Posts made by Dan Rathbun

Dan Rathbun

Also look at how the SketchUp Team makes shapes in the Shapes plugin example:
http://extensions.sketchup.com/en/content/shapes

Dan Rathbun

IN Ruby you can do interpolation in double-quoted strings with the #{ } operator. The expression between the curlies is evaluated and passed to the result's to_s method, then stuffed into the string.

So you'd create a string of html:


html = %Q{
 <html>
    <head>
      <base href="#{myroot}" />
      <link rel="stylesheet" href="resources/css/webdialogs.css" />
    </head>
    <body>
    </body>
 </html>
}

my_dialog.set_html(html)

You can also use a HEREDOC.
See: http://ruby-doc.org/core-2.0.0/doc/syntax/literals_rdoc.html

Dan Rathbun

BASE element | base object
[https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms535191(v=vs.85).aspx](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms535191(v)

... but it is more normal to have your plugins resources in a sub-directory of your plugin's sub-directory.

Dan Rathbun

@bomastudio said:

Inside the myPlugin.rb file I have to embed all code inside the BomaStudio modules?

Inside ALL of your Ruby files.

Files do not separate code into different scopes. It is module namespaces that separate code.

Any number of ruby files can open the same module or class and modify it.

The HTML file is special because it only runs in the UI::WebDialog.

These subjects have already been covered numerous times here in the forum. It is basic Ruby, and covered in any Ruby textbook. I posted an old version of the "PickAxe" Ruby book:
[doc] Programming Ruby (The "Pick-Axe" Book)

Dan Rathbun

Your files need to be set up like:
http://extensions.sketchup.com/en/developer#rbz

So the extension registrar file in "Plugins" would be "BomaStudio_BomaTool.rb", and your plugin sub-folder would have the same name: "BomaStudio_BomaTool".

The loading file in the "Plugins/BomaStudio_BomaTool" sub-directory can be whatever name you like:
"BomaTool_loader.rb", etc., and the other files should likely have the same prefix with descriptive suffix, like:
"BomaTool_core.rb"
"BomaTool_gui.rb"
"BomaTool_tool.rb"
"BomaTool_menu.rb"

In Ruby, the module and class keywords, mean "create if not defined, and open for editing".

So,

module BomaStudio
  # make changes like define constants, variables, new methods, or
  # redefine old methods (method overrides,) or undefine methods.
end

is the same as:


BomaStudio = Module;;new if !defined?(BomaStudio)
BomaStudio.module_eval {
  # make changes like define constants, variables, new methods, or
  # redefine old methods (method overrides,) or undefine methods.
}

See also the SketchupExtension class:

[url=http://www.sketchup.com/intl/en/developer/docs/ourdoc/sketchupextension:3qzf850n]http://www.sketchup.com/intl/en/developer/docs/ourdoc/sketchupextension[/url:3qzf850n]

Dan Rathbun

@bomastudio said:

P.S.: I saw that you nested in the code of your post two modules:

module BomaStudio

and

module CustomTool

. Is there a specific reason to do so?

Yes, ALL your code needs to be within a toplevel author (or company) module.
Each one of your plugins need to be within a sub-module of your toplevel module so they do not clash with each other.
Class definitions used by only one plugin should be defined within that plugin sub-module.

If you define variables and methods at the toplevel (ie, TOPLEVEL_BINDING,) they are defined inside Object. EVERYTHING in Ruby is a subclass of Object, so toplevel objects get inherited by everyone else's modules and classes.
That makes us angry.

Dan Rathbun

Do not create a new toolbar and command object each time the method gets called.

Instead create the toolbar and command at the top of the class defintion, and reference them with class variables.

