@dan rathbun said:

(An alternative... we might create tb_Name constantsunder the UI module that would be the same for both platforms.)

Here's an example, call it 'UI_tb_const.rb'

module UI

#
# Example ONLY
#

case Sketchup;;OS
when ;WIN
	#
  tb_CAM = 'Camera'.freeze
  tb_CONS = 'Construction'.freeze
  tb_DISP = 'DisplayMode'.freeze
  tb_DRAW = 'Drawing'.freeze
  tb_EDIT = 'Edit'.freeze
  tb_GETS = 'GettingStarted'.freeze
  tb_GOOG = 'Google'.freeze
  tb_LTS = 'LargeToolSet'.freeze
  tb_LAYR = 'Layers'.freeze
  tb_STD = 'Standard'.freeze
  tb_TABS = 'SceneTabs'.freeze
  tb_PRIN = 'Principle'.freeze # spelling!
  tb_SBAR = 'StatusBar'.freeze
  tb_SECT = 'Section'.freeze
  tb_SHAD = 'Shadows'.freeze
  tb_VIEW = 'StandardViews'.freeze
  tb_VCB = 'VCB'.freeze
  tb_WALK = 'Walk'.freeze
	#
when ;OSX
	#     what are the Mac Strings?
  tb_CAM = 'Camera'.freeze
  tb_CONS = 'Construction'.freeze
  tb_DISP = 'DisplayMode'.freeze
  tb_DRAW = 'Drawing'.freeze
  tb_EDIT = 'Edit'.freeze
  tb_GETS = 'GettingStarted'.freeze
  tb_GOOG = 'Google'.freeze
  tb_LTS = 'LargeToolSet'.freeze
  tb_LAYR = 'Layers'.freeze
  tb_STD = 'Standard'.freeze
  tb_TABS = 'SceneTabs'.freeze
  tb_PRIN = 'Principle'.freeze # spelling!
  tb_SBAR = 'StatusBar'.freeze
  tb_SECT = 'Section'.freeze
  tb_SHAD = 'Shadows'.freeze
  tb_VIEW = 'StandardViews'.freeze
  tb_VCB = 'VCB'.freeze
  tb_WALK = 'Walk'.freeze
	#
end # case

end # module UI extension

Sketchup.send_action
http://code.google.com/apis/sketchup/docs/ourdoc/sketchup.html#send_action

You can toggle the StatusBar on/off in Ruby (PC only?) via:
Sketchup.send_action(59393)

The following have no effect on my PC in SU ver 7.1.x:
Sketchup.send_action(21019) hide Status bar and VCB
Sketchup.send_action(21020) show Status bar and VCB
Sketchup.send_action(21022) hide Status bar and VCB?
..whereas the above id 59393 does work for just the StatusBar.

[ NOTE: I've moved my VCB up to the 2nd line of the Top Toolbar Container in 2nd position after the Layers toolbar, so I'd not want the VCB turned off with the StatusBar anyhow. I see them as two different things. ]

@unknownuser said:

I thought that begin ... rescue ... end is required, but I am glad to hear that rescue alone is sufficient.

That is because in module definitions, the module statement is a block statement so the word module works the same as begin (after all, the module does need an end.)

module My_Module
  # method defs
  # code goes here
rescue
  # error handling code
else
  # only do code if no exceptions
ensure
  # always do this code on exit
end # the end of the method def

The same is true for method definitions, where the def keyword 'begins' the block.

def my_method
  # code goes here
rescue
  # error handling code
else
  # only do code if no exceptions
ensure
  # always do this code
end # the end of the module

@jim said:

Visibility:

Toolbar visibility is controlled by a "Visible" key in the Toolbar entry. If the "Visible" key does not exists, the Toolbar is visible. If it does exist and equals 0, the toolbar is not visible.

This Windows .bat file will turn all the toolbars on or off (including the Status bar! )

You can toggle the StatusBar on/off in Ruby (PC only?) via:
%(#BF0000)[Sketchup.send_action 59393]

I don't find a method to test it's visibility, tho. (Perhaps the %(#BF0000)[UI.toolbar_visible?] method needs to be updated in this respect, along with the other bugs this method needs fixed.)

