Accessing a frame created in XML from LUA

[ruadh]

I've spent a week searching forums, and everything I've found leads me to believe that when a frame is created in XML, the reference is available in the global namespace with the same name as the frame. In other words, this should print "LUA Loaded", "ADDON_LOADED" and "XMLbeforeLUAForm" when the addon loads. The frame comes up visible, "LUA Loaded" prints, but nothing else. Can someone tell me where I'm going wrong? Thanks.

## Interface: 70000
## Title: XMLbeforeLUA
## Notes: How to address a frame created in XML from LUA run after the XML
## DefaultState: Enabled
## LoadOnDemand: 0
XMLbeforeLUAForm.xml
XMLbeforeLUA.lua

<Ui xmlns="http://www.blizzard.com/wow/ui" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <Frame name="XMLbeforeLUAForm">
    <Size>
      <AbsDimension x="400" y="400" />
    </Size>
    <Anchors>
      <Anchor point="CENTER" relativeTo="UIParent">
      </Anchor>
    </Anchors>
    <Backdrop bgFile="Interface\DialogFrame\UI-DialogBox-Background" edgeFile="Interface\DialogFrame\UI-DialogBox-Border" tile="true">
      <BackgroundInsets>
        <AbsInset left="11" right="12" top="12" bottom="11" />
      </BackgroundInsets>
      <TileSize>
        <AbsValue val="32" />
      </TileSize>
      <EdgeSize>
        <AbsValue val="32" />
      </EdgeSize>
    </Backdrop>
  </Frame>
</Ui>

print("LUA loaded");
local myFrame = XMLbeforeLUAForm;
myFrame:SetScript("OnEvent", function(event) print(event); print(self.name); end)
myFrame:RegisterEvent("ADDON_LOADED")

[Phanx]

Change "self.name" to "self:GetName()".

If you want your frame to have a "name" key containing its name, you need to add that manually:

local myFrame = XMLbeforeLUAForm
myFrame.name = myFrame:GetName()

[SDPhantom]

Originally Posted by ruadh myFrame:SetScript("OnEvent", function(event) print(event); print(self.name); end)

This line should be printing something like table:1A2B3C4D and throwing an "attempt to index nil" error if it's being run. The function definition is missing self as the first parameter. event is the second followed by a list of arguments specific to the event fired.

[ruadh]

Thank you both very much. It looks like my entire problem was assuming that a frame object automatically has a name attribute; I'd also left out the SetScript(). This code works as I expected:

## Interface: 70000
## Title: XMLbeforeLUA
## Version: 70000
## Notes: How to address a frame created in XML from LUA run after the XML
## DefaultState: Enabled
## LoadOnDemand: 0
XMLbeforeLUAForm.xml
XMLbeforeLUA.lua

<Ui xmlns="http://www.blizzard.com/wow/ui" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <!--Autogenerated by wowuides, Version=1.0.300.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null-->
  <Frame name="XMLbeforeLUAForm">
    <!--<FrameSkin skinid="dcb143e1-a4ab-4e7c-b934-1efa40101d21" frameid="2d508883-59c2-4f83-ae10-27aaad48391b" />-->
    <Size>
      <AbsDimension x="400" y="400" />
    </Size>
    <Anchors>
      <Anchor point="CENTER" relativeTo="UIParent">
        <Offset>
          <AbsDimension x="0" y="0" />
        </Offset>
      </Anchor>
    </Anchors>
    <Backdrop bgFile="Interface\DialogFrame\UI-DialogBox-Background" edgeFile="Interface\DialogFrame\UI-DialogBox-Border" tile="true">
      <BackgroundInsets>
        <AbsInset left="11" right="12" top="12" bottom="11" />
      </BackgroundInsets>
      <TileSize>
        <AbsValue val="32" />
      </TileSize>
      <EdgeSize>
        <AbsValue val="32" />
      </EdgeSize>
    </Backdrop>
    <Layers>
      <Layer>
        <Texture name="$parentTitleBorder" hidden="true" file="Interface\DialogFrame\UI-DialogBox-Header">
          <Size>
            <AbsDimension x="160" y="32" />
          </Size>
          <Anchors>
            <Anchor point="TOP">
              <Offset>
                <AbsDimension x="0" y="5" />
              </Offset>
            </Anchor>
          </Anchors>
          <TexCoords left="0.2" right="0.8" top="0" bottom="0.6" />
        </Texture>
        <FontString name="$parentTitleString" hidden="true" font="Fonts\FRIZQT__.TTF">
          <Size>
            <AbsDimension x="140" y="0" />
          </Size>
          <Anchors>
            <Anchor point="TOP">
              <Offset>
                <AbsDimension x="0" y="-4" />
              </Offset>
            </Anchor>
          </Anchors>
          <FontHeight>
            <AbsValue val="12" />
          </FontHeight>
          <Color r="1" g="0.8196079" b="0" />
          <Shadow>
            <Color r="0" g="0" b="0" />
            <Offset>
              <AbsDimension x="1" y="-1" />
            </Offset>
          </Shadow>
        </FontString>
      </Layer>
    </Layers>
  </Frame>
</Ui>

