[Plugin] Entity Info + 0.2.0

[greatoe]

but where to download this?

[Pherim]

@greatoe said:

but where to download this?

Plugin Store.

[Jim]

Thanks Tommy - it does not work on Windows. The dialog opens, but the fields are always empty regardless of the selection. I will have a look to see what i can find.

[TommyK]

@jim said:

Thanks Tommy - it does not work on Windows. The dialog opens, but the fields are always empty regardless of the selection. I will have a look to see what i can find.

Thanks Jim, I will load up windows on my very old machine to see what I can do!

@jql said:

I'd use it very often if I could batch assign these settings:

• Glue/Unglue - Vertical, Horizontal, Slopped;
• Cut openning;
• Face Camera;
• Shadows Face Sun.
• Lock/unlock;
• Assign all components/groups to a family name; For instance if Family=Window; Every Unique component in the selection would be renamed to "Window#1", "Window#2" etc... No component should be changed to "Window" without havign a sequential numbering.
• Select all components from a family;
• Select all component instances;
• Replace all component instances;
• Save As;
• Batch Save As (using folder and component name)
• Reload;
• Batch reload...
• Set axis without having to edit the component;
• Draw guide points at bounding box;

Is it asking too much?

Wow, that is a long list! I am considering a customisable system, where the user can add/remove the attributes that are important to them, so I don't think it is too much. I think the following properties on your list is manageable, and would be in the scope of what I am trying to achieve in this plugin:

@jql said:

• Glue/Unglue - Vertical, Horizontal, Slopped;
• Cut openning;
• Face Camera;
• Shadows Face Sun.
• Lock/unlock;
• Save As;
• Reload;

The following, though I think would be better served by another plugin.

@jql said:

• Assign all components/groups to a family name; For instance if Family=Window; Every Unique component in the selection would be renamed to "Window#1", "Window#2" etc... No component should be changed to "Window" without havign a sequential numbering.
• Select all components from a family;
• Select all component instances;
• Replace all component instances;
• Batch Save As (using folder and component name)
• Batch reload...
• Set axis without having to edit the component;
• Draw guide points at bounding box;

[TommyK]

@jim said:

Thanks Tommy - it does not work on Windows. The dialog opens, but the fields are always empty regardless of the selection. I will have a look to see what i can find.

Thanks for the update. I have now fixed it. There was a rogue console.log() call in the webDialog window markup that was breaking javascript. It took me ages to figure out what was going on - as soon as I loaded the firebug javascript debugger - it started working!)

[Jim]

@tommyk said:

Thanks for the update. I have now fixed it. There was a rogue console.log() call in the webDialog window markup that was breaking javascript. It took me ages to figure out what was going on - as soon as I loaded the firebug javascript debugger - it started working!)

Yep, it's working now. Thanks.

I did change the path where the extensions looks for the html dialog, though. The change allows me to install the plugin in folders other than the default Plugins folder:

# html_path = Sketchup.find_support_file "SelectionWindow.html" ,"Plugins/SelectionAttributes/"
html_path = File.join(File.dirname(__FILE__), "SelectionWindow.html")

[TommyK]

Plugin has been updated. This is still an alpha release, but there are big improvements.

Release Notes
v 0.2.0

• Renamed plugin to "Entity Info +" which is describes its intention better
• New user customisable list of entity properties
• New properties available
• Classifications can be edited, although this is early days at the moment, with lots of bugs
• New system for adding properties allows developer contributions

Developer Contributions Welcome
There is a dizzying array of potential properties that can be edited in SketchUp, which will take a lot of coding to complete. I have developed a way to organise each property in this plugin, so developers (myself included) will be able to write just 4 methods (propertyName, get, set, validate) for each property that they wish to add to the mix.

If you are interested, have a look at the propertyType.rb file in the plugin, and see if you can't write the code needed to get your favourite property into the plugin. I will be happy to review and integrate contributions.

###############
  ### EXAMPLE ###
  ###############
  # Each new property type needs to define 4 methods as in the example below.
  # Note that all methods are class methods, so it can be called without creating
  # an instance of the class.
  
  # The first method simply defines the name of the property type, and the name of
  # the 'get', 'set' and 'validate' methods it uses.
  def self.example
      # getNameFunc is an optional variable, which builds the name from parameters
      #passed to the method.  This is required for property types such as atributes,
      # which need to include the attribute dictionaries and attribute label in the name
      values = {'name' => 'example', \
      'label' => 'Example', \
      'getNameFunc' => 'exampleName', \
      'getValueFunc' => 'getExample', \
      'setValueFunc' => 'setExample', \
      'validateFunc' => 'validateExample'}
    return values
  end

  def self.exampleName(options)
    name = 'example;' + options.to_s
    return name
  end

  # The get method takes a Sketchup;;Selection object, and any parameters required.
  # Parameters are required when getting deeper structured information about attributes
  # or Classifications, for example.
  #
  # Params;
  # +selection+;; Sketchup;;Selection object from which to get the values from.
  # +params+;;  Additional parameters required to get the value (optional).
  def self.getExample(selection, params)
    result = {}
    result['label'] = 'example' # the label shown to the user (optional - defaults to existing label)
    result['hidden'] = false  # if true, the input box on the editor window will be hidden (optional - defaults to false)
    result['message'] = "This is a message, not that you need it" # this shows the help text that can be displayed on the editor window (optional)
    result['warning'] = "Watch out" # a warning to be displayed prominently to the user next to the label text (optional)
    result['value'] = selection[0].definition.description # the output value. Can be a string, or an array of result objects with the same values as above (required)
    result['form-type'] = 'text' # the form type, can be 'text', 'textarea', 'checkbox', 'select'
    return result
  end

  # The set method sets the property of the selection.
  #
  # Params;
  # +selection+;; Sketchup;;Selection object to which we can apply the properties.
  # +params+;;  The values to set the property with.
  def self.setExample(selection, params)
    if selection.length > 0
      # Make your edits here
      stuff = params['value'] # values normally reside in this hash
      params['success'] = true # mark your values as successfully set
      return params # return the params
    else
      params['success'] = false # report that something went wrong
      params['warning'] = "something went wrong" # optional message to be displayed to the user
      return params # return the params
    end
  end

  # The validate method validates the input parameters, and amends them if necessary.
  #
  # Params;
  # +selection+;; Sketchup;;Selection object to which the properties are to be applied.
  # +params+;;  A hash object containing values.
  def self.validateExample(selection, params)
    if params['value'] == "oh no" # check for problems with values
      params['error'] = true # report an error - this will stop the setting of the property
      params['warning'] = "Value given is not a string" # optional message to be displayed to the user
    end
    
    return params # return the parameters for the next step; set the property.
  end

[kiwi15]

Hi TommyK,

This new way is indeed a much better way to tweak component properties. Apparently you are not the only one who have found the native Component Browser cumbersome: https://extensions.sketchup.com/en/content/component-properties

Thanks for a cool and promising plugin:)

[JQL]

I use that Thomthom's plugin everyday as it's way easier than using component browser for just those glue properties and the likes. However it doesn't work with multiple components...

[TommyK]

@kiwi15 said:

Hi TommyK,

This new way is indeed a much better way to tweak component properties. Apparently you are not the only one who have found the native Component Browser cumbersome: https://extensions.sketchup.com/en/content/component-properties

Thanks for a cool and promising plugin:)

Thanks, kiwi. Yes ThomThom's plugin is indeed worth mentioning in this thread.

I must admit I have other distractions at the moment, so development on this is slow. Glue properties are high on my list for this plugin.