Tool get vcb text

Developers Ruby API
1

In my super move tool I was planning to use vcb input to place multiple components. I would have liked to do the action right after the x is entered into vcb without requiring enter to be pressed. I can trigger that using the onKeyDown method, but I can’t get the vcb value from onKeyDown. I found Sketchup.vcb_value, but it is a write only method.

      when 106, 88 # * or x
        #add n number of openings spaced out evenly
        text = Sketchup.vcb_value # <-- this doesn't work!
        num = text.gsub('x', '').gsub('*', '').to_i
        num = 1 if num < 1
        p "#{num} openings added (not implemented)"
        return
      end

Does anyone know of a way to get the vcb value at a given time? If not I’ll file an issue in the tracker.

2

… mainly because there is no such named method. It’s a Sketchup::vcb_value= setter method.

There are noted situations where onKeyDown fails to fire. Have you tried onKeyUp ?
(Sometimes it fires when onKeyDown fails to fire.)

3

The problem not catching the key press events, but keeping track of the vcb input.

4

Check your spelling. :wink:

Wouldn’t it be simpler for the onKey… callbacks to fire before the engine considers shortcut keys ?

5

Oops I got in too much of a hurry!

Unfortunatly I couldn’t get the onebox to change even though the spelling is corrected in the issue tracker.

I’m not really sure how that would make a difference. Currently the events are fires when the modifier is pressed, and then again when another key is pressed. So for example if the user presses Ctrl+C there are two events fired. First Ctrl and then C.

6

Thinking aloud, It’s just a concept idea (for Windows):

class MyToolKeyTest
  def activate
    clear_my_vcb
  end
  
  def clear_my_vcb
    @my_vcb =""
  end
  
  def num_decode(key)
    case key
    when 49, 97
      return "1"
    when 50, 98
      return "2"
    when 51, 99
      return "3"
    when 52, 100
      return "4"
    # etc...do it for e.g. all numeric keys
    else
      return ""
    end
  end

  def enableVCB?
    return true
  end
  
  def onKeyUp(key, repeat, flags, view)
    puts "onKeyUp: key = #{key}"
    # you can use the "recorded" @my_vcb on other method
    @my_vcb += num_decode(key)
    puts "my_vcb = #{@my_vcb}"
    case key
    when 106, 88 # * or x
      num = @my_vcb.to_i
      num = 1 if num < 1
      p "#{num} openings added (not implemented)"
      clear_my_vcb
      # optional : Sketchup.vcb_value = ""
      return
    end
    return true
  end
  
  def onLButtonDoubleClick(flags, x, y, view)
    #just an example to clear my_vcb...
    puts "DoubleClick"
    clear_my_vcb
    puts "my_vcb = #{@my_vcb}"
  end
end
Sketchup.active_model.select_tool(MyToolKeyTest.new)
7

Yes, which seems to work as I had suggested above.

So … it seems I do not really understand what the issue is beyond the standing issues with tool keypresses we’ve previously reported.

8

I had thought of that but decided to stick with the vcb onUserText which requires an additional enter key press. If you took the route you proposed you would also need to handle back space, and cases where the vcb_value was set at other places in the tool.

The additional enter key press required in order to use vcb text is the current complaint. In addition, if the user is entering text in the vcb you might want to disable some of the modifiers in the tool. Currently there is no way to detect if the user is in the process of entering text in vcb.

9 
.
.
    unless  vcb_value_was_set_at_other_place 
       if key == 8
          @my_vcb.chop! 
       else
          @my_vcb += num_decode(key)
       end
       puts "my_vcb = #{@my_vcb}"
    .
.

:wink:
(But sure, you have to do more conditions and think about other cases too…)