Quest Intern

Quest Intern

Addons
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Quest Intern
An Extension Module (Intern) for Executive Assistant (0.9.9m or Later) [Download]

An Executive Assistant helps you efficiently navigate a busy schedule, answers questions, and keeps information in easy reach. But no Executive Assistant can do it alone. Executive Assistant Interns, the addons, extend the 'user configurable to-do list' concept a bit further still.

The Executive Assistant Intern Series offers modules to add features or automate some small functions that just might make your day a bit easier. These Interns are not in any way replacements for full-featured addons, rather they do little things that full-featured might do if they plugged in LibExecAssist.

Let's send this Intern on a Quest!

Features

This Intern Module keeps your Quest related Executive Assistant Tasks in sync with Quest-Givers. Targeted at Repeatable Quests, and handling Repeatable-Quest Quest Hubs (e.g., Townlong) with aplomb, it can also do Normal Quests (this option is for the truly adventurous or clinically insane).

Quest Intern notes when you Accept a Quest, (optionally) makes a Quest related Task if needed, and Completes the Task when you turn the Quest in: every time, without fail. For a Quest Hub, Accept and Complete the Quests from the Quest Hub you wish to do that day/week/period.

Quests are broken down into three overall categories:

  • Stand-Alone Repeatable Quests: Same Quest and Quest Giver are available every period
  • Quest Hub Repeatable Quests: Quest Hubs are for areas of Repeatable Quests whose Available Quests vary from period to period
  • Normal Quests: Done Once-Per-Character
    Each is handled a bit differently to produce an overall feel that is easy and intuitive.

For the sake of brevity, the following terms are used below:

  • Track: Use an Executive Assistant Task to show Completed/Uncompleted for a Quest or Quest Hub
  • Task: Executive Assistant Quest-/Quest-Hub-Linked Task
  • Quest Entry: Quest Intern Configuration for a Quest ID (retains user-editable Name, Quest ID number, frequency, etc)

Core Features

  • Learns and Remembers Repeatable Quests as you Accept them (does not rely on an internal database)
  • Able to detect Repeatable Quests at Turn-In (though with less system-supplied information)
  • Provides optional QuestID Notification (when Accepting, Turning-In, and Abandoning)
  • Allows Manual Creation of Quest Entries (requires QuestID)
  • Tasks and Quest Entries both can be Renamed, Reorganized to other Groups, and Configured in freely in Executive Assistant and Quest Intern: they remain Linked regardless.
  • Repeatable Quests: Automatically creates/re-creates a 'Target Group' for Repeatable Quests in Executive Assistant. This group may be moved, renamed, or deleted at will
  • Normal Quests: Use a separate 'Target Group' with similar properties
  • Deleting a Task in Executive Assistant Stops Tracking: an intended, intuitive behavior, deleting a Task linked to a Repeatable Quest or Quest Hub will notify Quest Intern to stop Tracking that Quest or Hub. Quest Intern does a full Tracking decommission as if it was turned off in Quest Intern and you may begin Tracking it again later as you choose
  • Quest Intern Help integrates with Executive Assistant Help
  • Quest Intern Configuration integrates with Executive Assistant Configuration
  • Click Map entry for Quest Intern Configuration, for easy Quest Inter access

Stand-Alone Repeatable Quests

  • Automatically Track New Repeatable Quests (Optional)
  • Toggle a Quest's "Track and AutoComplete" On or Off at your discretion
  • Organize / Rename Quest Entries as you see fit in Quest Intern
  • Quest and Group Names are Color Code / Escape Code Friendly (see Executive Assistant Help Section 'Colorizing Names' for usage)
  • Newly Discovered Quest Entries can be created in a user-selected Group (to pre-organize) or in the default "New Quests" group (and re-organized (or not) at your convenience)
  • Quest Tools
    • Show Quest IDs: displays the Quest ID of accepted, turned-in, and abandoned Quests
    • Manual Quest Entry: Quest Name, Quest ID, and Daily/Weekly Reset.
    • Quest Hub: Group related, variable quests together (e.g., Townlong)

Quest Hubs

The user decides which Quests are part of a Hub so it may be as large, or small, as befits the user's play-style (e.g., including Townlong and Niuzow Temple Quests in the same Quest Hub Group; excluding disliked Quests from the Quest Hub; etc.).

  • Quest Hub itself is represented by a single Task in Executive Assistant (e.g Townlong, Shado-Pan Garrison, etc)
  • Quest Hub Quests are determined by the User — this allows the user to omit undesired Quests and to determine what, to them, constitutes 'Quest Hub Completion'
  • Quest Tasks are automatically generated when Quest Hub Quests are Accepted
  • Abandoned Quests in Quest Hubs delete the associated Task in Executive Assistant
  • Accept as many or as few Quests from the Hub as you like (Quest Intern wont judge you!)
  • The Quest Hub is "Completed" when all Accepted Quests for that Quest Hub Group have been Completed.
  • The Quest Hub will "Uncomplete" or "re-Complete" based on the above, so accepting a new Quest after Completion or Abandoning a Quest is perfectly fine.

Here Be Dragons! er, Normal Quests

(Useful for Area-Based Leveling and answering the author's inevitable "Wait...Did I do that quest already?" Not intended for sane or rational users.)

