Event for entering a group (and have unit frames ready)

[haggen]

I'm having the hardest time figuring out how to properly detect when I get in a group. Whatever event I use it seems there's always some missing information at that point.

I need an event that tells me:

- I'm in a group
- The unit frames for group mates are created

And from any state

- I got invited
- I invited someone
- I was offline and logged in already in a group
- I am in a group and reloaded the UI
- Any other possible state

I was using the official source for unit frames as a guide - http://esodata.uesp.net/current/src/....lua.html#2024

On EVENT_PLAYER_ACTIVATED it seems I can't iterate over UNIT_FRAMES.groupFrames, they're not always initialized at this point.

EVENT_GROUP_UPDATE, EVENT_UNIT_CREATED, EVENT_UNIT_FRAME_UPDATE and EVENT_GROUP_MEMBER_JOINED does not happen every time, or not with everyone, or some other shortcoming.

Any ideas?

[Baertram]

I had the same problem which couldn't be solved in the past.
So I wrote a workaround at player activated event callback function, which get's the actual group size and checks if I'm in the group member table:

-- Get group Size
    local groupSize = GetGroupSize()
    if groupSize <= 1 then
        d(">> You are not in a group")
        return
    end
 
    local charName
    local playerName = GetUnitName("player")
    -- Cycle through group and check their "unitTags"
    for i=1, groupSize, 1 do
        charName = GetUnitName(GetGroupUnitTagByIndex(i))
        if charName == playerName then
            d("You are in a group!")
                return -- break here
        end
    end

Edit:
Oh and for all other situations the callback function for event EVENT_GROUP_MEMBER_JOINED used the same check, and it fired correctly for me (couldn't test it in the past days though!)

[sirinsidiator]

@Baertram: There are easier ways to check if someone is in a group:

IsPlayerInGroup(characterName)
IsUnitGrouped("player")

@haggen: In my SocialIndicators addon I do not directly operate on every group member event as there are a lot of things going on when a member joins that caused micro freezes in the past (and still do sometimes) without addons adding more work.
So in regard to accessing the unit frames this is what I do in my upcoming update for SocialIndicators:

local function ClearCallLater(id)
    EVENT_MANAGER:UnregisterForUpdate("CallLaterFunction"..id)
end
 
local function RequestUpdateGroupSocialIndicators()
    if(refreshGroupIconsPending) then
        ClearCallLater(refreshGroupIconsPending)
        refreshGroupIconsPending = false
    end
    if(IsUnitGrouped("player")) then
        refreshGroupIconsPending = zo_callLater(UpdateGroupSocialIndicators, 200)
    end
end
...
-- in OnAddonLoaded:
    UpdateGroupSocialIndicators()
 
    RegisterForEvent(EVENT_GROUP_MEMBER_JOINED, RequestUpdateGroupSocialIndicators)
    RegisterForEvent(EVENT_GROUP_MEMBER_LEFT, RequestUpdateGroupSocialIndicators)
    RegisterForEvent(EVENT_GROUP_TYPE_CHANGED, RequestUpdateGroupSocialIndicators)
    RegisterForEvent(EVENT_GROUP_UPDATE, RequestUpdateGroupSocialIndicators)

As for the other things you need:
- I got invited
GetGroupInviteInfo()
EVENT_GROUP_INVITE_RECEIVED
EVENT_GROUP_INVITE_REMOVED

- I invited someone
Does not seem to be possible to completely track it via the api.
You will need to hook into all the methods that allow you to invite someone and remember who was invited.
GroupInvite(*string* _unitTag_)
GroupInviteByName(*string* _name_)

At least you should get an event when that invite changes: EVENT_GROUP_INVITE_RESPONSE

- I was offline and logged in already in a group
- I am in a group and reloaded the UI
- Any other possible state
See above.

[haggen]

So, I registered a bunch of events with a debug function and then invited some random fella from my guild to group, note that he/she was in a different region.

Here's the events that were triggered, with some additional information:

- Value of UNIT_FRAMES.groupSize
- If a unitTag was provided in the arguments

1. EVENT_GROUP_MEMBER_ROLES_CHANGED,    groupSize = 0, unitTag = group2
2. EVENT_GROUP_MEMBER_IN_REMOTE_REGION, groupSize = 0, unitTag = group2
3. EVENT_GROUP_MEMBER_JOINED,           groupSize = 0, no unitTag, but my name character's was available
4. EVENT_LEADER_UPDATE,                 groupSize = 0, unitTag = group1
5. EVENT_GROUP_SUPPORT_RANGE_UPDATE,    groupSize = 0, unitTag = group2

In this test I was assigned as "group1".

The events I was listening to were:

- EVENT_GROUP_MEMBER_CONNECTED_STATUS
- EVENT_GROUP_MEMBER_IN_REMOTE_REGION
- EVENT_GROUP_MEMBER_JOINED
- EVENT_GROUP_MEMBER_LEFT
- EVENT_GROUP_MEMBER_ROLES_CHANGED
- EVENT_GROUP_NOTIFICATION_MESSAGE
- EVENT_GROUP_SUPPORT_RANGE_UPDATE
- EVENT_GROUP_TYPE_CHANGED
- EVENT_GROUP_UPDATE
- EVENT_LEADER_UPDATE
- EVENT_UNIT_FRAME_UPDATE

The important lesson here is: during these events the unit frames were NOT ready, and NONE of them provided me with full information of my party, nor one same event was fired for each member of my group.

