After the big announcement last year of the C API, we haven’t seen anything beyond the original sample extension.
The new features list for LO 2017 includes ‘API improvements’, but is there anyone writing them? If so, how long before we can expect to start seeing some being released?
I imagine that being in C possibly reduces the potential developer base (compared to Ruby for SU)… is this part of the issue, or was the API simply incomplete for 2016, and is now ready-to-go?
Not complaining — just curious that after the rush of excitement on the 2016 announcement, why we’ve essentially heard nothing on the topic. Would be nice to know what’s up.
This is because you can’t write extensions for LayOut like extensions in SketchUp. You can write SketchUp extension which use LayOut or you can write separate programs which uses LayOut but you can’t activate this programs from inside LayOut and they can’t react with a loaded LayOut file. Our Skalp extension make use of the new LayOut api but a user won’t notice this. We have plans to do a lot more with the LayOut api.
We use the LayOut api to do hiddenline calculation for our rear view lines which we show in our SketchUp models.
But we have plans to do some annotation automatically.
Mike, as you guys know your LayOut onions and you’re on with ConDocs updates, any chance you could program in some mouse zoom wheel speed customisation too?? It’s THE biggest issue with current LO. Like swimming through treacle. Needs to be so much faster (and customisable).
As said previously, the LayOut APIs are currently .layoutFILE APIs not application APIs. They do not run in LayOut’s application process. (They run in either a 3rd party application as an importer or exporter, or in SketchUp’s application process to create or edit LayOut files based upon the loaded .skp model.)
So currently, there is no ability to modify how LayOut operates or interacts with users.
We all are hoping this changes in the future, and we get a “live” LayOut API.
Thanks for the clarification Dan. That level of tech detail/understanding is above my pay grade so appreciate the simplification for us non-coder types… Here’s hoping Trimble get that “live” LayOut API added sooner rather than later… In fact, you could argue that this is an urgently required update so those coder types can give LayOut the kick in ass it desperately needs to become more rapid and usable day to day. The kind of kick that SketchUp has enjoyed for the last decade…without the plethora of free and paid for add ons I use SU would have been shelved in our office a long time back.
And Trimble never makes statements about upcoming features prior to a release. So all we can do is keep posting the request and then cross our fingers!
No. I’m not messing with you. Did you read @slbaumgartner’s post immediately above yours? Nothing is different today than when he wrote that 11 months ago.
First off, then this is a hack? I mean if no true API is currently available, this is somehow sucker punching Layout to act as desired? If that is the case, I would love to know how that is done!
Second, that seems pretty advance and I think my goals for Layout scripts, extensions, etc are pretty modest. Here are some I have been wishing I could develop recently:
number a series of annotation tags sequentially
at least simulate components (change one annotation 1 place, it changes everywhere)
draw attribute data from the Sketchup Model as a tag is placed over it (similar to the Label tool) but be able to control the formatting of that tag. For instance a window tag with a hexagonal boundary would sense an attribute called something like “window_tag_number” when placed over a window.
