Avvi's C# Tips & Tricks with Helpful Code Snippets

[Avvi 98]

Hi all,

I figured I'd post some things that I have learned during my time of developing in C#. Perhaps some of this is obvious for some of the more experienced WRobot C# writers, but for me, I had to do a lot of forum searching and experimenting to make progress on any of my work. 

 

How do I get started?

Please see this post by @Droidz

 

 

How can I see what Functions are available to me in the WRobot API?

I recommend using some sort of decompiler in order to see what functions are available in the WRobot API. That is, use something such as dotPeek from jetbrains. See this URL: https://www.jetbrains.com/decompiler/ . Once you have this downloaded, open  the WRobot Binaries located in the (C:\WRobot\Bin) folder in dotPeek. I cannot even begin to explain how many times the recompiled helped me find useful things I could re-use. As a quick tip, I would suggest taking a look at the wManager.wManager.Wow.Helpers functions that are available. Anything listed as public static <variable type>  will be available to use from a Plugin/Profile/Fightclass etc.

 

What if WRobot doesn't have an available function that I will need?

WRobot doesn't have everything instantly available, so you may need to resort to using some Lua Functions to get information back from the WoW Client. An example of this that I ran into at some point was getting the number of Character Macros someone has.. Of course this is very specific, but please bear with me for the sake of this example :).

WoW Lua Reference:  http://wowprogramming.com/docs/api_categories

Using Lua in C#:

This snippet will return a List of integers and set the C# variable numberOfMacros  equal to the returned list of the DoString function. To be more specific, it will provide a list of the number of Global account Macros , and the number of Personal Character Macros.

var numberOfMacros = Lua.LuaDoString<List<int>>("return numCharacterMacros"); 

 

The below will return just the number Character Macros someone has.  If you need a specific variable from a Lua Function, then do the following: 

var numPersonalMacros = Lua.LuaDoString<int>("local numAccountMacros, numCharacterMacros = GetNumMacros(); return numCharacterMacros"); 

The above snippet will set the C# variable numPersonalMacros equal to numCharacterMacros from the lua return value.

Using a Variable in the Lua.LuaDoString.  The below will return the text body of the macro that has the id of 121.

var _macroID = 121
string macroBody = Lua.LuaDoString<string>("return GetMacroBody(" + _macroID  + ")");

 

 

Executing Lua Code in C#

This  will leave the party (if the player is in one).

wManager.Wow.Helpers.Lua.RunMacroText("/run LeaveParty()");

 

What is the difference between Lua.LuaDoString() and RunMacroText()? 

The difference is in can be understand in how you think about them. Lua.LuaDoString should be seen as a way to retrieve information.. More specifically, the Lua.LuaDoString's purpose is to have a value returned to it, so that you can assign it to a C# Variable. RunMacroText can be used to do something in game. More specifically, RunMacroText should be used when trying to run some sort of in-game script (such as /cast spell).

 

Plugin Template C#: Plugin-Template.cs

I have attached a basic plugin template that can be used. In it, I have provided an example of:

• A Basic Implementation of the wManager.Plugin.IPlugin Class (including Settings/Initialize/Dispose)
• Basic loop that will occur while WRobot is running
• Settings that can be configured from Plugin Page
• A Category/Short Description for the Plugin Settings
• An example of Watching for Game Events.
• An example of OnRunState / OnAfterRunState for WRobot States

Watching For Game Events

Sometimes you may find that you need to wait for something to occur in game before you can take a specific action. In WoW / WRobot world, these things are called events. Below are two examples of events. The first event will occur when either the Group Loot Settings change, or a Player Enters/Joins the current Party.The second Event will occur when a System Message is received.  I recommend adding this watchForEvents Function in the Initialize function of a plugin, or somewhere where it will only be called once. For an example of this, please see my Plugin Template.

private void watchForEvents()
    {

        EventsLuaWithArgs.OnEventsLuaWithArgs += (LuaEventsId id, List<string> args) =>
        {


            if (id == wManager.Wow.Enums.LuaEventsId.PARTY_MEMBERS_CHANGED)
            {
                Logging.Write("Joined Group or something about the current group was changed.");
            }
            if (id == wManager.Wow.Enums.LuaEventsId.CHAT_MSG_SYSTEM)
            {
          		  Logging.Write("We Received a System Message.");
            }
          	

        };

    }

 

Finding the list of available Game Events:

Each version of the game is different here, so this is where you will need to be careful. By that I mean, some versions of the game may have an event type, but a different version may not. Blizzard was not always consistent in their name accross different versions of the game, so please be careful to test against multiple versions of the game. 

1.  Open DotPeek
2.  Search for "LuaEventsID"
3. Double Click LuaEventsId in the Assembly Explorer Window.
4. A window will open displaying a list of Events.
   1. 

What do each of these Events mean?

WoW Event Reference:  http://wowwiki.wikia.com/wiki/Event_API 

(Reminder! Some of these may be different in different versions of the game.)

 

Watching For WRobot State Changes

In addition to in game events, there are also WRobot 'states'. Similar to Game Events, WRobot states are the particular condition that WRobot is in at a specific time. For example, there is a state called 'MillingState', and another called 'Looting' that come out with WRobot. States are managed by the WRobot FiniteStateMachineEvents Engine. When a State occurs/changes/ends/etc, an event is passed to the FiniteStateMachine (pardon my wording here if this is not 100% correct). There are three main events that we can use to manage our States.

