Help I'm new to creating Addons.

zireko · 04/13/14, 09:06 PM

I'm new to creating Addons but I have a very specific and I do believe simple addon I want to make. But I don't have the first clue really where to start. There is little to almost nothing about how to build an addon for eso. I have been reading up and learning a few thing on how to build wow addons because I know they use lua as well.

I just simply want to show all quests on map and all icons. I am pretty sure all the information is there I just need to figure out how to turn it on.

If you make my addon I'm wanting I don't care. However I would like some help showing me exactly how to make this type of addon or something that can really take me through the steps of making an addon for eso.

I would like to say thank you in advanced to anyone that helps me on this.

Stormknight · 04/13/14, 11:42 PM

Your best bet is downloading some other addons that deal with a similar subject (maps & map pins) and look at how they work.

You'll quickly find that each author goes about things in a different way.

What you want to do sounds fairly complex for a first project, so maybe try something simpler first?

Ouijan · 04/14/14, 12:12 AM

A agree with Stormknight. I am also a new developer and found it extremely useful to investigate other peoples code

for the most part devs seem to comment their code very well which makes it a lot easier to follow.

What I did was start from the beginning with trying to create and display text in a TopLevelControl with lua. This will help you figure out how frames work and how to manipulate them.

the wiki is the best guide in terms of understanding what something does if you can't figure it out

best of luck man!

If you're looking to change frames that already exist in game, check out zgoo it's a really handy addon for developers

zireko · 04/14/14, 12:58 AM

I'm trying to better understand how code works. I went all the way through the wiki tutorial. I have zgoo and look at all the codes problem I'm having is I can't exactly understand what I'm looking at. I've been playing around a little not much luck yet. But I am having fun doing this. Only thing that is spinning me around is I am looking at much of the addons I have I'm looking at there code and I notice they don't seem to have an xml file. I say xml because in the tutorial I had to do some xml code and then lua. I would really like to create something myself. Is there anywhere I might be able to get a simple code and be told what it does so I can tweak the code around? This way I can have a few different things I can create with peaces of coding. My problem with my addons are there simply very advanced so there is tons of coding in them.

Stormknight · 04/14/14, 01:33 AM

Not much use to you right now, but I have a plan to add some more basic tutorial documentation to the wiki to help people get up and running. Depending on real life, I may get some up this week.

Ouijan · 04/14/14, 05:56 AM

Originally Posted by Stormknight

Not much use to you right now, but I have a plan to add some more basic tutorial documentation to the wiki to help people get up and running. Depending on real life, I may get some up this week.

Stormknight, That's a great idea! I was thinking something similar but a YouTube tutorial series. Unfortunately I have very little spare time and zero video editing experience xD

Zireko maybe have a look at some of the simple clock AddOns

Thats where I started but most of them use xml & lua (which is completely fine). For the most part xml & lua is like Html and JavaScript from my understanding: xml defines the objects and lua manipulates them. However you can create elements with lua like u can with JavaScript. If you are wanting to create on screen objects with lua http://wiki.esoui.com/Controls has most of the information you're after! I hope that points you in the right direction

Stormknight · 04/14/14, 06:27 AM

I was also contemplating some youtube stuff too.

So.... http://www.esoui.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4221

zireko · 04/14/14, 06:55 AM

First of all I just want to say thank you so much for the help. You both said to start small. I'm not sure if this is small enough but I did have a thought of a text box with list of words in it such as listing out quests. Make each one of these clickable like once you click on that specific text it will darken. Do you all think this is a simple addon and something good for a beginner like me to start with?

I thought of this idea because I've already built some of the code from doing the wiki tutorial.

Btw I don't know why but I just wanted to add this lil smile because it makes me happy every time I'm writing in here lol.

Stormknight · 04/14/14, 07:22 AM

All hail the dancing banana.

zireko · 04/14/14, 07:29 AM

How would I change the color with?

<OnMouseDown>
don't know what to put here
</OnMouseDown>

Or would I change the function in my lua?

Ouijan · 04/14/14, 11:38 AM

Originally Posted by zireko

How would I change the color with?

<OnMouseDown>
don't know what to put here
</OnMouseDown>

Or would I change the function in my lua?

I would make it call a function in your lua that changes the colour

Generally I try to avoid putting much script in my xml and have it all in my lua

Code:

<OnMouseDown>
    myFunction()
</OnMouseDown>

woop woop