Layout web page output on Mac OS

[GoogleCodeExporter]

As explained in the installation guide, due to Safari browser, the layout web 
page output doesn't work on Mac OS.

To reproduce the issue, try :
  - Plugins -> Cutlist
  - Select "Web page" for "Layout ouptut"
  - Then 'Run"

My concern is not to find a définitive bugfix on this but more to know if this 
is possible to change somewhere in the source code the browser used to show the 
content (ideally I want to use Google Chrome) as a painless workaround ?

Thank you by advance for your help :)

Regards

Original issue reported on code.google.com by flor...@captier.org on 29 Aug 2012 at 6:26

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I just read in the wiki that the "browser setting" is set by Sketchup... do you 
think there is any way to force the use of an other one ?

Original comment by flor...@captier.org on 29 Aug 2012 at 6:29

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Unfortunately I have no control over that. Sketchup provides a Ruby based 
interface to access the Sketchup functions. One of the things it provides is a 
way of opening windows and interacting with the created user interface. I just 
tell Sketchup (via the interface it provides) to open a window and it opens a 
window using whatever browser it decides to use.

This makes sense, since Sketchup wants to keep it simple for plugin designers 
and not have to worry about many details about the browser or the platform that 
Sketchup is running on. This means the same plugin can run on windows or mac 
without modification.

Sketchup selects MSIE browser for windows based devices and Safari for Mac 
based devices.

The issue is related to the way that I draw the output. Safari does not let me 
display the output because of its security checks.

The long term solution is for the output to be generated using HTML5, which now 
has graphics capability and both Safari and the newer windows OSs (there would 
now be an incompatility with older OSs, however) can then display the output 
without complaint.

Original comment by daltx...@gmail.com on 29 Aug 2012 at 12:57

• Changed state: Accepted

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Oh ok, I suspected this kind of thing.

However, using an API is the better way for them to ensure portability and 
compatibility for plugins...

Then, are you working on the HTML5 output feature or do you need some help on 
this?

For the moment, I'll use SVG output functionnality, but for the long term, 
HTML5 can be a great idea :)

Anyway, thank you for your reply !

Original comment by flor...@captier.org on 29 Aug 2012 at 1:04

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I'm not working on it at the moment. I had just investigated the suitability of 
html5 a short time ago. SVG support was implemented in a matter of days so I am 
guessing that it won't be too difficult. There is a reasonably good 
infrastructure set up in the code to add new formats for outputting the 
results. I'm happy to have some help. I will have more time later this year to 
find a better long term solution for Macs. Svg output was designed to be the 
alternative to insure that Mac users have the same functionality and in many 
ways it is somewhat better, so I never considered the issue too urgent - though 
that's not the reason I am not working on it at the moment.

I'll leave the issue here in the accepted state as an indication that it is 
known, acknowledged and there is a solution which can be implemented.

Original comment by daltx...@gmail.com on 31 Aug 2012 at 2:07