Invert Selection is now native for SketchUp 2019.2 and later.
You'll find the command on the right-click context menu for the Select Tool.

See https://help.sketchup.com/en/sketchup/older-release-notes#su19-m2-whats-new

@unknownuser said:

Invert Selection. Just like the title suggests, it's the small things that help your workflow! This new feature will allow you to select anything, then invert the selection of objects. This makes it simple to select items and then perform actions on their inverse. The keyboard shortcut for this will be: CTRL + SHIFT + I (Windows) or CMD + SHIFT + I (Mac).

@martinrinehart said:

Does void differ from return null?

YES. (in the following, violet denotes javascript.)

(1) return type: undefined and null are separate return types.
___http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/7wkd9z69(VS.85).aspx

• void(whatever) always returns undefined* return( null ) obviously will return null (in this case.)A variable can have a null value, but not an undefined value, because undefined refers to the object, not it's value. You check undefined using quotes:
  %(#BF00BF)[if(typeof(var)=="undefined") //do something]
  You check null without quotes:
  %(#BF00BF)[if(var==null) //do something]
  The difference is subtle. Basically, if a symbol references a variable that has not been declared, or has been declared but never had a value assigned, then "undefined" is returned. If a symbol references a variable that has had any value (including null,) assigned to it, it will not return "undefined".
  But be careful! There's a gotcha (because of backward compatibility.)
  %(#BF00BF)[(object.prop==null)] will return true if the property has the value null or if the property does not exist! You can use in to be more specific:
  %(#BF00BF)[if ("prop" in object)] will return true if the property does exist.

(2) Both are evaluation functions:

• return( expression ) [called a Statement] Always returns the result (of whatever type,) that expression evaluates to.
  http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/22a685h9(VS.85).aspx
• void( expression ) [called an Operator] Evaluates expression then always returns "undefined" (regardless of the result.) The expression is required or an argument error would be raised. The expression 0 is traditional, and comes from C language (where null and zero were interchangable; but in javascript, 0 is a number type, null is it's own type.)
  http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/e17c7cbe(VS.85).aspx
  The internal code might be represented as:
  %(#BF00BF)[function void( *expression* ) {] %(#F0F0F0)[___]%(#BF00BF)[eval( *expression* );] %(#F0F0F0)[___]%(#BF00BF)[return( undefined ); }]
  ___

@alexms said:

But, when I do like that, I'm depending on the last choice of Use image as the user's made in import dialog.

You are correct there are no importer options for image file types exposed in the Ruby API.

If you are still using SU2017 Make, then there is no way to change what the user's last setting was, whilst SketchUp is running. It is saved in the registry, and although SketchUp will immediately update the user's setting (if it changes,) SketchUp core will still use it's internal memory of the setting instead of checking the registry.
This means if you attempt to tweak the registry whilst SketchUp is open, it will have no effect.

@alexms said:

Or should I make a full tool and use add_image ?

This is likely your only option. I did post an example of dragging objects around within a tool at the SketchUp forums ... See links in this post:
https://forums.sketchup.com/t/how-to-realize-the-drag-effect/125758/4

Once the image is placed, you might try to push it's reference into the selection set alone and activate the ScaleTool.
Sketchup.send_action("selectScaleTool:")

A major drawback is that you'd be modifying the model entities with every change of the camera.

Currently changing the camera position or even the active scene does not set the modified? flag.

DC attributes are set directly upon nested DC group instances.

BUT, ... for component instances they are defined upon the definition along with a default value. If there are to be more than 1 instance of the DC and they differ, then the differing values are then set on the instance. (However the "smarts" of each DC attribute, ie, access, formula, label are only in the definition's DC dictionary.)

If changing an instance's attribute(s) causes the definition's entities collection to change, then the DC engine will unique-ify the DC, by cloning the definition and making the instance the first instance of this new DC definition. (An example is when changing the DC so that more or less copies of a sub-component, like a stile are generated. This changes the DC definition's entities collection, so if there are more than 1 instance, the one needing a different number of stiles would need a new definition.)

@sminky said:

Hi,
Is there any way to use Shoes to make UI for a sketchup plugin?

No. sorry. A special fork and compilation of the Shoes code would be required, afaik.
I believe that no one has attempted it.

FYI, You can change the insertion point insertion_point=.

You can also apply a transform to the entire entities of the definition ...

ctr = cdef.bounds.center # Center of untransformed bounds
# Arrays are compatible with translational transformations;
xform = [ctr.x, ctr.y, 0].vector_to(ORIGIN)
cdef_ents = cdef.entities
# Move all the entities so that the axis is in the bottom center;
cdef_ents.transfrom_entities(xform, cdef_ents.to_a)

.

Ruby 2.x+ (SketchUp 2014+)

[String#start_with?](https://ruby-doc.org/core-2.0.0/String.html#method-i-start_with-3F)

ie ...

if e.definition.name.start_with?("MyComp")

... or ...

if e.definition.name.start_with?("Door","Window")

@didier bur said:

Sketchup.active_model.name is NOT (always) the same as the SKP file name...

Sketchup.active_model.name

and

Sketchup.active_model.description

are used to set the name and description when you will be using the entire file as a component.

Secondly, these 2 fields are used to set the name and description that will be displayed when using the file as a template.

So it seems that someone who saved the file, renamed it using francais and resaved it under the old english filename.

There are cases when the filename (minus extension) are used to set the component name. Importing an image is one case.

