This is a Wiki so that we can use groupthink to refine our understanding of the introduction of Chromium to SketchUp 2017. I’ll start, but I welcome people to change/correct/enhance what I’ve said below (should you have attained a sufficient trust level in this forum - which is everybody except a “New User”) so that we end up with good, accurate information!
Sketchup 2017 (Make, Pro, Mac, Windows) includes - as part of the installation - the Chromium Browser.[quote=“Tommy, post:1, topic:33349”]
Chromium Web Dialogs: SketchUp ships with a platform-independent web browser (called Chromium). This is a big benefit to extension developers: no more worrying which version of IE or Safari is installed on the computer.
[/quote]
It’s more accurate to say that SketchUp 2017 includes the “Chromium Embedded Framework”. It is installed for use by SketchUp and is not exposed as a standalone application or for use by other programs.
Various conversations in this forum have converged on what is likely the critical reason that Trimble did this: It will greatly reduce support issues from browser library differences! The Chromium Embedded Framework works across Mac and Windows, so Trimble and other developers no longer have to account for differences between the Mac and Windows forks of their code - or between different versions of IE and Safari in areas that rely on web access (or web-like access - such as html based pop up windows).
The benefits to us, the users of SketchUp, are (or will be) as follows:
- We will no longer need to worry about keeping Internet Explorer (Windows) or Safari (Mac) up to date since SketchUp will no longer rely on the default browser installed with the OS or by the user
- Developers (presumably those using both Ruby and C++) will no longer have to worry about which browser is used when they code. Hopefully, this will results in fewer extensions that work well in one OS, but poorly in the other.
But we aren’t there yet! Here’s a summary table of where Chromium is used in SketchUp, and where it’s not (yet) implemented:
<editor’s note: If you edit the table below, please be hyper-vigilant as to the alignment! The columns rely on spaces between them to line up - and the triple-tick feature forces a fixed space font!>
Use of Chromium in SketchUp, Feature by Feature
Feature Windows Mac
3dWarehouse Window SU2017 SU2017
Ext. Warehouse Window SU2017 SU2017
SU SDK (aka C++ API) ??? ???
Ruby API WebDialog No No
Ruby API HTMLDialogs ??? ???
Add Location Tool ??? ???
Trimble Connect Ext ??? ???
Dynamic Components Ext ??? ???
Generate Report ??? ???
<editor’s note: If you edit the above table, please be hyper-vigilant as to the alignment! The columns rely on spaces between them to line up - and the triple-tick feature forces a fixed space font!>
(I may have missed some features, so feel free to add lines - and if you know, replace the "???"s!)
We, collectively, need to identify which of these areas still rely on the OS’s browser library and which have been “converted” to the Chromium Embedded Framework. And as they are updated, change the status appropriately.