What is Widget Tools and the Widget Toolbox - developer notes & how to install

[Arxareon]

Appreciate the new release but the updated folder structure and zip files are confusing. Are there now three folders required for this addon? MovementSpeed, WidgetTools and WidgetToolbox_3.0?

Also, why is WidgetToolbox_3.0 present in both MovementSpeed and WidgetTools zip files? Seems like it should be one or the other. Not both. Are they identical?

Originally posted by @mario-64 in #22

I believe communicating the my reasoning for making the recent changes is in order. I am outlining them in detail in this post.

TLDR:

• Only one copy of the WidgetTools_3.0 addon folder needs to exist (even though it is included in both the Movement Speed and Widget Tools compressed install bundles).
• That means three separate addon folders within Interface/Addons: MovementSpeed, WidgetTools & WidgetToolbox_3.0.
• No extra stuff has been added unnecessarily that wasn't there previously (in fact space and load times are reduced in reality).
• This restructuring is more optimized, even if you only use Movement Speed, but the savings are greater if you use multiple addons made with Widget Tools like my other addon that recently got revived, Remaining XP.

I have optimized and streamlined the loading process. In essence, it is the same as it has been since outsourcing settings UI and data management code to Widget Tools toolboxes. It was a simpler install before because Movement Speed was its own bundle and included all necessary files, folders and the helper addon. When I started adding detailed settings, I made the decision to separate that code out so it could be shared by all of my addons so I don't have to repeat logic as "spaghetti code" for each. I continuously refined it with the end goal to make this shared code available for anyone to use and build upon if they wish. I did a lot of work to reach a state when I can start doing that, and with this latest release of Widget Tools 3.0 (& Widget Toolbox 3.0), I felt confident enough to move forward with that plan. The first step was to get it out there. The next step is to iron out any kinks and write some introductory documentation for developers on how to start using and building with this tool. That said, the new structure is not solely optimized specifically for this purpose, if I were to use it only for my own projects, it is still an improvement on the previous architecture:

The duplicate WidgetToolbox_3.0 folder is the old "Toolbox" folder, it used to be included in all my projects the same way. It has been made into its own addon to achieve two thigs:

1. Only one copy of it needs to exist. If multiple addons used it in the past, each of them had a copy of the Toolbox in its own folder. Separating the Toolbox out into its own main addon folder means that it will take up disk space only once for one copy, not multiple times for each addon that bundled it in.
2. Previously, each addon using the same Toolbox had to have the game client read every single duplicate file each time. Previously, it was only partially optimized so even though most of the code was only run once, having to have the toolbox files containing the shared code be re-read in first place which was some unnecessary work.

Having the Toolbox as its own addon entry means it will only ever be installed, loaded and read once no matter how many addons use it.

But why have the Toolbox in the first place? What is Widget Tools vs a Toolbox?

• Widget Tools is the brains that handles the Toolboxes, loads them, and provides them to addons for use along with other shared core utilities. It has been a separate addon for a while now for similar reasons why the Toolbox is now. Each of my addons had Widget Tools in its own compressed install bundle but it installed in its own separate main addon folder, preventing actual duplication on disk in practice. If you only used Movement Speed, you might not have noticed.
• Widget Tools used to also have an entire copy of the Toolbox folder, and it still does—the only difference is what I outlined above. It in itself now installs in a separate main addon folder, so even if you only use Movement Speed, that Toolbox folder is no longer installed and read by the game twice: once for Movement Speed and once for Widget Tools itself. The game only reads Movement Speed-specific files for Movement Speed and Widget Tools-specific files for Widget Tools, and this separated Toolbox addon (the WidgetTools_3.0 folder) is only loaded and read by the game when Widget Tools orders it on the request of an addon and provides it for use for every addon (including Widget Tools itself).

So why not have Widget Tools be the entire Toolbox itself?

• If multiple different addons use a shared code, when these different addons get updated separately, and they require changes to that shared code, updating one addon would now require every other addon to implement the updates to that shared code first. This means new versions of them must then be released in unison or risk causing some of them to stop working after that one addon makes changes to the shared code they all rely on.
• Widget Tools was meant to be a stable lightweight addon with long time support that manages the shared code to allow it to be modular in a predictable way. Different addons can now freely make changes individually to the shared code in their separate updates if they include their own updated Toolbox of a different version. Widget Tools handles that updated Toolbox as a separate module to prevent every other addon using an older or different version of a Toolbox from breaking. This behavior is unchanged form the previous versions, it was there just wasn't as visible.
• Widget Tools is more "evergreen", it offers foundational utility code that is not expected to change much over time to prevent addons relying on it to have to wait for updates, but more importantly, to have to rewrite and sync up their code every update because of the changes made. Toolboxes, on the other hand, are more complex and they handle stuff that is expected to change more often and what specific addons might require specific versions of they can easily include in their own files. The recent change is how that Toolbox is bundled, installed and loaded, the improvements to which is what I described above.