UPDATE - %(#BF0000)[send_action]The following have no effect on my PC in ver 7.1.x:
%(#BF0000)[21019 hide Status bar and VCB 21020 show Status bar and VCB 21022 hide Status bar and VCB?]
..whereas the above id 59393 does work. (Also I have moved the VCB up to the 2nd line of the Top Toolbar Container, so it's not docked on the StatusBar.)
_

BarIDs (SU ver 7.1.xxxx)

**` 103 (0x0067) = Shadows
127 (0x007f) = Standard
136 (0x0088) = Walk(Through)
137 (0x0089) = Principal
211 (0x00d3) = LargeToolSet
220 (0x00dc) = Layers
221 (0x00dd) = VCB
355 (0x0163) = Face Style
360 (0x0168) = Camera
362 (0x016a) = Views
475 (0x01db) = Construction
477 (0x01dd) = Sections
499 (0x01f3) = Edit(Modification)
%(#000000)[501 (0x01f5) = Drawing
10617 (0x2979) = Google
21992 (0x55e8) = GettingStarted

59393 (0xe801) = StatusBar
59402 (0xe80a) = SceneTabs

87528 = 0x55e8 + 0x10000 (means that GettingStarted was there, but was pulled off the TBC or turned off; it's kind of like a placeholder. If you see 66013 (it was where the Sections tb was, ie 0x1dd + 0x10000 = 0x101dd which is 66013 decimal.)

Notes:
59402 - SU will not let this have a Visible=0 attribute if SceneTabs is checked in the Menu; it will be deleted from the registry when SU closes.]
__`**

It looks like SU does not update registry values for many things until it closes.

The opposite may also be true, that it doesn't check the registry for updates except on startup.

So changing registry values while SU is open probably won't work (for certain settings,) until the next session, and some of your changes may get overwritten when SU closes (if you change them while SU is running.)

So for each setting, keep track of whether it can or can't be set while SU is loaded.

KEY: ToolbarsUser-Summary

Attributes: (all Values in Hex)
Bars = possibly numbers of toolbars. I have 28 toolbar records, but this value is 0x19 or 25 dec.
IconSize = small or big apparently, I have large buttons set ON, and this value is 0. (Changing to small icons, and closing SU; this value updates to 1.)
ScreenCX = the total monitor screen width in pixels (I have a 1600 wide monitor, this value is 0x640 or 1600 dec.)
ScreenCY = the total monitor screen height in pixels (I have a 1200 high monitor, this value is 0x4b0 or 1200 dec.)

@jim said:

This Windows .bat file will turn all the toolbars on or off ...

Is reg.exe installed with a standard Windows installation?

Or must a user manually install the Support Tools from the WIN install CD?
(Seems like on Win2000 reg.exe was part of the Support Tools. On XP reg.exe is in my Windows/System32 folder.)

Anyway.. reg.exe is a powerful little utilty. If you didn't want to use the full ruby registry.rb library, and needed to delete keys/values from Sketchup ruby, then reg.exe would be the tool to use.
Such as.. removing old ophaned Extension entries, or WebDialog_ entries for scripts that are no longer installed.

You should post this request in the Developers Fourm

@unknownuser said:

... I tried various flavors of the alias and alias_method keywords, but those don't seem to work with modules. I'm certain there's a way to do it, but I thought I'd ask here before diving into my Ruby books.

Yes.. it's weird that alias doesn't work with modules.

But this is even weirder. To alias modules, you instead use the object= method.

Example aliasing of Sketchup module: (At Ruby Console type the following, where ">>" is resulting output.)

