Windowizer 4 - alphabetical order of materials?

[john2]

i'm using windowizer 4 . is there any way to arrange the materials listed in the glass materials in alphabetic order when the drop down menu comes?

[TIG]

The Windowizer4.rb uses
matlist = getMaterials().split("|")
to assemble an collection of the available materials, as an array.
The getMaterials.rb returns a string of all available material-names, separated by '|'.
It IS sorted... matNames.sort.join('|') - I don't see the issue ?
The same sorted list of materials is used for frames and glass ??

[john2]

I don't know ruby..hence i don't know what you're saying

here are two screnshots

[TIG]

Open the Ruby Console and type this word + <enter>
getMaterials
It needs to be exactly as it's written [or Copy/Paste]
It should return a list of Materials in the model sorted by their names [separated by '|'] ?
It does that for me... and that's the code used inside Windowizer4 too.
Do you have the current getMaterials.rb [comes from Smustard.com with Windowizer4 ?] ?
If it doesn't work try this - Copy/Paste this code it should again be sorted...
matNames=[];Sketchup.active_model.materials.each{|e|matNames<<e.name};matNames.sort

[john2]

@tig said:

Open the Ruby Console and type this word + <enter>
getMaterials
It needs to be exactly as it's written [or Copy/Paste]
It should return a list of Materials in the model sorted by their names [separated by '|'] ?
It does that for me... and that's the code used inside Windowizer4 too.
Do you have the current getMaterials.rb [comes from Smustard.com with Windowizer4 ?] ?
If it doesn't work try this - Copy/Paste this code it should again be sorted...
matNames=[];Sketchup.active_model.materials.each{|e|matNames<<e.name};matNames.sort

i have one getmaterials and it has this text

def getMaterials
model=Sketchup.active_model
mats=model.materials
matNames=[]
[]
mats.each {|e| matNames.push(e.name)}
matList=matNames.join('|')
return matList
end

no version

your code [rubymatNames=[];Sketchup.a.......] works but do i need to type this everytime?? cant my plugin be edited by adding a line or two?

[TIG]

Try this...
Make a copy of windowizer4.rb - outside of the Plugins folder so it doesn't auto-load and confuse the issue! IF you screw up you can use it to replace the one you about to attempt a recode on !!
Edit the windowizer4.rb file that's in the Plugins folder using Notepad.exe [or an equivalent plain-text editor - NOT a wordprocessor as that will add formating and break the script !]
Find the second line containing the text ' getMaterials' [it's around line#299] that says...
matlist = getMaterials().split("|")
add a '#' to the start of that text thus...
#matlist = getMaterials().split("|")
This stops the line of code being read at all.
Now add this new line of code immediately below it...
matlist=[];@model.materials.each{|e|matlist<<e.name};matlist.sort!
This will make the list in the same way that you did manually in the test I gave you [hopefully successfully again], without the need for ' getMaterials' at all.
The 'wording' is slightly tweaked to suit the script's coding.
Save/close and restart Sketchup to auto-reload the script.
See if the materials lists are now properly ordered...

[john2]

I did the coding sir as you said, im getting the following results.

im getting results like all the <> materials first, after that capital words sorted alphabetically,

then the [] type ones
then with small letters

will that be the order ? i mean SU is giving importance on brackets rather than letters

[TIG]

This isn't Sketchup's doing.
The 'sort' algorithm in Ruby does a straightforward alphanumeric sort of the 'words'.
It depends on ASCII code numbers etc...
So punctuation (! # etc), then numbers , then some punctuation (<> etc), then uppercase letters, then some other punctuation ([] etc) and then lowercase letters etc.
Paste this in the Ruby Console to see what I mean:
["zebra","Zebra2","456","123","ABC","[xyz]","[abc]","abc","<abc>","#1"].sort
The 'bracketry' around the material names is to do with how they have been created/imported etc - read the Help section on this...
You could use the 'display_name' [what's show in the Materials Browser] in the sorted list and then have a 'look up table' that uses the materials' 'display_name' against the actual Sketchup 'name'... BUT that some extra coding that RickW needs to do to his script.
Why not PM Rick and explain the issues...
Windowizer4 is a 'commercial script' - therefore posting too much of its code is 'not on' - I even worried about that one line tweak a gave you !