Sketchup.write_default needs escaping?

[thomthom]

Here's an extract from my code:

filename = Sketchup.read_default(S_SECTION, 'datafile')
puts "\nread_default; #{filename}"
if filename.nil? || !File.exist?(filename)
  filename = UI.openpanel('Choose NCS data file')
  puts "UI.openpanel; #{filename}"
  return nil if filename.nil?
  Sketchup.write_default(S_SECTION, 'datafile', filename)
end

The code tries to get the filename from stored settings.
If no settings is found or the file does not exist it will prompt the user for a file.

On the first run, when it prompts for the file - everything works fine.
But the next time it fail.

read_default: C:Users hm.ARCDesktopNCS-RGB-HTML.txt UI.openpanel: C:\Users\thm.ARC\Desktop\NCS-RGB-HTML.txt

The string I passed to write_default is not the same as the one I get when I read it.
Looks like it evaluates the string and treats the backslashes as special characters.

I can't find that behaviour described in the docs. Have I missed something, or is it a bug?

[TIG]

I think it's 'buggered'.
I've noticed it messes with backslashes.
You could try doing a 'translation' of the \ to something else as you write and read...
say writing as...
filename.gsub!(/\\/,':')
on reading it make all of the : into \ then make the first \ back to : to preserve the drive letter...
filename.gsub!(/:/,'\\').gsub!(/\\\\/,':\\')

PS: I chose : as it seems not to be messed with AND as it isn't allowed in file names etc it won't clash; and the double :: let's you easily revert the drive as C:\ etc...

[thomthom]

To work around this I just added filename = File.expand_path(filename) which converted \ to /.
But I just wanted to check if it really was a bug in the API.

filename = Sketchup.read_default(S_SECTION, 'datafile')
puts "\nread_default; #{filename}"
if filename.nil? || !File.exist?(filename)
  filename = UI.openpanel('Choose NCS data file')
  puts "UI.openpanel; #{filename}"
  return nil if filename.nil?
  filename = File.expand_path(filename)
  Sketchup.write_default(S_SECTION, 'datafile', filename)
end

[thomthom]

And it is the read_default method that is bugged - because the registry setting is correct.

[thomthom]

Is this a new bug?

[TIG]

Don't expect so...

[MartinRinehart]

@thomthom said:

Looks like it evaluates the string and treats the backslashes as special characters.

I had no end of troubles with slashes. Finally implemented this none-too-clever code and all the bugs went away:

=begin
qq() and qq!() do these replacements;
    "'" -> "qq1"
    '"' -> "qq2"
    '/' -> "qq3"
    '\' -> "qq4"
    '\n' -> "qq5"
    '\r' -> "qq6"
=end

def self.qq( str )
    return str.gsub( 
        /\'/, 'qq1' ).gsub( 
        /\"/, 'qq2' ).gsub( 
        /\//, 'qq3' ).gsub( 
        /\\/, 'qq4' ).gsub(
        /\n/, 'qq5' ).gsub(
        /\r/, 'qq6' )
end # of qq()

def self.qq!( str )
    str.gsub!( /\'/, 'qq1' )    
    str.gsub!( /\"/, 'qq2' )    
    str.gsub!( /\//, 'qq3' )    
    str.gsub!( /\\/, 'qq4' )
    str.gsub!( /\n/, 'qq5' )
    str.gsub!( /\r/, 'qq6' )
end # of qq!()

These reversers complete the Ruby:

def self.unqq( str ) # reverses qq()
    return str.gsub( 
        /qq1/, '\'' ).gsub( 
        /qq2/, '"' ).gsub( 
        /qq3/, '/' ).gsub( 
        /qq4/, '\\' ).gsub(
        /qq5/, '\n' ).gsub(
        /qq6/, '\r' )
end # of unqq()

def self.unqq!( str ) # reverses qq!()
    str.gsub!( /qq1/, '\'' )
    str.gsub!( /qq2/, '"' )
    str.gsub!( /qq3/, '/' )
    str.gsub!( /qq4/, '\\' )
    str.gsub!( /qq5/, '\n' )
    str.gsub!( /qq6/, '\r' )
end # of unqq!()

These are the reversers in JavaScript:

    single_quote = String.fromCharCode( 39 );
    double_quote = String.fromCharCode( 34 );
    ford_slash = String.fromCharCode( 47 );
    back_slash = String.fromCharCode( 92 );
    

    function unqq( msg ) {
        s = msg.replace( /qq1/g, single_quote );
        s = s.replace( /qq2/g, double_quote );
        s = s.replace( /qq3/g, ford_slash );
        s = s.replace( /qq4/g, back_slash );
        s = s.replace( /qq5/g, '\\n' );
        s = s.replace( /qq6/g, '\\r' );
        return s;
    }