Editing string variables

[honoluludesktop]

If I have a variable "mat" that is a string "FileName.Dxf", how do I edit the variable to remove ".Dxf"

           
unless mat.nil?
   if e.is_a? Sketchup;;ComponentInstance or e.is_a? Sketchup;;Group then
      #String editing to remove ".Dxf" here
      e.material = mat
   end
end

Does my question make sense?

[thomthom]

For files there's a separate method for that: File.basename

unless mat.nil?
   if e.is_a? Sketchup;;ComponentInstance or e.is_a? Sketchup;;Group then
      #String editing to remove ".Dxf" here
      mat = File.basename(mat, ".Dxf")
      e.material = mat
   end
end

[thomthom]

Alternatively, if the file type isn't always known:

unless mat.nil?
   if e.is_a? Sketchup;;ComponentInstance or e.is_a? Sketchup;;Group then
      #String editing to remove ".Dxf" here
      mat = mat.split('.').first
      e.material = mat
   end
end

[honoluludesktop]

Thanks, I am coding a plugin that allows me to texture imported components (dxf files) by applying a texture of a similar name to the imported component's name. In other words a imported component named "roof.dxf", will be textured by a material named "roof".

[thomthom]

Does it work to set entity.material = "stringName" ?

[honoluludesktop]

Thomas, This is my first real attempt to understand ruby, so far its not working. Thanks for the help, I'll get it eventually.

[honoluludesktop]

WooPee!! Got it. Ruby is case sensitive, and I was attempting the string conversion in the wrong place.

# Loop through entities & apply material based on layer name
 Sketchup.active_model.entities.each do |e|
     begin#if here found
        #10/30/09 ignore file extention name start
        stuff=e.definition.name
        stuff=stuff.split('.').first
        mat = su_materials[stuff]
        #mat = su_materials[e.definition.name]#original
        #end
     rescue#else if here not found
         mat = su_materials[e.name]
     end#end if

Can't get over not having to declare variables. Dangerous for guys like me.

[MartinRinehart]

The general way to do string fiddling in Ruby is via RegEx and it's not that hard:

x = 'asdf.wer'

# match string to regex; string =~ regex
# regex; '/'...'/'
# match into $1 and $2; string =~ /(...)(...)/

x =~ /(.*)\.(.*)/ # match (any number of any char)a period(more chars)

puts $1 # 'asdf'
puts $2 # 'wer'

[thomthom]

Plus, regex can handle the Unicode data from Sketchup, which SU's Ruby doesn't.