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Environment

Environment is a library resource used to identify the environment where the addon is running. By environment, it can be a specific game client version or even the unit test suite if the addon is being covered by tests.

It can serve for many purposes, from cosmetic changes to the addon interface to the implementations based on available API functions that can be different between game versions.

Once initialized, the Stormwind Library instance will have the environment information available through the environment property.

Usage​

Introduced in the Stormwind Library version 1.2.0, the Environment class is not instantiable by the factory due to limitations regarding the lifecycle and order of initializations, considering that the factory itself depends on the environment.

Instead, its unique instance can be accessed through the environment property of the library.

local environment = library.environment

if environment:getClientFlavor() == environment.constants.CLIENT_CLASSIC then
  -- do something specific to the Classic client
elseif -- ... other client flavors

Available flavors​

  • Environment.constants.CLIENT_CLASSIC: The current World of Warcraft Classic client, which includes TBC, WotLK, Cataclysm, etc. It's important to mention that Blizzard calls "Classic" the current classic progression that started in 2019 with Vanilla and then moved to TBC, WotLK, and so on.
  • Environment.constants.CLIENT_CLASSIC_ERA: Classic Season of Discovery, Hardcore, and any other clients that have no expansions.
  • Environment.constants.CLIENT_RETAIL: The current World of Warcraft Retail client, which is the most recent expansion.
  • Environment.constants.TEST_SUITE: The unit test suite, that executes locally without any World of Warcraft client. This is important sometimes to avoid calling API functions that are not meant to be called outside the game and vice versa.
Note about classic flavors

When this class was designed, the Classic progression was close to the Cataclysm release, which made sense to separate it from the Classic Era flavor.

In case Blizzard changes the progression steps and creates something like a TBC Era, WoTLK Era, etc., the library may be updated to reflect these changes and introduce new constants.

Keep an eye on the library updates to check if new constants were added.