Dynamic Information

Dynamic Information

In WeakAuras, display types and trigger types are treated as separate entities that can be mixed and matched at will. However, triggers don't just determine whether a display is visible or not - they can also pass dynamic information to their display. The most common example of this kind of dynamic information is the duration of an aura. An Aura trigger will cause its display to appear on screen when it detects the presence of the specified aura, but it also sends information about the aura's duration to the display.

There are four distinct types of Dynamic Information in WeakAuras: Duration Info, Icon Info, Name Info, and Stack Info. Not all trigger types provide all four types of information, and not all display types use all four types of information. In fact, the only trigger type that provides all four types of dynamic info is the Aura type, and the only display type that shows all four types of dynamic info is the Progress Bar type.

If a display uses multiple triggers, it always gets its Dynamic Information from its Main Trigger.

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Duration Info

Duration Info provides aura types than can display "progress" (Icons, Progress Bars, Progress Textures) with the info needed to do that.

When using Custom Duration Info there are two 'modes' for custom duration in WeakAuras. Time Mode and Value Based

For Timed progress you need to provide a duration (in seconds) and an expiration time (relative to the value of GetTime()) For Value progress you need to give the current value and the total or max value. You also need to return a third arg for Value-based progress, just a true to tell the aura that it is to work as Value-based.

function()
    --Time Mode
    --Documentaion for UnitBuff: http://wowprogramming.com/docs/api/UnitBuff
    local duration, expirationTime = select(6, UnitBuff("player", "Rejuvenation"))
    return duration, expirationTime
end

Where duration is the total duration of the spell you want to track and expirationTime is the time in the future when the buff will expire. expirationTime is equal to GetTime() + duration at the time the buff was applied.

function()
    --Value Based
    local current = UnitHealth("player")
    local max = UnitHealthMax("player")
    return current, max, true
end

Value Based mode simply takes the current value and compares it against the max value to know how far to progress in the aura.

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Icon Info

Icon Info provides an icon that should be associated with the trigger. Triggers that are based on auras, spells, or items almost always provide Icon Info. Displays that show Icon Info always give you the option between using the automatically provided icon, or choosing your own. When using such a display with a trigger that does not provide Icon Info, you will be required to pick your own icon.

Occasionally, the icon provided by a trigger will change while it is in use. For example, if you use an Aura trigger and specify multiple aura names, the trigger will provide Icon Info specifically for the aura it currently sees (if more than one of the specified auras are detected, the first name in the list will take precedence). Similarly, a Death Knight Rune trigger set to show Blood Rune #1 will provide a Blood Rune icon most of the time, but will provide a Death Rune icon if Blood Rune #1 becomes a Death Rune.

It should be noted that WeakAuras searches for auras by name only, WoW often defines more than one spell for any given name, and each spell can have a different icon. Although an aura will provide an icon when it is actually detected, WeakAuras will not always pick the correct icon for the specific aura you want to detect during configuration.

When using Custom Icon Info either the icon's iconID or its file-path can be given. A good source for this information is https://www.wowhead.com/icons. Going to an icon's page you can see the iconID in the URL itself. The important part of the path can be gained by clicking the icon on the page and copying the contents of the text box. If we take https://www.wowhead.com/icon=132089/ability-ambush as an example, the iconID is 132089 and the path text is ability_ambush, meaning that interface/icons/ability_ambush is the file path for the icon.

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Name Info

Name Info provides a name that should be associated with the trigger. Progress Bar is the only display type which uses Name Info by default - it displays it on the left side of the bar. Like Icon Info, you can choose whether you want you use the automatically provided Name Info, or provide your own value. Name Info is almost always provided in the same cases as Icon Info. If a Progress Bar cannot get Name Info from its trigger, it will use its configuration id (the name in the display sidebar).

For Custom Name Info simply return a string.

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Stack Info

Stack Info gives count into depending on the trigger used. Most commonly it is the number of stacks an aura has. Using %s will not display anything if it receives 0 for Stack Info. In cases where you want it to display 0 you can use %stacks instead.

For Custom Stack Info a number must be returned.