WoW API: CreateFrame

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Creates a new UI frame.

newFrame = CreateFrame("frameType", "frameName", parentFrame[, "inheritsFrame"]);

Parameters

Arguments

frameType: String - Type of the frame to be created (XML tag name): "Frame", "Button"... etc.
frameName: String - Name of the newly created frame. If nil, no frame name is assigned. Function will also set a global variable of this name to point to newly created frame.
parentFrame: Frame - The frame object that will be used as the created Frame's parent (cannot be a string!)
inheritsFrame: String - a comma-delimited list of names of virtual frames to inherit from (the same as in XML), optional.

Returns

newFrame: Frame - Pointer to the newly created frame.

Example

Result: displays the horde and alliance insignias in the middle of the screen.

local f = CreateFrame("Frame",nil,UIParent)
f:SetFrameStrata("BACKGROUND")
f:SetWidth(128)  -- Set These to whatever height/width is needed 
f:SetHeight(64) -- for your Texture

local t = f:CreateTexture(nil,"BACKGROUND")
t:SetTexture("Interface\\Glues\\CharacterCreate\\UI-CharacterCreate-Factions.blp")
t:SetAllPoints(f)
f.texture = t

f:SetPoint("CENTER",0,0)
f:Show()

Notes

CreateFrame() was added in 1.10
The fourth argument, inheritFrame, was added in 1.11
The frame's OnLoad handler, which will only exist if inherited, will be executed during the CreateFrame call. Any OnLoad script handlers set after CreateFrame() will not execute; consider adding any non-inherited OnLoad code directly after a CreateFrame call or using XML frames.
The returned pointer is not necessary if you pass a frame name, however it is advised you store the pointer in a local instead of using the global name whenever possible for performance reasons.