A kickass UI using WebDialogs and DHTML Suite.

CPhillips · 1 Dec 2007, 17:39

I posted on the old forums about using DHTML Suite to build Sketchup UI's. Well, I finally got back to that project last weekend and I came up with what I think is a really nice UI. This is a Work In Progress and doesnt actually interact with Sketchup yet.

Screenshot:
http://sketchyutils.googlecode.com/files/UIMockup.png

All the layout was done in about 6 hours. And that while learning html and java script as I go. I cant recommend Dhtml suite highly enough. http://www.dhtmlgoodies.com/index.html?page=dhtml-suite

Link to zip(also attached):
http://sketchyutils.googlecode.com/files/SketchyUIMockup.zip

Instructions:
-Unzip into your plugins directory.
-Run Sketchup
-Open the ruby console and run the command:
sketchyUITest()
NOTE:It doesn't actually interact with Sketchup yet. You might as well delete it after you have looked at it.

I think the best bit is how the panels smoothly scroll when you open and close them.

If you are interested in the inner workings: All the code I wrote is in the SketchyUI/Dialogs folder. There is the HTML file which is about 450lines and a Simple.html that is only 150 lines. If you want to understand the HTML you might want to start with Simple.html. Either file should open correctly in a standard web browser.

Chris

301 Moved Permanently

(www.sketchucation.com)

todd burch · 1 Dec 2007, 17:40

Prettttttty cool!

Todd

Pixero · 1 Dec 2007, 17:44

Thanks for the link.

tomasz · 1 Dec 2007, 17:44

Chris,
It is amazing. My head is exploding
Bye Bye Simple input boxes. I just have to wait for the weekend
I hope connecting it to SU is easy.

Thanks a lot!
Tomasz

diana · 1 Dec 2007, 17:45

This looks so very nice and I do like how the sections scroll.

not registered yet · 1 Dec 2007, 17:46

That looks really nice!

[crojack]

boofredlay · 1 Dec 2007, 17:48

Eagerly awaiting.

ypnos1 · 1 Dec 2007, 17:48

OMG

That is cool
and i feel like such a dork for being so exited about somethign like this
thanks

CPhillips · 1 Dec 2007, 17:48

Update, I hooked up the UI to actually send updates to Sketchup any time a value changes. It was pretty easy but I am very glad I waited until I had the layout finished. Maintaining all the names and events is tedious when you are doing a lot of copy/paste of elements.

Unfortunately I think I went a bit overboard with the UI. It works fine, but from a user perspective it looks too cluttered and complicated. I am going to break it up and simplify it.

If anyone wants advice on how to get one of these running ask here.

Chris

tomasz · 1 Dec 2007, 17:49

Chris,
I am interested. Give us a guidance, please.
Thanks in advance.
Tomasz

Whaat · 1 Dec 2007, 17:49

Did you do the layout by hand-editing the HTML files or did you have layout software to drag and drop, cut and paste, edit colors, etc.?

Also, did you find any useful online resources for learning HTML and javascript or did you just try and figure it all out on your own?

Thanks for sharing this...

CPhillips · 1 Dec 2007, 17:50

@unknownuser said:

Chris,
I am interested. Give us a guidance, please.
Thanks in advance.
Tomasz

I meant that if you wanted to build a dhtml suite dialog I would give you advice. Do you have a UI in mind?

Chris

CPhillips · 1 Dec 2007, 17:50

@whaat said:

Did you do the layout by hand-editing the HTML files or did you have layout software to drag and drop, cut and paste, edit colors, etc.?

Also, did you find any useful online resources for learning HTML and javascript or did you just try and figure it all out on your own?

Thanks for sharing this...

I did it by hand. I looked and looked for a good layout editor and came up with nothing that was suitable.

Finally I bit the bullet and started doing the html code by hand. It wasnt nearly as bad as I expected. And I now kinda understand why none of the html layout tools are any good. Its more like writing code than a layout. BTW I use SCite as a html aware text editor).

The dialogs\simple.html example shows pretty much just the basics.

Chris

tomasz · 1 Dec 2007, 17:51

@cphillips said:

I meant that if you wanted to build a dhtml suite dialog I would give you advice.
Do you have a UI in mind?

I meant if you could show us how you have connected html and Ruby. How you pass results back to Ruby.

