Macros: part 2

To start out, type /m into the chat box, that will open your macro interface. Then click New. You will need to name your macro and pick an icon for it. If you pick the ? icon, your macro icon will be whatever spell/ability/item that will happen when you click the macro. This one is nice when you put in conditionals or use castsequence (more on those later) into the macro, the icon will change based on what action will happen. For this example I will use the hunter ability Misdirection. I'll name it Misdirect and choose the ? icon.

Once I have that, I'll click Okay.

Now on to the heart of the macro.
The basic format of a macro is as such:
#show
/cast Misdirection
OK, this is a pretty simple macro so far. the first line #show tells the game to put the macro name in the tooltip when you mouse over the icon. You could use #showtooltip to show the spell/ability/item in the tooltip. The second line tells the game to cast Misdirection. This, however, is pretty weak as far as macros go. To use Misdirection like this would mean I would have to target whoever I was Misdirecting on and then hit the macro. Not very effecient in the middle of a battle.
So lets tell the macro who to target.
/cast [target=pet, exists] Misdirection
That will cause me to cast Misdirection on my pet whenever I use the macro AND I have a pet out. That works great, until I'm in a boss fight and I REALLY don't want to Misdirect onto my pet but onto the main tank.
/cast [target={tank's name}, exists] Misdirection
Now this will Msidirect onto the tank as long as I spelled the name correct, and they are alive. But lets assume, that at the begining of a fight I want to Misdirect onto the main tank, halfway through the fight onto the off tank, and still be able to Misdirect onto my pet whenever I need to. For that, we'll need conditionals:
/cast [modifier:alt] [target=pet], exists Misdirection
/cast [modifier:ctrl] [target={off tank's name}, exists] Misdirection
/cast [target={main tank's name}, exists] Misdirection
Now this one will cast Misdirection on my pet if I hold the alt key while clicking on the macro, the off tank if I hold down the ctrl, and the main tank if neither is held down. All with one button so you don't fill up your action bars with the same action. And you do not have to use the same ability, each modifier can have a different action attached to it.
/cast [modifier:alt] Mend Pet
/cast [modifier:ctrl} Revive Pet
/cast Call Pet
that would cast mend pet when I pressed the alt button, Revive pet with the crtl button, and call pet if neither.
Now suppose you want to execute a series of actions, in order. For that, we use castsequence.
/castsequence [target=pet] Misdirection, Arcane Shot, Steady Shot, Multi Shot
Here's how this one would play out: Press one: I cast Misdirection on my pet, Press two: Arcane shot, press three: Steady shot, and press four: Multi shot.
That's all for now, I'll expand on target types, modifiers, conditionals, and castsequence in further posts here.