I'm looking for some resources on developing mods and building them using an IDE. I have eclipse installed with the LUA plug in (although it is for a slightly older version of LUA) and am trying to use that to modify a Mod I've been using that has some features I like a lot but some that I find very very annoying.

Things I'm not sure I know how to do include compiling it and actually seeing the results on screen. Would seem to be counterproductive to go into WoW every time you want to see what your changes do. So if anyone could give me some tips or point me in the direction of some faqs or resources about it I'd be grateful. I've found some faqs, but some seem outdated and some don't really explain things terribly well.

As far as IDE's go that are specifically tailored to LUA and WoW's API I know of only one, though I've never used it and can't attest to it's overall quality:
WoW UI Designer - http://wowinterface.com/downloads/fileinfo.php?id=4222

There is another application that someone developed which mimics the WoW API in an 'offline' environment, meaning you don't need to run WoW to test your mods. I don't really see the purpose in this, considering you can just save your changes and reloadui to see them instantly in-game, but I suppose there's something to be said for having a testing environment to dick around with 'at work'. I'm not sure if it is being actively developed, but it is:
WoWBench - http://www.wowwiki.com/WoWBench

And for resources, WoWWiki is the one-stop shop for information regarding the in-game API and XML.

Wowbench hasn't been updated to work with Lua 5.1, let alone the other changes that are necessary to emulate the environment. I'm not sure what Mikk's plans with the project are at this point.

To be honest, one of the best ways is to take apart a simple mod and start from there. Set yourself a simple goal, such as "I want to be notified every time I get crit with a big annoying message" and work towards that.

http://www.wowace.com should have a fairly good "Hello World" tutorial that builds up slowly. It's a great place to get started.

A fancy LUA editor isn't really required - I just use Notepad2 with a LUA syntax installed and it works just fine for me. But yeah - start really simple and build your way up. http://wowwiki.com is your friend as far as API functions go. Experimentation will get you far as well, as the majority of them aren't labeled too well.

IRC is a great resource too and I've found the people in the Ace channel helpful and fun to be around.

I figured out yeah that you use reloadui and such, no need for an IDE. Thing is I've not really started on a small mod, and yes you're right selece and lurch that it can be quite intimidating. I've been trying to modify the totemus mod, but that thing is huge (shaman version of necrosis and such).

It's doubly confusing in this case that it is xml and lua. From what I've seen LUA has the actual logic for the addon, but the XML is used to lay out the shape, size and format of the mod. That really tripped me up since most mods I've seen only have LUA, and I wonder why totemus uses XML.

I'll have to check out the IRC channel at some point.

From http://www.wowwiki.com/UI_Beginners_..._point_of_view

"AddOns mainly consist of two types of files:
- Lua files, which contain the brunt of the logic
- XML files, which define how your dialogs, buttons, etc look. These elements are commonly referred to as "Widgets".
- You list these files in a TOC (Table Of Contents) file together with some additional parameters."

Wowwiki.com is a great reference site for UI modification.

Prior to Patch 1.7 (or 1.8 maybe) the only way a frame could be created on screen was through the use of XML files. THis was nice because the formal was clearly defined and you could use any good XML editor to lay everything out. Unfortunately, it also meant that all frames needed to be declared ahead of time, which at times can be pretty wasteful.

Now we are able to create frames entirely in Lua without the need for XML. Both Clique and PerfectRaid use this method for all of thei rframe creations (including the config GUI in both cases).

If you're going to get involved in the UI community, don't focus on Ace.. there's a whole community of developers much larger than that always willing to help on irc and in the official forums:

irc.freenode.net #wowi-lounge.

http://www.wowinterface.com

Etc.

Cheers