I’m looking for a developer to create a plugin which users can use to export Material take off to a web app.
The web app will have multiple users so authentication is needed for each user who wants to use this feature.
The web app is built on Bubble.io (no-code platform)
Below is a screenshot of Bubble’s API connector interface. As you can see the data types allowed are JSON, XML, etc…
I’ve connected multiple other third parties with this API connector, it’s very easy to use. I’ve also set up webhooks to other apps in Bubble so I can provide help there if needed.
I’d be interested to hear your thoughts and please do let me know if there is a plugin out there that does exactly this already which I can just purchase.
“Material take off” is also referred to as “Cut List” for wood construction models. (ie, finished lumber cut to lengths or sheet stock cut to specific widths x lengths.)
Is this what you need or would it be other types of “materials” ? Ie, tile, flooring, shingles, concrete, etc. ?
Normally, web apps run within SketchUp using it’s API’s UI::HtmlDialog class. Such dialogs use Chromium Embedded Framework.
These dialogs can load JavaScript libraries like JQuery, Bootstrap, etc., so probably can also load Bubble.io.
But the API also has Sketchup::Http::Request so an extension could also just do a PUT or POST to an external server.
It all depends upon what kind of local interface you want the SketchUp user to see.
We would need to export a list of all different types of materials like tile, flooring, concrete, shingles, etc to work out the costs per m, m2, m3 etc.
About the local interface - of course the most UX friendly option is what we want. I think in this case, an extension would do the job. I want the user click on the extension’s “Export Material Take Off” button and see the items load onto the web app.
Thanks again for the speedy reply Dan. My next question would be, Are you available to build such extension (I’m flexible with time) and what would be the cost. Feel free to private message me, I’ll be happy to answer any questions and tell you more about the web app.
No problem just giving some general information to help with your decision making.
This describes a toolbar button (and/or menu item) command, I think.
If there are more complex options then a html dialog with checkboxes, radio buttons, text filter inputs, etc. can be used.
The server-side web app can be displayed within a html dialog window within SketchUp, either before or after the data upload.
Myself, likely not for a large extension from scratch. (Arthritis in my hands.) And I’m not familiar with Bubble.io.
There are other coders here who specialize in web data transfer.
There are some extensions that do the wood lumber materials list collection from the model, such as OpenCutList, or CutList Bridge and others. These might be leveraged to create at least some of the “take off” data.
The data could always be reorganized to match what your server app expects. Ie, current extensions often compile CSV data table files. These are easily converted to JSON.
And, by the way, Ruby has easy ability to create JSON data strings. Many extensions use this to save or write local JSON data files. Some extension send and receive JSON data via the HTTP calls mentioned above.
The server-side webapp page can detect that it’s running inside a html dialog by parsing the User Agent string. When this is the case an “Upload from SketchUp” button could appear. The onClick event handler function attached to the button can fire a Ruby callback (from your SketchUp extension) to prepare and send the data to your server.
EDIT: Actually the mere existence of the sketchup JavaScript object would be enough to determine the web page was displayed within SketchUp.
But this is only one way to do it. The data gathering interface could also be all client-side and only display the server-side webapp page after a successful upload.
Whatever seems intuitive to the end users is best.
Not meaning to exclude anyone specific nor in any particular order …
Take a look at some of the projects of these programmers:
According to his profile which is nonsense, Ulysse uses either a cracked version of SketchUp or the free online version that doesn’t support extensions. In neither case is he allowed to do commercial work.
Hi there,
I’m not a Ruby developer but rather a Bubble developer. After reviewing the SketchUp documentation, I’m exploring the possibility of making an API call directly from the Bubble API connector using an HTTP request. My understanding is that the goal is to display/export the list of materials from SketchUp within the Bubble app. Apologies if there was any confusion regarding the context. The idea was to try to help.
