Forcing a Screen Update during a Ruby script

[KevinKarney]

I am running a shadow modelling study covering a year . I use a simple plug-in script that increments the date by a day at a time. That all runs fine - the shadows move as expected.

But while the script runs, I want to see the Shadows Info dialog refresh as the date changes. Presently the Shadows Info dialog only visibly updates when the script has completed.

Anyone know of a way to force a screen refresh while a script is running ??

Any help greatly appreciated... I have wasted too much time with this already!

Best wishes
Kevin Karney

[thomthom]

You might need to refactor your loop to use a timer. Timers allow for the rest of the system of do some work. Might just give it enough time to update the viewport.

[Dan Rathbun]

@kevinkarney said:

Anyone know of a way to force a screen refresh while a script is running ??

The Shadows dialog is actually an "inspector" toolwindow.

So try this module function call:
UI.refresh_inspectors()

[KevinKarney]

Dear Dan
Many thanks for troubling to reply. But I am still stuck! The Inspector just updates when the loop is finished.

require 'sketchup'
UI.menu("PlugIns").add_item("Change Date") { change_date_loop }

def change_date_by_one_day
Sketchup.active_model.shadow_info["ShadowTime_time_t"] =
Sketchup.active_model.shadow_info["ShadowTime_time_t"] + 606024
shadowinfo = Sketchup.active_model.shadow_info
UI.refresh_inspectors()
refreshed_view = Sketchup.active_model.active_view.refresh
end

def change_date_loop
for the_step in 1..365
sleep(0.025)
change_date_by_one_day
end
end

[thomthom]

Did you try with a timer?

Or... Maybe the FrameAnimation class....

Sent from my LT25i using Tapatalk 2

[TIG]

This works fine for me.
The dialog updates and so does the view.
The statusbar shows the day

require('sketchup.rb')
module TIG
	UI.menu("PlugIns").add_item("All 365 Days"){self.change_date_loop()}
	def self.change_date_loop()
		model=Sketchup.active_model
		365.times{|i|
			sleep(0.025) ### change step time here
			model.shadow_info["ShadowTime_time_t"]=model.shadow_info["ShadowTime_time_t"]+(60*60*24)
			model.active_view.refresh
			UI.refresh_inspectors()
			Sketchup.status_text="Day #{i+1}"
		}
		UI.beep ### when done
	end
end

[driven]

@tig said:

This works fine for me.
The dialog updates and so does the view.
The statusbar shows the day

only The statusbar text changes on a mac... nothing else
john

[TIG]

@driven said:

@tig said:

This works fine for me.
The dialog updates and so does the view.
The statusbar shows the day

only The statusbar text changes on a mac... nothing else
john
on my PC it works fine !
The shadow dialog changes and the screen image changes at each step...
If the OP had said they had a MAC we might have avoided a dead-end...

@driven: Can you make any variant of my PC-good code work?

Thought: If Users want us to help them efficiently, then they MUST add their Version and OS to their User-Profile...

[driven]

@tig said:

@driven: Can you make any variant of my PC-good code work?

I'll give it a go... I'm curious why it didn't work out of the box...
I often just try bits you and others post to see if they work on a mac.

@unknownuser said:

Thought: If Users want us to help them efficiently, then they MUST add their Version and OS to their User-Profile... :roll:

I think the OP's on a PC, but filling in the profile would be useful,

[driven]

@Tig

this does it for the view

         model.active_view.refresh || Sketchup.active_model.active_view.invalidate

I'll try and find the dialog updater now...

john

[thomthom]

This is the reason the Animation class is there for: http://www.sketchup.com/intl/en/developer/docs/ourdoc/animation.php