Download to Sketchup button

thomthom

@dan rathbun said:

Well I asked because your path in this statement:
dlg.set_url "file:///C:/Users/Eric/Documents/SketchThis/TEST2.html"
is a mixture of a Mac path and a Windows path !

? That's a valid URI to a local file.
When I have a file in my Documents folder and open it in Firefox, the path in the location bar is: file:///C:/Users/Thomas/Documents/test.html.

Also, localhost is not required.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_URI_scheme

Dan Rathbun

@thomthom said:

here, the variable dlg is your reference to the webdialog. This is what you must use to refer to the dialog.

True what Thomas says, but dlg is a local reference so when the method ends, Ruby may dispose of the object.

Eric, wrap your code in a module block as I showed you, AND rename all occurances of dlg to @dlg as Jim suggested. Then the object will persist, because it's an instance reference of module SketchTHIS.

The other issue you have is each time the menu or toolbar is used your calling SketchTHIS.create_dialog. You can add a nil test:
Inside the module:

def dlg
  (defined? @dlg).nil? ? nil ; @dlg
end

Then at the bottom of your code, where you define your UI::Command object, change the code between the curly braces from:
create_dialog
to:

if SketchTHIS.dlg.nil?
  SketchTHIS.create_dialog
else
  SketchTHIS.dlg.show
end

Then move the menu separator and menu add item statements down below the statements for the toolbar (ie: after your UI::Command is defined,) and change the statement in the menu_add_item curly braces to cmd
That way both toolbar and menu item use the same code in the UI::Command object.

ericschimel

Ok, so here's what I've got (I think I've made some progress)

I followed Thomthoms suggestions, and of course they didn't work. (I am sure I am 100% at fault!) HOWEVER... I checked with the ruby console, and I found an error for "invalid model url"

ruby console.PNG

I had the model in the same directory as the web page, and I assumed that is where it would be looked for. However, it also occured to me that it might need to go in the same folder as the plugin, so I tried that, and still no dice...

The good news here (I think) is that I've got Sketchup and my web dialog talking to each other!

Here is the link I am using to try to send my model into Sketchup (the one that generates the "invalid model URL error)

<a href="#" onclick="window.location='skp:download_model@test.skp'">Download Model</a>

To Dan... Yes, I did copy the file locations right out of Firefox. Those URL's are going to acutlaly be on my webserver. They do work, why, I am not sure, but they do.

Also, about the module situation, after doing some more reading, I think I am starting to understand the benefit of making this into a module. I am not going to go there just yet because I just need to get this thing working, then I can worry about making it "neater".

As far as putting the plugin in a special directory, I want to do that, I am just trying to tackle one thing at a time. Great suggestions, and I WILL be following them, I am just trying not to let my head explode over what is probably a simple task for you Ruby pros!

Thanks for all the help so far guys, I am really learning a lot!

Dan Rathbun

@unknownuser said:

... I checked with the ruby console, and I found an error for "invalid model url"
Because the test your running is not how the plugin is going to run later. I made a comment in an earlier post (perhaps over at Google Groups,) about how the URL link would stay the same, EXCEPT for the skp filename. [see below]

But for simplicity of testing on your local machine, set up the following folders starting from your root directory (and yes, Windows doesn't care if a folder is named "www.sketchthis.net"):
C:/www.sketchthis.net/Downloads/Gallery/catagory
put test.skp in the catagory folder, along with it's test.png thumbnail
put the gallery.html (now called TEST2.html) webpage in the Gallery folder
the plugin ruby script should be in the Sketchup Plugins folder (for testing, later it can go in a subfolder called Plugins/SketchTHIS.)
Below, when you read the webbased URLs, for testing, replace "http://" with "file://C:/"

@unknownuser said:

I had the model in the same directory as the web page, and I assumed that is where it would be looked for.
No. Ruby always looks in the current Ruby working directory. Ruby does not use the Windows PATH environment variable.
Webpages are easiest if you use a <BASE> url tag, then they will start a file search from that. So plan on using a <BASE> tag in your Gallery webpage, and a Ruby Constant named BASEURL in your module, so it does not need to be passed back and forth. It CAN be passed once (so you have the option of moving things around on your website, without needing to redistribute the plugin.)

@unknownuser said:

... However, it also occured to me that it might need to go in the same folder as the plugin, so I tried that, and still no dice...
No the plugin is client-side. The models will be in a Gallery subfolder on your website.

