ViragDevTool Info

Looking for Legion Beta to test and update this addon

ViragDevTool is Lua World of Warcraft addon for addon-developers. Functionality is similar to a debugger.

This addon can help new developers to understand WoW API. Main idea is to examine WoW API or your addon's variables in table-like UI. Much easier to use then default print or chat debug

Curse download page

How To Use

Main (and the only) function you can use is ViragDevTool_AddData(data, "some string name"):

--- Adds data to ViragDevTool UI list to monitor
-- @param data (any type)- is object you would like to track. 
-- Default behavior is reference and not object copy
-- @param dataName (string or nil) - name tag to show in UI for you variable. 
-- Main purpose is to give readable names to objects you want to track.
function ViragDevTool_AddData(data, dataName)
 ...
end

Lets suppose you have MyModFN function in yours addon

function MyModFN()
    local var = {}
    ... some code here
    ViragDevTool_AddData(var, "My local var in MyModFN")
end

This will add var as new row in ViragDevTool UI HybridScrollFrameTemplate list

For example

ViragDevTool_AddData(_G, "_G")

Output:

Id(Row in list)	Type	Data Name	Data Value

Here is how i use ViragDevTool_AddData:

--define print fn so we can easily turn it off 
function MyOtherAddon_Print(strName, tData) 
    if ViragDevTool_AddData and MyOtherAddon.kbDEBUG then 
        ViragDevTool_AddData(tData, strName) 
    end
end

-- use this function all over my code instead of print
MyOtherAddon_Print("MyOtherAddon", MyOtherAddon) -- sends object to UI

How to use sidebar:

There are 3 tabs in sidebar and text field has different behavior in each tab.

In \vdt history tab it is just easy way to call /vdt ... for example you can print find Virag and it is the same as printing /vdt find Virag in chat
In Events tab textfield can only use eventname or eventname unit and this is the same as /vdt eventadd eventname or /vdt eventadd unit where eventname is Blizzard API event(http://wowwiki.wikia.com/wiki/Events_A-Z_(Full_List)) string name For example: UNIT_AURA player in textbox is the same as /vdt eventadd UNIT_AURA player in chat

if unit then f:RegisterUnitEvent(event, unit)
else f:RegisterEvent(event) end

In Fn Call Log tab you can type tableName functionName into textfield and it will try to find _G.tableName.functionName and if this field is a function it will be replaced with logger function like this:

tParent[fnName] = function(...)
   ViragDevTool:Add({ ... }) -- will add args to the list
   local result = { savedOldFn(...) }
   ViragDevTool:Add(result) -- will add return value to the list
   return unpack(result)
end

How to use function arguments:

You can specify coma separated arguments that will be passed to the function. Can be string, number, nil, true/false and table to pass table you have to specify prefix t= so lets suppose i want to pass ViragDevToolFrame as a argument, then the string has to be t=ViragDevToolFrame

Demo1: FN Call Args: t=Frame, 12, a12 => someFunction(_G.Frame (table) , 12 (number), a12 (string)) Demo2: FN Call Args: t=Frame.Frame2.Frame3 => someFunction(_G.Frame.Frame2.Frame3 (table))

/CMD

/vdt - toggle ui
/vdt help - for everything else

Other functionality

Clicking on table name will expand and show its children
Clicking on function name will try to call the function. WARNING BE CAREFUL
If table has WoW API GetObjectType() then its type will be visible in value column
Can monitor WoW API events
Can log function calls: their input args and return values
Note: Strings in value column have no line brakes

TODO list:

ViragDevTool is in beta so there is lots of stuff to add and tune.

Create dynamic text color and size chooser (probably not everyone likes SystemFont_Small)
Add filters by object name and type

Not important:

Add predefined buttons for every WoW API (just like _G)
Add function args info and description from mapping file
Add object deep copy option

How to contribute

For now this addon will be updated only when i need certain feature in my other addon's development

Preferred option is to use Github issue tracker if you have some todos, bugs, feature requests, and more. https://github.com/varren/ViragDevTool/issues

Can also use Curse comments board http://mods.curse.com/addons/wow/varrendevtool

Inspired by Rover addon from Wildstar http://mods.curse.com/ws-addons/wildstar/220043-rover

ViragDevTool is Rover for WoW

SwimmingTiger/ViragDevTool