nUI -- A full feature standalone UI replacement

[spiel2001]

~lol~

Talk about getting the cart in front of the horse!

~smile~

To be honest, these are features I know there is a common need for which I think should be an integral part of the user interface, that I've made "space available" for and plan to code. What they are going to be is, as yet, undetermined... as in I have yet to have begun a formal design for any of those features above and beyond what I have already laid out.

And, in fact, I'm not going to do that formal design until I've had a chance to really look at how many API changes the WotLK expansion is bringing to the table. The last thing I want to do is spend a ton of time coding these in only to have to chuck them when I do the port.

So... these features are all coming, they will be an integral part of nUI and I will absolutely be listening to user input when I design them. But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves here. ~smile~

I will say this... since Bliz has now added a repair-all to the vendor window, I really can't see a reason or benefit to coding a popup for that anymore. If I'm wrong about that, however, I'm open to discussion on it. I just think that Bliz kinda integrated that "feature" into WoW pretty well now, so there's no real need for that feature in a mod anymore. Yes? No?

The issue with Cartographer (and Carbonite and TomTom as well) is already a documented problem and I will code a solution to it... I'm not sure what that solution is, yet, but I will work it out. I'm hoping I can create independent event frames for these mods and reassign their event handlers to the new frame and still have it all work. We'll see. I may even try and establish a dialoge with their authors and see what, if anything, we can do.

I have a question of curiousity, since you bring up the subject... why do you need the zoom buttons and map toggle hidden? I am sometimes taken aback by some of the requests I get, such as this one... what's the benefit? It's not like that's space you can use for something else or even that they're really in the way of anything (especially if you're using the "/nui roundmap" option.

Yes... I can write code to hide them and add another boolean value to the list of options that are saved in the saved variables file. I frankly don't see the benefit of the extra code, but no reason not to do it either so I'll add it to the to-do list, it's pretty trivial really.

Thanks for the feedback and I'll have a look at Auditor and Itemrack, as well.

Originally Posted by mscott998 will your durability addition have an auto repair setting and a popup telling how much repair is with an accept button ? also what kind of interface will the wardrobe manager have, i use itemrack right now and i love the features it has. for the ammo tracker, will this track regents that many classes use as well, like Ankh for shaman, seeds for druids and so on.....? also have you looked at auditor for some ideas on the gold tracker. it has a lot of nice information, you might be able to intefrace that in some how the new incoming additions will reduce the number of mods i use again! WOOT! thanks One last thing. I noticed that cartographer waypoints don't update without the map showing, would it be an acceptable compromise to have the graphic edited to include an area in the upper right hand corner for a round minimap? would fix some of the issues there and would not interfere with the main viewable area. Will there be an option do hide the minimap zoom buttons and the map toggle button. many people don't use them, I think it is easier to just press the m button for the world map and use the mouse wheel for the minimap zoom. Thanks again

[mscott998]

sorry :-)

guess im kinda excited. you have made an awesome ui hehe.

the duribility pop up is not a necessity but again another creature comfort.

as for the buttons on the map, was just a suggestion, i like a clean minimap with minimal buttons, i used minimap button bag with simple minimap addon before switching to NIU , so dont really need the options. again a creature comfort

we all understand that may take time and would rather not rush you.

thanks again

[Oksar]

My apologies. I did a test with the Blizz standard UI, and for a Druid, when shifting into moonkin/ToL form, the action bar does indeed switch. Guess I have gotten used to something that isn't Blizz standard.

Sorry for causing any confusion.

[Forshan]

how by anychance, can i set keybinds on this ui? do i have to use the blizz keybind window?

[iljott]

Originally Posted by Forshan how by anychance, can i set keybinds on this ui? do i have to use the blizz keybind window?

Yes, you use the default Blizzard Keybinding screen for this.

If I'm not mistaken you'll need to configure the main bar, the left and right bars, left and left 2nd bar (but I don't have WoW installed on this laptop, so I might not be correct). Also, for the pet bar (and shapeshift, warrior stance, rogue stealth, etc...), you can bind keys with the Special Action Bar.

Hope this helps!

[havoxx]

Originally Posted by spiel2001 Havoxx -- thank you for the kind word. In answer to your question, the Beta 2 has been designed from the ground up to be fully skinnable. However, that work is not fully complete yet and I am not yet either saving the current default skin or selecting alternate skins. That will be completed before the WotLK release though and carried forward into the WotLK port.

Ah, very nice, I look forward to testing out my newly learned graphic designing skills .

[Gremriel]

Hi,

just noticed some weird things while in group in instance. Either Blizz has made some new classes that I am unaware of, or nUI is getting lost somewhere. I never heard of of Arcane specced Warriors and Subtelty Paladins

Also, sometimes when targeting an elite, the marker on the HUD doesnt show up sometimes.

