Continuing the discussion from Problems using a custom thumbnail in a DC component options box:
Restatement of my problem:
I’m building a flexible component that, through component options, will size itself exactly to commonly available (in the US and other countries still using Imperial measurements) angled metallic stock. Length is up to the user and will be controllable either in Component Options or through the Scale tool.
I’ve successfully built the basic component. It responds well and quickly to component options. Now, I’m trying to include a schematic picture in the Component Options box - so that users will understand the 3 dimensions that can be set (Height, Width and Stock Thickness). The available standard sizes will be selectable through a single, long drop down list of standard sizes.
These are the travails of trying to get that schematic cross section into the Component Options box.
My first try, embedding the “share this” link from the picture as it exists in Google Drive, was a failure - with the details embedded in the topic that spawned this topic
Before I go on, I’ll try to illustrate what I’m trying to do in pictures! I want a smaller version of:
to appear somewhere in here:

I did manage to find a way to embed the actual picture from Google without the annoying garbage of Google’s picture viewer. Here’s the result - and the Component Attributes that generated it:
As you can see, the necessary details of the image aren’t discernible in the thumbnail.
My next idea was to embed html in the description field like this (shown with result):
So far, so good. But when I replace my placeholder text with the actual url as an <img ,> tag, nothing happens!
Huh? I thought you could embed html in the description field!!! So I looked at the applicable SketchUp Help Page. Rats! My recollection that you can include html in the description was inaccurate. You can include a very limited subset of html - and that subset doesn’t include anything that would result in the image I want appearing, at useable size, in my Component Options box!
At this point, I think I’m going to fall back on creating a page on my website with instructions on use of my component, and in the Description, included some bold wording saying “Hey! Click here for instructions! You will probably need them!” – Of course, the actual implementation will have kindler, gentler wording.
But I’m open to any ideas any of you might have! Please chime in!
Related problem - if you want to address this, please “Reply as linked Topic”:
My desire for including a detailed, readable schematic stems from the LONG list of available standard sizes for the cross section. The use of a “select one from the following options” drop down is a nice feature, but when the list gets long, it becomes cumbersome. I see no easy way to avoid that - and I think the detailed picture would help the user. That’s NOT the related problem - but feel free to address my reasoning - again as a linked Topic.
The related problem is: How can I systematically populate the option list in the drop down? I’ve got 9 options in there for testing, but there are at least 60 that seem to be common. And if I don’t do the data entry exactly right, they come out in a confusing order - at least without a LOT of editing.
Is there a way to load the options by copying/pasting from a spreadsheet? Or some other way?
Thanks in advance!
Steve