Editing WoW:Lua editors

{{wow/uihowto}}
While any text editor can edit [[Lua]] files, many contain additional Lua specific features. See also [[UI FAQ/AddOn Author Resources]].

== Free ==
Free editors

=== WoW IDEs ===
WoW specific IDEs, editors, or modifications.

* [[AddOn Studio for World of Warcraft]] - Complete and fully-featured standalone IDE for WoW AddOn creation, based on Visual Studio.
** <!--{{NYR-item|NYR}} -->[[AddOn Studio 2022 for World of Warcraft]] - Based on VS 2022 and up-to-date for WoW
** [[AddOn Studio 2015 for World of Warcraft]] - Based on VS 2015 and up-to-date for WoW
** [[AddOn Studio 2010 for World of Warcraft]] - Based on VS 2010 and up-to-date for WoW

* [//marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=Septh.wow-bundle WoW Bundle] - WoW AddOn extension for VS Code (see below), with Lua textmate grammar and WoW API awareness, .toc file grammar, and colorization for both .lua source and .toc files

* [//www.wowinterface.com/downloads/fileinfo.php?id=4222 WoW UI Designer] - (may no longer work) Complete standalone IDE for Lua and XML UI files, including intellisense for many WoW API functions

=== General IDEs ===
Integrated development environments with support for project or folder based development.

* [//www.eclipse.org Eclipse] - Eclipse cross-platform Java based IDE for Windows. See [[Lua editors/Eclipse (IDE)|Eclipse]].
** The [//www.eclipse.org/koneki/ldt Lua Development Tools] plugin. For Windows, Mac OS X and other platforms. The LDT includes syntax coloring, error markers, code snippets, code navigation, and a debugger.
** The [//luaeclipse.luaforge.net Lua Eclipse] Lua plug-in.

* [//www.jetbrains.com/idea/download/index.html IntelliJ IDEA] - IntelliJ cross-platform IDE with the [//bitbucket.org/sylvanaar2/lua-for-idea/wiki/Home Lua plugin]. Support for completions, API documentation, code formatting and more.

* [//luaedit.luaforge.net LuaEdit] - Professional style open-source Lua IDE

* [//studio.zerobrane.com ZeroBrane Studio] - Lightweight Lua IDE with code completion, syntax highlighting, remote debugger, code analyzer, and live coding

* [//code.visualstudio.com VSCode] - Microsoft's open source Visual Studio Code IDE, based on Chrome and Node.js, with various plugins for Lua and XML

* [//visualstudio.com Visual Studio] - Microsoft's full-featured free IDE, with the Visual Studio Community Edition. Supports Lua syntax highlighting through built-in textmate, and native extensive XML editor with XSD support for WoW XML syntax. See [[Lua editors/Visual Studio|Using Visual Studio for WoW AddOn-Development]]

=== Stand-alone editors ===
Single-file centric or stand-alone editors.

* [//www.pspad.com PSPad] - Syntax highlighting for Lua and XML files programmer's editor

* [//www.activestate.com/komodo_edit Komodo Edit] -  Open source built on top of Mozilla and Scintilla; with the extensibility of Firefox, and the syntax highlighting engine from SciTE.

* [//www.gorlice.net.pl/~rybak/luaide LuaIDE] - IDE for Lua

* [//www.scintilla.org/SciTE.html SciTE] (Open Source) - Extensible open source editor. There are three pre-packaged versions for WoW development with Lua and XML syntax highlighting:
** [//www.wowinterface.com/downloads/fileinfo.php?id=4989 SciTE-WoWUI] at wowinterface.com
** [//www.wowguru.com/ui/61/wow-scite-lua WoW SciTe] at wowguru.com
** [//code.google.com/p/scite-ru SciTe-Ru] at code.google.com - Version with WoW API 3.0 syntax highlighting and calltips

* [//notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/about.php Notepad++] - Open source programmer's editor with support for Lua and XML

* [//www.meybohm.de/download.html Proton] German freeware editor, unfortunately without UTF-8 support. Has XML syntax highlighting, and a [//www.ghulbus-inc.de/dforgui/tools/lua_proton.zip plugin for Lua]

* [//www.gnu.org/software/emacs Emacs] - Extensible, customizable cross-platform open source text editor. Built-in documentation and new user tutorial. Use [//lua-mode.luaforge.net lua-mode] to get syntax highlighting for Lua files

* [//www.vim.org/index.php gVIM] - Powerful cross-platform open source editor. Supports syntax highlighting for Lua and XML, as well as automatic code formatting

* [//www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler TextWrangler] - Free general purpose text/code editor with Lua and XML syntax highlighting

* [//www.el34.com Eddie] - Free programmer's editor Mac OS X. Includes Lua syntax coloring and function popup

* [//www.crimsoneditor.com Crimson Editor] - Free professional Windows code editor, comes with Lua and XML syntax highlighting, along with many other file types
** [//www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info6589-WoWLuaCE.html WoWLua CE] - A Crimson Editor Specification for color coding World of Warcraft API, Widget, and Event keywords

* [//blua.sourceforge.net B:Lua] - Under development open source editor and will, in time, hopefully provide a useful IDE for WoW Lua script development. See [[Lua editors/B:Lua|B:Lua]].

* [//pnotepad.org Programmer's Notepad] - Light-weight notepad that adds syntax coloring with Lua support

* [//sourceforge.net/projects/luatopping/files luaTopping] (Under Development) luaTopping is a NetBeans plugin that adds WoW Addon "Project" support to the NetBeans IDE. Features include common addon file templates and deploy action to WoW folder. Accompanying luaSupport module provides Lua language support (syntax highlighting and grammar verification). Desired features include code competition, WoW API hints/help, among others.