Here's some pictures:

[iocontrol]

Originally Posted by Gremriel Hi, just noticed some weird things while in group in instance. Either Blizz has made some new classes that I am unaware of, or nUI is getting lost somewhere. I never heard of of Arcane specced Warriors and Subtelty Paladins

I've run into this as well. Although I've noticed that, sometimes, shifting through the UF layouts resolves this problem. I've also noted that if a party member continually runs in and out of range, sometimes the health bars will glitch and not show up. Again, shifting through the layouts will refresh the information and set things right again.

[Marthisdil]

Spiel....did a brand new fresh install and found the following...

1) Fresh install, clean WTF....had to move the bag bar as it was sort of behind the minimap. Not a problem to /nui movers and move it...but unexpected on a fresh load.

2) Keybindings. I see the default keybindings for the top action bar are 1 through =

However, I've also found that somehow, the alt-1 through alt-= also trigger these same keys. Nowhere in the blizzard keybindings do I have alt-1 through alt-= mapped to the same keys. I don't have any ALT keybindings at all actually.

The mapping of keys using the Blizzard keybinds isn't intuitive for people initially using your UI - it's a bit of trial and error other than the main action bar to see what is what and how to map it. Using the Ace keybinding lib may be better suited for you for this task - the one bongus and others use - where you activate the bind mode, mouse over the hotkey, and hit whatever key(s) you wish to bind for that button. Easy peasy.

Will report more as I play with the fresh install.

[Marthisdil]

Also, in Solo mode (so far), when I hit F1 to target myself (to cast a targetted buff for example), there is a problem with the target window. It seems to extend up into the second row of action buttons. When I'm not targetted, I can cast Ice Armor on myself, no problem:



However, if I have myself (or anyone else targetted), with the mouse in the same position (roughly) in the same action button, you can see that it is showing mouseover info for my target, and I can't click the button to cast. I have to move it more up and right to do so:

[Marthisdil]

More suggestions. When entering a BG, to me, it'd make some sense to switch the center panel view to the most appropriate. WSG - 10 man raid, ab - 15 man raid, av - 40 man raid, etc, etc....perhaps make it an option?

[anakin]

There is plenty of room for these to live next to each other in that area to the right.

It would also be nice to leave up the Mini-Map as an option.

Edit: Also moving the loot roll box up a bit?

[spiel2001]

Originally Posted by Oksar My apologies. I did a test with the Blizz standard UI, and for a Druid, when shifting into moonkin/ToL form, the action bar does indeed switch. Guess I have gotten used to something that isn't Blizz standard. Sorry for causing any confusion.

Not a problem Oksar -- the druid class is, programmatically, one of the most complicated, so I just want to be sure I'm approaching it the "right" way before I get too heavily invested in the code base.

Thanks for letting me know.

[spiel2001]

Originally Posted by Gremriel Hi, just noticed some weird things while in group in instance. Either Blizz has made some new classes that I am unaware of, or nUI is getting lost somewhere. I never heard of of Arcane specced Warriors and Subtelty Paladins Also, sometimes when targeting an elite, the marker on the HUD doesnt show up sometimes.

Yeah... I've noticed this, as well. It occurs when units are changing quickly... either as a result of rapid target changing or all of the comings and goings as a PUG battleground is forming.

Just for the benefit of understanding, spec browsing is a tad complicated because it is not and "instant read" function and the person you want to inspect has to be in range both when you request the inspection and when you go to read the result. So, when a "new" person appears in your unit frames, I have to queue a request to inspect, then when it is their turn initiate the inspection and wait for Bliz to tell me I can read the result... then I can actually look to see what their build is.

The complication comes when someone joins the raid, I start an inspect then they leave the raid (or change unit id's in the raid) and someone else joins the raid on that same ID... or, you target a player, I start an inspection and you change targets before I can read the result... nUI is supposed to trap that the person on that ID is not the same one that I requested the inspection for, but for some reason it isn't always... and thus you end up with a subtlety palladin or an afflication warrior (all warriors are afflicted ~lol~)

I"m working on it.

I'll add, too, that this is the same module (nUI_UnitSpec) that drives the detection of Rare, Elite and World Boss mobs, which is why those sometimes do no display correctly when they are supposed to.

[spiel2001]

Originally Posted by iocontrol I've run into this as well. Although I've noticed that, sometimes, shifting through the UF layouts resolves this problem. I've also noted that if a party member continually runs in and out of range, sometimes the health bars will glitch and not show up. Again, shifting through the layouts will refresh the information and set things right again.

iocontrol -- that issue with the health bar is one that has been driving me nuts for a long time now. Bottom line is that when a unit is out of range, Bliz will not return health data for it and when there's no data, the bar gets hidden. For some reason, however, when they come back in range, the bar does not reappear as it should.