@unknownuser said:

... Here is the link I am using to try to send my model into Sketchup (the one that generates the "invalid model URL error):

<a href="#" onclick="window.location='skp:download_model@test.skp'">Download Model</a>
OK the problem is, you will have 3 (three) parts to the URL: BASEURL, Catagory (a Gallery subfolder name,) and skp filename.

In your HTML <HEAD> section, you'd have this:
<BASE id='baseURL' href="http://www.sketchthis.net/Downloads/Gallery/"/>
In your HTML <BODY> tag, you'd have this:
<BODY id='body' onload="init();">
After your BODY end tag:
%(#804000)[</BODY>
<SCRIPT>]
%(#8000BF)[function init() {
window.location='skp:set_baseURL@'+document.getElementById('baseURL').href;
// any other init tasks
}]
%(#804000)[</SCRIPT>
</HTML>]
So the links (which will likely be thumbnail images rather than text <A> links,) would look like this:
<IMG href="catagory/test.png" onclick="window.location='skp:download_model@'+'catagory/test.skp'">Download Model test.skp</a>
It's also likely you'd want these IMG links to be auto generated by Javascript or PHP tags, from whatever model files are in a given catagory subfolder.

Then in your Ruby WebDialog SketchTHIS.create_dialog method:
You'd change the set_url:
EDIT: Change the entry point for the Gallery, for future freedom of changing website folder heirarchy, without needing to redistribute the plugin. The entry page is a small redirect page, which we'll call "go_gallery.html" that loads whatever the Gallery page is, from whatever it's current location is within the website. (Was hardcoded to a specific URL to "gallery.html")
@dlg.set_url('http://www.sketchthis.net/go_gallery.html')
You'd add another callback:
@dlg.add_action_callback('set_baseURL') { |dlg, args| SketchTHIS::BASEURL=args }
and change this callback:
EDIT: + (string concat) was << (string append), in error
@dlg.add_action_callback('download_model') { |dlg, args| modelURL = SketchTHIS::BASEURL + args Sketchup.active_model.definitions.load_from_url(modelURL) }

@unknownuser said:

To Dan... Yes, I did copy the file locations right out of Firefox. Those URL's are going to actually be on my webserver. They do work, why, I am not sure, but they do.
Well, FireFox has nothing to do with Sketchup WebDialogs (they use MSIE on PC, and Safari on Mac.) Client-side-like pathnames may not be best for server-side folder heirarchy. You already have a "Downloads" folder which can be the Gallery "top" folder, or as in the example above you can have a "Gallery" sub-folder of "Downloads", and in that the gallery.html webpage that gets loaded into the Sketchup WebDialog. Beneath that folder, can be catagorical folders holding skp models and their png thumbnails. The user would click on catagory buttons to see the image lists from the subfolders.

@unknownuser said:

Also, about the module situation, after doing some more reading, I think I am starting to understand the benefit of making this into a module. I am not going to go there just yet because I just need to get this thing working, then I can worry about making it "neater".
As far as putting the plugin in a special directory, I want to do that, I am just trying to tackle one thing at a time.
It's not about 'neatness' Eric, these things are fundamental, they need to be done at the start, not later, so you don't paint yourself in a corner, or have problems like your having.
As far as where the client-side plugin goes, you don't really have a choice because of how Sketchup works. It looks in the Plugins heirarchy for plugins. Users will NOT want you installing them anywhere else, most especially not in their User/Documents folder heirarchy.
So you WILL have a plugin registration script in the Plugins folder, that (if turned on by the user,) loads your plugin from the Plugins/SketchTHIS folder.

Dan Rathbun

%(#4040FF)[EDITED PREVIOUS POST
@dlg.set_url
changed to load a redirect page called "go_gallery.html" [see codeblock]

@dlg.add_action_callback('download_model')
was changed because was << (string append) would result in the BASEURL being changed, and we want to use + (string concat) here as Ruby creates a new String object (with +) that modelURL will point to, while the constant BASEURL remains unchanged.]

code for "go_gallery.html"
goes in the root dir of website

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<BASE href="http://www.sketchthis.net/"/>
</HEAD>
<BODY onload="go();">
<SCRIPT>
function go() {
  window.location="Downloads/Gallery/gallery.html"
}
</SCRIPT>
</BODY>
</HTML>

Dan Rathbun

@unknownuser said:

I am on both the PC and the Mac. I am mostly working on a PC though.

Well I asked because your path in this statement:
dlg.set_url "file:///C:/Users/Eric/Documents/SketchThis/TEST2.html"
is a mixture of a Mac path and a Windows path !

