New API doc - typos and questions

Dan Rathbun

Model.save_thumbnail

BUG: SU ver 7.1.6087 win32

Model.save_thumbnail (which only works for the current model,) but has a bug, in that if the model has never been saved, the method writes a blank thumbnail image to the %UserProfile% folder [actually to the current working directory,] instead of the Model folder specified in Preferences>Files>Model folderpath.

If the current model has been saved with a thumbnail, then the thumbnail image is properly saved to the Model path as set in Preferences>Files>Model.

UPDATE - the API should include aModel.refresh_thumbnailmethod, similar to (or perhaps using the same internal code as,) theComponentDefinition.refresh_thumbnailmethod.
_

rvs1977

Hi!

Under Quick References --> Method Index it will only load from "Symbol, A, B, C, D to E"... not any further.

I have the same problem in I.E. and Chrome... for more than a week now.

Dan Rathbun

All letter links (targets,) work fine for me using Chrome.

Try clearing your browser cache ??

rvs1977

Hmm... found a solution.

When I press Methods Index in the menu it opens "https://developers.google.com/sketchup/docs/methods?hl=da"

I tried to delete ?hl=da so it only said: "https://developers.google.com/sketchup/docs/methods"

Then it works.

Dan Rathbun

@rvs1977 said:

Hmm... found a solution.

I tried to delete ?hl=da so it only said: "https://developers.google.com/sketchup/docs/methods"

Then it works.

On the Google Developers site.. at the lower right, on the bottom (dark gray) toolbar, is a language change button.

Use it to switch to English ... then bookmark the page.

I also posted a API links menu that I exported out of Chrome, ...
Get it here: SUAPI_Links.zip

Dan Rathbun

"NamedOptions" OptionsProvider bugged?

I am not sure what the intended behavior of the "NamedOptions" OptionsProvider is... so...

I'll just describe the weirdness of it, that I see on the PC:

1) It is within the Model options scope, ie, accessed via: Sketchup.active_model.options["NamedOptions"]

2) It is saved with the model file.

3) But once this OptionsProvider is used within a session, all attributes remain loaded, regardless of whether the model is closed, another model opened, or just a new model opened.

An attribute of the same name, from the next file, will overwrite.
But existing attributes will remain unchanged.
If you save the second model, whether you add any attributes, or not, ALL the "NamedOptions" attributes are written into ALL subsequent model files saved during that session.

So.. if you happened to open a file, just to view it,... and it had any "NamedOptions" attributes saved,.. and then you started a new model, or re-opened another file for editing... the "NamedOptions" attributes from the "viewed" file, will propagate into your "edit" model (likely without you knowing it.)

It does not seem to be desirable behavior. I think there is a bug, in that Sketchup should clear and reset the "NamedOptions" provider when another file is loaded.

I wonder what the behavior is on the Mac when multiple files are open ??

Burkhard

I could not find a send_action value for Display or toggle the Measurement Toolbar. Just VCB hide / unhide with Statusbar.
Is there an undocumented Value?

TIG

There's a massive list of numerical PC only codes that do more than the PC/MAC Sketchup.send_action("text") versions... I've PM'd you it...

Burkhard

You refer to the API list? https://developers.google.com/sketchup/docs/ourdoc/sketchup#send_action
There I could not find what I`m looking for. So my question for undocumented numbers.

renderiza

@thomthom said:

Animation
http://code.google.com/intl/nb/apis/sketchup/docs/ourdoc/animation.html

The first example on that page:


>      # This is an example of a simple animation that floats the camera up to
>      # a z position of 200". The only required method for an animation is
>      # nextFrame. It is called whenever you need to show the next frame of
>      # the animation. If nextFrame returns false, the animation will stop.
>      class FloatUpAnimation
>        def nextFrame(view)
>          new_eye = view.camera.eye
>          new_eye.z = new_eye.z + 1.0
>          view.camera.set(new_eye, view.camera.target, view.camera.up)
>          view.show_frame
>          return new_eye.z < 500.0
>        end
>      end
> 
>      # This adds an item to the Camera menu to activate our custom animation.
>      UI.menu("Camera").add_item("Run Float Up Animation") {
>        Sketchup.active_model.active_view.animation = FloatUpAnimation.new
>      } 
>

It makes a class named FloatUpAnimation, but no mention of Animation. A bit confusing.
Is it like the Observers?
Should it say class FloatUpAnimation < Animation

Hi,

Can someone post an example of using the "nextFrame(view)" definition for moving an entity object instead of a camara?

My objective is to create a game in SketchUp similar to the one I am making with ruby and gosu named "Resballiza" ... Here is a link for more info;

http://www.libgosu.org/cgi-bin/mwf/topic_show.pl?tid=815

So far I have studied JS Move Tool by Jan Sandstrom and changed the Keys for my game style but the "Typematic effects" bug in windows is giving me a hard time.
I have also tried to understand the scrip in the "Prince of IO" game but get lost with anything that has to do with Webdialog related scripts. Please any help in demonstrating a simple object animation that is as simple as the FloatUpAnimation scrip for the camera let me know.

Thanks

TIG

The menu item's code
Sketchup.active_model.active_view.animation = FloatUpAnimation.new
runs that class, making a new animation associated with the 'view', the class calls the lone special method nextFrame(view) - which affects the view's camera when it resets it with a new_eye position and uses show_frame to update the view...
The ' .animation' is a method applied to a view, no a 'separate' class in it's own right...
Your own class that you pass to the view.animation can do various things inside the nextFrame(view) method - changing the camera's eye position is just one example...