== Trial ==
Trial software

* [//www.dfordsoft.com/cs/lua_index.htm DForD LuaCoding] - Full graphical Lua IDE similar to Visual Studio. Supports syntax highlighting, symbol browsing/searching, auto-completion, code snippet, debugging, building and more. Supported by a fully Lua script written plugin framework

* [//www.quotixsoftware.com/qde_index.htm QDE] - Quotix Development Environment for Lua. Supports project management, autocomplete functionality, a multi-document interface, and debugging. Doesn't include a debug mode to test scripts with.

* [//www.zeusedit.com/lookmain.html Zeus for Windows] - IDE with Lua syntax highlighting, code folding, project management, integrated version control. Fully scriptable using Lua

* [//www.textpad.com TextPad] - Available Lua syntax file available as an [//www.textpad.com/add-ons/synh2m.html addon], provides syntax highlighting

* [//www.editplus.com Edit+] - Available syntax file available as an [//www.editplus.com/others.html addon] provides syntax highlighting. 30 days trial. Nag window remains on startup if not registered.

* [//www.emeditor.com EmEditor] - Text editor which won "Best Application" in the 2008 Shareware Industry Awards. Supports auto-completion for all file types, and [//ctags.sourceforge.net Ctags]. The [//www.emeditor.com/modules/mydownloads/viewcat.php?cid=10&orderby=dateD list of syntax files] available shows Lua 5.1 is available

* [//www.editpadpro.com EditPad Pro] - Enhanced notepad replacement with great Regex support. Lua syntax highlight and code navigation with a [//www.editpadpro.com/cgi-bin/cscslist3.pl Lua add-on]. 30-day evaluation of EditPad Pro, or EditPad Lite free for non-commercial use. Available for Windows and Linux.

* [//www.ultraedit.com UltraEdit] - Comprehensive programmer's text editor with coloration, code folding, auto-indentation, code projects. 30 day trial. Syntax definitions for WoW Lua and XML are maintained as a 'UltraEdit WoW wordfile.txt' or a new complete [//wowluatxt.googlecode.com lua.txt] including WoW, WotLK, Ace2 & Ace3 API functions and XML.

* [//www.codingmonkeys.de/subethaedit SubEthaEdit] - Collaborative text editor with Lua syntax highlighting. For Mac OS X.

* [//www.sublimetext.com Sublime Text] - Windows text editor with inbuilt Lua syntax highlighting

* [//www.scriptdevelop.com ScriptDev] - ScriptDev is a powerful script language IDE, with support for popular script languages

== Commercial ==
Non-free editors

* [//www.barebones.com BBEdit 8.7] - Now supports, and has syntax-directed text coloring, for Lua.

* [//www.unknownworlds.com/decoda Decoda]- Lua IDE and graphical debugger with syntax highlighting, source code control (SCC) support, etc. Non-commercial licensing also available.

* [//www.adobe.com/products/dreamweaver Adobe Dreamweaver CS3] - Will open and edit LUA files in code view

* [//e-texteditor.com E-TextEditor] - Windows editor with support for TextMate bundles and themes. With the [//macromates.com/svn/Bundles/trunk/Bundles/Lua.tmbundle Lua Bundle] for syntax highlighting. Use [//e-texteditor.com/wiki/index.php/Bundles#How_To_Get_More_Bundles How To Get More Bundles] for more information on installing TextMate bundles in E-TextEditor.

* [//www.mydevelopersgames.com/Glider Lua Glider IDE] - Commercial IDE for Windows and Mac OSX featuring one click debugging, profiling, class aware code completion, declaration/occurrences finder, semantic highlighting and more

* [//www.mobileappsystems.com iLuaBox] - iLuaBox is an app for iOS devices (iPhone, iPod, and iPad) that provides an intuitive environment to learn, write, and run scripts written in the Lua Programming Language. Not a stripped-down version of Lua, but a full-featured implementation optimized for iOS 4.2. iLuaBox is a universal application that runs on any iOS 4.2 compatible device.

* [//smultron.sourceforge.net Smultron] - Editor for the Mac. $4.99 on Mac App Store. Three versions available: Smultron (for 10.6 "Snow Leopard"), Smultron 4 (for 10.7 "Lion"), and Smultron 5 (for 10.8 "Mountain Lion"). Has LUA syntax coloring.

* [//www.sublimetext.com/3 Sublime Text Editor] - Programmable cross-platform text editor that offers syntax highlighting for multiple languages. It features several time saving shortcuts and is highly customizable. 

* [//macromates.com TextMate] - Mac OS X editor. With the [//anon:anon@macromates.com/svn/Bundles/trunk/Bundles/Lua.tmbundle Lua Bundle] for syntax highlighting. See [//macromates.com/textmate/manual/bundles bundles manual] for more information on installing TextMate bundles

* [//visualstudio.com Visual Studio] - Professional and higher editions of Microsoft's full-featured free IDE. Supports Lua syntax highlighting through built-in textmate, and native extensive XML editor with XSD support for WoW XML syntax, with other advanced features. See [[Lua editors/Visual Studio|Using Visual Studio for WoW AddOn-Development]]

== External links ==
* [//lua-users.org/wiki/LuaAddons Lua Addons] at lua-users.org - Great resource for more Lua IDEs and other Lua tools
[[Category:Interface customization]]