Talk:World of Warcraft API

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the World of Warcraft API article.
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Archived talk

• Talk:World of Warcraft API/Archive 2005 - Everything from 2005.
• Talk:World_of_Warcraft_API/Archive_2006_January_Split_Debate - The January 2006 API page split debate.
• Talk:World_of_Warcraft_API/Archive_2006_June - Up to and including june 2006.
• Talk:World of Warcraft API/Archive 2009 January Up to and including January 2009.

Getting Started

How do I get started with mod development? In particular, there are some simple mods I'd just like to maintain - do bug fixes to keep them running in future patches. I've tried at least a couple tutorials over the last few years I've been in WoW, and either they didn't work because they were too difficult for a beginner, or maybe because they were outdated. I noticed that UI beginner's guide seems to have suffered the same fate. Does anyone have suggestions for me? Much appreciated. -Howbizr (talk) 20:46, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Getting started with writing addons is a possible alternative. -- foxlit (talk) 16:58, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

WoW Programming is a great resource. However, even though it will be very challenging at first, trial and error (along with the book and other addons as reference) is the most effective way to learn. Start by writing small addons from scratch and work your way up. --Demeth (talk) 00:52, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

On keeping the list current

I've recently removed a few (larger) groups of functions from the list -- GetPlayerBuff* family and Crafting functions. The intention behind that is to keep this list relatively limited to things that are useful to (current) addon authors.

Granted, people may actually want information about older API functions. The removal process gets the articles tagged with {{removedapi}}, and places them in Category:World of Warcraft API/Removed Functions -- so they're still around in case people actually need them. I draw the "useful to current authors" line at the previous major patch: so API removed in 3.1 stays on this page at least until 3.2 is released, and so on.

It's my intention (unless someone objects) to remove other older removed API functions from this page as well. -- foxlit (talk) 13:48, 28 May 2009 (UTC)

In retrospect, major patches are a bit infrequent; perhaps something like a month since the release of the patch removing a function would be more appropriate.

I also dislike the presence of things like CameraOrSelectOrMoveStart here -- while those are technically part of the API, they are close to useless as far as addon authors are concerned. It would perhaps be better to split the entire "always protected" category of functions to a different page. Maintenance nightmare, though. -- foxlit (talk) 02:26, March 14, 2010 (UTC)

Protected functions should not be removed from the list as authors may want to post-hook them using hooksecurefunc and would need to know what gets passed to them and when. Posted by: EGingell (T|C|F) on 04:37, March 14, 2010 (UTC)

Verb in description

What person must be used in the verb with which the description start? Some verbs end in -s (3rd person singular) and some verb don't. What choice will be made? Hans Kamp (talk) 22:44, October 7, 2009 (UTC)

Minor Edits

Edited PickupBagFromSlot(slotID) and removed "If an item is already picked up, this places the item into the specified slot, swapping the items if needed." Upon testing this doesn't swap bags, use EquipCursorItem(slotID) to swap bags. BrknSoul (talk) 01:44, October 30, 2009 (UTC)

Cleanup

Would anybody object to me taking all the subsections out and putting them into their own articles? Posted by: EGingell (T|C|F) on 10:06, March 4, 2010 (UTC)

Yes. There would appear to be no reason to do so. -- foxlit (talk) 20:11, March 5, 2010 (UTC)

I was thinking a good reason would be to make the main article smaller, but if nobody else has a problem with the load time, I won't worry about it. Posted by: EGingell (T|C|F) on 22:02, March 5, 2010 (UTC)

Adding API Functions

I have seen a number of API Functions that are currently missing from this page. How do I go about adding these? Can I simply edit the page, or are these pulled in from some other page? EWOlson (talk) 23:15, 28 November 2010 (UTC)