@jh said:

... I dont get it why I cannot get the lenx, leny and leny to report in any
Ruby- driven Report-Script I tried, until some User-Interaction with the
Component-Options has been made, ...

The default values are stored in the DC definition's "dynamic_attributes" dictionary and the DC instance just uses the defaults until the user changes them. When they are different than the default, the DC code will create instance specific attributes in the instance's "dynamic_attributes" dictionary.

So the "rule of thumb" for Ruby coding DCs is to always first check the instance's "dynamic_attributes" dictionary, then check the definition's "dynamic_attributes" dictionary for dynamic attribute values.

@pixero said:

Is there a way of activating the Dynamic Component Options window through ruby?

Yes and sample code is given here ...
https://forums.sketchup.com/t/close-component-option-component-attribute-windows-using-ruby-script/83784/6

This was written in 2012 for SketchUp v8 when Windows 7 was current. Please do not PM me in 2019 and tell me it does not work for current SketchUp versions. Things change as OSes and applications are revised.

Hold up a min! I Found a workaround to force SketchUp to use Windows MRU paths...

...[ drumroll ]...

1) Open a File Explorer and create a "dummy" folder "C:/dummy"

2) Open SketchUp.. goto "Preferences" > "Files" panel.

Click the browse Folder button and choose this empty folder.
Your Models path should say: "**C:\dummy**"

3) Close SketchUp.

4) Delete the "C:\dummy" folder.

5) Restart SketchUp. It will now use MS Windows saved MRU paths for "*.skp" filetype.

.. No custom button or menuitem needed.

This was written in 2012 for SketchUp v8 when Windows 7 was current. Please do not PM me in 2019 and tell me it does not work for current SketchUp versions. Things change as OSes and applications are revised.

This was written in 2012 for SketchUp v8 when Windows 7 was current. Please do not PM me in 2019 and tell me it does not work for current SketchUp versions. Things change as OSes and applications are revised.

The trick is to let MS Windows MRU filetypes handle what folder will be opened to select a file (of the extension asked for.)

So you'll have to make your own toolbar button (or assign a hotkey to,) the following command:

Sketchup.open_file UI.openpanel('*.skp')

Windows itself will search it's own MRU list that it maintains (no matter what application is or was in use,) when that filetype was last saved. (MRU is an acronym for Most Recently Used.) If Windows has not yet logged a particular filetype, it's likely it will open either in "My Documents" or in the "Desktop" folder. Once a non-cancelled save has occured, an attribute with a path value, will be written into Windows MRU key.

Subsequent calls using the MS Common Filesave and Fileopen dialogs, (which UI.openpanel and UI.savepanel uses,) with just the filetype, will use the paths stored in the MRU key attributes.

This was written in 2012 for SketchUp v8 when Windows 7 was current. Please do not PM me in 2019 and tell me it does not work for current SketchUp versions. Things change as OSes and applications are revised.

Very unlikley. Trimble had to compile their own build of Ruby 2.0.0 for SU2014..2016 which had major issues with Unicode character support under Windows. They had to do patching and backporting themselves. The result is fondly called "FrankenRuby" by the SketchUp extensibility team.

The old versions of SketchUp 2013 (and older) are looking for different entry points in the Ruby interpreter DLL than are used in the Ruby 2+ versions, so you cannot just replace the DLL.

If your use of SketchUp is still Hobby as your profile suggests, then you can still download SU2016 Make or SU2017 Make. They use Ruby 2.0.0 and 2.2.4 respectively.

In order to see colored materials for faces, the rendering options (style) must be set to either "shaded" or "shaded with textures". See the RenderingOptions class:
http://ruby.sketchup.com/Sketchup/RenderingOptions.html

IF you are painting the circle's edges, then in order to see the edges colored, the EdgeColorMode by be set to "ByMaterial" rather than "AllTheSame" (black).

ENV["LD_LIBRARY_PATH"] is for standalone Ruby. I'm surprised if it works at all in embedded Ruby.
Same for Open3. I've heard of nothing but problems with it under SketchUp embedded Ruby.

Suggest you try to wrap Emp using the Ruby Fiddle library ...
http://ruby-doc.org/stdlib-2.2.4/libdoc/fiddle/rdoc/Fiddle/Importer.html

P.S. - Your code is hard to read on GitHub because your indents are being replaced with 8 spaced TABs. Ruby looks best with 2 space indents. Most code editors can replace TAB with space characters as you type, and you will not get these giants indents when you post code.

I see at least 1 missing feature. The text label layer.
(Imagine having to select all those text objects to change their layer?)

Workaround is to create and change to a "Text" layer (named whatever you please) before creating the text.

@juju said:

1: No direct Revit import. If you want to import Revit files you'll need to export from Revit to a format that SketchUp will import.

• SketchUp User Guide: Using SketchUp Data with Other Modeling Programs or Tools

@juju said:

2: IFC export is possible from SketchUp Pro, not sure which was the earliest version (2016?)

@unknownuser said:

](http://ruby.sketchup.com/Sketchup/Model.html#export-instance_method)":rm86pzh4]SketchUp Pro 2015+ added IFC export capability.

What about another editor like GIMP ?

No one will attempt to even read you code until it is properly formatted within [ code ] ... [ /code ] tags.

There is a button on the post edit toolbar to insert these tag sets, or highlight a bunch of text and click the button to wrap the text in these tags.