WoW:Saving variables between game sessions: Difference between revisions

When working with variables designated for saving, you should not initialized them with table values without paying attention to VARIABLES_LOADED event. Because, as explained in loading sequence above, file with saved variables is processed after code of your addon and because entire table is single value, if you define table with default values like this:

when your saved variables are loaded, saved value of table that have no 'key2' will overwrite table defined in source and, therefore, 'key2' won't have default value set.

Correct way to initialize default values is to register for VARIABLES_LOADED event, test keys that you want to initialized if they are nil or not and write your default values.

Simple values, such as number or strings, still can be initialized without waiting for event if you do not require any additional checks or processing (because you'd be working on your hard-coded values, not on those read from saved file and all you work will be overwritten after that), but for sake of simple maintenance in case your initialization becomes more complex in future, it is advised to use registering for VARIABLES_LOADED event from beginning to save you rewrite or headache of catching elusive bugs later.