Development and Updates for the Medeek Wall Plugin

[Medeek]

Here is a first look at the HTML preview screen of the Medeek Estimator Module:



I've only added in the sheathing, cladding and gypsum so there is a lot more things to add yet.

Also noticeably absent is the download link for the Excel (CSV) file.  I will see if I can make that happen tomorrow.

Each wall panel has a lot of data and meta-data associated with them.  I really could use some feedback on what is important in this regard and what is not.

Now that I have the basic framework in place it is really not too big of deal to add additional items (ie. stud counts, lineal feet of trim, etc...)

Separate from the wall panels are beams, I will get to those later.  On the preview screen I will probably provide a tabbed navigation so one can move between walls, windows, doors beams and so on.

The CSV file however will contain all of the information in large sheet.

[saakejam]

Do walls have the feature of being named?  Can you edit the wall name?  Could a custom Callout be assigned to the wall during the
Calculation process placed in the drawing view somewhere ?  Maybe like a watermark? 

[Medeek]

Do walls have the feature of being named?  Can you edit the wall name?  Could a custom Callout be assigned to the wall during the
Calculation process placed in the drawing view somewhere ?  Maybe like a watermark?

Yes, each wall can be named a unique (user driven) name within the wall edit menu.

Give me more details on what you mean by a callout for the wall.

[Medeek]

The CSV piece is now working (HTML and CSV output in Excel):



Rather than just a meaningless number I could use a CSI number for the various building elements.

To get your data involves only four mouse clicks:

1.)  Click the estimating icon (calculator in the Wall Plugin Toolbar).

2.)  Click the Select All button which will then automatically select all of the Medeek Wall Panels, or you can individually select desired wall panels by using the SHIFT key.

3.)  Click the Calculate button, review your data in the HTML preview table if desired.

4.)  Click the CSV/Excel (Green) icon and download the CSV file which can be opened up directly in Excel for further analysis and costing computations.

[Medeek]

Version 0.9.6 - 09.23.2018
- Created the initial framework of the Medeek Estimating Module.
- Added sheathing, cladding and gypsum to the Medeek Estimator.
- Corrected the group description for pressure treated bottom plates.
- Added the ability to export data from the Medeek Estimator in CSV format.

Currently only three items are added to the estimating module, many more items to add.

The saving grace is that I think I've set it up quite cleanly and organized so that adding in new elements should be relatively easy and really not a whole lot of coding.

I'm releasing it now in its prototype stage so that everyone will have a chance to test it out and put it through its paces.  Once I return from the upcoming Basecamp I will hit it hard again and add in a multitude of building elements.

I also need to nail down the proper CSI numbers for the various elements, I'm sure I'll make a few mistakes along the way.

I haven't had much of chance to test it (Estimator) out in a metric template so I apologize if anyone encounters any bugs while using a metric template.  Further testing in a metric template will be the first thing on my list when I return.

[kslifter]

I have been pretty busy so I haven't been keeping up with all the updates over the last few months so maybe this has already been answered or addressed. If so my apologies.

We just started using Condocs 4 and I was going into our Medeek plugins to assign the proper layers so it works with the program. When I went to draw a wall I noticed you could save the presets. I changed the settings to what I wanted for an interior wall. When I saved it the wall did not show up under the drop-down menu. When I went to draw the wall with the assigned presets it drew the wall what was drawn were all the preset options and not what I had chosen. Even when I was able to edit the drawn preset wall it still was not editing correctly.

Am I doing something in the wrong order? Have you not set up the ability to save settings for wall types? I downloaded the latest version before starting to use the program.

Thanks,

-Ian

[Medeek]

Am I doing something in the wrong order? Have you not set up the ability to save settings for wall types? I downloaded the latest version before starting to use the program.

Thanks,

-Ian

I may need to change up the logic a bit to make it a bit more intuitive.  When you first hit the save button it will prompt you for a name to save the preset as, then you enter in a preset name and hit "Save Wall Preset".  You should then see the new preset added in the drop down box, if you do not then there was an error.  Please enable the ruby console and duplicate the error and send me the ruby console output.