Really, WHAT THE ****?

[haggen]

Now, I reloaded the UI, left the group and asked the guy to invite me back again.

Here's what happened:

EVENT_GROUP_MEMBER_ROLES_CHANGED,    0, group1
EVENT_GROUP_MEMBER_IN_REMOTE_REGION, 0, group1
EVENT_GROUP_MEMBER_ROLES_CHANGED,    0, group2
EVENT_GROUP_MEMBER_IN_REMOTE_REGION, 0, group2
EVENT_GROUP_MEMBER_JOINED,           0, only my name
EVENT_GROUP_SUPPORT_RANGE_UPDATE,    0, group1
EVENT_GROUP_SUPPORT_RANGE_UPDATE,    0, group2

[haggen]

One last trivia, I formed a grouped, logged out and then in, here's what happened.

GameTimeMilliseconds | Event                               | unitTag
---------------------+-------------------------------------+---------
            10421439 | EVENT_LEADER_UPDATE                 | [Empty String]
            10421439 | UNIT_CREATED                        | group1
            10421439 | EVENT_GROUP_MEMBER_ROLES_CHANGED    | group1
            10421439 | EVENT_GROUP_MEMBER_IN_REMOTE_REGION | group1
            10421439 | UNIT_CREATED                        | group2
            10421439 | EVENT_GROUP_MEMBER_ROLES_CHANGED    | group2
            10421439 | EVENT_GROUP_MEMBER_IN_REMOTE_REGION | group2
            10421445 | EVENT_GROUP_UPDATE                  | -
            10421445 | EVENT_GROUP_SUPPORT_RANGE_UPDATE    | group1
            10421445 | EVENT_GROUP_SUPPORT_RANGE_UPDATE    | group2
            10421892 | UNIT_CREATED                        | group1
            10421892 | UNIT_CREATED                        | group2
            10421894 | EVENT_GROUP_UPDATE                  | -

Anyway, I'm gonna standardize the tests and run them all again tomorrow or this weekend.

[sirinsidiator]

UNIT_FRAMES.groupSize is only updated in specific cases.

• EVENT_PLAYER_ACTIVATED fires
• EVENT_GROUP_UPDATE fires and EVENT_UNIT_CREATED or EVENT_UNIT_DESTROYED has fired before
• every second in the OnUpdate handler of ZO_UnitFrames if EVENT_UNIT_CREATED or EVENT_UNIT_DESTROYED has fired before

If you want to know the group size before that happens, use GetGroupSize() instead.

[haggen]

Originally Posted by sirinsidiator UNIT_FRAMES.groupSize is only updated in specific cases. EVENT_PLAYER_ACTIVATED fires EVENT_GROUP_UPDATE fires and EVENT_UNIT_CREATED or EVENT_UNIT_DESTROYED has fired before every second in the OnUpdate handler of ZO_UnitFrames if EVENT_UNIT_CREATED or EVENT_UNIT_DESTROYED has fired before If you want to know the group size before that happens, use GetGroupSize() instead.

Thank you. I actually was just trying to check if the unit frames for group were ready. I guess this wasn't the best way to do this. Anyway, as I said, I'm gonna improve the tests and run some full scenarios so I can better evaluated what happens when and in what order.

[circonian]

I did not test any of this, but maybe it will help.

As for your problem with unit frames not being initialized yet. The zos code registers for this event to create/initialize UNIT_FRAMES:

EVENT_MANAGER:RegisterForEvent("UnitFrames_OnAddOnLoaded", EVENT_ADD_ON_LOADED, OnAddOnLoaded)

and when its done it fires this callback & unregisters the event:

CALLBACK_MANAGER:FireCallbacks("UnitFramesCreated")
EVENT_MANAGER:UnregisterForEvent("UnitFrames_OnAddOnLoaded", EVENT_ADD_ON_LOADED)

So it doesn't look like you need PLAYER_ACTIVATION, you could just register for that callback to know when it is done initializing UNIT_FRAMES and then UNIT_FRAMES.groupFrames should be available:

Warning: Spoiler

function OnUnitFramesCreated()
    -- UNIT_FRAMES created and ready
    -- do whatever
end
CALLBACK_MANAGER:RegisterCallback("UnitFramesCreated", OnUnitFramesCreated)

As for knowing when a unit in the unit frames change: it looks like when the units change a dirty flag is set and after it updates everything the flag is cleared. I would think you could just use that function so you know when it is done updating all of the unit frames.

Warning: Spoiler

function OnUnitFramesCreated()
    function UNIT_FRAMES:ClearDirty()
        self.firstDirtyGroupIndex = nil
        
        -- unit frame units changed, do whatever
    end
 
    -- UNIT_FRAMES created and ready
    -- do whatever
end
CALLBACK_MANAGER:RegisterCallback("UnitFramesCreated", OnUnitFramesCreated)

I think sirinsidiator answered the other questions.