Installer for Plugins

Jim

This is Alpha software - use with caution. Although I have tried to test this as much as possible, bugs may be present.

Edit: I've removed the download for now.

Jim

This is a first release and may contain errors; and since it is working with files in your Plugins folder, there is always the possibility of something going wrong. I'm posting it here mostly for comments/review.

What it does?

Browse for and select a plugin in the form of a .rb file, or .zip archive.

If the file is a .rb file, the file is copied to your Plugins folder. Once copied, the file is loaded.
If the file is a .zip file, the contents are extracted to your Plugins folder.

Note - currently, a "tmp" folder is created in your Plugins folder. All files will be installed into this tmp folder so as not to disturb your Plugins folder. No files are moved, or removed, but some files in the tmp folder may be over-written.

Why for?

An installer that works from SketchUp always knows where to install a plugin.
Once installed, the installer can go ahead and load the file - no need to close and re-start SketchUp
A record of installed files could be kept, and the files uninstalled if needed.
Opens possibilities such as fetching the plugin from the Internet, or installing the latest version of a plugin.

Compatibility

This plugin uses some 3rd party Ruby libraries (rubyzip); which means Windows only. All the platform specific stuff is in the Plugins/ruby folder. If you Mac folks can get rubyzip to work in SketchUp, then the plugin should work on Mac too.

Download

http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=153&t=6726

Didier Bur

Thanks Jim. This will prove very useful in the future I'm sure.
BTW, no installer for the installer ?

Jim

@didier bur said:

Thanks Jim. This will prove very useful in the future I'm sure.

I hope so. There's a lot of potential for doing some cool things with it. Installing, upgrading, network installs, and removing plugins.

However, for the short-term my goal is to make it install local .rb and .zip files - safely and reliably.

@unknownuser said:

BTW, no installer for the installer ?

That's a tricky one for sure! However, once installed, it should be able to upgrade itself.

One of the first things I'd like to see is the installer working on the Mac platform, as well as Windows. I have no way of doing it myself.

Jim

I would like to hear thoughts about the location of files installed with this plugin. I don't think script users care about where the plugins are installed to as long as the plugin works. But I think it's important to hear from other script authors, and maybe get a concensus, or even a de-facto standard.

I have 2 thoughts in mind. Both will involve having a "installer" sub-folder.

The first scheme would be to go ahead and dump the plugin files in the Plugins folder, and store any meta-data in the "installer" sub-folder.

The other scheme would be to use the "installer" sub-folder to store both the scripts as well as meta-data created by the installer.

My preference would be to use the "installer" folder for everything. This will keep Plugins uncluttered, and it will be clear which plugins were installed using the Installer.

Any thoughts?

Jim

@didier bur said:

Thanks Jim. This will prove very useful in the future I'm sure.
BTW, no installer for the installer ?

I have looked at creating a self-extracting executable using 7-zip. It looks like it may be a good option for Windows users. I can't help Mac users.

Someone want to try this?

(working on a self-extractor)

Edson

@jim said:

This plugin uses some 3rd party Ruby libraries (rubyzip); which means Windows only. All the platform specific stuff is in the Plugins/ruby folder. If you Mac folks can get rubyzip to work in SketchUp, then the plugin should work on Mac too.

has any mac user tested it yet?

Jim

@edson said:

@jim said:

This plugin uses some 3rd party Ruby libraries (rubyzip); which means Windows only. All the platform specific stuff is in the Plugins/ruby folder. If you Mac folks can get rubyzip to work in SketchUp, then the plugin should work on Mac too.

has any mac user tested it yet?

Thanks for bumping this Edison - I think it's a worthwhile effort.

Jim

I finally got back to looking at this. The plugin currently can install a single-file .rb plugin, or a multi-file .zip archive.

I am working on having the plugin keep a record of the installation locations, so they may be uninstalled at a later time.

watkins

Dear Jim,

Just a note of encouragement, and to say that your endeavours are much appreciated.

Kind regards,
Bob

cloverleaf

@jim,

this is a very useful script! i would like to see a plugin that tells you if you have the most up to date plugins in the future!

plot-paris

sounds quite useful.

are you thinking about a "check for updates" button that automatically downloads the newest rubies? will be deadly tricky to find a way to organize the script database then, I asume.

but it would be cool!

Dan Rathbun

So this is obsolete for SketchUp ver 8+ ??

Jim

@dan rathbun said:

So this is obsolete for SketchUp ver 8+ ??

No, it still works. I like it better than the built-in installer because it keeps a list of installed files - which lets me see exactly what was installed and where in case I want to delete it.

It's here:

https://sites.google.com/site/jimfoltz/plugins-lab/installer

But I could put it on dvcs, if interested.