Movement Speed 3.3 uses Widget Tools 3.0 and both use the same Widget Toolbox 3.0 foundational module as they have in the past. They both need it and since they currently use the same one, only one copy of it is needed to be installed.

Focusing only on Movement Speed, no other addons: Was this development direction (made years ago) a good idea in the first place?

• I do like the deep customizability and quality of life the advanced custom settings I built provide. I plan to expand upon Font appearance options (it has been requested too) and display background options in the next updates. The reality is, managing those settings, the data and the UI is complex. What's more complex is doing it as optimally as one can. I do believe, however that having these features the default coding tools of the game don't provided out of the box is worth it.
• Movement Speed wasn't even my first addon release, it was Remaining XP. I wanted the same level of customization for both, and that alone lead me to utilize shared code between them fairly early on. As they evolved, so did the shared code. I continued to expand it but I also had to optimize it (especially if I also wanted to offer it to other developers to use eventually).
• Optimizations lead to the separation of the Widget Tools addon, and that now lead to the separation of the Toolbox module. I knew the install would be more complex (and possibly overengineered) but the end result would be better. That was the hope.

If it was good enough, it might just help other developers too, providing quality of life, development utilities and advanced settings for addon customization without requiring all of what's needed to be developed separately from the ground up.

---

I will release a revised install bundle soon that has everything needed for Movement Speed.

• I did not do that, because I was planning to have this handled by CurseForge. The vast majority of players use CurseForge to install my addons. It automatically installs required dependencies alongside Movement Speed, so no one would have to Worry about Widget Tools or the Toolbox module. They install and update Movement Speed, and everything else is taken care of.
• Unfortunately, the new update has been stuck in review limbo for the past day. This would be the first standalone release of Widget Tools, so that is why they are likely checking it manually. I considered this but I did not expect it to take this long. The only thing we can do now is wait.
• For Wago.io, there was no easy way to set similar automatic dependency handling, I will have to investigate and do some extra work to get that going. The new version of Movement Speed (and Widget Tools) are already live there, but they have to be installed manually, separately as of yet. Please be patient until I can sort that out (hopefully today or tomorrow).
• In the meantime, as the title of this last section states, I am planning to release a full bundle (all 3 folders) on GitHub for easier manual install, just like previously—the only difference in the (more optimal, if confusing) end result being the number of folders: not two, but three.
• I will also likely remove some of the added extra fonts because I failed to appreciate how much disk space they take up compared to how infrequently most of them are expected to be used—if at all. There is little point in optimizing the code for install and load size and have that be made pointless by adding a bunch of chungus font files for little actual benefit.

Thank you all for all for using my addons, providing feedback and reporting issues!
I hope my decision to seemingly complicate the matter does not scare anyone away, nor does it complicate your lives too much.
Please, do feel free to share any feedback. good or bad, regarding this development direction and any potential issues caused by it in this thread.

[mario-64]

Thanks very much for the detailed explanation, and again for the new update.

[Arxareon]

Update: Now all updates are finally live on CurseForge:

• Movement Speed 3.3
• Remaining XP (if you used it before it got benched—until now, or want to check it out)
• Widget Tools 3.0 (installed automatically via the CurseForge App, worry-free)

Next: Fix Wago.io, so it can do the same.

• Apparently, it should be able to do it automatically by reading the Dependency directly from the TOC file of an addon and find the matching addon on Wago.io to also install. From the numbers I can see, it is not doing that. Luckily, the solution seems to be straightforward: ## X-Wago-ID: needs to be included in the TOC file so Wago can reliably link it to Widget Tools. I will do that once I can get to it. Hopefully, it'll work.

Done. If someone could verify Wago dependency install works correctly, It'd be much appreciated!

[b-morgan]

Any addon that uses the ACE3 libraries bundles all the libraries needed with the base addon. The ACE3 libraries configure themselves to not only have one copy of each library in memory, but the most recent version of each library regardless of which addon it came from.

I believe that Movement Speed, Remaining XP, and any other addon needs to be packaged with all the required libraries including all flavors of Widget Tools. Sort out which copy to keep at run time.

