[Plugin] SketchUcation Tools

Rich O Brien · 29 Oct 2013, 11:26

This, along with the "premium members forum" are both eroding the basis on which the Sketchucation community stands on - "free and open knowledge".

I really don't know what to say about that comment...

But I feel extremely disappointed that you arrived at such a conclusion.

halroach · 29 Oct 2013, 11:54

@rich o brien said:

@unknownuser said:

This, along with the "premium members forum" are both eroding the basis on which the Sketchucation community stands on - "free and open knowledge".

I really don't know what to say about that comment...

But I feel extremely disappointed that you arrived at such a conclusion.

Seriously, I take it back.
You're right!
Please accept my apologies.

JQL · 1 Nov 2013, 13:00

@tig said:

'Feedback' it could say 'Posts', 'Thread', 'Main-Thread' 'Forum-Page', 'SCF-Thread', 'SCF-Posts' etc - would anyone else like to chip in on this with comments ?

My suggestion:

"Get Sketchucated!"

Now, for more prosaic talk...

There are a lot of issues with Plugin Store not installing plugins on the computers of many of the people I tutor. It's mostly on Sketchup 8 but sometimes on Sketchup 2013 too.

I tried installing Sketchup 8 in my own computer, (where everything works on sketchup 2013), and some plugins didn't install while others were being correctly installed. I checked about permissions on folders and everything was right in some of the computers envolved.

What was happening was that Plugin Store was not downloading the plugin files or was not copying the files to the plugin folders on those computers.

The most important thing I also noticed was that in some of the computers, (probably all, I didn't test...) I couldn't install .rbz files from Window\Preferences.

When installing plugins the old fashioned way everything worked OK. So I installed the plugins manually, downloading them, and copying to folders.

I hope you can track something from this and if you need some more info or for me to try something either in my own computer or in those other computers (harder) I'll do it.

Thanks again for all your efforts on this excellent forum and plugin store.

Best regards,

JQL

Rich O Brien · 1 Nov 2013, 13:04

@unknownuser said:

some plugins didn't install while others were being correctly installed. I checked about permissions on folders and everything was right in some of the computers envolved.

Examples of failing plugins? names?

Rich O Brien · 1 Nov 2013, 13:47

on the v8 not installing rbz files is that because they have the first release of SU8 which didn't support rbz installs?

TIG · 1 Nov 2013, 16:03

If an installed version of SketchUp doesn't support 'rbz-auto-install' [<=v8M2] there will not be an 'Install...' button in Preferences > Extensions...
AND the SketchUcation Plugin Store dialog OUGHT to popup an error message and abort IF you try to click the AutoInstall button - [other unrelated tools/operations could still work?].
Can you please confirm what happens when clicking on the dialog's AutoInstall button IF the version is not a suitable v8/2013 installation...
Ruby Console errors appreciated if no separate error dialogs.
Also the SketchUcation Archive Installer [in the submenu] for RBZ/ZIP, should present similar error messages where appropriate ??

JQL · 2 Nov 2013, 00:41

Hi Rich and TIG,

Plugins were Sketchucation Plugin Store, Joint Push Pull (new version), Section Cut Face and a manual install of SU2Kerkythea. On my own computer (Windows) there is also an install of Thea plugin but not on other people's computers.

Plugin Store was correctly installed (using window/preferences/extensions) and at first look seems to be working correctly;
JPP was correctly installed from Plugin Store;
Section cut face failed to install from Plugin Store. I didn't install it manually on purpose but I did it on other people's computers and it worked well.

Tried at my own office right now and it happens just the same thing as when I was in tutoring context.
My version of SU8 is latest as well as on other people computers.

Only Section Cut Face doesn't work. But I tried very few plugins (simply for example of regular sketchup workflow VS plugin accelerated workflow) so there could be other plugins that I would not be able to install. Restarted Sketchup and SectionCutFace still didn't work (cilinder image).

Nothing strange happens on ruby console when clcking autoinstall. Normal messages appear when auto installing. No error messages.
Archive installer also does not work or display any messages.

I have no problems on SU 2013, but some people were having them.

Checked for folder permissions and I believe everything is right. There is only one file on virtual store that is for KT, as you see on image.

