Authors CurseForge

X-buZZ, these are all excellent suggestions. I had hoped to be feature complete but a number of your suggestions are so compelling that I will add them in the near future. Rather than doing a point-by-point response, I'll spend a little time on the easy ones and then post a discussion of the ones that need more explication. Thanks!

Quote from X-buZZ

appearance: PLEASE add an option to change the color of the background bar texture. I have tried out many textures but with lots of them the contrast between the bar and the background is too low when just having a different texture and transparency for both.

appearance: Why don't you allow font sizes larger than 18?

colors: Please allow custom buff/debuff coloring on group level when using automatic bars. The default global color option is great but having different color possibilities available in each group would be top notch. I want to have the debuffs on my target to have another color than the debuffs on the player.

Version r67 addresses these three requests:

Added option to set a custom background color for each bar group. Also added saturation and brightness controls for foreground and background to both default and per-bar group appearance settings.

Font size can now be set between 5 and 30.

Standard colors for notifications, buffs, debuffs (including poison, curse, disease and magic debuffs) and cooldowns can now be set for each bar group. Also added Restore Defaults buttons for both fonts/textures and standard colors so you can revert to current defaults more easily.

Quote from X-buZZ

general layout settings: I think the the way the layout system works is a bit confusing. When switching from rows to columns for instance it is not possible at all to change the horizontal offset of the icon text (buff stacks). It would be better to have all possible offset options available in each layout preset. Further more the configuration would be much easier when each element (icon, bar, label, wrapping, etc.) would be independent from each other. Right now when i change the height of a bar the icon size also increases.

layout: Please implement horizontal and vertical spacing for buffs, not just one value for both dimension.

layout: An option to let buffs and bars shrink and grow from the center is something i would really appreciate. I want to have some kind of proc group in the middle of the screen which grows to the left AND right. I hope you understand what i mean.

I am planning changes to the Layout tab that should address X-buZZ's requests. The biggest change will be to no longer use the width and height settings to mean different things in bar and icon configurations. Instead there will be separate bar width, bar height, and icon size controls. Settings for scale, spacing, and text offsets will be made consistent between configuration types.

I am not yet sure how I'll do the "grow from center" thing but I understand the request and have some ideas to test.

I should be able to automatically translate current settings when I make the changes but there may be some need for manual layout cleanup.

Quote from X-buZZ

conditions: An option to negate a condition would simplify many things.

Just added in version r68.

Hi Tomber,

I am glad that you like the requests and are implementing them so fast! :-)
I have tested the things you added yesterday and the work fantastic.

Here are some more requests (you are going to hate me for all this, right? :D):

1. timer options: Can you please allow a longer Flash Time? For long buffs it can be useful to get notified 5 minutes before it expires (like buff food or flasks). Also a custom flashing intervall may be nice.
2. appearance: Inspired by your great saturation and brightness options for bars, would this be also possible for icons? The addon Auracle is able to tint icons with custom colors which looks really nice. I always wanted to have gray scaled icons for buffs ever since.
3. custom bars: I am missing "pet" available for "Action On" and "Cast By" when creating a custom bar.
4. custom bars: Would it be possible to create custom bars which are triggered by the event UNIT_SPELLCAST_SUCCEEDED with using a custom duration and icon? The idea behind this is to have bars for things that are not visible as a buff but have a fixed duration (like the Mage's mirror images or when you lay down a trap as a hunter etc.). Would that be possible?

By the way: Are you planning translations for this addon? When you do so i would be glad to help to translate it into german.

Kind regards
X-buZZ

No worries, X-buZZ, keep the suggestions coming. I will evaluate and prioritize them and I don't guarantee to include everything everyone requests :). So far you have a good track record for identifying useful improvements...

My development list at the moment:

1. Rework layout settings for consistency and clarity.
2. "Grow and shrink from center"--I have prototyped this and it looks okay.
3. Extend time for flash to 5 minutes (this is done and will be in next release).
4. Add "Copy Layout From" so can copy settings from another bar group.