Sketchup.class
>> Module
Sketchup.object_id
>> 43353420
# remember this id...
# now alias the module
SU = Sketchup
>> Sketchup
SU.class
>> Module
SU.object_id
>> 43353420
# it's the SAME exact id
# test it...
SU.version
>> 7.1.6087

I would think that we must be careful what namespace the alias constant is declared within. If the above statement "SU = Skecthup" was declared inside a module, or a class, it would only be accessible within that namespace, or must be qualified to be accessed.
For example, say you used that alias assignment within a module named "Configurator", in order to access the alias from outside, you'd need to qualify it with:
Configurator::SU.methodcall

However.. if you wished the alias to have global public access, you'd need to declare it outside ALL modules, in the objectspace. (Similar to typing it at the console.)
BUT... what if for control purposes (ie, conditional loading,) you needed to have the statement inside a class or module?

I think in this case, remember the Kernel.eval() method, and the fact that module Kernel is included in every object. That means that the containing module has it's own copy of eval. So you cannot call just eval (unqualified,) because you'd be calling the local module's copy of eval.
To do it from within a module (or class,) you must qualify the call:
if situation then Kernel.eval("SU = Sketchup");
Then the alias constant is global.

The class Sketchup::HLR is undocumented in the API.

It's an Entity subclass.
It inherits all the Entity baseclass methods, and adds 2 of it's own:

• .calculate* .num_faces

If you create a HLR object at the console, and call .parent (when it has no parent) a BUG SPLAT! results. See post: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=24740#p212101

What is this class HLR used for? (.. as there is no .add_HLR method for the Entities collection object.)

HLR.parent BUG SPLAT!

The HLR.parent method does not have error handling to trap when the object is not yet attached to a collection or other object.

If .parent is called on any HLR class object before attachment, a BUG SPLAT! results.

The method should either return nil when it has no parent, or raise a proper Exception. In both cases the $! error message should be set to some meaningful string, ie: "Nesting Error. No parent object..." (or similar.)

Platform: Win32
Sketchup: 7.1.6087

--report--
At Ruby Console:
var=Sketchup::HLR.new
var.parent
--> BUG SPLAT!

I have no idea what an HLR entity subclass is used for! It inherits all the Entity baseclass methods, and adds 2 of it's own, .calculate and .num_faces
The Sketchup::HLR class is undocumented in the API.

@earthmover said:

Would it be possible to create a dialog window that shows the a running tab of the last 10 or so tools or plugins used and allow you to recall them?

The $" array holds a list of every ruby script that was loaded by the require command, but those scripts are usually ones we only wish to load once anyway. (Which is the purpose of the array in the first place, require checks the array so as not to reload scripts that have already been loaded.)

I say this because, the feature you desire would need a similar array, but it must have all files loaded by the load command, except those that are in the $" array. (Tricky because require passes it's file argument to load if it decides a script needs to be loaded.)

I hate to think about this, but one solution would be to override load; not desirable because it's already been overriden by Google to handle the .rbsfiles.

It may be better to create a new run command, that mantains the 'history' array and then passes the filename argument on to load.

So the 'rule' would be if you want a script in the history, use run, if not use load directly.

A webdialog could be made easily once the maintenance of the history array was solved. Heck.. even a Inputbox with a dropdown list would work, but a webdialog would be better (single click and it could remain open, the list could be updated continuously. An Inputbox would be 3-click, open it choose script, click OK.)

@thinkbuild said:

• on a VW2010 thread over at pushpullbar, it was suggested to goto .kmz via google earth and then hack out the kml file ... But I couldn't figure that out with google earth. sigh.

Sketchup 7.1+ has built-in Import directly from .kmz and .dae (Collada)

Menu: File > Import...

Change file type to (.kmz,.dae) and choose the file.

@l.frisken said:

I could only get the "testing" method to work when i called it from an instance of the class (that I created) myself:
That is correct. Most methods of classes are instance methods. You should be able to call them from inside the class (ie another method of the same class,) using it as a private method.

