I/O Write / Read Textfiles

[danielku15]

Hi there.
I'm trying to write an addon which sends incoming messages from the msn messenger into a wow interface and send it. The msn part works so far: Incoming messages are written into c:\MsnToWow.txt and if i write a line into c:\WowToMsn.txt ([email protected] Message) it's beeing send to the contact.
My interface looks like this:

+----------+--MSN--+------------+
| Activate |       | Deactivate |
+----------+-------+------------+
| MailBox  | MessageBox         |
+----------+--------------------+
|                        | Send |
+-------------------------------+
| MessageList                   |
|                               |
|                               |
|                               |
|                               |
|                               |
|                               |
+-------------------------------+

If I enter a mail to the MailBox and a message to the MessageBox and click on send, i need to append the mail and messagebox to the txt file.

And the same problem with the reading. I check every 2 seconds if there are new lines in the MsnToWow.txt file. If there are some i need to read it and add the messages to the messagelist. (The timer compares the GetTime() Value on the OnUpdate event).

I know that the lua io functions are not supported. But would it be possible to write any library which calls native methods out of an dll file(win) / executable(linux). I'm really new to programming Lua and Wow addons but I have a lot of programming experience. But there must be some kind of log-functions which allow to write text files.

Please excuse my bad english but I'm not a native speaker

Greets Daniel

[Dreadlorde]

WoW can't communicate with third party programs.

[Polarina]

You can use the Lua function time() and change the system time using an external program and make the AddOn read the time all the time.

[Mazzlefizz]

I don't think there's a way to do that without performing some sort of memory inspection, which is obviously against the TOS. For a while, people were able to write add-ons that communicated to mp3 players and other third party apps by using the config file as an intermediary, but Blizzard eventually made that delayed as well.

[Mazzlefizz]

Originally Posted by Polarina You can use the Lua function time() and change the system time using an external program and make the AddOn read the time all the time.

Ooooh, tricky.

[Kaomie]

Originally Posted by Mazzlefizz Ooooh, tricky.

And now on Blizzard secure list for next patch

[danielku15]

Got another idea:
http://www.wowwiki.com/HOWTO:_Save_V..._Game_Sessions

I could create a table with the messages. A table for WowToMsn and a table to MsnToWow. And if I send a message. I could add a table entry. Then Read it through another application. The only question is: How are the Variables saved? Are they beeing written into a lua file?

[Jazradel]

They are written into a lua file everytime you reload the ui.

[Seerah]

Lol, yeah - you'd have to log in/out or reload your UI everytime you wanted to read a new message or send one.

[dafire]

the problem is that blizzard don't want the client with other applications.. since that would be used to write better bot programs.

[jonathon]

an idea that would get you around the whole wow can't communicate would be to make the msn messenger window always be on top of other windows no matter what. then run wow in windowed mode, but maximised.

[Dreadlorde]

You could just use xfire, or make msn/yahoo/aim always on top of other windows.