When you are loading a preset its is a two step process.  First you select your preset in the dropdown box, then you click "Load", this loads the values into the HTML menu, it does not make them live just yet.  To accept these parameters and draw the wall with them click on the "Update" button, and then begin drawing your wall(s).

I think it may be useful to just eliminate one of these steps and when a user click "Load" it automatically brings the presets parameters into the HTML form and also makes them the active parameters, thereby eliminating the step where you need to click the "Update" button.  Thoughts?

Also note that you do not need to close out the Draw Wall Menu before drawing walls, nor should you, however the option to do that does exist.  The idea is to keep the menu open so you can change up the wall parameters and keep drawing walls without having to continue to click on the draw wall icon.  To quit the Draw Wall tool completely you simply click on the space bar.  To start a new polyline of wall segments or just a single wall panel, click the ESC key.

[kslifter]

How do you do the Ruby Console stuff? I have never done that before

[Medeek]

QUESTION:

The Medeek Estimator gives a net and total area for the sheathing, cladding and gypsum.  Why the two values, what is the difference?

ANSWER:

The total area is the area of the cladding with all openings removed.  The net area subtracts the openings (doors, windows, garage doors etc...) from the total area.

Technically the net area is the actual area of cladding, sheathing or gypsum but in some cases contractors or other bidding a job might want to know the total area so I thought it might be useful to have both values and let the user decide what number is best for their analysis or estimate.

[Medeek]

How do you do the Ruby Console stuff? I have never done that before

Click the Window option in the SU Menu at the top of the SU Window, then click Ruby Console.  A separate console window will then appear and you will see various system messages appear while using SketchUp.  Without this feature it would be virtually impossible to debug plugins etc...

[kslifter]

When I clicked the wall button this Error popped up in the Ruby Console. I changed the settings and saved the wall type and nothing else happened in the ruby console and it didn't save the wall type.

Error: #<TypeError: no implicit conversion of nil into String>
c:/users/pc/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2018/sketchup/plugins/medeek_wall_ext/medeek_draw_wall_tools.rbs:506:in `+'
c:/users/pc/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2018/sketchup/plugins/medeek_wall_ext/medeek_draw_wall_tools.rbs:506:in `block in get_wall_parameters'
SketchUp:1:in `call'

[Medeek]

When I clicked the wall button this Error popped up in the Ruby Console. I changed the settings and saved the wall type and nothing else happened in the ruby console and it didn't save the wall type.

Error: #<TypeError: no implicit conversion of nil into String>
c:/users/pc/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2018/sketchup/plugins/medeek_wall_ext/medeek_draw_wall_tools.rbs:506:in `+'
c:/users/pc/appdata/roaming/sketchup/sketchup 2018/sketchup/plugins/medeek_wall_ext/medeek_draw_wall_tools.rbs:506:in `block in get_wall_parameters'
SketchUp:1:in `call'

What version of the plugin do you have installed?  Also SU version and OS.  Metric template?

[kslifter]

What version of the plugin do you have installed?  Also SU version and OS.  Metric template?

Version - 0.9.6
Sketchup Pro 2018
Windows 10
Standard Template

[Medeek]

The hard part is trying to duplicate the error on my end so I can figure out where the issue is.

When the Wall Draw Tool initially loads it grabs the default values from either the previously utilized values or from the global settings.  One of the advanced wall settings is coming up without a value (per the error on line 506).  The problem is that I have 25 parameters on that particular line that are being sent to the HTML form, which one is it?

When the draw wall menu initially loads after clicking on wall icon does any of the values in the form come up blank (without a value)?

I just deleted and reinstalled version 0.9.6 on my Win7 machine running SU 2018 Pro and I'm not coming up with any errors.  I'm able to save and then load up wall presets.

Did you upgrade from a previous version of the plugin?

[Medeek]

Version 0.9.6b - 09.25.2018
- Fixed a bug in the exterior wainscoting module for metric templates.

If you are using metric units you will want to update to this latest version.  This bug seems to have been generated when I switched to the HTML Draw Wall Menu with version 0.9.1 (8/15/2018).  What I find strange though is that I did not detect it until recently.