My evaluate list:

1. SharedMedia borders for bars (and maybe bar groups too): I know how to add backdrops for bars (anchors already have backdrops) but I'm not yet sure about including them.
2. Tinting icons: I have been considering coloring icon borders for various purposes and I am following the discussion in the ButtonFacade thread related to this. I had not considered tinting the icons themselves but will look into it.
3. Pets: Can you tell they were added late in the development process? I hope to add pet preset tables and extend Action On and Cast By to include pets in time for the Cataclysm launch but I am not sure there is time.
4. Localization: This is a bit intimidating! There is no localization support in Raven at the moment. I am committed to adding it, though. Finding people willing to provide translations is a motivator for getting it done!

My "will not happen" list (always subject to reconsideration):

1. Fading out elapsed bars. I like the immediacy of bars going away when they expire. And having bars hang around for half a second seems odd when ready bars or notifications to renew can appear immediately.
2. Tracking duration for Mirror Image, Force of Nature, hunter traps, etc.: This is a great idea but I don't think it belongs in Raven. To do it right, you'd want to know if the trap was triggered or if the treants got killed or whatever. It just seems like too much to take on anytime soon.

As for time frame, my goal is to have Raven ready for widespread use when Cataclysm launches. To accomplish this, I have to declare "feature complete" pretty soon so my focus can shift to modifying preset files for Cataclysm and testing on the beta servers.

I didn't know about the wowace localization system and immediately checked it out. Thank you, Craxziz, that also makes localization look feasible.

As and when you get round to exposing and documenting the API, is this something that could be accomplished via a plugin if someone chose to write one?

Yes this would be a candidate for a plugin using the API.

I will target a beta release for around the first of October, when I get back from some planned travel.

Got this error about 250 times after entering ulduar and being in vehicles for Leviathan:

267x Raven-r69\Highlights.lua:45: GetSpellName(): Invalid spell slot
Raven-r69\Highlights.lua:45: in function <Raven\Highlights.lua:39>
Raven-r69\Highlights.lua:69: in function <Raven\Highlights.lua:60>
Raven-r69\Highlights.lua:297: in function `UpdateHighlights'
Raven-r69\Main.lua:295: in function `Update'
Raven-r69\Main.lua:88: in function <Raven\Main.lua:88>

Locals:
b = BT4Button1 {
 0 = <userdata>
 macroName = BT4Button1Name {}
 action = 121
 parent = BT4Bar1 {}
 eventsRegistered = true
 flash = BT4Button1Flash {}
 cooldown = BT4Button1Cooldown {}
 outOfRange = false
 __LBF_NormalSkin = <table> {}
 flashtime = 0
 border = BT4Button1Border {}
 icon = BT4Button1Icon {}
 stateactions = <table> {}
 __LBF_Normal = BT4Button1BTNT {}
 feedback_action = 121
 hotkey = BT4Button1HotKey {}
 id = 1
 SecureInit = true
 normalTexture = BT4Button1BTNT {}
 __LBF_Level = <table> {}
 Secure = BT4Button1 {}
 count = BT4Button1Count {}
 SetFrameLevel = <function> defined =[C]:-1
 rid = 1
 flashing = 0
 rangeTimer = 0.18299999907613
 SetNormalTexture = <function> defined =[C]:-1
}
action = 121
bType = "spell"
bID = 0
sID = nil
buttons = <table> {
 (null) = <table> {}
 (null) = <table> {}
 (null) = <table> {}
 (null) = <table> {}
 (null) = <table> {}
 (null) = <table> {}
 (null) = <table> {}
 (null) = <table> {}
 (null) = <table> {}
 (null) = <table> {}
 (null) = <table> {}
 (null) = <table> {}
 (null) = <table> {}
 (null) = <table> {}
 (null) = <table> {}
 (null) = <table> {}
 (null) = <table> {}
 (null) = <table> {}
 (null) = <table> {}
 (null) = <table> {}
 (null) = <table> {}
 (null) = <table> {}
 (null) = <table> {}
 (null) = <table> {}
 (null) = <table> {}
 (null) = <table> {}
 (null) = <table> {}
 (null) = <table> {}
}

  ---

Quote from Morgalm

Got this error about 250 times after entering ulduar and being in vehicles for Leviathan...

