Alts
Overview
Alts is an addon that allows you to setup main-alt relationships and have that information displayed in various areas. It uses the LibAlts library to share data with other addons. For a list of other addons using LibAlts, see here.
Bugs/Enhancements
You can submit tickets here: https://www.wowace.com/projects/alts/issues
Features
Main/Alt information is displayed:
- When that character logs on
- When you do a /who on that character
- In unit tooltips
- From a command line interface
- From a GUI interface
Main/Alt information can be set and managed:
- By right-clicking on a unit frame
- From a command line interface
- From a GUI interface
- LDB launcher to bring up the GUI interface
- Minimap button to bring up the GUI interface
Command line options:
- alts <searchterm> - Brings up the main window. If search term is provided, it will use it to search the main-alt data.
- setmain <alt> <main> - Adds the specified alt as an alt of the specified main.
- delalt <alt> <main> - Deletes the specified alt for the specified main.
- getalts <main> - Gets the list of alts for the specified main.
- getmain <alt> - Gets the main for the specified alt.
Automated Guild Import
Alts will automatically scan the guild notes for a character who is in a guild. It the notes are in a certain format it will then store the main/alt information into a separate area from the main-alt data that a user enters. Every time the player logs onto a character in that guild, the guild main/alt data will be updated. This information is kept separate from main/alt data a user enters so it can be easily sync'd.
The following guild note formats work:
- <main name>'s alt
- Alt of <main name>
- ALT: <main name>
- AKA: <main name>
- (<main name>) Must be at the start of the note though.
- [<main name>] Must be at the start of the note though.
- <main name> alt
- <main name>
- ALT(<main name>)
The matching is not case sensitive. If a note with one of those formats is found and the main name is in the guild, then it will create a main/alt link.
The guild imported data and user-entered data are merged automatically when displayed or searched. The guild imported data cannot be modified from the user interface. The UI ignores edits to that data since all changes are performed only on user-entered data.
Guild Export
You can now export your guild roster in a comma-separated format (CSV). You can find this feature in the options under Guild.
- Fields to Export: You can choose which fields to export. The fields are in the order of the checkboxes on the export screen. The Alts field will add a field that lists all the alts for the character.
- Escape?: You can choose if the appropriate fields are escaped using double quotes. If some of the fields such as the notes have commas then you may want to try this option.
- Only Mains: This option will export all character in the roster who are not marked as an alt.
- Only Guild Alts: This option controls if the Alt field lists all alts you have defined or only alts defined by the guild notes. If you have setup alt relationships outside the guild notes and do not want them in the export, leave it checked. If you want all alts listed then uncheck it.
After you click Export, you can use Ctrl-A then Ctrl-C to copy the data in the export box to the clipboard. If you're using a Mac, use Command-A then Command-C. From the clipboard, you can paste the exported data into the target application.
Guild Log
Alts now takes a snapshot of your guild at logon and will report any changes at each logon. You can also bring up the log manually in the options menu under Guild. It does not monitor the guild roster while you are playing so it should not affect performance.
Friend/Ignore Logging
Alts also takes snapshots of your friends and ignore lists and displays any removed friends or ignores at logon. This is helpful because the default UI does not indicate names for characters that were deleted, renamed, etc. It does not monitor these lists while you are playing so it should not affect performance.
Enhancements or Bugs
If you want to report a bug or ask for an enhancement, feel free to submit a ticket:
Comments
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Talryn Owner
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Posted Feb 27, 2015Disregard, I wasn't thinking. :P
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Posted Sep 27, 2016Prat uses a similar function for its altnames module. If the rank is alt(s) it checks the note for a valid name for the main. Presumably some guilds have an alt rank and merely put the main's name in the note without any additional syntax.
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Posted Feb 26, 2015Really appreciate this addon. The twitter functionality breaks if you use the feature that shows the main name when someone posts in chat, though. Not sure if there's any option besides just turning that off/disabling it if you want the twitter functionality since a SecureHook is only going to run post-call. I haven't looked to see if the addon options lets you toggle that, and if it's enough to fix it as I was digging through my addons folder just to figure out what addons might be tainting the chat window and ran across the RawHook calls.
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Posted Feb 27, 2015I'll look into it. I enabled Twitter functionality and so far the main names still show up. I will keep testing it though.
You can disable the main names show for alts in the chat window by going to the setting for Alts, expanding it to show the Notes section, then unchecking "Main Names in Chat". You can see if that resolves the issue.
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Posted Feb 27, 2015I finally see what you may be talking about. It isn't Alts that breaks but hooking the chat frame to show the main name makes it unsecure and apparently that breaks the Twitter functionality. If you have an achievement or such, a link is placed at the end of the chat frame notification. Clicking that produces a LUA error.
