Addon Spotlight: Four data broker plugins
by Mathew McCurley 
Jul 1st 2010 at 2:00PM
Welcome, again, to the Spotlight, readers. I have got a treat for you today -- four of my favorite broker addons that you can plug into your Data Broker Display bar of choice! I love data broker addons, mostly because of the space-saving functionality and compactness of it all. If you are also denizens of Reader UI of the Week town, then you know Mayor Mathew likes some serious space-savers.
I hereby dedicate this week to Data Broker, a wonderful data library that allows for some big addons in small packages. First, I'll recommend some data broker displays, those bars you usually see on the top and bottom of people's user interfaces, and then five broker addons that you can plug into those bars. Think of the broker display addon as the garden and the broker addons as the flowers you choose to plant.
LDB, or LibDataBroker to the addon aficionados out there, is the colloquial name for a set of addons that "plug in" to a Data Broker Display such as Bazooka or ChocolateBar (or the once-great FuBar). There are a few awesome broker displays out there, so let's recommend some!
My personal favorite data broker display addon that houses other broker addons is ChocolateBar. It was created to be a Titan Panel/Fubar replacement and does the job very well. Big daddy Titan Panel is still around, doing its job surprisingly well after all its years serving the WoW community. Bazooka, another broker display, was recently recommended to me and I have only heard good things. Many players swear by Fortress, which takes a different approach to the bar model and gives plugins their own, separately configurable, free-floating places to live. Basically, what it really amounts to is that you have a choice in data broker displays. Since all of these addons accept the same kind of data broker plugins, you can swap around the displays to see which one gives you the type of experience you want.
Step one is to get a data broker display. If you're just starting out, I would say get the display that has the least amount of plugins already built in, as to not overwhelm yourself. Take your time. You can always switch displays.
Download ChocolateBar at [Curse] or [WoWInterface].
Download TitanPanel at [Curse] or [WoWInterface].
Download Bazooka at [Curse] or [WoWInterface].
Download Fortress at [Curse] or [WoWInterface].
Mourn Fubar in [the comments].
So now that you've got your display bar, it's time to plug in some plugins! Data Broker addon plugins can do anything and everything, from displaying your gold and making equipment shuffling easier, to show you memory usage and latency. Display bars and plugins can also greatly reduce the space that many addons take up on your screen, so tinker around with broker addons and you'll find some pretty interesting addons that are available.
It used to take three clicks to get to my list of instances that I had already run for the week. Three clicks! That's two too many. Why not load up SavedInstances, an awesome little addon that gives you the information you need in one click? SaveInstances is a great stand-alone addon, but it really shines because of its LibDataBroker support, easily sliding in on your display bar right next to your old favorites. Left-clicking on the addon itself opens up Blizzard's own raids menu, instead of going through the social menu. I enjoy it, and I'm sure you will, too.
Download SavedInstances at [Curse].
Broker_Micromenu, or "You made my week, Krick"
Krick, over in the most recent Reader UI of the Week comments, clued me in to my new favorite Broker plugin: MicroMenu. What does this simple broker plugin do, you may ask? The menu bar, the bane of my user interface existence, is moved off to a display bar. One click opens up a menu for the player to select the required function of the menu bar without it being anywhere to cause trouble. Thank you, Krick. You are the wings beneath my menu bar wings.
As an added bonus, Broker_Micomenu also displays your frame rate and latency! What a deal! Two great tastes that taste great together.
Download Broker_Micromenu at [Curse].
Broker_Currency
Want to know how much gold you made this session? Today? Yesterday? All this week? Want to know how much cash all of your characters on the particular realm have? Your next stop is downloading Broker_Currency, a simple plugin for your data broker display bar. Other types of currency, such as badges, are also configurable. I really like this addon because of its utter simplicity, but remember, you need a LibDataBroker display panel to use it.
The addon even allows you to turn off silver and copper displays for those two worthless currencies. Yeah, you heard me, peons. I've got a date with my money hat. Actually, truth be told, I spent all my gold on stuff for my goblin. Anyone spare some copper?
Download Broker_Currency at [Curse].
Many people use all sorts of addons for equipment management. For some reason, I never downloaded equipment manager addons. I was late to the game with dual specs and I never had roleplay sets of gear to show off in Orgrimmar, Ironforge or Goldshire. The Blizzard default equipment manager was always my little secret baby, the vice I never told anyone I used. "You're the addon guy! How can you use that piece of trash?" they questioned. Well, I did, and I still do. I don't recommend it. But I can help out my like-minded friends with a great broker addon called Broker_Equipment.
This plugin will allow you easy access to your Blizzard equipment manager sets, as well as easy macros for save, delete and equip sets. You can even queue a set during combat to switch to after combat. I use it. I like it. You might like it, too.
Download Broker_Equipment at [Curse].
There are hundreds of LibDataBroker addons out there. I know you've got some pretty heated opinions, so off to the comments with you! Spread the word about your favorite broker plugins. I am definitely going to write about more broker stuff in the future, but for now, take this small taste. We have a lot to explore within this addon category. See you all next week!
Addons are what we do on Addon Spotlight. Last week, you chose the addons in Community Choice 2! How did it feel, being special for that one fleeting moment? Treasure it, mortals. And remember, Addon Spotlight is fueled by viewers like you, so if you have a mod you think we should take a look at, email Mat at mat@wow.com. Filed under: Add-Ons, AddOn Spotlight
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Unain Jul 1st 2010 2:03PM
Broker Repair
Can't live without it :).
