What is a macro?
A macro is simply a list of slash commands. I'm sure you are familiar with some of the more common slash commands:
- /say (/s)
- /whisper (/w, /talk, /t)
- /emote (/e, /em, /me)
- /dance
- Oh, and for you PvPers out there, I mustn't forget /spit
With macros, not only can we issue commands like these from action buttons, but we can also use many of them at once. Each unique command goes on its own line and is written exactly as you would type it in the chat box. For instance, if you wanted a macro that yelled "Everybody, dance now!" and burst you into dance, you would write it thus:
/y Everybody, dance now!
/dance
A mostly complete list of slash commands is available at http://www.wowwiki.com/List_of_Slash_Commands though at the time of this writing some of the new commands in 2.0 haven't been added. WoWWiki is a great source of additional information for macros, especially scripts using the /run command (which will be covered later).
Note: I will take this early opportunity to let you know that macros run all at once. This means that when you click the button, the macro runs each command from start to finish before returning control to the game. This has two important effects. First, if you write a macro that takes a long time to execute (like /run for i=1, 100000000 do end), the game will freeze for as long as it takes to run the macro.
Second, and arguably more important, there is no way to wait in a macro without freezing the game. This fact will become much more apparent when we start dealing with the /cast command and its ilk. Some addons can provide a way to issue a command at a later time, but they can only be used for "benign" functions like chatting, emotes, and issuing commands to other addons (though equipping weapons in combat is allowed).
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