Tomasz

CPhillips · 1 Dec 2007, 17:52

@unknownuser said:

I meant if you could show us how you have connected html and Ruby. How you pass results back to Ruby.
Tomasz

Ah. Well you don't need dhtml suite for that.

Here is the ruby code that launches a very simple html dialog:


def showVerySimple()
    #create
    dlg = UI;;WebDialog.new("VerySimple", true,"verysimple", 300, 300, 100, 50, true)
    fn= File.dirname(__FILE__)+'/verysimple.html'
    dlg.set_file fn
    dlg.show {} #show it
    
    #create a callback for anytime a value changes in the dialog.
    dlg.add_action_callback("ValueChanged") {|d,p|
            puts p  
            }
end

The "add_action_callback" code at the end allows the dialog to communicate with sketchup. The "puts p" will print out the name and value of a control that changed.

Here is the HTML:


<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<HTML>
	<HEAD>
    <title>Webdialog UI </title>
	</HEAD>
	<body> 
        <div>
            <font color="blue">Checkboxes</font><br>
            <input type="checkbox" name="check-one" onClick="tellSketchup(this.name,this.checked)">One</input>
            <input type="checkbox" name="check-two" onClick="tellSketchup(this.name,this.checked)">Two<br></input>
            <input type="checkbox" name="check-three" onClick="tellSketchup(this.name,this.checked)">Three</input>
            
            <br>
            <font color="blue">Radio</font><br>
            <INPUT type=radio name="radio" value="radio-a" onClick="tellSketchup(this.value,this.checked)">Aye
            <INPUT type=radio name="radio" value="radio-b" onClick="tellSketchup(this.value,this.checked)">Bee
            <INPUT type=radio name="radio" value="radio-c" onClick="tellSketchup(this.value,this.checked)">See<br>
        </div>
   		<script type="text/javascript">
           function tellSketchup(name,value)
           {
                    //this non-intuitive command will call the sketchup callback "ValueChanged"
                    //with the name and value of the control that changed
               window.location='skp;ValueChanged@'+name +"="+ value;
           }
       </script>
    </body>
</HTML>

The HTML creates three checkboxes and three radio buttons. Anytime a user clicks on a control (ie. changes it) the "onClick" code is called. In this case it calls a javascript function called "tellSketchup". That function simply passes the info to sketchup in the form of a string like "check-one=true".

Thats it!
Chris

301 Moved Permanently

(www.sketchucation.com)

Jim · 1 Dec 2007, 17:54

It comes down to passing Strings from the javascript to the ruby callback by setting the window.location and using the skp: prefix.


// this is javascript
window.location = "skp;somecallback"; // no paramters
window.location = "skp;somecallback@" + someString;


# this is ruby
dialog.add_action_callback("somecallback") do |d, a|
  # d is the dialog
  # a is the string passed after the @ in the javascript
  puts "somecallback called;#{a.inspect}"
end

herodes · 14 Apr 2008, 11:39

Can someone repost the VerySimpleDialog.zip file that was on this thread?

I'd like to have a look...

Gaieus · 14 Apr 2008, 12:17

Fixed. Thanks for notifying.

fredo6 · 19 Apr 2008, 14:36

Chris,

That's a very neat job and a damned good idea to enhance interactivity for some plugins requiring options and being context sensitive for actions (The Sketchup tool bar is actually very limited to interact efficiently and the button state management of Sketchup is simply buggy).

I guess this works for Mac too.

As soon as I can, I'll give it a try to regroup some commands of my plugins (Bezier, JPP, OOS, etc...) as it will be easier to show the options.

Fredo

PS: your dialog box is very esthetic. I like very much the design. And if you allow me, I will take some inspiration of it when I try one.

CPhillips · 20 Apr 2008, 01:38

Thanks Fredo6. Feel free to copy any part of it.

@unknownuser said:

Chris,

That's a very neat job and a damned good idea to enhance interactivity for some plugins requiring options and being context sensitive for actions (The Sketchup tool bar is actually very limited to interact efficiently and the button state management of Sketchup is simply buggy).

I guess this works for Mac too.

As soon as I can, I'll give it a try to regroup some commands of my plugins (Bezier, JPP, OOS, etc...) as it will be easier to show the options.

Fredo

PS: your dialog box is very esthetic. I like very much the design. And if you allow me, I will take some inspiration of it when I try one.