EDIT: I stand corrected! (Thanx to ThomThom!) I was unaware that Microsoft went and changed the standard foldernames in Vista (and later) Windows versions, to be more "Unix-like". (I and everyone I know, skipped Vista, and will be going from XP up to Win7, sometime later.)

On Windows, it should look like:
ENV['HOME']=ENV['USERPROFILE'] if RUBY_PLATFORM.include?('mswin') ENV['USER']=ENV['USERNAME'] if RUBY_PLATFORM.include?('mswin') dlg.set_url("file://localhost/#{ENV['HOME']}/My Documents/SketchThis/TEST2.html")
On Mac, HOME and USER are already set correctly, so path would be like:
dlg.set_url("file://localhost#{ENV['HOME']}/Documents/SketchThis/TEST2.html")

The difference (besides the folder names,) is that PC needs a '/' between localhost and the drive letter; the Mac path already begins with a '/'.

So to put it together into your code, use this snippet:


if RUBY_PLATFORM.downcase.include?('mswin')
  # on a PC
  ENV['HOME']=ENV['USERPROFILE'] if ENV['HOME'].nil?
  ENV['USER']=ENV['USERNAME'] if ENV['USER'].nil?
  dlg.set_url("file;//localhost/#{ENV['HOME']}/My Documents/SketchThis/TEST2.html")
elsif RUBY_PLATFORM.downcase.include?('darwin')
  # On Mac ; HOME and USER are already set correctly
  dlg.set_url("file;//localhost#{ENV['HOME']}/Documents/SketchThis/TEST2.html")
else
  UI.messagebox('Unsupported OS for Sketchup!',MB_OK)
end

Actually, your Plugin should be in a sub-directory of the Sketchup/Plugins folder.
So this would simplify things, like:


plugpath=Sketchup.find_support_file('plugins')
if RUBY_PLATFORM.downcase.include?('mswin')
  # on a PC
  dlg.set_url("file;//localhost/#{plugpath]}/SketchTHIS/TEST2.html")
elsif RUBY_PLATFORM.downcase.include?('darwin')
  # On Mac
  dlg.set_url("file;//localhost#{plugpath]}/SketchTHIS/TEST2.html")
else
  UI.messagebox('Unsupported OS for Sketchup!',MB_OK)
end

@unknownuser said:

So did I miss something obvious on my current situation, or will I find the answers in the users guide?

Your not understanding the very basics of Ruby. Such as if you have a block of code, and I tell you to wrap it in a module called "SketchTHIS", I expect you to do this:


module SketchTHIS
 # the existing code you already have
end # module

Dan Rathbun

@thomthom said:

Also, localhost is not required.

It's not supposed to be, and Windows will strip it out, but John (driven) reported that on the Mac it was required, or the file could not be found.
So I am endevouring to get to a cross-platform way of doing things.

Eric is a very new newbie. Don't confuse him (anymore than he already is.)

Eric nevermind all this about local links, just put your plugin files in a subfolder of Sketchup/Plugins, as that's where any user would put it also.

@ThomThom: The path is still INVALID on the PC, either in Ruby, or in a Command Shell. Apparently FireFox is doing some path substring replacement behind the scenes. (I would consider it to be a bug in FireFox for the Windows edition.)
EDIT: I stand corrected! (Thanx to ThomThom!) I was unaware that Microsoft went and changed the standard foldernames in Vista (and later) Windows versions, to be more "Unix-like". (I and everyone I know, skipped Vista, and will be going from XP up to Win7, sometime later.)

Dan Rathbun

A note on local testing for Eric.

You may need to add your "fake local local test urls" to the MSIE "Local Intranet Zone"

See this post by me about FirebugLite, for the steps:
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=27183&p=239255#p239255

Your test URLS would be:
file://www.sketchthis.net/
etc.

Also, in the above examples, the "catagory" folder, is a temporary test folder. I could have called it "test" or "testcatagory". In the future the folders beneath "Gallery" would have real catagory names like "sinks", "stoves", "plumbing", "cabinets", etc.
But, the word catagory, would become the name of a javascript variable, holding the user's choice of catagory which would be a subfolder name, so the links would be modified slightly, from:
onclick="window.location='skp:download_model@'+'catagory/test.skp'"
to:
onclick="window.location='skp:download_model@'+catagory+'/'+skpfilename"

ericschimel

Thanks for the update. I haven't had a chance to try to implement this yet, hopefully I will in the next few days. I will certainly let you know how it all turns out!