Google Apps Hacks

294 GOOGLE APPS HACKS

HaCK 119:

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Extend the native SketchUp functionality using Ruby scripts.

Google SketchUp offers an API (Application Programming Interface) in the Ruby programming

language. This way, you can add your own menus to SketchUp, or download third-party plug-ins to

extend the functionality of SketchUp.

To give this a try, launch SketchUp and pick Window→Ruby Console from the menu. Many

programming introductions start out with showing you how to display the words “Hello world!”,

so here’s how to do it, SketchUp style. Enter the following in the Ruby console command line and

press Enter/Return:

UI.messagebox("Hello world!")

This displays a dialog that displays “Hello world!”. Click OK to dismiss the dialog.

To get started with more useful examples, you can delve into the Ruby language (the help le with

more pointers can be found in the menu at Help→Ruby Help)—or just download existing scripts. You

will nd a couple of free scripts at the following URLs:

Ruby Library Depot: http://www.crai.archi.fr/RubyLibraryDepot/Ruby/em_arc_page.htm

Smustard (“The Companion to SketchUp”): http://smustard.com/scripts/

For instance, the rst site’s Ruby script balustrade.rb (by Tomasz Marek) creates a balustrade with

custom dimensions. Download the script and drop it into the folder C:\Program Files\Google\Google

SketchUp 6\Plugins (on Windows) or /Library/Application ...