[Elderin]

Let me begin by stating that I have a MyAddon.xml file and a MyAddon.lua file that are properly aware of and function correctly with each other. Additionally, the xml file defines the UI and the lua file contains needed functions, variables, etc.

My assumption: The names of Frame and FontString entities which are defined in my xml file are available as global variables.

The answer to my question is more likely about convention. It seems that within the lua file, after things are loaded, etc., I can access the Frame objects or Fontstring objects directly by name and perform associated functions such as shown below:

in xml
<FontString inherits="GameFontNormal" name="MyFontStr_1" text="Title x">
...
</FontString>

in lua file
MyFontStr_1:SetText("Title One");
_G.MyFontStr_1:SetText("Title One");
_G["MyFontStr_1"]:SetText("Title One");
getglobal("MyFontStr_1"):SetText("Title One");

I am aware that the _G methods seem to be replacements for getglobal(). And, I also see that using any of the last three allows me to dynamically create the name of the object

local x = 1;
_G["MyFontStr_"..x]:SetText("Title "..x);

It appears that the four methods shown all change the text value of the FontString object. The question is: Functionaly, are there any differences? Any reason to use one over the other? Or, is it just whatever I myself am comfortable with?

While I have used a FontString as the example of my question, I also assume that these different approachs could be applied to any of the global data that is present at run time.