Identifying a group

[artmusicstudio]

hi,
i went thru some topics about it, but i still can't get it:

why does this ruby does not identify the group selected?

selection = Sketchup.active_model.selection
	     
	     if selection.is_a?(Sketchup;;Group)
	     puts "selection is a group"
	     selection = group.entities.parent.entities()
	     end

or do i have to go "insode" the group to be able to select the entities?

i my case i don't get the message "selection is a group" at all, when 1 group is selected.

zjanx and ragards
stan

[Jim]

Hi Stan.

The selection is a collection of entities. You can index and iterate the selection set similar to an Array.

sel = Sketchup.active_model.selection
puts "#{sel.size} entities selected."
first_ent = sel.first
third = sel[2]
for e in sel
  if e.is_a?(Sketchup;;Group)
    puts "Found a Group"
  end
end

[artmusicstudio]

hi jim,
thanx very much.
i understood iterating thru selection-items, which btw. solves also the next step
for the eruby to work on

all groups in the selection.

i put this small helper online, when it is finished (have to solve the selection of components , especially nested components in the selected group, to read the items-properties of the planes inside those components.

so thanx, this step works !!!!

stan

[Dan Rathbun]

@artmusicstudio said:

all groups in the selection.

easy one:
grps = sel.grep(Sketchup::Group)

The grep filter method is very fast,... and comes from the Enumerable module which is mixed into many collection classes.
The grep method creates a new Array instance.

This then leads to:

for grp in grps
  gt = grp.transformation
  comps = grp.entities.grep(Sketchup;;ComponentInstance)
  next if comps.empty?
  for comp in comps
    ct = comp.tranformation
    ents = comp.defintion.entities
    # process component's entities, etc.
  end
end

[artmusicstudio]

hi dan,
thanx, ok, again something for my limited brain capacity ( -:) ) ,
what i have to achive is
-iterate thru selection (can be groups, compnents or pure entities and combined)
-check for pure entities in it - at model level (done, works)
-check for pure entities in groups inside ( 1 level deep only, done, works)
+
-check for entities in groups within selected groups ( 1 level deep only)
-check for entities in components within selected groups ( 1 level deep only)
-check for entities in components within selected groups ( 1 level deep only)
-check for entities in components within selected components( 1 level deep only)
so some brainwork is necessary.
we shall see.

by the way:

when i iterate thru pure elements within a group, the ruby reads them chronologically, so
newer elements are read out later then the older ones.

now, i think of finding a way to iterate depending of the Z height.

is there a way to say directly in the iteration routine, start with lowest elements and go up to the highest?

the result: the found planes would always be numbered from 1 to x like floors !

i still have no idea, how to realise this.

stan

[Dan Rathbun]

@artmusicstudio said:

now, i think of finding a way to iterate depending of the Z height.

is there a way to say directly in the iteration routine, start with lowest elements and go up to the highest?

You make an array COPY of the collection, and the sort the array using the sort() method that is mixed in from the Enumerable module.

Use the entity bounds() method to get a Geom::BoundingBox, and it's min() method to get a Geom::Point3d, and use it's z() method to get Length objects for the compare expression.

def z_sort(coll)
  coll.to_a.sort {|a,b|
    a.bounds.min.z <=> b.bounds.min.z
  }
end

The trick is that the Comparable module must be mixed into the final object's class, on both sides of the compare <=> operator. This will always be true for Numeric and String subclasses. At the console:
Length.ancestors %(darkgreen)[>> [Length, Float, JSON::Ext::Generator::GeneratorMethods::Float, Numeric, Comparable, Object, JSON::Ext::Generator::GeneratorMethods::Object, Kernel, BasicObject]]
Notice that Comparable is already mixed in ?