As far as I can tell, the only way to resolve it is not use that Twitter link or turn off the "Main names in chat". Perhaps Blizzard will provide a fix for it. Many addons do that sort of thing. You can also send a tweet in-game by typing /share. It involves typing instead of clicking but it works just as well in the end and it provides a means to add recent items and achievements too.
Summary for people interested: If the Twitter functionality is broken by Alts or another addon, you have 3 options:
If I find a fix, I will release a new version.
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Posted Dec 14, 2014Thank you so much for this! I'm currently compiling a list of alts for our serverwide RP community but I'm running into a few issues.
First: I'm trying to delete information and it simply wont. No error. Just.. I make the selection, click delete, and nothing. I try the /delalt command, it comes back with the chatlog that it deleted the alt, but i list it and it's still there. I have Prat installed with the AltNames module and could it be that the two addons are constantly sending info back and forth keeping the information?Yes, it was because this information was coming from the guild import and prat. anything manually entered in can be deleted but nothing else can. I had to manually remove the guild import from the SV file.Second: Right now the main is listed in the same color that the chat channel. Any way to get an option to use the color of the main or have a preselected color?
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Posted Dec 15, 2014Hi, as you figured out both Prat and Alts use LibAlts to store data. You need to be careful using both.
I added an option to change the color. It's in the latest alpha 1.3-1 which can be found here:
http://www.wowace.com/addons/alts/files/
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Posted Dec 17, 2014Thanks so much! The changed colors is a HUGE help.
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Posted Aug 5, 2014How hard is it to add a guild note format?
The reason I ask is that we currently use the format =MainName in the guild note field. Would love to use to use this mod, but our internal formatting is not likely to change.
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Posted Aug 7, 2014It isn't difficult to add a new format. I'm making a change and will release a new apha version soon. I'll include that format. There will be a new section of settings to allow you to enable and disable the various formats. I'll add it off by default. There are getting to be so many formats it slows down the guild scanning for a large guild.
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Posted Aug 7, 2014I added your =Name format to the latest alpha. It also lets you enable and disable formats. By default your format is disabled, so go into the settings, pick Note Formats and then enabled it at the bottom of the list.
Alphas are at Wowace.com: http://www.wowace.com/addons/alts
Download the latest which is currently 1.2-7.
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Posted Jul 4, 2014When we log in it says we have 110 Mains but in reality we have 223, we've double checked all mains and alts and they're all labelled properly(some mains have no alts) how can we classify them as a main? In our export the numbers are all correct but in game we are still "missing" those 113 mains. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. (I'm sure its something very simple we're missing)
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Posted Jul 8, 2014Hi, the count of mains is only based on mains with detected alts. If you have characters that are not associated with any mains, it isn't counting those. Perhaps that is the discrepancy? If you're accounting for that and still seeing an issue, then let me know and we can figure it out.
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Posted Dec 18, 2013I'm going to push an alpha of Alts soon that should do most things correctly. I'm still testing it and could use some feedback. I suggest just to be safe that you backup your Alts data. It's in:
<WoW Folder>\WTF\<Account Name>\SavedVariables\Alts.lua
I think the Curse Client also does that for you.
I'll provide a link here too in case you aren't familiar with how the Curse system works.
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Posted Dec 18, 2013My alpha version is here:
http://www.wowace.com/addons/alts/files/109-1-1-1-g1993652/
It should resolve most problems. I'm still testing it though.
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Posted Dec 13, 2013Anybody got it working with wow 5.4.2?
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Posted Dec 13, 2013I didn't realize they were going to force the realm name in 5.4.2. I'm working on an update to resolve the issues.
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Posted Dec 14, 2013Thanks:-) Could the format Alt(XXX) be added at some point? Looks like that format is used by 'Ouro Guild Alts' . Looks like only one 1 person in guild is using that sofar in his notes, but would be nice to have it included. In case more will in future.
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Posted Dec 14, 2013Try with
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Posted Dec 14, 2013deleewit, that method (Ambiguate) removes the server name depending on the situation. I'd need to look over the code to figure out which lines he's talking about.
deleewit, once I get things working again, adding a new alt format is fairly easy.
Since names can often have no server or a server name, I'm trying to make it smarter without breaking LibAlts. I'm fairly close on a working version. It will attempts to look up mains and alts with for the given name and then it will attempt to use the alternate. If the name had no realm, the alternate will be your local realm. If there was a realm, it will try to lookup just the name. That should help get the information for now.
I may have to assume that names without a realm are local. Unfortunately, in the past this addon and LibAlts addons in general didn't really make any assumptions. Of course that could lead to it thinking characters from another server are an alt of a local character.
The game client is still slow to add the realm to names in chat and sometimes out in the world. I don't think there is much I can do to fix that issue.