Adding dynamic attributes to multiple objects

NewGuy

Is there a way to add attributes to a group's "dynamic_attributes" dictionary? I am try this concept below:

selection[0].attribute_dictionary("dynamic_attributes").keys.push "attributename"

I am trying to do this because I want to add the same attribute and sometimes the same value to multiple groups and the component attributes interface only lets you do one object at a time.

Thanks,
NewGuy

thomthom

You want to add an attribute to all instances of a definition?

Then you can add the attribute to the definition instead of the instances. Just make sure to remember to check the definition whenever you access it.

NewGuy

I think set_attribute is what I was looking for.

NewGuy

Is there a way to toggle the attribute so that "Users can edit as a textbox" in the Component Attributes panel?

Jim

That's all controlled by specially named attributes in the "dynamic_attributes" dictionary. If you have Pro, you can edit them in the Attributes Editor, so I'm assuming you are using the Free version?

Jim

Here is a DC with a single editable Textbox for an attribute named Color. Maybe it'll help

lemon_box.skp

NewGuy

I am using Pro but I am more interested in mass dumping attributes to objects that users using Pro can see. I am able to add the attributes using set_attribute but they show up as "User cannot see this attribute". How can I add an attribute so a user can see it or edit it?

Thanks,

Jim

You need to inspect the "dynamic_attributes" dictionary. It uses meta-attributes that begin with an underscore to store meta-data about other attributes, such as if it has an entry in the Options dialog.

So for the model I attached previously, there is an attribute named "color", but also several that begin with "_color". These are what control how it appears in the Options dialog. I don't know the details of what all the meta-attributes are or do. You probably will need to reverse engineer them.

Jim

So I was able to add a "Quantity" textbox to the user options dialog with the following code:

ad = selection[0].definition.attribute_dictionaries["dynamic_attributes"]

ad["quantity"] = "1"
ad["_quantity_access"] = "TEXTBOX"
ad["_quantity_formlabel"] =  "Quantity"

thomthom

Didn't realise one could set attributes like that.

Jim

Yeah, it wouldn't actually be too hard to create a DC editor for non-pro users.

I was considering doing a specialized one just for animating doors and windows.

thomthom

I meant the way you added items to AttributeDictionaries. I've always used the explicit set_attribute method.

Jim

set_attribute and get_attribute are probably better to use in the long run, if changes were ever made internally they would likely still work.

thomthom

heeeey? where was that comment of being able to remove attributs using set_attribute? mind trixies!

Jim

It was wrong! I was thinking of something else. There was what I thought an odd way to delete an attribute, but I think it was an odd way to delete the entire dictionary.

thomthom

set_attribute can potentially kill the whole dictionary??

Jim

Ok, this is what I was remembering:

delete_attribute can delete the entire dictionary if the value param is not used.

http://code.google.com/apis/sketchup/docs/ourdoc/entity.html#delete_attribute

@unknownuser said:

Entity.delete_attributeSketchUp 6.0+

The delete_attribute method is used to delete an attribute from an entity.

If only the dictionary_name is given, then it deletes the entire AttributeDictionary. Otherwise, delete_attribute deletes the attribute with the given key from the given dictionary.

Dan Rathbun

@jim said:

Ok, this is what I was remembering:

Entity.delete_attribute can delete the entire dictionary if the value param is not used.

AGREED !

There should have been (should be,) an explicit Entity.delete_dictionary method (even if it calls the other one with 'secret' parameters. Of course the safest way is to rename and then override the delete_attribute method, so only a call to a delete_dictionary method would do the deletion.
Which may actually be how things work with delete_attribute, ie if num args == 1 then it calls the Entity.attribute_dictionaries.delete(arg) method. )

NewGuy

Guys,
Thanks for your help! Great insight.