module BomaStudio
  module CustomTool
  
    class Tool
  
      if !defined?(@@tbTOOL1)
        @@tbTOOL1 = UI;;Toolbar.new("Toolbar 1")
        @@cmdTOOL1 = UI;;Command.new("Tool 1") {
          tool1("Right")
        }
        @@cmdTOOL1.large_icon = Sketchup;;find_support_file(
          "muroDX_40x40.png",
          "Plugins/TECLA_STRUCTURE/icone/"
        )
        @@tbTOOL1.add_item @@cmdTOOL1
      end

      def getMenu(menu)
        @view = Sketchup.active_model.active_view
        @@tbTOOL1.show() if !@@tbTOOL1.visible?
      end

      def tool1( side )
        @@tbTOOL1.hide() if @@tbTOOL1.visible?
        @side = side
        @view.invalidate
      end

    end # tool
  
    @@tool = Tool;;new if !defined?(@@tool)

  end
end

Dan Rathbun

FYI

IMSI DoubleCAD XT was a 2D CAD application, that could be plugged into SketchUp (like Layout can be.) It ran embedded Ruby, and had a clone of SketchUp's API. It development has been discontinued, but you may still be able the download the latest version.
http://www.doublecad.com/DoubleCAD/DoubleCAD-XT-v5
http://activate.imsisoft.com/doublecad.aspx?productpage=DoubleCAD_XT_v5

QCad is a low cost (~37USD) 2D application, that has Javascript API & Qt GUI toolkit for plugins.
http://www.ribbonsoft.com/en/
There is a free stripped down edition you can tryout. (But it cannot really be used for work. For example trying to add a layer brings up a nag box, saying that is a Pro feature.)

FreeCAD is a 2D/3D Open Source free CAD application, that uses Python for extensions and custom workbenches.
http://www.freecadweb.org/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/free-cad/

Dan Rathbun

You can also ask your question at:
http://forums.sketchup.com/c/developers/sketchup-sdk

The SketchUp Team members are more likely to answer, more quickly.

Dan Rathbun

Everything you see on the screen in Windows is an object subclass of window. So a button is a window. A toolbar is a window, with child button windows. This means you are searching for a child window (toolbar) of the owner window (the SketchUp application main window.)

See this old post:
[code] Win32 Moving/Showing/Hiding Toolbars and Dialogs

Just be aware that the Win32API class is deprecated, and the old so compiled binary, was replaced in Ruby 2, with a ruby script wrapper (of the same name,) that calls the DL library transparently.
But DL has also been deprecated, and produces a warning to STDOUT whenever it is first required, ie, a require("dl") call is first made.

The code should be rewritten to use the Fiddle library.
http://ruby-doc.org/stdlib-2.0.0/libdoc/fiddle/rdoc/index.html

As for the Windows API, that documentation is all on MSDN:
Windows API
Windows Reference
[Window Styles](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms632600(v)
[Window Messages](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff468921(v)
SendMessage Function
[Using Window Procedures](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms633570(v)
etc.,
etc.

Dan Rathbun

The positioning of UI::Toolbar objects, is (currently) not exposed in the Ruby API.

On PC, I know how to work around this with Windows system calls, but have no clue how to do this on Mac SketchUp.

Dan Rathbun

@august said:

That's a angle, not a point, but it may turn out to be useful.

I changed the text by underlining part of it, to give you a clue.

Basically it means the start point will lie on the local x axis.

Since a circle is a ArcCurve, "under the hood", and an ArcCurve is a subclass of Curve, there should be several ways of getting the start point.

circle[0].curve.first_edge.start.position

circle[0].curve.vertices[0].start.position

Because circle is an array of edges returned from ents.add_circle, get any one of the edge members.

edge.curve returns the Curve or ArcCurve object that an edge belongs to.

curve.first_edge returns the curve's first edge, no kidding..

edge.start returns the starting vertex.

vertex.position returns a Geom::Point3d equivalent for the vertex.

Dan Rathbun

# Search top and 1st nested level for a named group;

grps = Sketchup.active_model.active_entities.grep(Sketchup;;Group)

if !grps.empty?
  found = grps.find {|grp| grp.name = "Target Name" }
else
  found = nil
end

if !found # found will be nil, if group was not found

  nested = Sketchup.active_model.entities.find_all {|ent|
    ent.is_a?(Sketchup;;Group) || ent.is_a?(Sketchup;;ComponentInstance)
  }
  
  nested.each {|ent|
    ents = ent.is_a?(Sketchup;;Group) ? ent.entities ; ent.definition.entities
    grps = ents.grep(Sketchup;;Group)
    found = grps.find {|grp| grp.name = "Target Name" } if !grps.empty?
  }
  
end

# found will be the group reference, if it was found
# found will be nil, if group was not found

Dan Rathbun

SketchUp is a surface modeler. Everything in SketchUp is basically made up of edges, vertices, and faces.

