Using win32ole on startup

SR20VET

Hello,

I have some difficulties on starting a WIN32OLE.new('Excel.Application') on startup of SketchUp... code I have is simple in test.rb:


require 'sketchup.rb'
require 'win32ole.so'
model_dict = Sketchup.active_model.attribute_dictionary "thisIsADict"
xl = WIN32OLE.new('Excel.Application') if model_dict

The Error i get is:
uninitialized constant WIN32OLE

I think this has something to do with me trying to start an ole connection directly on start-up. If I assign the code to a command, there is no problem...
But, the code needs to be executed directly when a specific .skp (with "thisIsADict" library) is opened...

Any ideas how to solve this would be great.

Cheers!

thomthom

You shouldn't be adding the extension. require 'win32ole' is the convention.

Not sure if that's the source of your issues though.

But you might have other problems: trying to access Sketchup.active_model on startup. Not sure if everything is available when the Ruby engine is initialized. You might want to check that.

thomthom

Does the same code work if you run it after SketchUp has started?

TIG

Have you tried enclosing it and then waiting until things settle down?

require 'sketchup.rb'
require 'win32ole.so'
module SR20VET
  def SR20VET.xls()
    model = Sketchup.active_model
    until model.entities
      model_dict = model.attribute_dictionary("thisIsADict")
      if model_dict
        xl = WIN32OLE.new('Excel.Application')
        ### rest of code ###
      end
    end
  end#def
end#module
SR20VET.xls()

thomthom

Won't that loop block the rest of SketchUp? Ruby doesn't let SketchUp "breathe" when it's working - that's why the UI white outs because not even the Windows messages are given any opportunity to be processed.

TIG

But presumably it'll only pause briefly until model.entities in returned ?
OR it could start a timer that'd run separately ?

    require 'sketchup.rb'
    require 'win32ole.so'
    module SR20VET
      def SR20VET.xls()
        UI.start_timer(1,false){
        model = Sketchup.active_model
        until model.entities
          model_dict = model.attribute_dictionary("thisIsADict")
          if model_dict
            xl = WIN32OLE.new('Excel.Application')
            ### rest of code ###
          end
        end
        }#end timer
      end#def
    end#module
    SR20VET.xls()

thomthom

@tig said:

But presumably it'll only pause briefly until model.entities in returned?

Pretty sure it won't, because the rest of SU can't continue until the loop is complete. You might have created an infinite loop. SketchUp's doesn't run in parallel with the ruby engine. It's sequential processing.

TIG

I think this'll work:

        require 'sketchup.rb'
        require 'win32ole.so'
        module SR20VET
          def SR20VET.xls()
            timer=UI.start_timer(0,false){
              UI.stop_timer(timer)
              model = Sketchup.active_model
              until model.entities; end
              model_dict = model.attribute_dictionary("thisIsADict")
              if model_dict
                xl = WIN32OLE.new('Excel.Application')
                ### rest of code ###
              end
            }#end timer
          end#def
        end#module
        SR20VET.xls()

thomthom

For timer delay you should immediately stop the timer in it's block - because if a modal window appear within the block, like a messagebox or an error message (which you get when you start SU) will make the timer repeat until the modal window is closed.

<span class="syntaxdefault"><br />timer&nbsp;</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">=&nbsp;</span><span class="syntaxdefault">UI</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">start_timer</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxdefault">0</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">,</span><span class="syntaxdefault">false</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">){<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span class="syntaxdefault">UI</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">stop_timer</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxdefault">timer</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">)<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span class="syntaxcomment">#&nbsp;...<br /></span><span class="syntaxkeyword">}<br />&nbsp;</span><span class="syntaxdefault"></span>

TIG

Added to last post for avoidance of confusion...

Chris Fullmer

Sorry to drag this off topic, but what does win32ole do? It looks like the code is interfacing with excel? Will win32ole read and write excel files? I'm looking around here:

Index of Classes & Methods in win32ole: Ruby Standard Library Documentation (Ruby 1.9.3)

(www.ruby-doc.org)

But I don't see an explanatiojn of what it does.

thomthom

OLE is an interface for communicating with Objects. Excel has implemented this interface so you can communicate with Excel.

Win32OLE is a library that allows you to use OLE interfaces within Ruby.

Object Linking and Embedding - Wikipedia

(en.wikipedia.org)

Dan Rathbun

[Plugin Library] Win32API and Win32OLE so files

Online reference rdocs for these 2 libraries:

SR20VET

@thomthom said:

For timer delay you should immediately stop the timer in it's block - because if a modal window appear within the block, like a messagebox or an error message (which you get when you start SU) will make the timer repeat until the modal window is closed.

<span class="syntaxdefault"><br />timer </span><span class="syntaxkeyword">=</span><span class="syntaxdefault"> UI</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">start_timer</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxdefault">0</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">,</span><span class="syntaxdefault">false</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">){<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  UI</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">.</span><span class="syntaxdefault">stop_timer</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">(</span><span class="syntaxdefault">timer</span><span class="syntaxkeyword">)<br /></span><span class="syntaxdefault">  </span><span class="syntaxcomment"># ...<br /></span><span class="syntaxkeyword">}<br />&nbsp;</span><span class="syntaxdefault"></span>

Hi Thom and TIG, that's exactly how ì solved it. Noticed the fact that a UI.messagebox in the block will make the timer repeat too.
Never used UI.start_timer before but I can think of some nice implementations of it.