons, or buttons?

Haleth · 07-04-12, 02:59 PM

Ah, right. My mistakes there, I just put that together quickly

I name the close button because Blizzard does the same with theirs, but you're probably right that it's better as a table element.

Xrystal · 07-04-12, 03:01 PM

Phanx,

I thought certain functions only worked on controls if they had a name ? Or have I misunderstood that. I have given all my controls names based on that understanding.

Torhal · 07-04-12, 04:04 PM

There are a few templates which require names in the global table simply because their inner workings use them exclusively. Beyond that, though, you're relatively safe using nil.