There are no complex built-in 3D shape classes in the SketchUp Ruby API.

Instead primitives are either grouped into Group class instances, or ComponentInstance class instances. (Each have a defining ComponentDefinition class instance.)

These mentioned classes are all sub-classes of Entity, and inherit it's functionality (as well as the intermediate Drawingelement class functionality.)

Any Entity subclass instance can have any number of AttributeDictionary instances attached to them. You can put whatever custom data you wish into attributes in a custom dictionary, usually named the same as your plugin. (Ex: "Ruts_Shaper_Properties")

Back to the grouped 3D shape. Groups and components have a built-in definition name and each instance of them can have a separate more unique instance name. Group and component instances have built-in transformation property, from which you can query all the translational, rotational, scaling and axial subproperties. See the Geom::Transformation class.

All Drawingelement subclasses (the objects that can be seen in the model,) have an invisible boundingbox, from which you can get the corners and the center. See the Geom::BoundingBox class.

It would be more efficient to create the basic shapes as an external SKP component library, and insert them into the model, rather than draw each using code, but drawing them adhoc can be done.

You should most likely install the SketchUp Team's example Shapes plugin, and study the code.
http://extensions.sketchup.com/en/search/site/Shapes

Dan Rathbun

@august said:

P.S. If anyone has a better term for the starting point of the first edge than "zero point", I'll happily use it.

Well let us see what the API docs say:

@unknownuser said:

](http://www.sketchup.com/intl/en/developer/docs/ourdoc/arccurve#start_angle) documentation":5dfj7d1v]

ArcCurve.start_angle

The start_angle method is used to retrieve the angle of the start of the arc,
measured from the X axis in radians.

Dan Rathbun

They are supposed to be unique. If you can, can you send Thomas (tt_su) the file by PM so he can take a look ?

Dan Rathbun

Your missing the number one rule of iterating collections (in any programming language.)

Do not delete collection members while iterating the collection. The loop will lose it's place, and strange results occur. In that case, always iterate an array copy of the collection, if your loop must remove or add collection members. This is most often seen while modifying Entities collections.

In TIG's example, he used the select method, which produces a separate new array subset of the original collection.

The simplest way to get an array copy, is using the to_a method.

The second good thing TIG showed was to always check your API Entity sub-class objects for validity.

Dan Rathbun

@ssunderland said:

` n=0
i=0

Sketchup.active_model.selection[n].set_attribute("Bubble","id",i); n+=1; i+=1`

You are missing some basic knowledge of Ruby.
Most of the API collection classes have the library module Enumerable mixed into them.
http://ruby-doc.org/core-2.0.0/Enumerable.html

It is usually safer (to avoid fencepost errors, etc.) to use the built-in block form iterator methods.


Sketchup.active_model.selection.each_with_index {|ent,idx|
  ent.set_attribute("SSU_Bubble","id",idx)
}

If you want to process in reverse order, make an array copy of the selection, using to_a
and the Array#reverse method:


Sketchup.active_model.selection.to_a.reverse.each_with_index {|ent,idx|
  ent.set_attribute("SSU_Bubble","id",idx)
}

However, there is one major rule. Do not delete collection members while iterating the collection. The loop will lose it's place, and strange results occur. In that case, always iterate an array copy of the collection, if your loop must remove or add collection members. This is most often seen while modifying Entities collections.

Dan Rathbun

Also, as objects are edited and they intersect, SketchUp will destroy and create new objects. So if editing is done sometime after you "mark" the objects, some of them may go away, and new objects created that do not have your dictionary ids.

Dictionary Names. It is unwise to use a simple word like "Bubble". You should approach dictionary naming like you would your plugin sub-module namespace. Say, your toplevel author namespace module, that you have chosen SSU and the plugin sub-module as Bubbler, then it is smart to name the dictionary after the plugin sub-module qualifying identifier, but replacing the :: scope operator with an underscore "".
So "SSU_Bubbler" for the SSU::Bubbler plugin module. IF you need more than one dictionary, then the former becomes a prefix, and you add "" and some meaningful suffix.

Dan Rathbun

"Programming Ruby - The Pragmatic Programmer's Guide" explains it all.