Yet another of those gremlin bugs I'm trying to track down.

[spiel2001]

Originally Posted by Marthisdil Spiel....did a brand new fresh install and found the following... 1) Fresh install, clean WTF....had to move the bag bar as it was sort of behind the minimap. Not a problem to /nui movers and move it...but unexpected on a fresh load.

I'm going to guess that you have the "Use UI Scale" options selected in the WoW interface video options panel. This is a known bug (it's actually listed in the know bugs list) and I'm working to resolve it. Most of the UI seems to lay out just fine regardless of the "Use UI Scale" setting but for some reason the bag bar does not. It also has issues not interfacing correctly with the nUI_Movers code. The issue is related to the skinning interface and I'm working it.

2) Keybindings. I see the default keybindings for the top action bar are 1 through = However, I've also found that somehow, the alt-1 through alt-= also trigger these same keys. Nowhere in the blizzard keybindings do I have alt-1 through alt-= mapped to the same keys. I don't have any ALT keybindings at all actually.

Well... nUI does not assign anything except the default Bliz keybindings to any action button and it only assigns one keybinding to each. That is hard coded into the bar code and there is virtually no way, via nUI, to assign two different key binds to the same key (I should clarify that by saying that Bliz offers two key bindings to every key binding code -- i.e. ACTIONBUTTON1 can have two bindings, but I never assign more than one binding code to a button)

So... if you have some oddball set of keybindings on a button, they have to be coming from a third party source or both keys have to be programmed into the Bliz keybinding interface for that button. I would suggest taking a hard look at what other mods you have installed, I assure you it is impossible for nUI to be the source of the "unprogrammed" key bindings.

The mapping of keys using the Blizzard keybinds isn't intuitive for people initially using your UI - it's a bit of trial and error other than the main action bar to see what is what and how to map it. Using the Ace keybinding lib may be better suited for you for this task - the one bongus and others use - where you activate the bind mode, mouse over the hotkey, and hit whatever key(s) you wish to bind for that button. Easy peasy.

I can assure you there is no way I will incorporate the Ace library into nUI... for a host of reasons. I have nothing against Ace, I just do not want to subject nUI users to having to keep Ace libraries current, especially since the Ace Updater is getting shelved. The only Ace library I use (as an option) with nUI is the Threat 2.0 for the very obvious reason that it is the defacto standard for any raider, and even that is optional.

That said, I *will* be adding that kind of key binding functionality to nUI. Click menus, GUI configs and all those sorts of things are all features I have purposely been putting off until nUI is stable for the reasons I have explained in the past. Just be assured, that you will be able to click-to-bind action buttons in the future.

[spiel2001]

Originally Posted by Marthisdil Also, in Solo mode (so far), when I hit F1 to target myself (to cast a targetted buff for example), there is a problem with the target window. It seems to extend up into the second row of action buttons. When I'm not targetted, I can cast Ice Armor on myself, no problem: However, if I have myself (or anyone else targetted), with the mouse in the same position (roughly) in the same action button, you can see that it is showing mouseover info for my target, and I can't click the button to cast. I have to move it more up and right to do so:

I've had one other user bring this up recently. I'm wondering if this isn't also related to the "Use UI Scale" bug... in any event, thanks for the heads up/confirmation on this bug. I will look into it and see if I can reproduce it and track down the source of the problem.

[spiel2001]

Originally Posted by Marthisdil More suggestions. When entering a BG, to me, it'd make some sense to switch the center panel view to the most appropriate. WSG - 10 man raid, ab - 15 man raid, av - 40 man raid, etc, etc....perhaps make it an option?

This item is already on the to-do list... it's item #7 on the list if you check it.

[spiel2001]

Originally Posted by anakin There is plenty of room for these to live next to each other in that area to the right. It would also be nice to leave up the Mini-Map as an option. Edit: Also moving the loot roll box up a bit?

Anakin --

As I have explained in prior posts, the problem with putting Omen and Recount on the same panel is code based. You have three panels there -- Omen, KLH and Recount -- for which you could have any number of possible combinations. However, as much as people want an Omen/Recount pairing, they also want a KLH/Recount pairing. The problem is that to do that, Recount would have to have two different parent frames at the same time, or it would have to change parents when you change panels. It is not possible to have two parent frames for the same child frame and changing parent frames in combat will taint.

That said, I will be offering optional info panels in the future that allow the individual user to select to have a Recount/Omen pair or a KLH/Recount pair in lieu of the default panels. However, in terms of default average user configuration, I'm going to stick with what I have.

I will be offering optional/alternate info panels, HUDs, skins, etc., after I get the core development complete. Probably sometime after the WotLK port and release.

[mscott998]

there is a bug to where the hud drops down from its original position from time to time, reloading fixes it, but it gets annoying, sometimes zoning in and out of an instance works too fix it too.