Hack is a lightweight notebook and/or code development addon.
Hack makes it easy to manage a large collection of notes/scripts and share them with other Hack users. Pages containing Lua code can be run and/or flagged to auto-run on startup; they can call other pages, passing arguments and receiving return values. This lets Hack serve as an in-game file system for Lua scripts.
OPTIONAL:
Hack includes several example pages. They are easily deleted from within Hack, or you can prevent them from ever being loaded by deleting HackExamples.lua from the Hack folder.
Hack itself is lightweight (<60KB), but it includes a library for highlighting/indenting Lua code (FAIAP) which will add some additional memory usage and garbage generation. It's not a big deal, but if you just use Hack as a notebook and never edit Lua code, feel free to delete Indent.lua from the Hack directory.
IMPORT:
Hack's example pages include scripts to import pages from Tinypad, Nefpad, WowLua, and LuaSlinger. LuaSlinger supports triggering pages by events, and the importer shows how easily you can wire up the same functionality in Hack.
If you have another notepad addon you want to pull pages from, lemme know.
USAGE:
/hack toggle Hack UI
/hack <hack name> run a Hack page by name
The UI is mostly self-explanatory (mouse over buttons to see what they do), but a few things deserve special mention:
1. To run the current page as Lua code, click the 'play' button at the top of edit window (this one) or hit SHIFT+TAB from the editor.
2. To make a page run automatically when Hack loads, click the 'play' button next to it's name in the list window. This makes Hack useful for little tweaks that don't warrant a full-blown addon. For instance, I hate the mail font. It's easy to fix, but I don't want to write a whole addon for two lines of code, so I type the lines into a Hack page and flag it to execute. Done.
NOTES:
- Pages are saved as you type and there is no undo, so be careful. If you really screw up a page, you can hit the Revert button, which will give you back the page as it was when you first opened it.
- The list frame and edit frame are resizable. Just grab the little handle in the bottom right corner.
- You can double-click a page name to rename it (in addition to using the rename button).
- Page search is case insensitive. You use a subset of regex search patterns (^$.*-+?).
- Autorun pages run in the order they appear, so you can control their execution order by moving them up and down the list.
EXAMPLES:
I included example pages to show how I use Hack. You can delete these quickly via the books tab. To speed Hack's loading, remove HackExamples.lua from the addon folder.
The "lib:" pages contain library code I find useful in many scripts. To facilitate the use of libraries, Hack contains one built-in function Hack.Require, which can be used to make sure a page you are dependent on is loaded, while preventing it from being loaded more than once.
The arg processing examples show how you can execute a page by name, optionally passing arguments and/or receiving return values.
The "timer lib" examples show how to use "lib: timer".
The "cmd:" examples add new slash commands to the game.
The "ui:" examples are various minor tweaks to the UI.
The "hack:" examples are bits of code I used to write Hack. Saves you a lot of reloading to develop with a tool like this.
FEEDBACK:
I'd love to get feedback about Hack. What you like, what you don't like, what you'd like to see in future versions (keeping in mind that my intention is to keep it as small as possible).
Cheers,
Eric Tetz
<erictetz@gmail.com>
Installation Guide
- Exit "World of Warcraft" completely
- Download the mod you want to install
- Make a folder on your desktop called "My Mods"
- Save the .zip/.rar files to this folder.
- If, when you try to download the file, it automatically "opens" it... you need to RIGHT click on the link and "save as..." or "Save Target As".
- Extract the file - commonly known as 'unzipping'
Do this ONE FILE AT A TIME!
- Windows
- Windows XP has a built in ZIP extractor. Double click on the file to open it, inside should be the file or folders needed. Copy these outside to the "My Mods" folder.
- WinRAR: Right click the file, select "Extract Here"
- WinZip: You MUST make sure the option to "Use Folder Names" is CHECKED or it will just extract the files and not make the proper folders how the Authors designed
- Mac Users
- StuffitExpander: Double click the archive to extract it to a folder in the current directory.
- Verify your WoW Installation Path
That is where you are running WoW from and THAT is where you need to install your mods.
- Move to the Addon folder
- Open your World of Warcraft folder. (default is C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\)
- Go into the "Interface" folder.
- Go into the "AddOns" folder.
- In a new window, open the "My Mods" folder.
- The "My Mods" folder should have the "Addonname" folder in it.
- Move the "Addonname" folder into the "AddOns" folder
- Start World of Warcraft
- Make sure AddOns are installed
- Log in
- At the Character Select screen, look in lower left corner for the "addons" button.
- If button is there: make sure all the mods you installed are listed and make sure "load out of date addons" is checked.
- If the button is NOT there: means you did not install the addons properly. Look at the above screenshots. Try repeating the steps or getting someone who knows more about computers than you do to help.
Translations
When you download a mod, please be sure that the mod is compatible with your translation of wow. Some mods only work on the US versions, while some only work on some of the various European versions. These variations are called "Localizations".
TOC Numbers (Out of Date Mods)
When Blizzard patches WoW, they change the Interface number. This means that all mods will be "out of date" unless or until the author releases a new version for that interface. Some people go into the .toc files and update the numbers themselves, but this is STRONGLY advised against as it will cause problems locating possible incompatibilities addons. When you log into WoW after a patch, you DO NOT have to delete your interface directory. All you have to do is simply tell WoW to ignore the interface numbers and load all the mods anyway. All you have to do is, while at the "character select" screen, look in the lower left corner and click on the "addons" button. A window will pop up listing all your installed mods.
If you look in the upper left corner of that window there should be a box that says "Load Out of Date AddOns". You want to CHECK this box. Now simply go into WoW normally and all your mods should load. As of the 1.9 patch, you will have to do this after EVERY patch/update that Blizzard posts! If you encounter any problems with a mod after a patch, please be sure to let the author of the mod know so they can fix it.
See also: About "Out Of Date AddOns"
Mac Support
WoW addons are not platformed based. As such, they can be used on either Mac or PC. You can extract both .zip and .rar files on a Mac using StuffitExpander.
Directory Structure
World of Warcraft
|_ Interface
|_AddOns
|_*AddonName*
|_ *AddonName*.toc
|_ *AddonName*.xml
|_ *AddonName*.lua
|_ (possibly others as well)...