If you want to make the process more direct we could arrange a time when I could be online so I could test imediately.

I hope this helps, and if you need anything more, feel free to ask.

Thanks and best regards,

JQL

TIG · 2 Nov 2013, 10:40

It is strange that you get no errors as an incompatible version should do something...
Also the inability to download and/or install should throw some kind of error messages, whether it's by virtue of an incompatible earlier version of SketchUp that doesn't support RBZ installs, or folder permissions being limited, or connection issues.

When you say SectionCutFace 'doesn't work'...
Does it install at all in v8 - i.e. is its file/subfolder in the Plugins folder
Does it appear in the Plugins Manager list at all ?
Does it appear in the right-click context-menu when you have just one section-plane selected ?
It does NOT appear in any other menus.
From your screen-shot it's not clear... is the section-pane the only thing that is selected?
Is the SectionCutFace .rb ever in Plugins at all, and listed in the Plugins Manager ?
Please remember that not all plugins will get entries in the Plugins menu - read their individual instructions - some are context-menu only, or are in menus like Tools or Draw...

Of course a plugin might occasionally fail to download properly before it is then installed, e.g. if there were a network or ISP connection glitch, but then you should get error messages ??

Can its file/subfolder be 'manually' added to the Plugins folder successfully ?

You do have a 'Compatibility Files...' [but in Portuguese!] link/button in the upper-bars of the Windows Explorer window for the Plugins folder - this shows that permissions are [or have been] limited and not FULL, and thereby some errors might be occurring - but there should be error messages... There should never be any files in your VirtualStore, if the Plugins folder's permissions are set properly for every user/group listed =='FULL'...

Can you post lists of the contents of the SketchUcation subfolder and all of its nested subfolders...

This is weird

Box · 2 Nov 2013, 10:56

The Portuguese might be a clue, is it possible the ones that aren't working correctly have some sort of accent in their user name.

Or possibly something in the regional format, I had a case with an access database where the date divider was causing some computers in our Oslo office to misbehave. It was simply that the other users were more international thinking and had adjusted that one thing.

TIG · 2 Nov 2013, 12:18

@box said:

The Portuguese might be a clue, is it possible the ones that aren't working correctly have some sort of accent in their user name.
Or possibly something in the regional format, I had a case with an access database where the date divider was causing some computers in our Oslo office to misbehave. It was simply that the other users were more international thinking and had adjusted that one thing.
@Box
An excellent point !
Users with 'accents' in their user-names or paths will have difficulties because their temp folders etc will be thought not to exist by SketchUp's current Ruby setup [a known issue on PCs up to and including v2013 at least] - so there will usually be failures when trying to make some files needed to store/manipulate data - like the log-in cookie.dat file and sets files, and the temporary downloaded files that are needed to do the RBZ auto-install from the user's temp/appdata path..
So current non-ASCII characters cannot be included in Users' names if SketchUp's Ruby is to use those paths.
BUT this is weird if SOME plugins do install and some do not
I'd expect some users to have problems [accented] and some to not [no accents], but not with it varying across individual plugins and SketchUp bersions too...

JQL · 2 Nov 2013, 20:09

Hi again TIG and Box,

I am aware of the accents problem. It is a common issue with Kerkythea wich I use a lot.

That is why my username is "Joao" though I'm called "João". There are no accents or special characters in any folder in my PC that has to do with programs or even work directories.

The compatibilty folder exists but it's only filled with KT path text. Nothing else. I'm conviced that the permissions in SU8 folder are exactly the same as in SU2013 folder and I checked everyone's permissions in tutor classroom, though I might have made some mistake here. That compatibility files folder could be there for a previous installment of Sketchup... I couldn't tell.

@tig said:

It is strange that you get no errors as an incompatible version should do something...
Also the inability to download and/or install should throw some kind of error messages, whether it's by virtue of an incompatible earlier version of SketchUp that doesn't support RBZ installs, or folder permissions being limited, or connection issues.

I can almost guarantee you there are no connection issues I tried in two different contexts with my usual connection and both turned out the same error. I'm not so sure about folder permissions, because I understand what those are but I don't know why there is an CREATOR OWNER a SYSTEM and a TrustedInstaller. I just understand that I'm an admin and I have two other users without admin rights of the computer.

