Major change coming in 1.8
 

As just announced by Slouken:

In 1.8, to speed up game loading and reduce overall memory usage, several portions of the core interface have been converted to official Blizzard addons:

Blizzard_AuctionUI
Blizzard_BattlefieldMinimap
Blizzard_BindingUI
Blizzard_CraftUI
Blizzard_InspectUI
Blizzard_MacroUI
Blizzard_RaidUI
Blizzard_TalentUI
Blizzard_TradeSkillUI
Blizzard_TrainerUI

These addons are seamlessly loaded on demand, as needed, and do not show up in the normal addon list. To the end user this conversion is completely transparent.

One of the advantages of this conversion is it's now possible to completely replace these core modules with your own addons. Each of these addons has a function called to load it, which can be hooked or replaced by other addons:


function AuctionFrame_LoadUI()
UIParentLoadAddOn("Blizzard_AuctionUI");
end
function BattlefieldMinimap_LoadUI()
UIParentLoadAddOn("Blizzard_BattlefieldMinimap");
end
function ClassTrainerFrame_LoadUI()
UIParentLoadAddOn("Blizzard_TrainerUI");
end
function CraftFrame_LoadUI()
UIParentLoadAddOn("Blizzard_CraftUI");
end
function InspectFrame_LoadUI()
UIParentLoadAddOn("Blizzard_InspectUI");
end
function KeyBindingFrame_LoadUI()
UIParentLoadAddOn("Blizzard_BindingUI");
end
function MacroFrame_LoadUI()
UIParentLoadAddOn("Blizzard_MacroUI");
end
function RaidFrame_LoadUI()
UIParentLoadAddOn("Blizzard_RaidUI");
end
function TalentFrame_LoadUI()
UIParentLoadAddOn("Blizzard_TalentUI");
end
function TradeSkillFrame_LoadUI()
UIParentLoadAddOn("Blizzard_TradeSkillUI");
end


In addition, several virtual frames have been broken out into their own files so they can easily be included by other addons:
AuctionButtonTemplate.xml
CharacterFrameTemplates.xml
ClassTrainerFrameTemplates.xml
HonorFrameTemplates.xml
PartyFrameTemplates.xml
QuestFrameTemplates.xml
WorldMapFrameTemplates.xml


So, what do folks think? Interesting, hmmm?

If I'm getting this right... that's fscking awesome.

You are, and it is!

ya this rocks, KC_ET will be able to replace the TradeSkill frame and do it right.

*jumps up and down*

Woohoo!!! :)

Soo, if I'm reading this right; Now instead of loading the Blizzard UI *and* a 3rd party AddOn, you can now choose between one or the other, eh?

Kind of like if you install CT_RA, it can not load Blizzard (crap arase) RaidUI and thus limiting updates and overall raid lag, eh?

very possibily

Sounds like an absolute nightmare of a headache to me :P.

On one hand I love how it cuts down on CPU time and makes the interface completely modular, thats great. But surely this means there are going to be alot of hickups when it comes to using anything of the blizzards API because it might not be there?

well the actuall api will be there. The functions in their packages may not, but the lua defined functions are different than the main api calls that we'll have to have to replace these things.

Good point, I wasnt thinking about that. Out of interest is the LUA for the main api visible to us as source? If so where, if you know :).

opens up possibilities for total conversion. I am already looking forward to making a "light" interface that runs faster and has less bloat then the default :p

nope my guess is most of the actuall API calls are C functions imbeded straight into the executable.

hehe I'm thinking the same, I'm sure between me and the rest of the Ace Community we'll end up having an Ace'd ui.

So, now that 1.8 Test Server is live and folks have had a chance to look, what do you think about the fact that all the blizzard exported addons are nothing but 1kb files?

test is live? <runs off>

hey Cair, you have to extract the interface.mpq and then you getall te files.

not sure what the hell .pud file is though.

Ive not been on the beta yet but it sounds like the files you are talking of are some kind of symlink to the real files?

they changed the test server page, so that now you can download the updater without actually getting your character copied. Now people like me who are too late to get my character copied can still get the patch info, and the files to do a compare :D

There is one thing I worry about, though.

If KC_ET replaces the Trade window, for instance, will it be able to support SortEnchant?

Just an example, but something to think about. If the pieces and parts and framenames other mods need, in order to react properly to the frame, are missing or renamed... what then?