SunGod228 Jul 1st 2010 2:21PM
Love Broker Repair.
Blizz should really display percentages on gear durability by
default. Their glowing avatar waits till the last minute at which
point if you die one more time your gear is broken.
Valt Jul 1st 2010 2:43PM
Its not only death. I was doing HoR heroic with yellow bow last "boss" and in the last barrier my bow went red from mere use.. gladly I had some toc 10 crossbow but man, why does it have to go from use too *shakes fists*
Cyanea Jul 1st 2010 2:07PM
Lush makes the default Blizzard equipment manager as flashy as Outfitter with auto-swapping when you change specs or enter a particular area (BG or raid or arena) and gives you extra set slots (though they're stored locally, not on the server of course)
I stopped using Outfitter or ItemRack (I can't remember which one it was) when I found Lush and never looked back.
Starlin Jul 1st 2010 2:13PM
There's a mod that enables broker mods to be displayed on fubar. Look for Broker2FuBar. I'm using it with much success.
bob Jul 1st 2010 2:39PM
There's also an alternative for those of us who still find the occasional FuBar plugin that we need to run in our LDB displays: FuBar2Broker.
Amyranth Jul 1st 2010 2:16PM
How is Fubar defunct? It is currently being maintained a lot better than Chocolate bar - which hasn't seen an update since January.
Amyranth Jul 1st 2010 2:17PM
Er.. march.
Orkchop Jul 1st 2010 2:38PM
The creators (Ckknight and Arrowmaster) said they were stopping work on the project a while ago. It hadn't revived an update since December '09.... until last week.
Out of the blue Arrowmaster updated Fubar for patch 3.3.5, even though he doesn't have an active WoW account and couldn't test it.
So Fubar works great, for now. But I'm expecting to have to replace it for 4.0. It should be noted that most of the modules, like FriendFu and GuildFu, aren't being supported anymore, either. A lot of those authors have moved on to making Data Broker plugins.
xanthan Jul 1st 2010 4:51PM
If it ain't Broker, don't fix it
Waggles Jul 2nd 2010 9:47AM
Actually, in the curse file location for friends_fu, elk posted on the 25th of June that he will be updating the add-on with real id support.
Wyndy Jul 3rd 2010 11:06AM
Regarding GuildFU and FriendsFU, IMO Auld Lang Syne is a way better addon, and keeps track of guild, friends and now realid all in the same addon. It also syncs multiple chars with your friend list, so you have the same friends list on all of your alts (I don't remember if the GuildFU or FriendsFU do that).
None of my Fubar addon's have gone belly up yet, and the authors seem to still be updating for about 90% of them, so I'm going to stick with it till it's actually dead.
Hone Melgren Jul 7th 2010 10:07AM
@Orkchop
"Out of the blue Arrowmaster updated Fubar for patch 3.3.5, even though he doesn't have an active WoW account and couldn't test it."
Yes he could. That's the #wowuidev IRC channel is for. Faster testing it tthat way. There's also always standard lua developing tools used outside world of warcraft.
Wow isn't the only game that uses lua for addons you know :)
He's a programmer. He's used to receiving an error report from his clients and having to dry code changes in that "should" work.
Hollow Leviathan Jul 1st 2010 2:14PM
Here's me mourning FuBar. What happened? I still use it, but apparently the addon community is passing it by.
Malivick Jul 1st 2010 2:33PM
I am also still using FuBar. I was not aware that there was anything wrong with it.
Hone Melgren Jul 7th 2010 10:37AM
@Amyranth & Hollow Leviathan
He's not saying that Fubar is defunct , no longer being updated or is
broken at all.
It's just that LDB addons represent a paradigm shift in terms of
addons that represent information onto your screen.
The old way EG Fubar & Titan panel had you install either of these
addons then get addons specifically written to work under either
Fubar & Titan panel.
Going forward if you had some new fang dangled addon that still
worked using this system say EG StarPonyBar9782 you would then need
to get all new addons to work in StarPonyBar9782. A titan addon would
not be able to work in StarPonyBar9782 and StarPonyBar9782 addons
would not work in Fubar and vice versa.
Tekkub saw a problem with this and decided to design a new way.
Addon's by using a small library can publish a "LDB Feed" . Note an
addon doesn't need to be solely a "LDB addon". You can find some of
your favourite addons doing this now.
Other addons called "Broker Display" addons grab that feed and throw
it on the screen somewhere.
The advantages of breaking up what's displaying the information from
what gathers it are multiple not just for the users but also for the
authors.
For the author it means they don't have to code and maintain a
seperate addon for each displaying system. That and the LDB library
is actually pretty small - about 4k. It also means coding it's easier
as there will always be a job the addon used to have to worry about
doing they no longer have to as the other side of the fence is doing
it for them.
As a user it means you aren't chained to one display method. Want a
new look ? Change your LDB Display addon. You will not need to go out
and download new addons to work under the new system EG Titan ->Fubar.
Is your Broker Display addon getting a game breaking lua error on a
new patch? *meh* use a different broker display addon. Want sparkling
ponies prancing across the screen with signs on their back displaying
your FPS , memory and other stuff ? Well maybe when your 7 year old
daughter visits and wants to play her shaman :)
Jason Jul 1st 2010 2:16PM
Hello
fearinlight Jul 1st 2010 2:16PM
hey
molster Jul 1st 2010 2:18PM
hi
kamodius Jul 1st 2010 2:29PM
Was FuBar ever moved off of the RockLib? That's the main reason people were moving away from it (myself included). After awhile it started chewing up too much memory.