[Plugin] SketchUcation Tools 2.6

[Pixero]

v2.5 with SU 8 on Windows 7 at the moment.

[Rich O Brien]

You should see an improvement on less clicks on more modern versions of SketchUp.

It is especially sweet on v2014 because of the plugin folder relocation.

If you use Fredo's Additional Folders though you still get prompts. But the default installs are single click conformations.

[TIG]

In more detail...
The number of dialogs/clicks needed is a direct result of the SketchUp version.

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In v8:

If it's the first time you've used the PluginStore's AutoInstall that session...
There's a 'click to confirm installation' dialog [SCF initiated but it's built-in to SketchUp], as the destination folder's 'installable'/'writable' properties are checked.
Then a 'click to confirm installation' dialog [unavoidable - it's built-into SketchUp].

On subsequent usage during that session, there should just be the one 'click to confirm installation' dialog for each AutoInstall [unavoidable - it's built-into SketchUp]
...
Final closing SCF dialog to tell you it was successful.
This on PC [and probably MAC - but untested...].

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In v2013:

If it's the first time you've used the PluginStore's AutoInstall that session - there's a 'click to confirm installation' dialog [unavoidable - built-into SketchUp].
Otherwise, for subsequent installations there is no confirmation dialog [unavoidable - it's built-in to SketchUp].
...
Final closing SCF dialog to tell you it was successful.
This on MAC/PC.

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In v2014:

There is NO 'click to confirm installation' dialog built-into this SketchUp version.
...
Final closing SCF dialog to tell you it was successful.
This on MAC/PC.

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For the 'Update All' option you should get the initial 'confirmation click(s)' [if any] and a 'final closing dialog' for ALL Plugins, not for their individual AutoInstallations.

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If you have more than one Plugins folder defined in SketchUp's $LOAD_PATH then you WILL also get a dialog asking you to choose the destination folder for the Plugin's AutoInstallation, either before the 'confirmation click(s)' [if any], or simply before the 'final closing dialog' if you have v2014...

[tomot]

@tig said:

With v2014 the newly located Plugins folder automatically has FULL permissions so at last this issue should be behind us

Where do I find out more about the location of the new v2014 plugins folder?
It seems to me there were more important items on various SU wish lists, over the years. I don't ever recall seeing move the Plugins folder, on such a list.

[Bob James]

I have SU13 installed.

When I loaded SU14 it put plugins into two places:
C:\Users\jamesb\AppData\Roaming\SketchUp\SketchUp 2014\SketchUp\Plugins
C:\ProgramData\SketchUp\SketchUp 2014\SketchUp\Plugins
I use 'Additional Folders for Plugins'.
D:/Dropbox/Plugins

When I install a new plugin from SketchUcation Plugin Store and direct it to the 'default' directory C:\Users\jamesb\AppData\Roaming\SketchUp\SketchUp 2014\SketchUp\Plugins, I get acknowledging dialog boxes and the plugin is loaded.

When I try to install a new plugin from SketchUcation Plugin Store and direct it to my additional folder D:/Dropbox/Plugins, there are no acknowledging dialogs and the plugin is not loaded.

This happens on my desktop machine here at work, on my laptop and on my machine at home.

I do not have this problem with SU13. I can load plugins using SketchUcation Plugin Store into D:/Dropbox/Plugins

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[Rich O Brien]

Investigating....

I can't reproduce it but it is the second report in 2 days

[TIG]

Can you repeat it with with the Ruby Console open and see if there are any error messages
This is an odd glitch that we must get to the bottom of...

Is your D:/... folder a 'real folder' or a symbolic link / shortcut ?

There have been some reports of network glitches with v2014 and is not the same drive as ?

EDIT:
I just setup J:/Plugins as a custom Plugins-Folder using Fredo's tool in v2014.
I used the PluginStore to install a Plugin.
J:/Plugins was recognized as a possible installation destination and offered in a dialog.
I chose it.
The closing dialog said it installed successfully.
On checking I find that it had installed properly in that folder.

So all seems well.

But suddenly it stops installing - no errors, says it's completed OK but no file !
I find some Plugins install OK and some do not.
IT should only report success if it has worked - which is odd...
I says it has, but nothing is there ...
No Console messages - nothing

I'll do some debugging using the rb versions and report back...

[TIG]

So far I found that when a Plugin fails to extract and get installed into a custom-folder the ZIP that it's using seems to fail to extract properly - it seems to be very slightly corrupted - a manual extract of it is OK, but the WIN automated one is unreliable...
Perhaps the way that v2014's Ruby extracts the ZIP data and recompiles the RBZ is subtly different to the previous version and so occasionally it fails ?

I am investigating...

Because the data transfer relies on a attributes which are packed/unpacked, perhaps their length in the latest version is less tolerant ?

[Jim]

In 2014, you could download the .rbz directly saving everyone bandwidth.

[Bob James]

@jim said:

In 2014, you could download the .rbz directly saving everyone bandwidth.

But then SketchUp Plugin Store wouldn't recognize it for updating
And, no, D:\Dropbox\Plugins is located on my internal RAID. My is an SSD.

[Jim]

@bob james said:

@jim said:

In 2014, you could download the .rbz directly saving everyone bandwidth.

But then SketchUp Plugin Store wouldn't recognize it for updating
And, no, D:\Dropbox\Plugins is located on my internal RAID. My is an SSD.

