Consolidated list of UI changes for World of Warcraft patch 2.4

[Spitfire]

The good number of changes seem to be making its way into the latest 2.4 patch for Blizzard's World of Warcraft MMORPG. As a result, it's very easy to get lost in all the techno babble the developers have mentioned they'll be putting into the update. Fortunately, green poster Iriel from the WoW forums was kind enough to consolidate all the major changes included in the upcoming patch's User Interface API and functionality.

Two of the biggest changes included are the combat logging mechanism previously discussed by Blizzard and the new in-game interface options screen. In any case, here are the rest of the details in the compiled list of changes for patch 2.4:

Significant Changes

• The combat logging mechanism is completely overhauled with explicit data instead of text strings delivered to the UI. [...] Highlights include detailed flags indicating relationship of involved units to player, unique identifiers for units with the same name within the combat log -- great for log analysis.
  
• The In-game Interface Options screen is being revamped and the new architecture should allow AddOn authors to modify its contents without the taint issues presented by the current system. Additionally this system will contain an area for AddOn authors to present their own configuration options. Authors interested in this feature should be sure to experiment on the PTRs before patch 2.4 is released so that any issues can be surfaced and discussed. Basic details on how to use this system can be found in code comments in the 2.4 Blizzard_InterfaceUI.lua.

Visual Settings

• There's a new cVar unitHighlights; 0 = no model highlighting with Alt-Z, 1 = model highlighting on with Alt-Z. (e.g. /console unitHighlights 1)

Inventory Management

• NEW - freeSlots, bagType = GetContainerNumFreeSlots(bagIndex) -- Returns the number of free slots in a bag, and the type of items that can go in the bag. For bagType, 0 means any item can go in the bag.
  
• NEW - bagType = GetItemFamily(itemID "name" "itemLink") -- When used with a container, this returns the type of container. When used with an item, it returns the type of container the item can go in. However, bagType is a bitflag, so GetItemFamily for something that could go in a quiver (bagType 1) and an ammo pouch (bagType 2) would return 3. A bag that can hold both arrows and bullets would also return 3.

Events

• PARTY_MEMBER_ENABLE and PARTY_MEMBER_DISABLE will no longer provide information about which party member was enabled or disabled.

Debugging

• In 2.4, you'll be able to pass a coroutine as a first (optional) parameter to debugstack()

The thread on the source link is a veritable treasure trove of technical information for those of you who are interested at taking a look at some of the hard numbers behind the new patch. Specifically, Iriel mentions that the combat log details can be found on posts 177 to 180 on the WoW forums.