State Events that occur:

1. OnBeforeCheckIfNeedToRunState - This can be used to CANCEL an event if specific conditions are met.
2. OnRunState - This can be used to do something just as the State is being started.
3. OnAfterRunState - This can be used to do something just as the State has completed.

 

Example of OnRunState and OnAfterRunState

In this example we are watching for when WRobot starts the ToTown State and when it finishes it. We create a boolean that is set to true when the state is started, and then set it to false when the State is completed. I recommend adding the initializeToTownWatcher() function in the Initialize function of a plugin, or somewhere where it will only be called once. For example of this, please see my Plugin Template.

bool goToTown = false;

private void initializeToTownWatcher() {
        robotManager.Events.FiniteStateMachineEvents.OnRunState += (engine, state, cancelable) =>
        {
            if (state != null && state.DisplayName == "To Town")
            {
             
                    goToTown = true;
                    Logging.Write("Going to Town State has been initiated.");
            }
        };

        robotManager.Events.FiniteStateMachineEvents.OnAfterRunState += (engine, state) =>
        {
            if (state != null && state.DisplayName == "To Town")
            {
                goToTown = false;
                Logging.Write("We have completed going To Town State.");
                

            }
        };

    }

Example of OnBeforeCheckIfNeedToRunState

In this example, we catch the state with the name of To Town and cancel it by setting the passed in cancelable parameter to true.

private void cancelToTownState() {
        robotManager.Events.FiniteStateMachineEvents.OnBeforeCheckIfNeedToRunState += (engine, state, cancelable) =>
        {
            if (state != null && state.DisplayName == "To Town")
            {
              	Logging.Write("We have cancelled the To Town State");
                cancelable.Cancel = true;
            }
        };
      
    }

Where can I find other WRobot States?

Each version of the WRobot is different, so some versions of WRobot may have a state type, but a different version may not. Please be careful to test against multiple versions of the game/WRobot. 

1. Open DotPeek
2. Expand wManager Module
3. Expand wManager.Wow.Bot.States namespace.
   1. 

 

 

MORE TBA....

The above is my attempt at trying to help newcomers to WRobot at writing their own plugins / fight classes / etc. If there are any questions , suggestions, or even  corrections, please do let me know in the comments and I'll be sure to add/update things as they come up!

 

Thanks,

- Avvi 

 

Edited December 30, 2017 by Avvi

[Avvi 98]

Added information about WRobot States.

[pasdoy 1]

Just saw this post. Very good info.  Would be nice if it was pinned on page 1.

[Hakzorie 2]

Have Been working with just the Fight Class editor and it takes an insane amount of work to get the functions to work right.

Now that ive seen this guild i will remake my fightclasses using DotPeek.

TY MUCH! and expect some decent fightclasses and such out of me!

[Avvi 98]

bumping for visibility

[vanbotter 12]

Hi @Avvi

 

Thank you so much for this. It has helped me loads! I am still struggling with the Lua.RunMacroText. I would have thought i can use it to run a script to call an actual macro. I have the macro in game and if i type /run runmacro("Macro2") on a command line it executes the macro. 

However, in a Plugin with the below, i get a compile error:

\Temp\f2vkakgr\f2vkakgr.0.cs(15,60) : error CS1026: ) expected
\Temp\f2vkakgr\f2vkakgr.0.cs(15,66) : error CS1002: ; expected
\Temp\f2vkakgr\f2vkakgr.0.cs(15,69) : error CS1002: ; expected
\Temp\f2vkakgr\f2vkakgr.0.cs(15,69) : error CS1525: Invalid expression term ')'

 

I am assuming it doesn't like the open bracket inside the brackets for RunMacroText.

How would i get around that? or how would I pass slash commands in game? Which is essentially what my macro is actually doing.

Thanks

 

 

using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Threading;
using robotManager.FiniteStateMachine;
using wManager.Wow.Helpers;

public class Main : wManager.Plugin.IPlugin
{
    public void Initialize()
    {
        robotManager.Events.FiniteStateMachineEvents.OnRunState += delegate(Engine engine, State state, CancelEventArgs cancelable)
            {
                if (state.DisplayName == "Regeneration")
                {
                    
                    wManager.Wow.Helpers.Lua.RunMacroText("/run RunMacro("Macro2")");
                    Thread.Sleep(2000);
                }
            };
    }

    public void Dispose()
    {
    }

    public void Settings()
    {
    }
}

 

[Matenia 628]

Everything after run is regular Lua, so if you want to run your macro like that, just do
(Vanilla has no RunMacroText, so it would never work anyway - but more importantly, you should use an IDE to edit your code so you can see things like trying to put 4 quotation marks won't work, because your string ends at ( and then inbetween the next ")" it tries to execute Macro2 as code. See Strings.)
 

Lua.LuaDoString("RunMacro('Macro2')");

 

Edited July 24, 2018 by Matenia

[vanbotter 12]

Thanks @Matenia Much appreciated! now i can run the bots and sit down to regen rather than looking like an idiot standing still! hurray!

 

Thank

[Kensen 0]

Hi, what state for TurnIn and PickUp?

[TheSmokie 242]

if you ever need to find out what state the bot is in, use this code to detect figure what state you are in to help make products,

robotManager.Events.FiniteStateMachineEvents.OnRunState += (engine, state, cancelable) =>
        {
            Logging.WriteError("state = " + state.DisplayName.ToString());
        };