Adding/removing icons to the map
 

DISCLAIMER: I am a beginner when it comes to any form of coding, I am also using the classic api in preparation for the upcoming release. I've been doing this for around 3-4 weeks. Be gentle please!

Hey, I am in the process of creating my own questing addon which displays what to do next on the screen (similar to vanillaguide). I've made pretty good progress so far, but I am stuck on the next feature I want to implement, which is adding/removing icons to the map. I am struggling to find any information on how to do this, my google searches end mostly in how to make a minimap button guides or finished map marker addons.

I simply want to create a function which adds an icon to coordinates x/y or removes an icon.

P. S.: I am also wondering about the different zoom stages for the map, I feel like I would have to handle each of those for seeing the icons on all stages.

This is the library you want to use: https://www.wowace.com/projects/herebedragons

As far as I can see this library is for the legion version of the game, as I said I'm using the classic api.
I'm more looking for a general explanation on how to add icons to the map as I'm struggling to find any useful information using google.

I posted a reply right after Seerah informing you that this forum supports only official Blizzard games and that we cannot help you. Unfortunately, Seerah gave you the benefit of the doubt and decided to delete my reply.

You will have to wait for WoW Classic to launch, and hope that Blizzard releases it with AddOn support. If they do, then chances are fairly good that it will be a modern API, and not the old vanilla API.

In the meantime, you will have to wait on Blizzard.

Can't find anything regarding this in the rules? I specifically asked to have the post removed as it didn't contribute anything useful and I did not want to start a pointless discussion.


I am fairly certain there will be neither modern api nor missing addon support. Both ideas seem utterly absurd, Blizzard clearly stated that classic will be classic.



I am generally only looking for posts on the matter directly, please refrain from posting if you have nothing to contribute.

In answer to your question regarding not finding information regarding non official Blizzard games ..

Here is the post that has been on this site for over a decade.

http://www.wowinterface.com/forums/s...84&postcount=2

No 4 is the item that has been referred to.

And Blizzards EULA

http://eu.blizzard.com/en-gb/company/legal/eula.html

Section 1 C i is what you want to read


As has been said in the past on a similar subject, you have a few options open to you...

1. See if an existing addon has an archived version that will work on the version you are running if the current doesn't work
2. Locate an addon that works similar and investigate the code to see what commands are used and hope they work in an earlier version, but seeing as Blizzard updates their API code addons generally have to change to match.
3. Locate an archived format of API code structure for the commands you are looking at ( if they exist ) and test them out
4. Wait for Blizzard to release Classic Servers and await their addon functionality, which may or may not be different to the version you require.
5. Talk to the creators of the version you are using and ask them for help ..

But note:

If you are using non Blizzard versions of the game then you should not be using an addon site that honours Blizzards policies .. see above links .. as you are going against the rules stated on both sites.

The reason why you are not getting the answers you need are most likely due to the above, and to the fact that some of the addon users about nowadays may not have played with classic addons or have forgotten the functionality changes done over the years to be able to assist you beyond what has been answered already.

I myself wrote my first addon after Burning Crusade was released, and none have been map icon orientated so cannot even offer help with the equivalent current code functionality to at least point you in a direction to allow you to investigate further.

My removed reply and my second reply above is relevant and is not pointless discussion. They weren’t even discussing anything, they were stating something you need to know. If you are looking for WoW help that does not concern live, PTR, beta, alpha, or any other versions that are currently accessible through Blizzard, no one will help you here. Xrystal’s reply above explains in more detail.

Thanks for the replies, but I don't see any violation of the forum rules or Blizzard's ToS. WoW Classic is an official Blizzard game since it was announced, also the old api is something technically released by Blizzard many years ago. I only want to discuss the functionality of the api or code directly. I do understand this is probably not the best place to do so, therefore I might take this to another site.

I would argue that it's more of a question of which one of the old versions will be used because the api was changed numerous times between patch 1.1 and 1.12. This is based on no one knowing if the release version will be a close-to-November 2004 patch, a frankenpatch or 1.12.