Oh, I meant the Plugins Store could save bandwidth by downloading the .rbz directly rather than they way it works now. For example, the MoveIt file which the Plugin Store downloads is 4x larger than the direct .rbz download. Over the thousands of plugin downloads the Store is serving up, that savings will really make a difference.

[TIG]

@Jim

We already went down that route of downloading the RBZ in the webdialog - just like in the browser based PluginStore.
Please don't think we haven't thought about it...
Built in security in all web browsers / js prevent a direct download of any files without some user intervention and selection of a folder - that's why the user has to choose a destination for the RBZ download.
This chosen destination is not readily accessible.
But if it were we could of course then auto-install from that RBZ directly.
The exception to this is when it's done through a webdialog within SketchUp with the "load_from_url", which once you have the URL passed by callback the load is done automatically.
From that downloaded SKP we can extract the data to recompile a RBZ in a temp folder our side, and from that we can then Auto-Install the Plugin...
I have been looking at ways of using a server-side button-click to get a fileObject [i.e. where the user chooses to save the RBZ], then pass that path to the server in a form-submit, and then download the RBZ to that destination. On IE the fileObject is the true file-path, but on Safari it is obfuscated to just the file-name for better security, which is no help when later on we are trying to find the downloaded RBZ for using that in auto-installation...

If you have any clever ideas on how we might circumvent this security trap then please share them [especially for the obfuscating MAC's Safari !]... It clearly would be better if an author simply uploaded his RBZ and then that was downloaded from the browser OR Auto-Installed from the PluginStore's webdialog... Side stepping the RBZ.SKP altogether.

[Jim]

I completely understand why it you did it they way you did in 2013.

In 2014, do it with Ruby. Use net/http or open-uri to download the binary - http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2263540/how-do-i-download-a-binary-file-over-http

Should be possible.... hehe.

[TIG]

Yes... but of course we'd then have two PluginStore versions depending on the SketchUp version...
I can already post/get data from a server using js/jquery/json POST/GET methods in earlier versions...
However, they still have the catchall security trap of requiring the user to chose a destination in a form-submit fileObject.
As I said before - that fileObject is accessible in IE - so we could already know where the RBZ is going, wait for it's arrival and then Auto-Install from there - but in Safari the obfuscated fileObject prevents this.
Also the "download RBZ and then AutoInstall" approach would mean extra choices and clicks for the user.
At the moment the user clicks AutoInstall - if there is only one User's Plugins folder, then that is used [there are no choices] and the Auto-Install completes with a closing confirmation dialog in v2014.
In earlier versions you might get more 'are you sure you want to install this' dialogs.
If they have custom-plugins folders then they are additionally prompted to choose the destination folder.
BUT in the "download RBZ and then AutoInstall" scenario they will always also have to choose the destination of each RBZ download - I cannot see how the security traps can be circumvented ??
This would also be needed for each and every download too - preventing the easy 'Update All' option [or future 'Sync All' possibilities] - as each download needs its own fileObject which can only be set through a form-submit user-action...

Any further insights appreciated...

Be assured that we ARE actively looking at an alternative to the RBZ.SKP method...
Watch this space

[Jim]

Yeah, there's something I'm not understanding.

@tig said:

Yes... but of course we'd then have two PluginStore versions depending on the SketchUp version...

You have this already, right? Didn't I have to upload 2 versions - the .rbz and the .rbz.skp?

But so what if you have 2 versions on your server. 2014 is able to download the .rbz to a specific path on the a disc. Won't this still be a major bandwidth saver moving forward?

[Jim]

This code downloads your Extrude tools .rbz from SketchUp Ruby. Not sure why'd you keep wanting to download via the WebDialog. Does this not bypass all those browser security issues?

url = 'http://plugin.sketchucation.com/pluginserv_joomla.php?f=ExtrudeTools'

require 'open-uri'

File.open("#{Dir.pwd}/extrude-tools.rbz", "wb") do |saved_file|
  # the following "open" is provided by open-uri
  open(url, "rb") do |read_file|
    saved_file.write(read_file.read)
  end
end

[unearthed]

It'd sure be great to have less clicking (version 8 here), I have two screens and for some reason the dialogs come up on alternate screens - it's like watching tennis - or playing pong!

[TIG]

@Jim

Thanks for the example...

You are right that we can use the additional Ruby2.0 methods to get RBZ files.
These are not readily available to pre-v2014 SketchUp users [PC].
We could detect if the user has v2014 and download the RBZ a different way... by passing the SKP convolution...
But we still need an alternative SKP-free way for earlier versions...

BUT as I said be assured we are already looking at alternatives anyway...

Gábor and I have already been looking at ways of getting an RBZ directly, for ALL SketchUp/Ruby versions, with no form-submit issues or SKP messing on etc...

So v2.5.2 [if not v3] IS in [and now going down] the pipe-line...
PS: We now a fully working version that will directly install the RBZ, for all versions of SketchUp / Ruby, PC & MAC.
We are pre-beta testing it...
Watch this space...

PPS: Gábor is now having kittens, because your example url accesses the joomla section to download the rbz BUT that should only happen when the call is made through the browser and you are logged-in - it should not work if you are not logged-in or you are in the webdialog - but it does - we tried it... Now he has a security hole to fill...

[Edson]

on mac I am not being able to install plugins in any alternative folder. I get error messages and nothing appears in the folder. besides, there seems to be no way for me to determine where should my custom folder be: it comes predetermined.

any thoughts on that?

[TIG]

What are these error messages ?
Is this v2013 ?
We are starting beta testing 2.5.2 so that might help...