Fixed in version r70. The bug fix I had made to this code recently was not tested in a vehicle, sorry. I was easily able to replicate the problem with the Wyrmrest daily.

Version r71 has been checked in. It completes my development tasks prior to beta release. I will still be looking at items on the "evaluate list" but, if they are done, they'll be released after beta. Here are the release notes:

Layout settings were re-worked to be consistent between bar and icon configurations. Icon size is now specifically set, rather than setting an icon scale amount. There is now an option to have icon configurations "snap to center" so that, when the bar group is locked, icons are centered on the anchor position. Fixed bug in position initialization seen with adjusted scale settings. Adjusted relative frame levels so icons cover bars in bar configurations and bars/texts cover icons in icon configurations. Added Copy Layout From so can easily copy layout settings between bar groups. Added Restore Defaults to bar group Dimensions.

NOTE: This version will try to translate layout settings from earlier versions. However, there is likely some manual clean up required. For example, positions are calculated slightly differently and may be off by the size of the icon. Translation support will be removed before the upcoming beta release so be sure to open all your characters so their profiles will be updated.

After testing the translation code, I went ahead and deleted the Raven.lua file in my WTF folder and set things up from scratch. This is definitely a worthwhile exercise (I got rid of obsolete settings and lowered my memory use a fair amount) but not something I want to require of others unless absolutely necessary.

Another pally CD that doesn't work is Aura Mastery.

Quote from Morgalm

Another pally CD that doesn't work is Aura Mastery.

This is fixed in version r72. This version also fixes the load sequence for Ace3 libraries (found when testing Raven without other addons).

I won't be able to do any releases for the next week but I'll check this thread when I can.

BTW I have a version of Raven that works reasonably well on the PTR but I still need to update the preset tables for all the spell and talent changes. When I get back I'll look at how other addon authors are handling separate and/or combined releases for live and PTR/beta servers.

Quote from sayntavarice

ButtonFacade support still seems really weird, sometimes the scale/boarders are not correct. Maybe it's worth checking out how some other addons do it, or ask StormFX to review.

Version r73 has a fix for the ButtonFacade scaling issue. What was happening was that ButtonFacade was remembering the size of the icon after a bar was recycled. I am not sure if something in ButtonFacade changed or whether it just wasn't tested enough before. My code was based on PhanxBuffs ButtonFacade support and I just checked how it handles icon size changes (basically it doesn't until re-skinned).

I've been following the ButtonFacade thread and it looks like the border coloring issue has been resolved. I tested my highlights code with a variety of the most popular ButtonFacade skins and it works with most of them (although not all, hence the ability to disable it on the Highlights tab). I call LibButtonFacade:SetNormalVertexColor but I don't call LibButtonFacade:SetBorderColor, which PhanxBuffs does, because that gives me nil reference errors even though it is included in the ButtonFacade API documentation [update: it looks like SetBorderColor is not included in the current version of LibButtonFacade so the documentation may be out-of-date]

I'll take a look at color borders for ButtonFacade. [Update: This seems to be a function of storing the BF data in Raven's global database, rather than for each character profile, and should be easy to fix (it does mean you have to set BF for each character).]

The next release of Raven will also work at least minimally on the PTR. Auto bar groups will pick up new auras. New cooldowns will be missing until I update the presets. The biggest issue I face is that CancelUnitBuff is now a protected function and it doesn't look promising for being able to right-click to turn off buffs. I am not sure how this will resolve itself yet.

Version r74 changes ButtonFacade support to save data in the profile instead of global database so characters can use different BF settings.

This version can be used either on live or PTR servers (and probably also on Cataclysm beta servers, although that hasn't been tested). Cancelling buffs by right-clicking is disabled on the PTR. Presets have not been updated yet for Cataclysm's numerous talent and spell changes.

This version removes the transition code that translated earlier versions of bar layout settings.