New API doc - typos and questions

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:

301 Moved Permanently

(www.ugrad.cs.ubc.ca)

4x4 transformation matrix - Google Search

(www.google.co.uk)

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.

scottlininger

@thomthom said:

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

I have a lot of catch up to do. I have a paper copy here that I've marked as I update. I'll remerge that back into the forum soon.

designforlife

A small thing, just noticed a typo that I don't think is already covered. The entry for EntityObserver.onChangeEntity method states:

@unknownuser said:

The onEraseEntity method is invoked when your entity is modified.

Mike

thomthom

Scott: I think it's worth to also add some notes on the observers that aren't working. Especially those that seem to cause bugsplats. http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=20676

cjthompson

I'm not sure if you've caught this yet, but transformation.xaxis, yaxis, and zaxis return vectors, not points.

thomthom

The Model collection some times doesn't list all the materials when you call .each on it.
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=21243