local myFrame = XMLbeforeLUAForm;
print(myFrame:GetName())
myFrame:RegisterEvent("ADDON_LOADED")
myFrame:SetScript("OnEvent", function(self, event, name) if name == "XMLbeforeLUA" then print(event); print(self:GetName()); self:Hide(); end end)
print("LUA loaded");

[Seerah]

And here is your XML file as Lua code instead. (with tables expanded vertically for ease of reading)

local luaFrame = CreateFrame("Frame", "UnneccessaryGlobalFrameName", "UIParent")
luaFrame:SetWidth(400)
luaFrame:SetHeight(400)
luaFrame:SetPoint("CENTER")
luaFrame:SetBackdrop({
     bgFile = "Interface\\DialogFrame\\UI-DialogBox-Background",
     edgeFile = "Interface\\DialogFrame\\UI-DialogBox-Border",
     tile = true, tileSize = 32,
     edgeSize = 32, 
     insets = {
          left = 11,
          right = 12,
          top = 12,
          bottom = 11
     }
})
 
local titleBorder = luaFrame:CreateTexture("UnneccessaryGlobalFrameNameTitleBorder")
titleBorder:SetWidth(160)
titleBorder:SetHeight(32)
titleBorder:SetPoint("TOP", luaFrame, "TOP", 0, 5)
titleBorder:SetTexture("Interface\\DialogFrame\\UI-DialogBox-Header")
titleBorder:SetTexCoord(.2, .8, 0, .6)
titleBorder:Hide()  --not sure why you're hiding it, but okay...
 
local titleString = luaFrame:CreateFontString("UnneccessaryGlobalFrameNameTitleString")
titleString:SetFont("Fonts\\FRIZQT__.TTF", 12)
titleString:SetWidth(140)
titleString:SetPoint("TOP", luaFrame, "TOP", 0, -4)
titleString:SetTextColor(1, 0.8196079, 0)
titleString:SetShadowOffset(1, -1)
titleString:SetShadowColor(0, 0, 0)
titleString:Hide()  --again, not sure why you're hiding it...
--note: you never gave your fontstring text...
--titleString:SetText("This is my frame's title.")

And you can add this right below that.

luaFrame:RegisterEvent("ADDON_LOADED")
luaFrame:SetScript("OnEvent", function(self, event, name)
     if name == "XMLbeforeLUA" then
          print(event)
          print(self:GetName())
          self:Hide() --don't hide your frame when seeing if things load - how do you know it works? This might be how your fontstring ended up with no text. ;)
     end
end)
print("Lua loaded")

(BTW, it's Lua, not LUA. It's Portuguese for "moon", not an acronym.)
(Oh, and also semi-colons are totally unnecessary in Lua. )

[SDPhantom]

Originally Posted by Seerah luaFrame:CreateTexture("UnneccessaryGlobalFrameNameTitleBorder") luaFrame:CreateFontString("UnneccessaryGlobalFrameNameTitleString")

You can use the $parent tag to prefix a name with the parent's name in Lua as well.
Also, you should at the very least define what DrawLayer your regions reside in.

luaFrame:CreateTexture("$parentTitleBorder","BORDER")
luaFrame:CreateFontString("$parentTitleString","OVERLAY")

[ruadh]

Originally Posted by Seerah --not sure why you're hiding it, but okay...

The example was focused on getting the Lua to work, but you raise another question. Shouldn't the visibility of the frame's children follow the parent? In other words, wouldn't hiding the frame also hide the border and the title string?

Thanks for all your comments.

[Seerah]

Yes. Children inherit visibility, alpha and scale from their parents.