Appeal for API/SDK Support in Chief

[David J. Potter]

Of course, none of the above is believable until something is demo’ed.

I understand, no tools, no product, no reality.

DJP

[gawdzira]

I used to work in digital animation and used the program Maya which has a script editor that records every command and click. This is what the open recorder would give us. Therefore, the first thing I would do it start to make some tools:

1. Do you want to change a line to a dashed line by selecting it and hitting a hot key or toolbar button - done in one click. First you do it as you are doing it now. A. Select the line. B. open the dbx C. grab the Line Style tab D. hit the drop down item and scroll to the dashed line E. close out the dbx

Once these action are completed I grab the code that was spit out. Copy that into a text editor and make some tweaks to replace "polyline 1174" with "selected polyline". The rest of the actions are the same and so this code snippet will make this action happen on whatever polyline I have selected.

Now here is where the non code monkeys start to raise and eyebrow. A new forum category pops up called Ruby Dump. All the code monkeys want to outdo each other and post awesome tools or even make someone else s tool work better, faster and have a lemony fresh scent. So someone grabs my code and writes a small gui for it so that there are 4 buttons for the 4 most commonly used line styles. Then they post that to the Ruby Dump. A joyful noise is heard all across cyberspace as unicorns fly over Idaho and tinkle rainbow dust above the fruited plain...

[Alaskan Son]

...and Chief makes no money on any of it and sells less upgrades because who needs em when Mr. X creates a new "tool". May not be the best business decision for Chief. They're simply not in that market. And I don't know how you guys figure you're gonna get it all for free and it will somehow have no negative impact on the program. All the programs out there with "industry standard BIM" are expensive, hard to learn, and slower to draw with (and don't mention Sketchup because its really not even close to the same kind of design program we're talking about). What makes you think that won't happen to Chief?? We can't have the best of everything, it just doesn't work that way. Chief is a specialized tool for a specific purpose. Quickly and efficiently drawings homes with an easy to use program. It competes in small portion of the market. You're asking them to compete with Revit and Archicad. Probably not going to happen and it really shouldn't. They likely wouldn't win and would lose the market they do have to Softplan. It seems like a very risky business move so I wouldn't blame them for ignoring your ongoing requests.

[Sledge]

Yep slap it down and kill it, don't dare let it raise it's ugly head.

I thought luddites had all but disappeared.

[gteacher]

Michael:

Sketchup, AutoDesk, AutoDesSys,TurboCad, Apple, Samsung, PanaSonic, Microsoft, Google, Ubuntu, B&N, Amazon and too many phone/tablet apps to mention.

Got tired after page 19 on Google - Good thing this isn't a trend.

[Glenn Woodward]

Chief makes lots of money out of it because it allows users and third party developers to develop and market specialised and niche tools that Chief would never include.
It would allow Chief to develop the core program without spending valuable recources on tools that are only needed by a minority of users.
Chief sales rise because there are potential users who see that they can use or develop tools they need and ones that aren't available elsewhere.

[gteacher]

Spot on-- let me add.

Too many years ago when I first started to work at a large discount chain. I sold truckload bags of potting soil at 77 cents a bag. The store lost 10 cents on each bag and sold one truckload every week. When I asked about why we were losing money on this item, The manager's response was: " Just think about where they are buying those bags"

[lbuttery]

A joyful noise is heard all across cyberspace as unicorns fly over Idaho and tinkle rainbow dust above the fruited plain...

Alan:

ROFLMAO

Lew

[lbuttery]

Michael:

Really !!! ???

suppose CA had never introduced the ability to allow users to make or edit or import third party symbols

we lowely users would then be relegated to only using symbols provided by CA

Chief is so much more POWERFUL because we the users can create and share

It is the equivalent of CA hiring hundreds (maybe thousands) of developers

Please join the 21st century....

Lew

[David J. Potter]

I thought luddites had all but disappeared.

The term "Luddite" has passed into History but Human emotion, reaction and behavior has not changed much for countless thousands of years.

DJP

[Joe Carrick]

FWIW,

I don't think Ruby is the answer. A true API/SDK would allow "Add-On" functionality at the very least to create parametric 3D symbols along with their 2D Blocks (Tools similar to Chief's Cabinets, Doors, Windows, Stairs, etc.) This would allow 3rd Party Programmers to create similar tools or perhaps even better tools.

I could foresee Spiral Stairs, Storefront Window Walls, Curtain Walls, Multifold Doors, etc.

There is a lot of things that CA simply doesn't have the time to do.

[lbuttery]

Joe:

We need both Ruby and API/SDK

Lew

[gteacher]

Joe:

Please read Glenn’s comments and my response – same question. Sketchup was wildly successful, much so, then more powerful SDKs that require compilation – Why?

Again Ruby and an API/SDK ARE mutually exclusive. You’re looking at this from an experienced programmer’s outlook. Perhaps it would be just as easy for an experience programmer to compile and run from something like VS. But that would only “lock out” thousands of amateur users who would be too intimidated to attempt any use. Good for the programmer, bad for Chief. Chief is a designer’s tool not a programmer’s tool.

The Quality and power of the API/SDK has nothing to do with Ruby, which is used only to felicitate usage not limit it. All of the things you mentioned require “hooks “to accomplish within a compiled language. AND which language, what platform? Ruby already has interfaces and hooks to accommodate links between Plug-ins and is platform independent.

Secondly, the power of Ruby to search, sort, and modify strings is “unquestioned” now. That just makes the job of a SDK easier if those functions are done the interface language (Ruby). This is the function of the interface (Ruby), to enhance the SDK, not make it more difficult to use.

[Alaskan Son]

Gerry,

Yes Sketchup was wildly successful, but its been sort of a side gig for the companies that have owned it. They can afford to do what they were doing. Chief is..well Chief and that's it. Its all they do. I don't think its a coincidence that the only other product truly competitive with Chief (Softplan) doesn't have industry standard BIM or the programming capabilities you speak of either. The other companies you mentioned aren't anywhere near the same types of programs either, they're also much larger companies that offer A LOT more than just one basic platform.

I'm not saying it wouldn't be nice. I just think there's something you guys are missing and that your expectations might be a little unrealistic.

[Alaskan Son]

Yep slap it down and kill it, don't dare let it raise it's ugly head.

I thought luddites had all but disappeared.

Not agreeing with their methods, but what they stood for?? Maybe. A lot of the problems we have as a society can be traced to overproduction, over consumption, the fact most people don't know what they're doing or don't care about it, and the lack of any real quality or substance to almost anything out there.