The incompatible version can't be the reason because that would make plugin store and JPP unable to install.

@tig said:

When you say SectionCutFace 'doesn't work'...
Does it install at all in v8 - i.e. is its file/subfolder in the Plugins folder
Does it appear in the Plugins Manager list at all ?
Does it appear in the right-click context-menu when you have just one section-plane selected ?
It does NOT appear in any other menus.
From your screen-shot it's not clear... is the section-pane the only thing that is selected?
Is the SectionCutFace .rb ever in Plugins at all, and listed in the Plugins Manager ?
Please remember that not all plugins will get entries in the Plugins menu - read their individual instructions - some are context-menu only, or are in menus like Tools or Draw...

SectionCutFace does not install.

There is no SectionCutFace plugin in the folder. It has no files on the folder and there are, of course, no files listed in Sketchucation plugin manager or extension manager.

If I install it mannually (put the plugin files directly on folder) it works correctly.

In the screenshot I have only the section plane selected and right click menu opened. As you know (it's your plugin ) section cut face only appears there on cotext menu.

@tig said:

Of course a plugin might occasionally fail to download properly before it is then installed, e.g. if there were a network or ISP connection glitch, but then you should get error messages ??

No error messages

@tig said:

Can its file/subfolder be 'manually' added to the Plugins folder successfully ?

Yes it can and the plugin works well when I do it.

@tig said:

You do have a 'Compatibility Files...' [but in Portuguese!] link/button in the upper-bars of the Windows Explorer window for the Plugins folder - this shows that permissions are [or have been] limited and not FULL, and thereby some errors might be occurring - but there should be error messages... There should never be any files in your VirtualStore, if the Plugins folder's permissions are set properly for every user/group listed =='FULL'...

Can you post lists of the contents of the SketchUcation subfolder and all of its nested subfolders...

This is weird

There you have an image with the list of contents on SketchUcation subfolder. There is a nested images subfolder called "~disabled" that has only two "U" icons that I didn't show. It's the icons you see in the folder shortcut image.

Hope this helps, if anything else is needed, just ask.

Thanks again,

JQL

TIG · 2 Nov 2013, 22:14

I am momentarily foxed.
Everything seems to be in order...
Except that you have a file called contents.obv in your images ../folder.
What is that ?
It shouldn't matter...........

Rich O Brien · 2 Nov 2013, 22:16

.obv is a catalog file for 3D Browser.

TIG · 2 Nov 2013, 22:18

I thought so, just asking...
I am graspin' at straws here

JQL · 2 Nov 2013, 22:56

TIG,

I just tried installing the most recent plugin (Jiminy Layers Panel) and nothing happened again. What's strange is that it seems like everything is happening exactly like it's supposed to but somehow the file gets lost in the middle of the operation. I don't know if it fails downloading it or opening it or moving it somewhere.

Is there any temp folder where Plugin Store is saving downloaded files that I can check to see if it gets any file?

Best regards,

JQL

TIG · 2 Nov 2013, 23:29

In the Ruby Console, type [or copy+paste] these individually +<enter>:

SCF::TEMP SCF::TEMPDIR SCF::SCF_Dialog::SCFDIR

Each should return one of the various temp folders [there are 3 possibles depending on the tool and the longevity of the files put there...].
Open them and see what's in them...

Rich O Brien · 2 Nov 2013, 23:32

@TIG

See Layers Panel post...by me

Something weird is afoot

TIG · 2 Nov 2013, 23:38

@rich o brien said:

@TIG

See Layers Panel post...by me

Something weird is afoot
I know... odd it gets reported in one lump ?
I suspect the layer_panel is legacy files issue, but this main one is perplexing ??

Gábor · 3 Nov 2013, 11:45

JQL: May I ask you what kind of a virus protection software is installed on your PC? Some of them tend to remove files they consider dangerous without any warning..... Of couse if this is the case you can find a trace of this removal in the viruskiller's log...

shady7977 · 3 Nov 2013, 12:55

hi all
i have the same problem with downloading any plugins it shows that it is installed but i can find it and every time i open sketchup it gives me a screen with a list of load errors
im using sketchup8 pro for windows