I've read everything you have posted in the last few days and I still don't have MovementSpeed working again on 12.0.5

[Arxareon]

The FullBundle-marked package does include all dependencies and libraries needed.

What I plan to achieve with Widget Tools is similar but the important distinction is that I also want to optimize disk scape as much as I can and file parsing cost as well. If each addons loads all library files, even though the same version will not be "executed" and kept in memory multiple times, having to read their files is unwanted work. That is why I made the "Toolbox" its own addon. That was one change. There is a discussion to be had about whether this micromanagement is worth it if it complicates manual installation.

Previously, Widget Tools itself was a separate addon already but it was only a bundled-in addon that did not exist in addon deployment site and management systems on its own. That is the second change. I wanted Widget Tools itself to be a standalone addon easily available as an option through mainly CurseForge (which most people use to get my addons). I wanted to utilize the automatic dependency handling and easy install procedure through the CurseForge and Wago Apps to handle the installation complexity automatically, and CurseForge does (I still need to verify if Wago works reliably as expected).

The Toolbox is now a separate addon, but it functions as a bundled-in library that each addon comes with. They have their own versions that in an ideal scenario are the same, so only one copy of it ever needs to be installed, loaded and kept in memory at the same time. I want to keep the possibility of addons being able to use different versions of a toolbox so if one addon needs updates to be made to the toolbox library for its own update, it does not get held back by every other addon needing to make the jump as well before that update can be released.

Now, I think we understand what I wanted to do. I believe the discussion about whether it's a good idea or my approach is right or not is valuable. Thank you for the insight and sharing your issues!

Regarding the issue at hand:

Are you trying to install manually? I assume so. There are the usual suspects that could go wrong, it's likely caused by the three folders which all have to be directly in the AddOns folder. It's good to check if Both Widget Tools and Movement Speed got replaced with their latest versions. There was a new hotfix release yesterday evening (EU) of Movement Speed 3.3.1 and Widget Tools 3.0.1, the previous releases of 3.3 and 3.0 for both respectively was broken (see here). Unfortunately an oversight I had turned out to be a fatal mistake, but I was able to rectify that with the hotfix.
If none if these were the issues, could you perhaps give me a few details about what the nature of the issue is, so I can help? What are you experiencing or which part of the process is the most difficult or annoying?

There is room for me to pivot away from this direction with Widget Tools entirely. Yes it was a lot of work and I did it only because I believed it would be worth it but if it turns out to be counterproductive, I might consider throwing it away but only if we accept the tradeoff of losing advanced customization and certain more involved features in the process. For a simple idea of an addon like Movement Speed, it might be considered but I would not want to upkeep multiple different versions of it, that I am certain of.

[Arxareon]

So, to highlight the important distinction to how Ace is handled most of the time, I could have Widget Tools as a standalone release up on most platforms and also have it optionally be fully bundled in. I did not want to do that to avoid having to store and having to have WoW parse each extra bundled-in copy of it for every single addon that uses it. Even if someone installs Widget Tools (or a Toolbox) separately, it will take up space and will be fully parsed again by WoW for every single addon that has it bundled-in. My philosophy was to avoid that, even if it means having to juggle 3 (previously 2) separate folders for those who install it manually. I did anticipate it would be a rocky transition but I certainly wanted to try.

If and whenever Blizzard implements a solution that allows us to make included individual files optional and have them be loadable to be parsed only on demand, this entire issue mostly evaporates away. The only remaining issue would be duplicated files taking up extra disk space but that would not be much in the grand scheme of things but minimizing loading times is important, even small things can add up to be noticeable quickly.

[b-morgan]

I use WowUp.io CF and I have Movement Speed 3.3.1 and Widget Tools 3.0.1 in the My Addons list. Is this all I need?

I don't see anything about WidgetToolbox.

I believe Movement Speed is now working on 12.0.5. I haven't checked the other three flavors of WoW.

[Arxareon]

Thank you for checking again! I'm glad to hear it's working.

Widget Toolbox 3.0.1 should be a sub-addon registered under the main entry for Widget Tools inside the addons list. If Movement Speed is working, that means it is also in place and it's working correctly. That is the optional "library" but in a form of an on-demand loadable addon.

I will consider what possible improvements and simplifications can I make in the future and evaluate the inevitable compromises. Future updates should be easier now, but feel free to continue to share feedback and pain-points about my design so I can adjust my philosophy and the direction to head in.