New API doc - typos and questions

[thomthom]

MaterialsObserver
http://code.google.com/intl/nb/apis/sketchup/docs/ourdoc/materialsobserver.html

Observer events that doesn't trigger:
Sketchup 6
onMaterialChange*
onMaterialRefChange

Sketchup 7
onMaterialChange*
onMaterialRefChange
onMaterialSetCurrent

• Only triggers when the name changes. Not when any of the other properties changes.

[Jim]

Group.move!

@unknownuser said:

This method is the same as the transform! method except that it does not record the move in an undo operation. This method is useful for transparently moving things during an animation.

.move! resets the rotational and scaling components of the receiver's transformation, and does not result in the same final translation as using .transform!

[thomthom]

Layer.page_behavior vs Layer.page_behavior=
http://code.google.com/intl/nb/apis/sketchup/docs/ourdoc/layer.html#page_behavior

The flag values seems to contradict between descriptions of the two methods.

[thomthom]

Pages.add_frame_change_observer
http://code.google.com/intl/nb/apis/sketchup/docs/ourdoc/pages.html#add_frame_change_observer

I don't find any more info on this FrameChange observer. Missing documentation?

@unknownuser said:

The argument is an object that implements a method frameChange with the following form:

But then there's no example. And no FrameChange observer is listed in the Observer list.

[TIG]

Transformation.to_a
http://code.google.com/apis/sketchup/docs/ourdoc/transformation.html#to_a
It would be every helpful if this listed the many items in this array and explained which each of them represents
e.g. tra[14]= Z value
...

[Chris Fullmer]

@tig said:

Transformation.to_a
http://code.google.com/apis/sketchup/docs/ourdoc/transformation.html#to_a
It would be every helpful if this listed the many items in this array and explained which each of them represents
e.g. tra[14]= Z value
...

I AGREE!!

[remus]

I dont know if that would be possible, as what each element means varies a lot depending on the transformation (or combination of transformations) that have happened. The exception to this is the final column ([12],[13],[14]) which always represent translation.

[thomthom]

@remus said:

I dont know if that would be possible, as what each element means varies a lot depending on the transformation (or combination of transformations) that have happened. The exception to this is the final column ([12],[13],[14]) which always represent translation.

Well, an explaination of the difference would be great. Because transformation is a big scary wolf when you start SU scripting... IMO...

[remus]

I wonder if theyd mind linking out to another site, theres lots of stuff out there:

http://www.ugrad.cs.ubc.ca/~cs414/notes/applets/trans/trans.html

http://www.google.co.uk/search?rlz=1C1CHMG_enGB291GB303&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=4x4+transformation+matrix

[thomthom]

Got to disagree there. .os_language and .get_locale should both return the system settings, as that's what they indicate. They have their uses. But maybe there should be extra method to get the SU language...

[thomthom]

Ah, I see now:
http://code.google.com/apis/sketchup/docs/ourdoc/sketchup.html#get_locale

@unknownuser said:

The get_locale method returns the language code for the language SketchUp is running in.

Valid return values include (but are not limited to): EN, QE, DE, FR, JP, ES, and IT.

Yes, Sketchup.get_locale should according to the docs NOT return the system locale...

[tomasz]

Yep, get_locale should not be an alias of os_language as doc suggests and os_language should read os language instead of local SU language.

[tomasz]

Sketchup.os_language

Sketchup.get_locale

In Polish version of SU6 PL both methods return 'pl' string.
Current description is misleading because I've got SU6 PL installed in Vista EN.
get_locale should refer to SU language instead of OS!

@unknownuser said:

The os_language method is used to retrieve a two character code representing the os language. This is an alias for the get_locale method.

[thomthom]

@unknownuser said:

Yep, get_locale should not be an alias of os_language as doc suggests and os_language should read os language instead of local SU language.

So, os_language reads the SU locale? that's the wrong method?

[tomasz]

I have investigated the case and it turned out that SU reads the OS language settings , not the language version of the OS itself. I had the language settings set to Polish in VistaENG. That was why SU returned os_language as 'pl' and get_locale also as 'pl'. So the documentation in right when the OS language selected in OS settings has its presence in SU.

When OS language settings, say Portuguese, is not supported by SU then os_language returns 'en-US' which is wrong.

[thomthom]

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

[scottlininger]

It is like observers. It doesn't actually have to be a subclass to work. Any object that replies to the nextFrame callback can be used as an animation.

[thomthom]

@unknownuser said:

It is like observers. It doesn't actually have to be a subclass to work. Any object that replies to the nextFrame callback can be used as an animation.

Isn't observer like that as well? I realised once that I had used the wrong observer class as a base, but the observer still worked.

[scottlininger]

@thomthom said:

@unknownuser said:

It is like observers. It doesn't actually have to be a subclass to work. Any object that replies to the nextFrame callback can be used as an animation.

Isn't observer like that as well? I realised once that I had used the wrong observer class as a base, but the observer still worked.

Yes, that's how observers are as well.

[thomthom]

How much of this thread have you processed Scott?
I think I'm loosing track of what I have reported.