New Addon XML/Lua Generator

[KCmilam]

I posted this in the Interface Help forums but it was probably the wrong place, then I saw this forum and thought it'd be best here.

I have been developing an addon for quite some time now and became frustrated with creating the FrameXML file for it. I had an app written in VB.Net that helped me do quick and simple things and thought I'd move it over to Silverlight and share it.

Because it's written in Silverlight 3, it's not an executable and you can be rest assured that it is completely harmless. (Silverlight does not have access to anything on your computer)

UI XML Editor
*Works best in Firefox and IE 2008. Doesn't not work in 64bit browsers.


It basically writes the XML code as well as the Lua Code for the widgets as you draw the components on the screen. It's very simple and straight forward right now because I use it mainly for laying out my Options panels and etc. It's good for positioning components and setting up the hierarchy of them.

It allows for easy editing of a widgets properties and scripts when they are selected.

It's good if you want to get a quick and dirty design for a frame and copy and paste the code into your xml as well.

To use it:
-Click the Frame component in the ToolBox. Click the upper left corner of the frame in the drawing area and drag down and to the left to draw it. Other components can be added to the frame by selecting them and placing them inside the frame.

-Press escape to hide the crosshairs and use the hand to move components around.

-Drag components to the trash can to delete them.

-Selected components are highlighted in blue.

-Selecting a component will highlight it's respective code in the xml. (A bit buggy right now, sometimes have to click the FrameXML area as least ones to get it to start working)

There are still a lot of little bugs to work out, but I need a little help finding them. I got a lot to add and a lot of ideas to improve it.

Try it out and let me know what you think! If you would like to use it, please do so and PM any bugs you might come across. Thanks!

[Xrystal]

That looks pretty good. I'd try it out if I wrote xml based addons. Is it possible you could get it to make lua code only instead of xml/lua ?

[KCmilam]

Xrystal, you'll notice the Lua tab at the bottom of the screen. It produces both, and you choose which you want to use. Just copy and paste the one you desire.

I updated with a new version which should fix the Parent inheritance bug as well as a few other minor ones.

I added better formatting to the XML and Lua text boxes as well.

Also, backdrops and status bar colors can be defined in the properties window.

[Xrystal]

My apologies, I didn't see the tabs at the bottom, *doh*. I'll give it a nice test run when I start work on my options screen for my recent watchframe addon.

[KCmilam]

I appreciate Xrystal. There are so many little things that can go wrong in Lua code, such as a misplaced quotation mark (one i found a bit earlier) that can cause it to completely not work. They are very easy to fix, I just need help finding all of them.

I plan on this app evolving into a full fledged Addon IDE. In a couple weeks, it should be able to all widgets, present templates for each, allow for Lua function and variable coding, intellisense, and an Object Library of the FrameXML.

I've been working on it for 3 days now, and Silverlight is just amazing. I used to program in Flash, but Silverlight is made for online apps. If you have any suggestions or critiques, please inform me. Constructive criticism is what makes applications well rounded and useful to many people.

[Xrystal]

I had a quick play with it and its possible that I didn't spot how to stop it from happening but once I clicked on an object to draw I couldn't stop drawing.

Eg. I made a frame, scrollframe etc then clicked on button and made a button or two then when I tried to select one to move it around I couldn't, it just made another button parented to the one I had clicked on. I didn't test to see if pressing escape releases the drawing stamp but thought I would mention it just in case.

The way I code is a lot different but I will say from the code it generates it will definitely speed up my more complex addons.

As to Silverlight programming. I was wondering what that was all about, now I know

[Nillerr]

Originally Posted by KCmilam UI XML Editor *Works best in Firefox and IE 2008. Doesn't not work in 64bit browsers

In case you meant "Doesn't work in 64 bit browsers", then I can tell you it does (Tested with IE 8 and Chrome 7)

Anyways, it looks quite decent, but I'd appreciate an Import feature, allowing me to import my Lua or XML code to have your App draw the Frame's layout.

As a suggestion, I'd like to see the actual in-game textures used, as it makes it far easier to familiarize with the frame, and design it in that way.

Maybe you could add support for AceGUI export as well?