Window handle from process

Dan Rathbun

Going back to this SKP window handle thing, sometime it doesn't work when I double click on an SKP file. ... What do you think it could be?

While Sketchup starts up, and is processing the rubies in the Plugins and Tools folders, the UI is not yet finalized. The menus and toolbars are not built until all rubies that modify or create toolbars have been processed.

It seems that the window title bar is also not finalized. If you have Sketchup Pro, when you double-click a SKP file, during the startup, the window title bar says "clickedfile.skp - Sketchup". It's not until the UI is finalized that it reads "clickedfile.skp - Sketchup Pro".

BTW.. I have a solution that Always works (on Windows,) even if more than one Sketchup instance is running. Just need to decide how to implement it. (ie: modify a API module, put it an SKX submodule, or put it in a module of my own.)

Dan Rathbun

There are some quirks with some of the version system calls... look thru the source code for Daniel Berger's win32-api package.

GitHub - cosmo0920/win32-api: A different, better variant of the Win32API Ruby library

A different, better variant of the Win32API Ruby library - cosmo0920/win32-api

GitHub (github.com)

and

https://github.com/djberg96/windows-pr
Some system calls were added for ver 6+ (dealing with the registry,) and some are not supposed to used with ver 6+.
You can look at the issues, and you'll see a list of registry system calls that I help him out with, that he added to the package. (In case you don't want to d/l the source.)

ADD: Here's the issues link if interested:
https://github.com/djberg96/windows-pr/issues?direction=desc&sort=created&state=closed

Alienizer

@dan rathbun said:

There are some quirks with some of the version system calls... look thru the source code for Daniel Berger's win32-api package.

GitHub - cosmo0920/win32-api: A different, better variant of the Win32API Ruby library

A different, better variant of the Win32API Ruby library - cosmo0920/win32-api

GitHub (github.com)

and

https://github.com/djberg96/windows-pr
Some system calls were added for ver 6+ (dealing with the registry,) and some are not supposed to used with ver 6+.
You can look at the issues, and you'll see a list of registry system calls that I help him out with, that he added to the package. (In case you don't want to d/l the source.)

ADD: Here's the issues link if interested:
https://github.com/djberg96/windows-pr/issues?direction=desc&sort=created&state=closed

Thanks! I'll have a look.

Alienizer

@dan rathbun said:

While Sketchup starts up, and is processing the rubies in the Plugins and Tools folders, the UI is not yet finalized. The menus and toolbars are not built until all rubies that modify or create toolbars have been processed.

Is there a way to "wait" until SK is loaded? I'm not using the title bar caption to find the window, I'm using Process.pid and iterate all windows to match the pid.

Dan Rathbun

@alienizer said:

Is there a way to "wait" until SK is loaded?

Not exactly. (I've been working on a utility to do just that. Not yet happy with it.)

On Mac it may be easier, as it does not open a new blank model until after processing the rubies. (On Windows, a new blank model is opened, before processing the startup scripts.)

A workaround that scripters use is the UI.start_timer block.
However that can be defeated if any other script has a LoadError. The modal "LoadError" dialog pops up, and you never know how long it will take for the user to read and then dismiss the dialog.

Alienizer

One way that seem to work for me now is...

Using the code to find the SK window using the pid, get the window text, and if =~ /SketchUp/i then you have the right one, otherwise, set the window handle to nil and when your ruby code gets called for whatever reason, test if the window handle is nil, and it it is, re-get it again, then continue execution.

So far, this way has worked for me all night, running 3-5 instances of SKP, and running them using direct, shortcuts, skp docs, via an exe and all. It worked even when other ruby script has errors.

Dan Rathbun

What happens if a user has the Custom Toolbars plugin installed, and the "Sketchup" toolbar is visible and floating?

TIG

Can't you can simply 'assemble' the current SKP's Sketchup window's top bar 'displayed text' from Sketchup.is_pro? and Sketchup.active_model.title - ''=='Untitled' ?. Then test a window with that exact same 'name' ?
I know, what if the user has two 'Untitled' SKP's open? Just shoot him! [or post an error message and exit].
OR perhaps even pre-test the current SKP with if Sketchup.active_model.path=='' then insist on it being named/saved before your tool is run ?
I know they could still have two SKPs open from different folders which could have the same 'title'... but now I am getting tired

Dan Rathbun

@@Alan

Are you working on a free or paid plugin?

Do you want to get the current Ruby (Sketchup) process' application window from the Ruby side, or the C-side ??

Alienizer

@dan rathbun said:

@@Alan Are you working on a free or paid plugin?

Neither! But if I can make something usefull, it will be free. I'm kind of learning right now, until I'm good enough to give something.

@dan rathbun said:

Do you want to get the current Ruby (Sketchup) process' application window from the Ruby side, or the C-side ??

Either way is fine. I only need to know this to set the parent window of my dll forms. So if ruby knows it, I can pass it along to my dll. But if I can get it directly from my dll, that's good too.

Dan Rathbun

@alienizer said:

I only need to know this to set the parent window of my dll forms.

I wonder the hWndParent param is optional in most of those window create functions.

If a Thread (of a Process) creates a window, where the parent is not specified, does it default to the TopWindow of the Process, in this case the Sketchup application window ??
.. or does the Desktop become the parent ??

When a Process is destroyed (and all it's Threads,) does the system automatically destroy all the windows that the Process created ??
.. I think the answer is NO because I was able to make a UI.messagebox popup window, appear from within a Sketchup::AppObserver onQuit() callback, that stayed displayed, even after all the other Sketchup windows (incl. the main window,) had been destroyed.
The system did not like it, and I think the BugSplat! window popped up after dismissing the messagebox. I did, of course, log it as a bug for the Sketchup::AppObserver class. (Actually the bug is that Sketchup does not wait until the onQuit callbacks have completed, before shutting down.)

Alienizer

It default to the desktop window if a parent is nil. By setting the parent window (SKP), you are sure to get the WM_QUIT message when SKP is closed. hWndParent is optional, but again, the desktop becomes the parent if hWndParent is nil.

Dan Rathbun

@tig said:

Can't you can simply ....

After having explained that using the title bar text is problematic (and subject to a bug while loading on Windows,) you still advise doing it?

Again, the "Untilted" string is NOT the same on all language localizations, and some contain unicode characters.

It's also possible that a SKP filename could contain unicode characters.

Then you add two more situations that can "throw a shoe in the works".

@unknownuser said:

**, the designer and original implementor of C++":37wih2kn]

"If you think it's simple, then you have misunderstood the problem"

[floatr:37wih2kn]Did you really really say that? - Bjarne Stroustrup's C++ FAQ[/floatr:37wih2kn]