Editing WoW:TOC format (section)

== Naming the TOC file ==
There are special rules for naming a .toc file.

=== Default name ===
The default name for a '.toc' file is the name of the addon folder with an extension of '.toc'.

 AddOns
   MyAddOn
     MyAddOn.toc
     code.lua
     frame.xml

In this example the AddOn is named 'MyAddOn'. WoW will look for a file named MyAddOn.toc as the addons toc file, because the folder name was MyAddon. They must match. 

=== Names for WoW editions ===
Each WoW edition can load its own .toc file for an addon. Each addon can have more than one .toc that could be loaded by WoW. WoW will first look for a special .toc for that edition, and if not found will load the default .toc that has the same name as the addon folder, as explained above.

 AddOns
   MyAddOn
     MyAddOn.toc
     MyAddOn_Classic.toc
     MyAddOn_Vanilla.toc
     code.lua
     frame.xml

In this example the AddOn has alternate .toc files for both Classic and WotLK, as well as the default .toc file. When the WotLK edition loads, it will look first for 'MyAddOn_Wrath.toc' then for 'MyAddOn.toc', if 'MyAddOn_Wrath.toc' is not found.

So if 'MyAddOn_Wrath.toc' is found, it will only load that .toc and ignore any others. If it's not found, it will load the default 'MyAddOn.toc', ignoring any others.

=== Why multiple .toc files ===
There are two big reasons:
# Code differences
#: If there were big enough differences between two editions of WoW for an addon, that it would be easier to just use two or more different sets of some of the code or XML files, then the addon would need different .toc files to load the different sets of code for each edition.
# The 'Interface' version numbers
#: Each edition has its own series of interface version numbers. Because of this and because you only have one '## Interface:' line to specify the number, you will actually need a .toc file for each supported edition. Otherwise, users will have to click the 'load outdated' checkbox to load your addon.

=== Edition names ===
Known and current name postfixes (shown in full name context) are:
* MyAddon.toc - the default .toc file. Any edition or game mode will load this file, including retail.
* MyAddOn_Classic.toc - used for any Classic edition
* MyAddOn_Vanilla.toc - used for the original _classic_era_ edition

Other known name postfixes (shown in full name context) are:
* MyAddOn_Mainline.toc - used for Retail. Highly suggested to just use default instead
* MyAddOn_Cata.toc - used for Cataclysm. Suggested to use 'Classic' instead, and differentiate with 'Vanilla' if necessary
* MyAddOn_Standard.toc - used for any standard mode, version or edition. will be ignored when non-standard mode is loaded.
* MyAddOn_WoWLabs.toc - used for a non-standard game mode

Deprecated or unused (shown in full name context) are:
* MyAddOn_Wrath.toc - was used for WotLK. There is no longer a way to load WotLK
* MyAddOn_TBC.toc - was used for TBC. There is no longer a way to load TBC
* MyAddOn-Wrath.toc - older deprecated postfix for WotLK
* MyAddOn-WOTLKC.toc - older deprecated postfix for WotLK
* MyAddOn-TBC.toc - older deprecated postfix for TBC
* MyAddOn-BCC.toc - older deprecated postfix for TBC
* MyAddOn-Classic.toc - older deprecated postfix for Classic
* MyAddOn-Mainline.toc - older deprecated postfix for Retail

=== Edition precedence ===
This shows the order in which TOC names are tried by the engine. Once a name is found, that will become the active TOC for the AddOn for that UI session and be the one loaded.
* Specific games are attempted first. Because of this 'Vanilla' will take precedence over 'Classic' below. Only one game can be loaded at time, so these are all equal:
:* Mainline, Vanilla, TBC, Wrath, Cata
* Next, these are categories of games or modes, in precedence order. These will be searched for after the specific games above:
:* WoWLabs, Classic, Standard