Managing plugins

[filipepgm]

There is no official tool to manage Sketchup plugins, so I decided to create my own little piece of software. Although the purpose is to manage SU plugins, I made it a little more flexible, and called it Universal Add-in Manager.
For me, it is a good solution for adding, removing and disable/enable plugins, and I would be most pleased to hear your critics.

If you wish to try it: http://theflyingchariot.blogspot.pt/p/software.html
Any feedback will be welcome as well as suggestions.

[Chris Fullmer]

I think this looks really cool, but I"m going to move this post over to the plugins forum where I think more people will see it. I do agree this is not a plugin nearly as much as it is an application. But since its so directly related to plugins, I think it fits in that forum as well.

Very cool, I'll try it out when I get a chance. Thanks!

[Dan Rathbun]

Felipe

Hello. Who are you ?

Tell us a little bit about yourself. Please put some information into your profile here, so it appears in the left column next to your posts.

There will be people who are very wary of installing something (especially if it is an executable,) from an anonymous person, with no profile information, and only a single post here at SketchUcation.

Your blog site has little to zero information also.

[filipepgm]

Chris,
You are probably right, I was a little unsure on where to start this topic but decided not to put it here, so I wouldn't be kicked out, as this is not a plug-in.
This way is better, thank you. I hope you like my application, I look forward to hear from you.

Dan,
You are, of course, right. I'm sorry, but I tend to be very reluctant on posting any data on the internet. However, I must prove I'm not a bot.

As you advised me, I added some information to my profile, and I will tell you here a little about myself.
First, my name is Filipe, and I'm from Portugal (Felipe is the Spanish or Brazilian form of the name). A couple years ago I discovered Sketchup and played for a while with it. As everyone else I was amazed by the simplicity, compared with other software I had tried before. Nowadays I only use it from time to time, and that is the reason why I have never been active in SU communities.
More recently I started my blog, in order to publish some small programs I made. The first one was Universal Add-in Manager (UAM), which started as a SU plug-in management tool, but I decided to make it a little more flexible, so it could manage other programs files (I've used it successfully with Flight Simulator X).

Regarding this software, aside from assuring you that it has no malware, I can only hope it becomes useful to you.
Any critics and suggestions are welcome.

[unearthed]

Thank you Felipe, this looks to be very useful

So far I've used a (long) txt file where I enter each new installed plugin with some details about it like so - I use metapad http://liquidninja.com/metapad/ to do this as it's faster than notepad, but it requires too much discipline:

toolname.rb (core name if not alphabetical eg Zloader_RoundCorner.rb)
loaded: 11:51 Sunday, 26 February 2012
application:
usage: eg if it needs console or where process peculiar
writer: and w3 link if NOT sketchucation
Depends:
store location if not in use:
Status: loaded, uninstalled (why), trialling
notes:
Issues:
location: [if outside SU/plugins]

2dTools
loaded: 13:31 Saturday, 21 January 2012
application:
usage:
writer:
depends: debabelizer.rb
store location if not in use:
status: loaded 16:32 Saturday, 26 May 2012 to see if does materials skm file
notes: still trialling 17:51 Sunday, 15 January 2012r
issues:
location: C:\Program Files\Google\Google SketchUp 8\Plugins\0 for load.use.unload only

[Jim]

Could you explain how this works? SketchUp does have a rudimentary Extensions system to enable and disable plugins. Does this app use SketchUp's extension system?

[filipepgm]

unearthed,
I'm glad my tool is useful for you. Your method does look a bit complex for day to day use. After reading your post I realized that UAM lacks the feature to add comments to plug-ins. Although creating a file like the one you showed is enough, it is more intuitive to add a comment area to the program.
This doesn't seem to be complicated, so I'll probably code it soon and publish an update early next year.
Thank you for your feedback, if you find any usability problem, please drop me a mail.

Jim,
No, this tool doesn't use Sketchup or any other program. Its purpose is to be able to manage plug-ins from several applications, so I really couldn't make it dependent from Sketchup.
The idea is actually very simple, the program is given the path where the plug-ins should be and a folder where to store them when they are not in use. Then, according to your instructions, it will move the plug-ins to the "Library" (the folder where you store them when inactive), and back to the right place (In the case of SU, "C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Google SketchUp 8\Plugins").
This is how the enable, disable process works.
Delete an Add-in erases its files, Remove leaves the files where they are, but ignored by the program.
New, creates a new "Add-in", this is, the program will scan the folder you give it, move its files to the right place and register all the files in its database.

For the sake of organization, Add-ins are separated in Groups, which is especially useful if you manage plug-ins from more than one program.

I hope I've been clear, in my blog you can find a more detailed explanation, in the software page. Any other question or issue, feel free to ask and suggest.