cargBags 2.0

The rewrite of the cargBags-core is almost complete and the new design direction opens a lot of possibilities. I didn’t really think, I could rescue the framework from development hell, but, well, I was wrong! I don’t want to write a lot of technical stuff here, but the basic principle of the new cargBags is that you can overwrite all core-functions and replace them by your own if you like. So everytime a core-function hinders your own layout, just replace it with a more fitting one. This also lets me subdivide the core in as many optional files as I like. Filter-system, positioning-code, item-updating, all could be removed from it. In the end, cargBags would just be a set of API’s to provide compatibility between components.

This whole new approach made it possible to create lots of new inventory addons. I managed to rewrite Bagrealis as a cargBags implementation (a rather hackish one at the moment), so I can simultaneously develop multiple inventory implementations. cargBags 2 also has an all-new search bar that supports searching by item type and bag id. With the new system, it is also possible to include scrolled lists of item buttons, as shown in the screenshot.

QuestMyMap and other Quests

I got back into addon development for World of Warcraft, although I’m still not motivated enough to actually play the game. QuestMyMap got a rewrite for 3.3.3 and is now released on WoWInterface.com. In my opinion it makes the quest map a lot prettier, because it scales it back to its original size and hides unnecessary stuff like the rewards-info and log-text. Check it out if you like the design!

In addition, I’ve rewritten cargBags again. Yeah, after I discontinued it and written a post on how the whole design principle of cargBags has its flaws. There are no really new features except a complete change of the API. Layouts are now called Implementations and instead of “spawning a bag”, you now create a “new container”. Actually, it is class-based from the core to the item-buttons and to get rid of the callbacks and provide more flexibility, all functions can be overwritten with your own ones. cargBags also handles opening/closing of bags and delays all bag-spawning until the very first keypress to open the bags – this should speed up the loading screen a tiny amount. Multiple layouts at once are now possible and a layout/bag doesn’t update if it is hidden. You can find the beta here and the default layout here.

Bagrealis will still be developed further, I just have to be in the mood for it. If chances are good, it will become a cargBags-implementation.

From cargBags to Bagrealis

Over the last few months I was heavily thinking on how to improve cargBags, my inventory addon for WoW. The plan was to rewrite the whole core for version 2.0 to improve its overall performance. But let’s take a quick look into the history of cargBags, before coming to the list of things that did not work out as expected.

cargBags was released with version 0.3 as a simple and lightweight inventory framework inspired by oUF. It should only have the most important features for updating buttons and the rest should be made by layout and plugins. From day one, cargBags was my major addon and basically teached me most of my Lua knowledge. For every major rewrite, I concentrated on the new problems of the previous version and with them in mind, I completely redesigned the core. In Version 0.4 (the first rewrite), this was the Handler-system, which should allow other data sources than the Blizzard API, e.g. viewing the bank from everywhere. Version 1.0 was an even more complete rewrite, featuring the filter-system which gave rise to the first layouts of other people. Now items could be categorized into different bags by different filters instead of only bagID. The new problems with the filtering system and the increase in feature requests gave me the need to work out another rewrite. In detail:

Read More »(((mor

Okay, my new inventory concept (presented in the last entry) starts to take some shape. The whole positioning- and drag&drop-system is implemented and I’m currently experimenting with the container frames. Nevertheless, there is still a lot to do – I can’t even toggle the frame! I have to open it via command! The screenshot is not really a fast and useful storing system, it’s more of eye-candy to demonstrate the current features. You can expect the buttons to be a lot more chaotic positioned in their daily use, I don’t suspect people to form circles with every new item they get … but who knows.