Platform.creature_type.GetUnitCreatureTypeID

Call as

addon.Platform:GetUnitCreatureTypeID(unit)

Available directly through addon; no dependency is needed.

What it does

Observe creature identity from native UnitCreatureType return two on probe- and restricted-policy clients. Check exact UnitExists(unit) first; readable false returns false without requiring or calling creature metadata. A present unit requires a readable finite numeric ID; the unused localized name does not affect availability. Preserve signed, fractional, zero and future finite IDs as known values. Missing, failed, nil, restricted or malformed required facts return nil with a reason. No creature enumeration, translated caption comparison or longterm cache is added.

Arguments

Name	Type	What it does
`self`	`RMPlatform`	Rotation Master platform adapter (implicit with colon calls).
`unit`	`string`	Readable nonempty selected unit token, passed unchanged as the single argument to existence and creature metadata queries.

Returns

1	`number \| boolean \| nil`	Finite native creature ID, false for known unit absence, or nil when required observations are unavailable.
2	`string \| nil`	Policy, query-validation or required-observation availability reason for a nil ID.

Editions

Built In helpers are registered on every edition. What differs is the game API they read; where one is missing the helper falls back or returns nil with a reason.

Not available on that edition (the reason is in the tooltip)
Only while Blizzard's deprecation fallbacks are on

Game API
`UnitCreatureType`
`UnitExists`
`canaccessvalue`

Secret values (Retail and Forever)

On Retail and Forever the game hands addons secret values. This helper checks what it reads (addon.Platform:CanReadValue) and returns nil with a reason such as restricted-value instead of a secret it cannot compare. Treat nil as unavailable, not as false.

Example

local id = addon.Platform:GetUnitCreatureTypeID("target")
if id == nil then return nil end
-- false (no target) never equals 6, the Undead creature type.
return id == 6

Source

Platform/creature_type.lua, line 17. Read only in game; Duplicate makes an editable copy.

Platform.creature_type.GetUnitCreatureTypeID(self, unit)

    local policy=self:GetCombatDataPolicy()
    if policy~='probe' and policy~='restricted' then return nil,'unsupported-policy' end
    if not self:CanReadValue(unit) then return nil,'restricted-value' end
    if type(unit)~='string' or unit=='' then return nil,'invalid-unit' end
    if type(UnitExists)~='function' then return nil,'missing-api' end
    local existsOk,exists=pcall(UnitExists,unit)
    if not existsOk then return nil,'api-error' end
    if not self:CanReadValue(exists) then return nil,'restricted-value' end
    if exists==nil then return nil,'unit-data-unavailable' end
    if type(exists)~='boolean' then return nil,'invalid-api-result' end
    if not exists then return false end
    local native=UnitCreatureType
    if type(native)~='function' then return nil,'missing-api' end
    local observed,_,id=pcall(native,unit)
    if not observed then return nil,'api-error' end
    if not self:CanReadValue(id) then return nil,'restricted-value' end
    if canaccessvalue and not canaccessvalue(id) then return nil,'restricted-value' end
    if id==nil then return nil,'unit-creature-type-unavailable' end
    if type(id)~='number' or id~=id or id==math.huge or id==-math.huge then return nil,'invalid-api-result' end
    return id

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