[zgwortz]

Hi all! Long time programmer here, just getting started in Addon development. As background, I'm currently working on an add-on which includes much of the same functionality as the existing (but sadly not currently working) ESO Master Recipe List by Phinix. I'd considered trying to update the existing add-on, but upon examining it I realized I wanted to take a completely different (no hardcoded data tables) approach, and change the functionality for things I wanted that it doesn't do. I might well decide to abandon this project if Phinix updates his add-on - but at the least it serves as a learning tool for any future add-on I might write.

I'm writing all new code here, but I am examining other add-on code to find solutions to some of the tasks I want to accomplish. Right now, the key task I'm working on is adding an icon to certain item lines when viewing them in your inventory, bank, guild trader, etc. I've looked at a number of add ons which do this --ESO Master Recipe List, Research Buddy, FCO Item Saver, and the original Item Saver, from which it seems that the others have drawn inspiration. But none of them have a clear cut description of what they're doing and each one has... quirks. I'm wondering if they, in turn, are all based on some discussion of the process that I've been unable to find, or whether each is simply building on the original Item Saver, which actually seems to be the cleanest implementation I've found. Are there other add ons which do this that I haven't seen, or which take a different approach? I don't want to simply copy one approach when there might be a better one.

It also occurs to me that there are enough add ons which do this kind of thing that perhaps there ought to be a library to do it (I'm a *huge* fan of libraries of shared code…), and I'm inclined to write that no matter which approach I end up using. The question is, is there actually demand for such a library out there? Or is there such a library already and I simply missed it in my searching?

Finally, since I'm new to add ons, I'm going to include one truly noob question -- Recommendations on programs to edit and or convert texture files into a usable format so I can make the actual icons I want to use?

-->Zgwortz