HowTo: Debug your UI

Stranded in WoW 3.0.2 withtout working addons? Getting mad because you can’t exactly figure out what’s broken where?

Many things actually work, but in order to get it fixed, a methodical approach works best.

Here’s my method:

Tools

• AddOn Control Panel (ACP), found here
• If you’re using Gatherer or Auctioneer, Swatter which is part of the distribution, otherwise I recommend Rabbit’s excellent Buggrabber.

Method

1. Disable all AddOns
2. Make sure ACP and either Swatter or Buggrabber is active (if you have both, Swatter will politely yield to Buggrabber)
3. If you’re using Swatter, after loading a toon, type /swat enable. Remember, if you have both, only Buggrabber will actually work
4. Type /reloadui (it should now work) or /acp and click the reloadui button, you’re now in a clean slate state
5. Now add your addons back through ACP step by step, and reload the UI between each step
6. Swatter should start popping up by itself, if not, type /swat show to see the error list, and /swat autoshow once to have the window pop up on an error
7. The errors due to any missing libraries are at the beginning of the error lists, the rest are usually errors borne out of the fact that said libraries aren’t there
8. /buggrabber # will show you each error in turn. Swatter will need you to click through to reach the earliest errors.
9. Now go download your missing dependencies, exit the game and restart to get them accounted for, then rince and repeat.
10. Last but not least, with Swatter, make sure you type /swat clear before you reload, since it actually saves the entire error list. Buggrabber does not.

Note that Buggrabber also relies on a companion, bugsack, which gives a nice window display too. It doesn’t currently work for me, though, and barebones buggrabber does the trick as well.

It’s a long and painful process, but the only way to recover whatever you need asap without going completely insane.

I hope