[Plugin] !AdditionalPluginFolders - v5.4a - 27 Sep 20

fredo6 · 11 Aug 2011, 22:08

****NEW RELEASE AND CHANGE OF NAME, now 000_AdditionalPluginFolders.rb - v2.0a - 11 Aug 11

000_AdditionalPluginFolders.rb 2.0a - 11 Aug 11: Some enhancements and a change of name of the plugin

More explicit capability for specifying several directories
Protection against errors when loading plugins. This does not interrupt the whole load process and the errors are signaled
Possibility to specify a confirmation for loading a directory when Sketchup starts up

See Main Post for more info and download

Fredo

fredo6 · 23 Aug 2011, 08:08

NEW RELEASE

000_AdditionalPluginFolders.rb 3.0a - 23 Aug 11: major enhancements

000_AdditionalPluginFolders now loads plugins from the standard directory, with protection against errors. So even if you do not use additional folders, 000_AdditionalPluginFolders can help you to avoid errors at load time.
New dialog box for specifying additional directories (in particular for Mac users)

Note: if you have LibFredo6 v4.0 (or above) installed, 000_AdditionalPluginFolders will log the status of the load cycle in the Tracelog utility of LibFredo6.

See Main Post for more info and download

thomthom · 23 Aug 2011, 08:20

Nice update. I got a similar script - also tracks loading performance.

(looking at your screenshot, why does your libfredo take 2.5 seconds to load?)

fredo6 · 23 Aug 2011, 08:38

@thomthom said:

(looking at your screenshot, why does your libfredo take 2.5 seconds to load?)

This is the time to load LibFredo6 but also all of my scripts (FredoScale, etc...). If you install LibFredo6 4.0, you'll get details in the Performance dialog box.

My scripts are very verbose, but what I found out is that most time is taken in creating the toolbars, rather than loading ruby files.

Fred

thomthom · 23 Aug 2011, 08:41

So creating toolbars are a heavy penalty?
I've recently started to profile my plugins, I get the last load time as well as the average. Trying to work out which ones loads slower and why.
Toolbars are a good clue.

Have you noticed if it's building the toolbar or actually displaying it that consumes time?

fredo6 · 23 Aug 2011, 09:02

@thomthom said:

Have you noticed if it's building the toolbar or actually displaying it that consumes time?

I think the toolbars are displayed after the whole load sequence. I infer this from the fact that when you have an error in one script, you get an error message box, and you can observe that the SU toolbar is not yet updated.

On my PC with Windows 7, I get very fast load times, including for Toolbar creation. On XP, it is much slower, but still around 2 seconds for all my plugins

Fredo

Ben Ritter · 30 Aug 2011, 16:21

Thank you so much.

philkrantz · 1 Sept 2011, 00:29

I really need help. I've spent hours today trying to get this plugin to install. I even tried deleting sketchup completely and downloaded it again. Using mac os x 10.5 with sketch up 8. I need the plugin "round corners" I never successfully gotten a plugin to work and tried every step over and over. Could someone with a mac post screen shots of every step need to download a plugin. I know that sounds dumb, but I've exhausted all other attempts.

fredo6 · 1 Sept 2011, 08:07

@philkrantz said:

I really need help. I've spent hours today trying to get this plugin to install. I even tried deleting sketchup completely and downloaded it again. Using mac os x 10.5 with sketch up 8. I need the plugin "round corners" I never successfully gotten a plugin to work and tried every step over and over. Could someone with a mac post screen shots of every step need to download a plugin. I know that sounds dumb, but I've exhausted all other attempts.

Just to be clear:

you must put 000_AdditionelPluginFolders.rb in the Sketchup Plugins directory (so typically C:\Program Files\Google\Google SketchUp 8\Plugins)
If you define an additional folder and you wish to install my plugins there, make sure that LibFredo6_Dir_40, LibFredo6.rb and the folder of my plgins (line ROUNDCORNER_Dir_23) are all located in this additional folder (they must resides altogether in the same place).
You have a utility Windows > LibFredo6 Settings > View Trace Log Files that gives a status of what has been loaded in your current Sketchup session.

Thanks to advise if this solves your issues.

Fredo

gtalarico · 8 Sept 2011, 19:51

Fredo, thanks a bunch for this plugin.
I can finally keep my plugins in my Dropbox and access/sync them across home PC, laptop & work!!!

I had tried doing this manually the way TIG had suggested to me in a different post, but I kept having some plugins not loading, bugs etc.