@l.frisken said:

anyway, to cut a long story short I finally cracked the code on how to get yaml to work with sketchup objects (so I thought):

class Sketchup;;Geom;;Point3d
> def initialize(x, y, z)
> super()
> @x = x
> @y = y
> @z = z
> end
> end

It seemed as though the Point3d class did not even have instance variables (weird!), I can only assume that this is because they were created from the closed side of Sketchup.
Ignoring the nesting error (that ThomThom pointed out,) the other error is that you are calling super(). Why call the superclass ? I think Google boo-booed and made Point3d a subclass of Object, when they should have made it a subclass of Array.
Anyway besides the fact that your override is erroneous, and does not account for the variable argument list (ie: you can pass 1 object in such as Vector3d, or an Array [of 1 to 3 Numerics,] OR 1 to 3 Numeric arguments.)

IF your not going to handle the argument list, then you must let the embedded API object do it. But you DON'T do it by calling super(args) because that just passes the argument list to class Object.
[IN your example above, what your super() does is actually call Object.initialize() without actually passing the argument list. Also in many cases .initialize* is set private, and you can't call it directly from outside a class; instead you normally call the public method .new from outside a class. ]
You must FIRST alias the class method so the original code can be called, THEN redefine the class method using the oldname. alias_method :newName, :oldName
Example:

module ;;Geom
  class Point3d(*args)
    alias_method(;orig_new,;new)
    def new(*args)
      pt=orig_new(*args)
      # You could add some values the args array
      args << "My Point3d class Overrride"
      # .new automatically calls initialize(*args)
      # before returning the object handle.
      return pt
    end
    def initialize(*args)
      # prior to initialize, .new has already
      # created the Point3d object.
      # @x,@y,@z should have been setup by .new
      puts args.last # should print string added in .new
    end
  end # class
end # module

(It's possible initialize may get called twice in above example)

You can do anything you want FOR YOUR OWN USE.

BUT Google OWNS the Sketchup, UI, and Geom Namespaces. The Terms of use prevent you from causing other people's installations of Sketchup to be degraded or broken or such. The license agreement is at: http://sketchup.google.com/intl/en/download/license.html

At the very least, if you wanted to extend Sketchup classes (and release those extensions,) you'd need to have Google Sketchup Team consent AND Sketchup Developer Community approval.
You might join the SKX project, or monitor the SKX forum.

You'd need to make a very good case for extending the SU classes with the community, especially if it can be done quite easily without extending them.

Example. IF the yaml lib already provides String.to_yaml, and most Sketchup classes provide SUclass.to_s, then you have conversion by using SUclass.to_s.to_yaml

@jim said:

... but how to incorporate it into the development cycle without imposing a performance penalty in the release version?

Definately, any Test or Debug module would be something we would ONLY load during testing.

We should not expect someone (ie the average user,) to have those modules loaded when they are just running and using Sketchup and the plugin (once it passes tests and is released.)

If you were testing a plugin on a model that was very big and had alot of textures, I'm sure performance would be reduced. That's only during testing tho.

Another option, is to cut up a Test or Debug module into smaller modulettes so only that which a tester needs is loaded. Perhaps take advantage of the autoload method, to do it automatically.

@jim said:

... into the SketchUp/Ruby environment, ...

• Could we use acronym 'SURE' (SkethcUp Ruby Embedded,) to refer to how Ruby is set up to operate under Sketchup, in contrast to how Ruby operates under the Standard Installation?* This is different from the SUAPI, which is how Sketchup simply extends the Ruby langauge (base classes) and adds it's application dependant Modules, Methods and Classes (which any script can do, even in the Standard Environment.)

@jim said:

... I'd like to know if I'm asking the right questions?
IMHO they appear to be vaild questions.

@jim said:

I'm interested in a more fundamental conversation to answer the question of how testing might be used to make writing and debugging SketchUp/Ruby code more efficient;
I am definately all for this!
I was playing around trying to get ALL errors to appear in MY error messagebox instead of the tiny postage-stamp sized one SU implements. It works only if I specifically call my ErrorBox method (from say a rescue clause, or a "if $DEBUG" statement.) But it doesn't work for the load method, even if I try to override it, because I think SU has already overridden it, (to accomodate the decrypting of .rbs files,) and aliased the original as "_load". So I still get the kwappy "Load Error" dialogs. Hmmm... I never did try to override _load, maybe that's the answer. I'll have to try it.

