SLCore & SL Modules = Plug-In Goodness

[Taffu]

I'm currently working on, yet, another restructure of SL add-ons. Specifically two things right now, SLCore which is going to be a core configuration & module control add-on, and SLModule-1.0, which is an associated SL-specific library for building Plug-In modules.

SLCore eventually will use it's own GUI configuration menu instead of a Waterfall menu. Together with the SLModule-1.0 library, modules (such as Clock, FPS, Bags, Exp, etc) will be independent add-ons that will function as modules controlled by SLCore. This will allow users to selectively choose which modules to use and not to use without the bloat of unneeded modules.

This will also expand the SL interface for other add-on authors to build SL Plug-In modules of their own design. The core idea of this will be the same as always...lightweight text-based stat tracking, and the library and structure will cater to this specifically. However in the future, this may expand into other add-ons of which I've been interested in building but just haven't begun yet (ie. Action Bars, Minimap, Art/Texture Injection, etc).

Currently I'm at what I would estimate as 15% completion for this project. Any insight, opinions, suggestions, ideas, etc. are more than welcome.

[Seerah]

Yay! Eagerly anticipating the ability to set my font only once.

[Taffu]

Update 12/8/2007

The SLModule library is about 35% complete, and things are moving along very nicely. Frame & Text updates are no longer called within the module itself, they are now called through the library to minimize overhead & excess source code.

As of right now, with embedded libraries, SLCore is using between 650-700 KB and a fully functional Clock module is using between 5-10 KB!!...which is much lighter than previous versions of SL add-ons. If things stay consistant, I would estimate that even with 20 modules active, the memory footprint will remain under 1 MB total...which is great, exactly what I was hoping for with this change.

[Zyonin]

Oh sweet! I will be looking foward to this !

[Fuzzywuzzy]

Sounds very nice indeed

[Taffu]

Update - 12/14/2007

Things are coming along very nicely. The library is about 90% finished, and I've begun coding some more of the individual modules to ready a beta Release Candidate. I hope to have the SLTimex "bundle" ready by the end of the weekend. The bundle will include SLCore, SLClock, SLFps, and SLLag.

The nice thing is the unified configuration GUI w/ master/inherited font settings. This will make configuring the seperate modules a lot easier by using inherited features that are part of SLCore.

Once the RC has gone through some testing and everything is ready for a full release, I'll write up a SLModule-1.0 API Information section in my Author Portal for authors interesting in programming an SLModule.

[Syxx]

I can't wait. Sounds awesome!

[Taffu]

I've just released a "Beta Bundle" which should be available sometime today once the files are approved.

[Galinn]

woot me cant wait for that.. does it incl the experience bar btw? cuz i am dying for a good one

[Taffu]

Not yet. This is just a Beta with some basic modules so that I can get everything running smooth before I release the "Stat" modules like what SLStats has right now. They're not far off, and they're much easier to maintain/develop now...so once the Core is ready for release, the Stat modules won't be far behind at all

[Taffu]

Updated the file this morning, and added more modules. Exp, Mail, Gold, Location, and Durability have been added to the Beta Bundle. Exp module has a new StatusBar feature. Things are pretty stable, although the mail module is probably going to stay in beta for a while, as from what I understand Blizz still hasn't put out much information about the new mail event firing (which I'm still using a simple workaround for duplicate fires).

One think I'll be changing is the manner in which colors are retrieved to simply the use of colors in multiple areas rather than restricting it to two color calls at a time. This should allow for many more colors to be used in individual modules under certain conditions.

Geez...it's been days and I've only had one problem (which was a folder nesting problem with the download and not the addons themselves). :P

[Taffu]

Alright, SLCore and Clock are now released in a full release state. Armor is done (I just haven't uploaded) and I'm just updating the libraries and double checking all the others before I release them.

I'm inquiring to find a better way of categorizing the AddOns right now so they aren't scattered all over the General GUI category. For now, I'll release them into General GUI like I have been, and once something new is figured out I'll just have them moved if needed.

[Zyonin]

Maybe ask the Admins for a featured section.

[Seerah]

check your PMs - I sent you one yesterday or the day before about that topic