Anyway, I do have one question: I noticed that the Artisan toolbar was iconless (other toolbars were ok).
I decided to try copying the artisan folder (not the loader) to the local plugin folder and the icons showed up:
I guess this means artisan insisted in looking for its icons at the absolute local path?
Is there a way to prevent/fix this?

Thanks again!

fredo6 · 9 Sept 2011, 05:12

@gtalarico said:

Anyway, I do have one question: I noticed that the Artisan toolbar was iconless (other toolbars were ok).
I decided to try copying the artisan folder (not the loader) to the local plugin folder and the icons showed up:
I guess this means artisan insisted in looking for its icons at the absolute local path?
Is there a way to prevent/fix this?

Thanks again!

Some plugins rely on the standard Sketchup Plugin directory to find files and therefore won't work correctly if put in an alternate folder.
Also, plugins usually require that their loader and subfolders are in the same location.

For Artisan (by Whaat), I will post a request in the related thread.

Fredo

Bob James · 9 Sept 2011, 06:15

@gtalarico said:

I can finally keep my plugins in my Dropbox and access/sync them across home PC, laptop & work!!!

Now that's a great idea. More than reason enough to download this plugin.

Thank you Fredo

gtalarico · 12 Sept 2011, 02:32

Thanks Fredo.

My current work around is to keep a separate LOCAL plugin folder on my DB, and I update those manually.

gtalarico · 22 Nov 2011, 19:00

@bob james said:

@gtalarico said:

I can finally keep my plugins in my Dropbox and access/sync them across home PC, laptop & work!!!

Now that's a great idea. More than reason enough to download this plugin.

Although I can still think of many uses for this plugin, I have further improved my SU<>Dropbox integration by using the method suggested by andrea.bianco here:
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=40866
(The workflow is even further simplified and improved by Brodie here (Page2):
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=34019&hilit=+dropbox

I have now moved all SU folders (Components,Materials,Styles,Components) to my DB so they are in Sync at home and work by symlink-ing the folders in my DB to the SU folder.

Sorry this not necessarily "AdditionalPluginFolders" related, by it ties in to the conversation above, and I thought it could be helpful for people that end up in this post for the same reason I did. (SU+DB)

sumaster · 2 Dec 2011, 19:38

Its work perfectly ........

Thank you Ferdo ......

I like your all plugins ..... its very useful for my sketchup 3D modeling .......

THANKS again ...... waiting new things or new PLUGIN .... THANKS

driven · 17 Dec 2011, 00:24

Hi Fredo,

is there any chance the startup select directories dialog could have all 'options' in one dialog box, i.e. dir1, dir2, dir3 as opposed to a cascade.

also, is there any way to 're-select' one you need forgot.

It does work well

cheers
john

fredo6 · 17 Dec 2011, 00:43

@driven said:

is there any chance the startup select directories dialog could have all 'options' in one dialog box, i.e. dir1, dir2, dir3 as opposed to a cascade.

This is possible. I use the standard SU dialog box because it is faster programming. But I can develop one which is more comfortable

@driven said:

also, is there any way to 're-select' one you need forgot.

Difficult, because you would have to re-execute the whole loading cycle to be sure to catch all plugins.

If you need to start Sketchup frequently with various configurations (i.e. list of plugins), I would suggest other methods, based on list of plugins (a little bit like the Extension Preferences, but in external files that you can edit. Then 000_additionalPluginFolders would simply skip or load plugins depending on the configuration files.

Let me think of it

Fredo

PS: the objective of my script was mainly to avoid the Security issues with C:\program Files on Windows, share plugins between SU6, SU7 and SU8, and trap errors at loading to avoid messing up the toolbars. This is not really a plugin manager!

driven · 17 Dec 2011, 00:57

Hi

I been experimenting using it with my 'on_off.rb' and it's working quite well, the idea is, if I have a bugsplat I can restart with no plugins then load the culprit to see if it's it... if not I can run then this and re-introduce my common sets one at a time[by re-starting at the moment], then any stray rubies until the problem re-appears.
however it's also great for just limiting what I start with and only turning it on when I want an additional set.

http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=41994#p372262
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=38726&p=372570#p372576

be great if you could have a look at my concept, in the one posted I just use the load single plugin option to load this after a rubies"OFF" startup ...

john

camoncamon2001 · 10 Jan 2012, 11:18

It's possible to load plugin directories from an external file (like .txt)?

caronte01 · 2 Feb 2012, 15:11

Hi Fredo;

Great plugin, very useful for people working on different machines

thanks!