I tried to comprehend the functionality of super old addons which add icons to the map, but I am struggling to do so because I am a beginner. I will probably try harder! Also I might try to contact the creators of those addons, but I refrained from doing that so far because I feel like my questions are quite plebish. :D

Ah, you are investigating how you can do an addon, for when Blizzard release Classic Servers. That was not what I understood when you said you were using the Classic API.

If you had rephrased this similar to the following
the responses would have been more useful, usually comments of the type you did make were because they were not playing on Blizzard servers. Hopefully the responses outside of the use of non Blizzard versions were helpful enough for you to start your investigation.

Good luck in your research, and I look forward to seeing how your addon works when they do finally release the Classic Servers.

Oh alright, I clarified in my first post that it's for the upcoming release, I probably should have in the first place but I thought that was implied.

To assist .. here is a link to the earliest archive of the WoW API online so you can see Blizzards api code for the early expansions. Just go forward if you want to look at later versions to prepare potential code changes if Blizzard uses a version in between the original and the current api versions.

Earliest / First WoW api
https://www.townlong-yak.com/framexml/1.1.2

The latest Original Classic WoW api before Burning Crusade expansion
https://www.townlong-yak.com/framexml/1.12.1

Except of course for the fact that WoW Classic has only ever been theoretical so far and nobody, even you, knows how it will work. You can argue technicalities that "older api are official Blizzard api and was written by them!" but it does not change the fact that you are currently using private servers to write and test that code in the first place. That's what the rules are about. You are not playing WoW Classic.

(Fwiw, as soon as you need to use the word "technically", you know you're not doing something right.)

If you want help developing addons to work on current private servers, there are plenty of communities that deal with this kind of stuff, none of which will be linked to you here for obvious reasons. WoW Classic will be supported here once it's actually released.

Also, while some people might not consider my comment above about Blizzard updating the API as useful, consider merely three examples of changes made during the original game:

1. The addon Decursive was forced into a significant rewrite. Originally healers could bind one key, then spam it to remove whatever their class could cure. Healers did not need to know whom they were cleansing, nor did they need to know which debuff. It made at least one boss mechanic in Molten Core trivial. It removed most of the decision making process, and so Blizzard forced an alteration to what we see as Decursive today.
2. The chat channel known as RAID_WARNING did not exist in classic or vanilla WoW. It was solely the creation of an addon called CTRA (CT RAid Assist) and it required users who wanted to either sent to the channel, or read the messages sent, to have CTRA installed.
3. Speaking of CTRA, inter-addon messages were added as part of its functionality. The hidden addon-to-addon chat channel we know today was added by Blizzard because it was such a good idea. In the original form, CTRA simply created a chat channel, set the join privileges to anyone with CTRA, and voila. It was a normal chat channel, and all you had to do to see it was type /join CTRA and enter the correct password.

I am certain there are multiple examples of addon API that Blizzard could adapt from the modern version into Classic, without breaking the look or feel of the gameplay. There are examples of addon creation other than Decursive that Blizzard never intended as possible. These are the non-breaking changes I'd fully, 100% expect in Classic.

There are other API commands that might be brought over as a package dump, yet remain inert because other functionality won't exist, such as the collections API (pets, mounts, heirlooms, toys), but I am less confident in that assertion.

And what about the combat log API, which was totally rewritten midway through TBC, in content patch 2.4? Blizzard could make a really good case to use that version over the prior version. Having access to threat APIs among other things would certainly be useful rather than the pure guesswork authors used at first. Yet again, if Blizzard did use the newer combat log, it won't break anything regarding the look and feel of Classic.

Last but not least, people are losing sight of one core idea regarding Classic (or any version of WoW). While Blizzard allows addons to exist, they are not a requirement. I totally believe that Blizzard will allow addons on Classic, but just like all versions of the game, the look, feel, and basic functionality of how we use the user interface will be entirely up to Blizzard. The notion of Blizzard using the old, broken, incomplete API of vanilla in Classic just because it is Classic is ridiculous.

No, Blizzard will use an API for Classic that retains the experience, yet follows what they deem acceptable functionality. Do not fool yourself otherwise, which is why I am not jumping onto a private server to write code. What would be the point if all the work I do gets undone the instant the real API is revealed?