DevTool

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A multipurpose tool to assist with World of Warcraft addon development

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# DevTool

DevTool is a multipurpose tool to assist with World of Warcraft addon development.
The core functionality is similar to a debugger, and it is capable of visualizing and inspecting tables, events, and
function calls at runtime.

This addon can help new and veteran developers alike by providing a visual representation of their tables and
structures.
Examining the WoW API or your addon's variables in a table-like, columnar interface is much easier than using print(),
/dump, or other chat debugging methods.

---

## How To Use

While DevTool is fully capable of being used solely from its graphical interface, it also provides a simple API for
incorporation into your codebase directly.
Use of this API will result in adding elements directly into the DevTool interface for inspection.

### Using `AddData()`:

The main (and only) public function provided by DevTool is `AddData(data, <some string name>)`

- This function adds data to the list so that you can explore its values in interface list.
- The 1st parameter is the object you wish to inspect.
    - **Note**, the default behavior is to _shallow_ copy.
- The 2nd parameter is the name string to show in interface to identify your object.
    - **Note**, if no name is provided, we will auto-generate one for you.

Let's suppose you have the following code in your addon...

```lua
local var = {}
--<some code here that adds data to 'var'>
DevTool:AddData(var, "My local var")
```

...this code will add `var` as a new row in the DevTool user interface with the label `"My local var"`.

### Example of a very common use case:

Here is a simple implementation that wraps `DevTool:AddData()` and checks for the `DEBUG` flag to be set:

```lua
function ExampleAddon:AddToInspector(data, strName)
	if DevTool and self.DEBUG then
		DevTool:AddData(data, strName)
	end
end
```

Using the above code as an example, we can then apply our new function all over the addon codebase wherever inspection
is needed:

```lua
ExampleAddon:AddToInspector(ExampleObject, "ExampleObjectName")
```

### How to use the sidebar:

There are three tabs in sidebar, and the text field has different behaviors for each.

- History tab:
    - This text field takes the fully qualified name of a table, relative to `_G`. Likewise,
      entering `<fully_qualified_name>` into the DevTool text field is the same as typing `/dev <name> <parent>` in the
      chat window.
- Events tab:
    - This text field can only use `<event>` or `<event> <unit>`. Likewise, the same can be done in the chat window by
      typing `/dev eventadd <event>` or `/dev eventadd <event> <unit>`, where `<event>` is
      a [Blizzard API event](https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Events) string and `<unit>` is the cooresponding unit
      string.
- Fn Call Log tab:
    - You can enter `<function> <parent>` into the text field, and it will try to find `_G.<parent>.<function>`.
      Likewise, the same can be done in the chat window by typeing `/dev logfn <function> <parent>`

### How to use function arguments:

You can specify coma separated arguments that will be passed to any function DevTool attempts to execute. The values can
be in the form of a `string`, `number`, `nil`, `boolean`, and/or `table`.

- **Note**, _to pass a value with type `table` you have to specify prefix `t=`_.
- **Note**, _to pass the parent table, specify `t=self`_.
- **Note**, _DevTool will automatically try passing `self` as first arg, if the function throws an error_.

Example passing arguments to a function `SomeFunction`:

- FN Call Args: `t=MyObject, 12, a12` becomes `SomeFunction(_G.MyObject, 12, a12)`
- FN Call Args: `t=self, 12, a12` becomes `SomeObject:SomeFunction(12, a12)`
- FN Call Args: `t=MyObject.Frame1.Frame2` becomes `SomeFunction(_G.MyObject.Frame1.Frame2)`

### Chat commands:

- `/dev` - toggles the main UI window
- `/dev help` - Lists help actions in the chat window
- `/dev <command>` - Will execute one of the commands listed in the help menu

### Other functionality:

- Clicking on a table name will expand and show its children.
- Clicking on a function name will try to execute the function. **WARNING: BE CAREFUL**.
    - **Note**: This will make use of any function arguments set, as described above.
- If a table has WoW API `GetObjectType()` then its type will be visible in the value column.
- DevTool can monitor WoW API events similar to that of `/etrace`, we also include a button to launch /etrace if you
  would rather use the built in tool instead.
- DevTool can log function calls, their input args, and return values.
    - **Note**: Strings in the 'value' column have no line breaks

---

## Want to contribute?

* [Report Bugs and Request Features](https://github.com/brittyazel/DevTool/issues)
* [Source Code](https://github.com/brittyazel/DevTool)

---

## Want to Donate?

Making add-ons is a lot of work! Your help goes a huge way to making my add-on work possible. If you would like to
Donate, [GitHub Sponsors](https://github.com/sponsors/brittyazel) is the preferred method.

---

## Credits:

DevTool is a continuation of the amazing [*ViragDevTool*](https://github.com/varren/ViragDevTool) addon started by
Varren/Virag for World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth and prior. All credit for the idea and the work done prior to
2021 should go to him, accordingly.

DevTool

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