Architectural_Design_with_SketchUp

Chapter 6 Creating Geometry Using Ruby Scripting
As you can see, the Ruby Code Editor has a few advantages over SketchUp’s Ruby Console.
For example, you can enter multiline text, source code is highlighted appropriately, and you
have Run and Undo buttons. Furthermore, you can save and open code snippet files and
even work on files in HTML and other languages. There is also a handy drop-down that lets
you insert common code snippets at the current cursor position. For now, we’ll ignore some
of the more advanced features, however. Just peruse the editor and discover some of its
tools on your own terms.
Now you are ready to tackle all of the examples in this chapter.
Other Options: More Plugins and External Editors
There are some alternatives (all free) to my Ruby Code Editor plugin that have more or less
the same functionality. All of them work fine with the examples in this book.
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WebConsole—This plugin written by Jim Folz was the original multiline editor on which
I based my editor. You can download it from here: http://sketchuptips.blogspot.com/2007/08/
plugin-webconsolerb.html.
Ruby Console Pro—This plugin was written by Martin Rinehart and offers a multiline
editor as well as a script environment, which provides shortcut functions for common
tasks. http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?t=28571.
If you prefer not to use plugins at all, or if you like using an external code editor, then
you can use this method:
1. Using any text (or Ruby code) editor you like, create a text file source.rb (or similar) in
any convenient location, such as in the root of the C-drive.
2. Add some Ruby code to it and save the file.
3. Open the Ruby Console in SketchUp and type the following line when you are ready to
run the code: load ‘C:\source.rb’.
4. This loads all code from the file and executes (runs) it line by line.
If you prefer the external-editor method and you become more familiar with writing Ruby
code, then it might be a good idea to add the load script to SketchUp as a menu item (using
a small plugin that you will have to write). This gives you one-click access to the function.
Another (more advanced) method is to use the free SketchUp Bridge tool that you can
download here:
http://plugins.ro/labs/bridge_tut.htm
TIP
Intro to Ruby and the SketchUp API
This section gives you a primer for the Ruby language as well as an overview of the most
important aspects of SketchUp’s API. If you need more in-depth information, follow any of
the links at the end of the section.
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