@jim said:

... if it might be a good idea to incorporate the unit test suite files from the Ruby language install into the SketchUp/Ruby environment, or perhaps if a small library should be written specifically for SketchUp/Ruby?
I haven't yet studied these standard libs.

Any tutorials online for using them?

@jim said:

My initial thought is that a few assert statements would go a long way to finding errors quickly, but in a way that amounts to adding type-checking to Ruby values - not a bad idea really, but how to incorporate it into the development cycle without imposing a performance penalty in the release version?

• I definately don't want Ruby to be anything like Ada where even two strings of different lengths are considered different 'types'. (In Ada, you can't even compare or concatenate them without type converting one to the other's type.)
• On the other hand, when types are too loose, it results in lazy and poor programming practices. (There are many examples of methods in the SUAPI that should have raised proper Exceptions when unsuccessful, but instead take advantage of Ruby's loose typing, and simply return nil. This technique is used for lazy conditional expressions because Ruby's NilClass is compatible with FalseClass in boolean expressions. This often results in the situation where we don't know why a method failed because there often are several failure modes.)

Daniel J. Berger and Park Heesob, the guys who do the new Win32::apisuite[*], have a 'techique' of doing testing, using a Test module(s).

If you download some of their code packages, have a look specifically at the 'test' folders, and scripts. Should be informative. These guys work on the Ruby Core also I believe, so they know their stuff. Daniel at least is also a developer/administrator on RubyGems, Rdoc and Ruby/DBI.
Their RubyForge page: http://rubyforge.org/projects/win32utils/

[*] Win32::API is a newer replacement for the OLD 1.6.x Win32API.so and has many improvements, supports callbacks, etc.

I posted an informative reply on this topic at the Sketchup Developer's Google group.
(I guess I'll just Carbon Copy it here.)

@unknownuser said:

Is there any possibility of using Google Sketchup within a website ...?
GoogleGroup Topic: To Run Google sketchup within website

I believe you must export models as Collada(.DAE) files for use on websites.

The website would use Google O3D pluginto VIEW the model.
Visitors would need to download and install the plugin.
Interaction can be done on the model by the website visitors, thru Javascriptprogramming. Such as changing colors, or materials, moving objects around, etc. But all these things I think must be drawn in Sketchup.

There is no basic editing / modeling capability in O3D. Only manipulation of components.

O3D Technical Overview
http://code.google.com/apis/o3d/docs/techoverview.html

O3D Developer's Guide
http://code.google.com/apis/o3d/docs/devguideintro.html

Working Webpage Examples:

Smart Designer by SmartFurniture.com
http://www.smartfurniture.com/smartdesigner
Smart Designer is a new online application that enables consumers and businesses to design and order their own furniture products. They can then interact with those customized products in the context of a 3D space that simulates their homes or offices.

Home Configurator (Firefox only)
http://o3d.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/samples/home-configurators/homedesigner.html

.

@andrews said:

Next time this happens, when you fill out the Bug Splat report, put in some sort of keyword ...

I think I did, did I not do both?

My post here IS the followup.

In each of the 4 explaination(s) in the Bug Splat! reports, I wrote almost identical notes (but the receiver of the ".isatty" method changes per the list at the top of this thread.):
@unknownuser said:

Ruby Console:
$stdin.isatty
--> BUG SPLAT!
So take your pick, try searching on ".isatty"

Not that important anyway.

Interesting that $stdout and $stderr raise "NoMethodError: undefined method `isatty'"

The Sketchup::Console class needs a major overhaul.
We need to be able to use STDIN, STDOUT and STDERR to implement our own Console Applets / Debuggers, or integrate with thrid-party Ruby IDEs.
There is a glaring 'perfect' space for controlling such a feature on the 'Applications' page of the 'Preferences' dialog.