It is an awkwardly set up method/class - but it will work as the example...

renderiza

Hi,

Thanks TIG for explaining that

I found this topic and it solves animating an object like I wanted to but I can't make a file.rb for leading in the plugins menu. It shows me this error;

Load Errors
Undefined method ‘transform!’ for nil:NilClassError Loading File
jumper.rb
undefined method ‘transform!’ for nil: NilClass

If anyone nows how to solve this let me know

Thanks

Dan Rathbun

@burkhard said:

I could not find a send_action value for Display or toggle the Measurement Toolbar. Just VCB hide / unhide with Statusbar.

The VCB ("Measurements") toolbar is special. (It's really a ControlBar.) There are many native tools, and Ruby Tools that rely upon it. Therefore it cannot be hidden like other toolbars. (This is by design.)

However when you "toggle" it, instead of it being a hide/show toggle, it is actually a StatusBar dock/undock toggle.

@burkhard said:

Is there an undocumented Value?

Yes the dock/undock toggle is Sketchup.send_action(24157), but on PC only.

When you undock it from the StatusBar, it will take on the user's undocked setting, which is either floating (the default,) or docked to one of the Toolbar Containers (top, left, right or bottom.)

Be aware that the location of the VCB is a user preference. I myself have it undocked from the StatusBar, and docked in the top toolbar container, 2nd row, 2nd position (following the Layer ControlBar.)
If your plugin was to call Sketchup.send_action(24157), the VCB would be moved back onto the StatusBar (where I hate it.) So you risk upsetting users if you move the VCB somewhere the user does not want it.

Dan Rathbun

@unknownuser said:

If anyone nows how to solve this let me know

You really should have started a new topic for your issue. (This topic about errors in the online API Dictionary.)

You need to learn to read Exception messages. The full message will have a line number in your file where the error happen.
You are calling the instance method transform! upon an object that you think is a Sketchup::Group instance (guessing,) ... but something had gone wrong in a previous statement when you assigned the ref to the object identifier, and some other method returned nil (the singleton instance of the NilClass.)

It is standard in Ruby to first check for success, before continuing.

obj = ents.add_edge( pt1, p2 )
if obj # evals true if not false or nil
  obj.transform!(tr)
else
  UI.messagebox("Error created the Edge object!")
end

Dan Rathbun

@dan rathbun said:

@unknownuser said:

If anyone nows how to solve this let me know

You really should have started a new topic for your issue. (This topic about errors in the online API Dictionary.)

Don't worry about that now (this topic is so long and cluttered it does not matter much. And likely will be locked when the next version of the online API Dictionary is updated.)

@dan rathbun said:

You need to learn to read Exception messages. The full message will have a line number in your file where the error happen.

Move your file (and all your authored scripts,) into a "Renderiza" subdir of the Plugins dir.

When debugging.. start Sketchup, then open the Ruby Console.

Enter load("Renderiza/myfile.rb")

You'll see a more complete Exception message output to the console.

renderiza

Thanks Dan Rathbun for teaching me how to debug inside Ruby Console.
I forgor to post the topic link I was referring to…
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=25498

I still can’t find a way to load the jumper.rb and animate the object when active but I will sonn figure it out. And I promise that for next time I will make a new topic for my issues.

Thanks

wood_galaxy

Hi !
I haven't seen if it had benn reported but :
In Attribute reporting Tutorial in the function :

def clean_for_xml(value)
    value = value.to_s
    value = value.gsub(/\</,'<')
    value = value.gsub(/\>/,'>')
    value = value.gsub(/\"/,'"')
    value = value.gsub(/\'/,''')
    return value
  end

The last gsub make that the rest of code is a comment...

TIG

@wood_galaxy

???
.gsub(/\'/,''')
should be
.gsub(/\'/,"'")
to 'wrap' the lone ' properly...

I'm unclear what you put in and what you expect to come out here
The
value = value.gsub(/\</,'<')
could be made as
value.gsub**!**(/\</,'<')
changing 'value' rather than reassigning it to a modified version of itself.
You could also 'string' the gsub changes into one line...
return value.to_s.gsub(/\</,'<').gsub(/\>/,'>').gsub(/\"/,'"').gsub(/\'/,"'")
Although it's easier to read what you are doing your way.
It'd probably be slightly faster - but relatively unnoticeable if only a few values are processed...
Can you clarify?

wood_galaxy

I thought this topic was used to identify inconsistencies in the API doc.
I had just noticed that the code of the tutorial was a mistake.
I started in ruby but I think the line "value = value.gsub(/'/,''')" contains an error.
Maybe I'm wrong and that it is normal that the two following functions can be found commented.
So TIG you say it should be .gsub(/'/,"'"). That's what I wanted to know and get noticed.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

TIG

@wood_galaxy

Now I understand you.
It is indeed a typo in that example code and it should be "'" NOT ''' - the first two '' are taken as an empty string and the third one as a start of a new string - so it's not really a 'rem' - a # or =begin...=end does that in Ruby - it's simply made all of the following code into a string until it reaches the next ' which happens to be inside a comment "can**'**t", thereafter the code resumes again, but of course at that point it's garbled and will return errors and not work...
This type of error is sometimes hard to find but if you are using Notepad++ it'd be obvious, as the syntax highlighting would should a massive block of 'string' text where it shouldn't be, so looking at it's start/end delimiters ['] tells us what's up and what needs fixing...
See the original and the correction [the rest of the code - with the exception of the unnecessary $ variable in the menu setup seems OK]
I thought you were using some of it for your own ends and having problems...
There are MANY errors in the API examples - it's been discussed, and indeed the main API docs used to have a user comments section at the end of each page where we pointed out the mistakes.
When Google moved the content these were 'lost'.
SketchUp still have the text but it's the way of including it that is lacking.
Various ways of introducing a 'wiki-like' system have been mooted, but nothing to date...