Questions about advanced aspects of the default UI.

[Haleth]

What an awful topic title. I couldn't think of anything better.

Anyhow, there have been a couple of things in the default UI that have been haunting me for some time. Things that are there but nobody really seems to know how to change. For example:

- We can scan the WorldFrame for chat bubbles/nameplates, but do we have any access to the functions that spawn them? Are they documented anywhere?
- Following that, would it be possible to apply custom class colours to enemy player name plates without overwriting RAID_CLASS_COLORS or using a CPU-intensive OnUpdate script?
- Following that, is there any way to change the class colours on (mini)map party/raid icons without the use of similar code?
- Is there any way to access spell button/item icons that are attached to the game cursor when you drag them around? I'd like to change their appearance, but I can't find the source code behind them. I've looked through cursor functions, but I've no idea where the actual functions are that set the icon texture on the cursor.

If you happen to know anything about this (or similar obscure parts of the UI), then by all means, post.

[SDPhantom]

Originally Posted by Haleth - We can scan the WorldFrame for chat bubbles/nameplates, but do we have any access to the functions that spawn them? Are they documented anywhere?

To my knowledge, these are created and managed by the game code itself from the WorldFrame and have no API associated with them.

Originally Posted by Haleth - Following that, is there any way to change the class colours on (mini)map party/raid icons without the use of similar code?

These are actually the same blip textures used for the WorldMapFrame. I haven't taken a look at the Minimap API for a while, but last I checked, there was a function to load in a modified blip texture.
Edit: Might want to check out Minimap:SetClassBlipTexture().

Originally Posted by Haleth - Is there any way to access spell button/item icons that are attached to the game cursor when you drag them around? I'd like to change their appearance, but I can't find the source code behind them. I've looked through cursor functions, but I've no idea where the actual functions are that set the icon texture on the cursor.

Cursor rendering is handled by the game code itself and its changes are applied through use of the cursor mode and pickup* API calls. It is possible to store what was picked up, clear the cursor, render your own texture for your own icon at the cursor position, and reapply it when pickup* is called again. If you try this route, expect your texture to lag back behind the cursor a few frames if you're running the cursor in hardware mode.

[Haleth]

Thanks for the reply. The map icons function seems interesting, I'll see if I can find where it's called.

The easiest solution would simply be to replace the original texture file for the icons, but I prefer to keep everything within the addons itself.

[Haleth]

Well, that 'worked', as in, I was able to change the texture, but because of the lack of proper .blp/tga converters I just ended up with green squares on my minimap.

Trying something now to change the class colours on the unit nameplates.

Edit: That was easy, just hooking OnShow and checking the health bar colour did the trick.

[Seerah]

Originally Posted by Haleth because of the lack of proper .blp/tga converters I just ended up with green squares on my minimap.

What were you using? I like BLP2PNG.

[Haleth]

Well, I use mac so that's not an option for me. The only thing I've found is blp tools, which is broken and buggy.

I tried using a .tga format image either with almost everything exactly the same as the original, but it wouldn't work either. I've probably made an oversight somewhere.

[Seerah]

Okay, then have you tried taking the textures from here to edit?
http://wowprogramming.com/utils/artbrowser

They're already .png files, and then you just have to save them as .tga in your editing software.

/edit: remember that you need an alpha channel

[Haleth]

I tried that and I got it working, but the quality of the icons appears to be considerably lower than the original. The borders seem fuzzy in-game, though when viewed with any imaging program it appears just fine.

[acapela]

Originally Posted by Haleth Edit: That was easy, just hooking OnShow and checking the health bar colour did the trick.

yeah, the trick is discovering that a nameplate exists in the first place.

are you polling WorldFrame for new children, and digging into the texture regions to identify which are nameplates (this is the only approach i know of)?

[Haleth]

Originally Posted by acapela yeah, the trick is discovering that a nameplate exists in the first place. are you polling WorldFrame for new children, and digging into the texture regions to identify which are nameplates (this is the only approach i know of)?

Yes, but there's now a more efficient method than looking through the textures because nameplates are actually named now. They're called NamePlate1, NamePlate2, ... etc.

local function IsValidFrame(frame)
	local name = frame:GetName()
	return name and name:find("NamePlate")
end

local numKids = 0
local last = 0
local OnUpdate = function(self, elapsed)
	last = last + elapsed

	if last > freq then
		last = 0

		if WorldFrame:GetNumChildren() ~= numKids then
			numKids = WorldFrame:GetNumChildren()
			for i = 1, select("#", WorldFrame:GetChildren()) do
				frame = select(i, WorldFrame:GetChildren())

				if IsValidFrame(frame) then
					CreateFrame(frame)
				end
			end
		end
	end
end

(modified caelNamePlates)

Chat bubbles aren't named yet unfortunately.

[SDPhantom]

For named frames, you should be able to refer to their name as if it were a global. For example, a frame named "NamePlate1" should be assigned to a global variable called "NamePlate1". This is the behavior of the frame creation routine for both CreateFrame() and the XML parser. Note that if a global variable of the same name already exists, it won't be set, but the frame is still created.

[Haleth]

Originally Posted by SDPhantom For named frames, you should be able to refer to their name as if it were a global. For example, a frame named "NamePlate1" should be assigned to a global variable called "NamePlate1". This is the behavior of the frame creation routine for both CreateFrame() and the XML parser. Note that if a global variable of the same name already exists, it won't be set, but the frame is still created.

How exactly would that apply here if I can ask? I'm not sure I understand.