I always do as chris does: collect in one string, send to SU, split there if needed

@chris fullmer said: Interesting, I would have just put it as modal for both. Modal just means it stays on top of all windows? No - in the Windows world it means that the child window blocks any interaction in the parent window while it is open. It also means that .show_modal doesn't return until the webdialog is closed. (Like UI.inputbox - where you continue with the code after you prompted the user.) But it's under OSX where the scheme suddenly change. Not use if it's a platform quick, or just an SU OSX quirk, but suddenly the window does not stay on top when using .show and .show_modal means "stay on top of parent" instead of actually being modal. It's an annoying difference as the behaviour displayed under OSX does not correspond to what the method name implies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modal_window

sure, but if the transform bumps you out of the SU tolerance, you're hosed.

ufff! I see I have to learn a lot. Good job!

Yea, the docs really should mention these constants, as the number used to refer to various options differ from version to version.

You may need to combine your responces with a ToolsObserver

Guy, Generally, you're not going to be able to do anything useful with the entrypoints its exposes. Particularly not from Ruby. Not sure if it helps but here's a quick tutorial on output very high resolution hidden line images using LightUp.. http://www.light-up.co.uk/index.php?t=story&p=101 Adam

Thanks Bob! It is always fun to get out and shoot. The star effect is in fact from the shutter, not a filter. That was something I was practicing that night, so I'm glad you noticed. Thanks for taking the time to look, Chris

@tig said: add =begin...=end around the method and retest the script: Make sure to restart SU before retesting. Because a load will not remove the old method. Easy trap to fall into, as you won't notice something failed until you start the next time.

@thomthom said: Fredo uses timers to slice up the work, but it makes the total processing time a lot slower. Actually the overhead is reasonably small. The goal of this mechanism is just to give back control to the UI, in case the user has clicked or typed a key. This is not to perform heavy stuff while the script is itself busy with computation. Fredo

@chris fullmer said: That is great to know, because that is precisely what I will be doing with these ... Spooky! .. now I'm answering your questions before you ask them. (.. does anyone hear the "Jeopardy" theme?)

TIG's suggestion DOES work !!! File.identical?("C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 8/Plugins/testfile.rb", "C:/PROGRA~1/Google/GOOGLE~3/Plugins/testfile.rb") true Then, stripping off the filename and testing dir against dir: File.identical?("C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 8/Plugins", "C:/PROGRA~1/Google/GOOGLE~3/Plugins") true But it's still stupid, that the installer writes 32 bit quoted pathname, and the app overwrites it each time it starts up with a 16bit pathname. If I start SU7, i wonder if it will overwrite the registry key. Bet it will...

Thanks Dan. I'll look at that and point the html developer to it. In the end we've got it worked out now, but only after some serious extra effort.

Free Bird!

Great stuff, Chris. Thanks for posting this.

Just noticed ANOTHER standard Ruby extension that bears on this subject. With a path to the local standard Ruby lib dir pushed into the $LOAD_PATH array, you add the following to your module: require('tmpdir.rb') This standard extension adds the class methods: Dir::tmpdir and Dir::mktmpdir If you read the file, you'll recognize the Dir::tmpdir method as the 'progenitor' of the edition in the Google 'webtextures_loader.rb' file. (Google "lifted" it, and stripped out the Win32 specific part.) So (above) when we talked about whether to rely on the WebTextures plugin, my advice is, to instead rely on the Standard Ruby library.

Awesome Dan, thanks! I'll go look into those.

@chris fullmer said: Currently, on Vista 64 when I create the folder in sketchup ruby, if I try to delete the folder through the windows explorer it tells me the folder is currently being used in another app. And I get an error as well when I try to delete the open folder through another instance of SketchUp. I just don't know how it will react in other windows versions and on a Mac, especially since SU on OS is MDI. It might not be able to differentiate which instance of SU created the folder and which is trying to delete it. But it would be interesting to test. Chris, Not being able to delete a folder/file on Windows typically means there is a process somewhere with a 'handle' to the file/folder. Yes, it is pathetic that Windows still cannot handle stuff like this - every other OS can.. but anyway.. First double check you really are releasing the File Descriptor handle you use in Ruby. If you the file isn't really closed, you won't be able to delete it. Adam

Ahh, interesting. Odd to me that a and w both make new files, but r does not. Oh well. Very good, now to fill my files with useful data. Thanks guys, Chris