  • Feature Enable/Disabled Per-Character
  • Tasks only visible in Executive Assistant for the Character Accepting/Completing them
  • No Quest Entry Management Needed: works using an ultra-light-weight per-character QuestID-to-TaskID Index
  • Separate Executive Assistant Target Group from Repeatable Quests
  • Fully Manages Executive Assistant Tasks
    • Creates Tasks when Quest is Accepted
    • Marks it Complete when Turned-In
    • Deletes Tasks when Quests are Abandoned

Getting Started
Usage in Automatic-Mode

  • Pick up Repeatable Quest and a Executive Assistant Task is created (Uncompleted)
  • Complete the Quest and the Executive Assistant Task is automatically Completed

Usage in Non-Automatic-Mode

  • Pick up Repeatable Quest
  • Find the Quest Entry in the Quest Intern Module
  • Check "Track and AutoComplete in Executive Assistant" and a Task will be created
  • Complete the Quest and the Executive Assistant Task is automatically Completed

Stop Tracking a Quest (two methods)

  • Delete the Task from Executive Assistant, Quest Intern will cease tracking automatically
  • Uncheck "Track and AutoComplete" for the Quest in Quest Intern (Executive Assistant Task will be automatically deleted)

Is It Really That Easy?

YES, but let's take a look at usage a little bit closer.

Names and Mobility

Quest Entries may be renamed to more useful ones or if shoter names are prefered. Quest Tasks may be renamed in Executive Assistant if retaining the original names in Quest Intern is preferred. Tasks are always created with the name listed in Quest Intern.

Quest Tasks may be moved around as befits the user's organization strategy. The Target Groups (Default names are "Quest Intern (New)" for Repeatable Quests and "Here Be Dragons!" for Normal Quests) are fully movable as well. Here the two Quest Hub Tasks have been moved out so that the Target Groups may be collapsed to reduce visual clutter from their auto-created Child Quest "[c]" Tasks.
http://i.imgur.com/lu7kkjW.jpg

If you delete either of the Target Groups, they will be automatically re-created then they are next needed.

Quest Hubs

Quest Hub Task Logic: Quest Hub Tasks Complete under fairly simple criteria, allowing you to select as many or a few Quests available as you like in a given period. If all Accepted Quest Hub Child Quest Tasks are marked Complete, the Quest Hub Tasks will be. This holds true when Turning-In or Abandoning Quest Hub Child Quests (e.g., Accept 4, Turn-In 3, Abandon the 4th = Quest Hub Task 'Complete'). If, in the example, you pick up the 4th again, the Quest Hub Task will be marked Uncomplete and Complete again at Turn-In or Abandon.

Createing a Quest Hub: Located in Quest Tools, the Creation of a Quest Hub is a matter of supplying a name; however, there are two additional items of interest. Quest Hub Prefix and Quest Prefix are ways to differentiate Quest Hub related Tasks from other Repeatable Quest Tasks when in Executive Assistant. You may design these as you like or delete them entirely.
http://i.imgur.com/kTOp7IT.jpg

The is a stand-in for the escape character to allow code exposure in entry fields. Notes on usage are provided in the Quest Tools local help and more extensive information about Colorization and Escape Code usage in the Executive Assistant Help section 'Colorizing Names.'

Quest Tools

Quest Tools let you create Quest Hubs as noted above but they also provide two other options:

  • Show Quest IDs: Gives you the QuestID of each quest when Accepted, Turned-In, and Abandoned.
  • Manually Enter a Quest (requires Quest ID)

Normal Quests (Here Be Dragons!)

A by-product of the proof-of-concept stage of development — and Disabled by default — this feature proved so popular with the author that it was evident it wasn't going away...and equally evident that it's excessive, resource in-efficient, utterly daft, and you'd do well to steer clear of it. Or enjoy it. Interns don't judge.

When enabled, an Executive Assistant target group (named "Here Be Dragons!" by default) will begin to be populated with every Normal (non-repeatable) Quest you Accept: if Turned-In, it will be marked Completed; if Abandoned, it will be Deleted. The Executive Assistant Task is only viewable for the Character that accepted the Quest — so if 5 of your characters Accept the Quest "This Is An Awesome Quest!" there will be 5 separate Tasks in Executive Assistant, each tied to a particular character's Turn-In.

As you might imagine, this piles up staggeringly fast even on just one leveling character. That said, depending on your play-style, and reading the attendant notes in the Quest Intern Help, it can prove quite useful in a variety of (quite narrow) circumstances.

Help and Information

Additional help is provided in the Executive Assistant Help and Information panel should you need to reference it in-game.

A Few Useful Tidbits

Which Intern Modules are Running

The simplest way to see which Intern Modules are running is to look at the Help and Information. While Intern Modules will use different connective features within Executive Assistant, all will inject a Help Panel for themselves.

Additionally, each Task associated with an Intern Module will show which Intern Module it's associated to and whether or not that Intern Module is loaded.

What Happens when Intern Modules are Disabled?

When Intern Module Associated Tasks do not detect their Intern Module loaded, they try to protect themselves by locking the Task Type. This is so that they are in a stable-state when the Intern Module is re-Enabled (in case it needed to be disabled due to a bug/game-change or the Intern Module simply not used on that character).

The Task may be deleted if you have discontinued using the associated Intern Module.

Caveats
What follows is some technical jiggery-pokery for folks who sit up nights contemplating addon jiggery-pokery.
Pre-configuring: While Blingtron 4k/5k offer a pre-configuration, this is the rarest of rare exceptions. The Executive Assistant Project relies on learn-as-you-go wherever possible to avoid the need for large data-mines a user may not need; the requirement to keep the data-mines up to date; the forced reliance on others to keep the data-mined data accurate; and Blizzard's sub-conscious desire to give addon authors headaches (along with their heavy investment in aspirin manufacturers). The Quest Hub concept would benefit from an example and due to the quest-type and weak quest-api design, information on them is buried deeper than a war crime, so an exception was made.
Intern Module Disable: Intern Modules store Task related information in the Task itself and this information persists, even if the Task is re-purposed to another Task Type. This will not harm the Task and only significantly bloat the saved variables file if you are using a simply staggering number (read: many, many thousands) of these re-purposed Task Types.