From: Wilson Bilkovich <wilsonb@...>
Date: 2005-12-30T08:01:15+09:00
Subject: Re: Directory and file listing

On 12/29/05, adam beazley <abeazley@gbarchitects.com> wrote:
> Ok i think you lost me im still very new to ruby and programming in
> general. I have some experience with C lang but not extensive. So as of
> now this is where I am at with this program.
>
> this first snippet is working:
>
> <snip>
>
>         #at this point the script is working
>         #the current directory is set to what the user imput!
>         #also the "images" array has all of the .jpg files inside it.
> #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>     Here is the correct script for adding a material, then naming it and
> then adding a texture to it:
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> def addMaterial
>         model = Sketchup.active_model
>         materials = model.materials
>         # Adds a material to the "in-use" material pallet.
>         m = materials.add "Material Name"
>         begin
>         # Returns nil if not successful, path if successful. Should
> return a texture object
>                 m.texture="c:\\Program Files\\@Last Software\\SketchUp
> 4\\Materials\\Carpet.jpg"
>         rescue
>                 UI.messagebox $!.message
>         end
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> So how can I automate this script to loop until every jpg in the
> directory has been added to the "in-use" material pallet and named the
> same as its texture file.
>

addMaterial needs to take a parameter, so it can be used without
knowing what context it's in.  Also.. I'm not sure why you have
begin/rescue/end in there.  How could assigning a string to
"m.texture" ever fail?  If your texture=(texture_name) method in
'materials' might raise an exception, you might want to consider
handling it there, and having it return nil if no texture could be
created.
Anyway..

def addMaterial(file_path)
  model = Sketchup.active_model
  materials = model.materials
  material_name = File.basename(file_path) # returns Carpet.jpg from
c:/program files/etc/Carpet.jpg
  # Adds a material to the "in-use" material pallet.
  m = materials.add material_name # e.g. Carpet.jpg
  begin
    # Returns nil if not successful, path if successful. Should return
a texture object
    m.texture = file_path
  rescue
    UI.messagebox $!.message
  end
end

Now you can do:
images.each do |image_file|
  addMaterial(image_file)
end

The above is a 'block', and the "image_file" variable is only
available between the 'do' and 'end' keywords.
In your code, you were trying to access it from elsewhere, which isn't correct.
Your code comment:
# Returns nil if not successful, path if successful. Should return a
texture object
..doesn't make too much sense to me.  You're setting the path, so why
does it get returned?
Also, if "UI.messagebox" has a return value, sometimes your
addMaterial method won't behave as you expect.  I think you should
revisit the use of begin/rescue/end in this case.

Further, you should put some thought into where addMaterial (in Ruby
style, add_material) should live.
If you put it in the same class as 'materials', you can avoid the
first few lines, and skip straight to 'materials.add'

Good luck,
--Wilson.