Executing skills

[Arxae]

I have been messing around with frames a bit and it is going pretty well
but i came to a point where i want to execute a skill when i click the frame.
I created a frame using CreateFrame()
Set a texture using CreateTexture() and assigned it to the frame
And then i used the SetScript function to set a OnMouseDown event. Then the dread began: frame needs to be protected.

My problem first of all is how? i followed the text on the wiki but i can't seem to get it to work.
Second of all, i read that the position and state (hidden/shown) can't be changed. Is there no way around this?

Il try to explain with a bit of an example
The thing i wanted to make is that some buttons show up under certain (combat) situations.
So i create all the frames beforehand and hide them (only one atm)
Then when the situation happens (a skill procs for example) the corresponding frame needs to be shown. When i click on the frame, the skill needs to be cast and the frame hidden again.

Can anyone help me on my way with this?

[Akkorian]

Hi Arxae,

In order to cast a spell, use an item, run a macro, target a unit, or do anything like that, your frame has to use one of Blizzard’s secure templates.

You can make buttons that appear when you enter combat, or appear when you target an enemy while in combat, but you can’t make them appear (or change which ability is on them) when you gain a buff or when a reactive ability becomes available. The conditions you can use to automatically show, hide, or modify secure frames while in combat are the same conditions you can check for in macros.

I’d recommend looking at the addon CrowBar for a simple secure button example. States for auto-showing are a little trickier, and I haven’t ever worked with actual button states, but you could parent the button to a secure state driver frame and set up visibility conditions on that. There’s a simple example of that in ImprovedTotemFrame.

Looking at action bar addons might also help, though they tend to be pretty complicated. The same goes for the Blizzard UI code.

Hope that helps!

[Arxae]

Ive been looking around a bit and i got a (supposedly) protected frame to show using this code:

	local f = CreateFrame("Frame", nil, UIParent, "SecureHandlerClickTemplate")
	f:SetFrameStrata("HIGH")
	f:SetWidth(64)
	f:SetHeight(64)
	f:EnableMouse(true)

	local t = f:CreateTexture(nil, "BACKGROUND")
	t:SetTexture("Interface\\Icons\\Inv_Sword_122.blp")
	t:SetAllPoints(f)
	f.texture = t

	f:SetPoint("CENTER", 0, 0)
	f:Show()

the problem now is that i cannot get a click event working
i tried using SetScript but it doesn't work, tried using SetAttribute, but that doesn't work either
the button does show up using SetAttribute, but the click event doesn't do anything, i'm using this example from wowpedia:

-- Assume widget is a frame inheriting from SecureHandlerClickTemplate.
widget:SetAttribute("_onclick", [=[ -- self, button, down are considered "arguments" to the _onclick handler
 if button == "RightButton" then
  self:Hide();
 end
]=]);

i changed the if statement to just print("test") tho, but it doesn't do anything at all

[Akkorian]

I think the SecureHandlerClickTemplate template is for creating click-cast unit frames, not for making action buttons. Also, to get click handlers your frame must be a Button, not a regular Frame. Try this instead:

local f = CreateFrame("Button", nil, UIParent, "SecureActionButtonTemplate")

Then, you can make it do things when clicked by setting its attributes, like this:

f:SetAttribute( "type1", "spell" )
f:SetAttribute( "spell1", "Frost Shock" )

Or, if you want to run some code instead of casting a spell:

f:SetAttribute( "type1", "macro" )
f:SetAttribute( "macrotext1", "/run MyButton:Hide()" )

Or, to run some code and cast a spell:

f:SetAttribute( "type1", "macro" )
f:SetAttribute( "macrotext1", [[/cast Frost Shock
/run MyButton:Hide()]] )

In order to access the button from inside the macro though, you have to give it a global name:

local f = CreateFrame("Button", "MyButton", UIParent, "SecureActionButtonTemplate")

There’s some documentation about the SecureActionButton attributes in Blizzard’s SecureTemplates.lua file:

-- SecureActionButtons allow you to map different combinations of modifiers and buttons into
-- actions which are executed when the button is clicked.
--
-- For example, you could set up the button to respond to left clicks by targeting the focus:
-- self:SetAttribute("unit", "focus");
-- self:SetAttribute("type1", "target");
--
-- You could set up all other buttons to bring up a menu like this:
-- self:SetAttribute("type*", "menu");
-- self.showmenu = menufunc;
--
-- SecureActionButtons are also able to perform different actions depending on whether you can
-- attack the unit or assist the unit associated with the action button.  It does so by mapping
-- mouse buttons into "virtual buttons" based on the state of the unit. For example, you can use
-- the following to cast "Mind Blast" on a left click and "Shadow Word: Death" on a right click
-- if the unit can be attacked:
-- self:SetAttribute("harmbutton1", "nuke1");
-- self:SetAttribute("type-nuke1", "spell");
-- self:SetAttribute("spell-nuke1", "Mind Blast");
-- self:SetAttribute("harmbutton2", "nuke2");
-- self:SetAttribute("type-nuke2", "spell");
-- self:SetAttribute("spell-nuke2", "Shadow Word: Death");
--
-- In this example, we use the special attribute "harmbutton" which is used to map a virtual
-- button when the unit is attackable. We also have the attribute "helpbutton" which is used
-- when the unit can be assisted.
--
-- Although it may not be immediately obvious, we are able to use this new virtual button
-- to set up very complex click behaviors on buttons. For example, we can define a new "heal"
-- virtual button for all friendly left clicks, and then set the button to cast "Flash Heal"
-- on an unmodified left click and "Renew" on a ctrl left click:
-- self:SetAttribute("*helpbutton1", "heal");
-- self:SetAttribute("*type-heal", "spell");
-- self:SetAttribute("spell-heal", "Flash Heal");
-- self:SetAttribute("ctrl-spell-heal", "Renew");
--
-- This system is very powerful, and provides a good layer of abstraction for setting up
-- a button's click behaviors.

[Arxae]

That is working as i wanted

one small problem tho. Whenever i try to use a macro command a spell (your third example)
it does the first thing, but just says the second thing (as in /s say )
in this case:
f:SetAttribute( "macrotext1", [[/cast Frost Shock
/run MyButton:Hide()]] )
it casts the spell
then does ?/run MyButton:Hide() as a /s command

ps: thanks so much for the help

[SDPhantom]

Is there actually a newline or a space between the two macro commands?