Class: Sketchup::Layer

Inherits:

Entity

• Object
• Entity
• Sketchup::Layer

Includes:

Comparable

Overview

Note:

As of SketchUp 2020 “Layers” were renamed to “Tags” in the UI. The API retains the use of “Layer” for compatibility and is synonymous with “Tag”.

The Layer class contains methods modifying and extracting information for a layer.

By default, a SketchUp model has one layer, Layer 0 (Named “Untagged” in the UI since SketchUp 2020), which is the base layer. You can't delete or rename Layer 0. Unlike certain other CAD software packages, entities associated with different layers in SketchUp still intersect with each other. (If you want collections of entities to not intersect, place them in Groups instead.)

Layers are commonly used to organize your model and control the visibility of related groups and components. For example, you could make all of your wall and roof entities different groups, associate layers with those groups, and then hide those layers so as to display just the floor plan in the model.

Examples:

model = Sketchup.active_model
layers = model.layers
new_layer = layers.add('Doors')

Version:

• SketchUp 6.0

Instance Method Summary

• #<=>(layer2) ⇒ Integer

  The #<=> method is used to compare two layers based on their names.

• #==(other) ⇒ Object

  The #== method is used to determine if two layers are the same.

• #color ⇒ Sketchup::Color

  The #color method is used to retrieve the color of the layer.

• #color=(color) ⇒ Object

  The #color= method is used to set the name of a layer.

• #display_name ⇒ String

  The #display_name method is used to retrieve the display name of the layer.

• #folder ⇒ Sketchup::LayerFolder^?

  The #folder method is used to return the parent layer folder of a layer.

• #folder=(parent) ⇒ Object

  The #folder= method is used to set the parent layer folder of a layer.

• #line_style ⇒ Sketchup::LineStyle^?

  The #line_style method retrieves the line style on this layer.

• #line_style=(line_style) ⇒ Sketchup::Layer

  The #line_style= method lets you set a specific line style to a layer.

• #name ⇒ String

  The #name method is used to retrieve the name of the layer.

• #name=(name) ⇒ Object

  The #name= method is used to set the name of a layer.

• #page_behavior ⇒ Integer

  The #page_behavior method is used to retrieve the visibility behavior of the layer for new pages and existing pages.

• #page_behavior=(page_behavior) ⇒ Object

  The #page_behavior= method is used to control the layer's visibility behavior on existing and new pages.

• #visible=(visible) ⇒ Object

  The #visible= method is used to set if the layer is visible.

• #visible? ⇒ Boolean

  The #visible? method is used to determine if the layer is visible.

Methods inherited from Entity

#add_observer, #attribute_dictionaries, #attribute_dictionary, #delete_attribute, #deleted?, #entityID, #get_attribute, #inspect, #model, #parent, #persistent_id, #remove_observer, #set_attribute, #to_s, #typename, #valid?

Instance Method Details

#<=>(layer2) ⇒ Integer

The #<=> method is used to compare two layers based on their names. You could use this for sorting if you're building a list of layer names.

Examples:

model = Sketchup.active_model
layers = model.layers
new_layer = layers.add "test layer"
layer1 = layers[0]
layer2 = layers[1]
status = layer1 <=> layer2

Returns -1 if layer1 is less than layer2. 1 if layer2 is less than layer1. 0 if layer1 and layer2 are equal.

Parameters:

• layer2 (Sketchup::Layer)

Returns:

• (Integer) —

  -1 if layer1 is less than layer2. 1 if layer2 is less than layer1. 0 if layer1 and layer2 are equal.

Version:

• SketchUp 6.0

#==(other) ⇒ Object

The #== method is used to determine if two layers are the same.

Examples:

model = Sketchup.active_model
layers = model.layers
layer1 = layers.add("Test layer 1")
layer2 = layers.add("Test layer 2")
equal = layer1 == layer2

Parameters:

• other (Object)

Version:

• SketchUp 6.0

#color ⇒ Sketchup::Color

The #color method is used to retrieve the color of the layer.

Examples:

model = Sketchup.active_model
layers = model.layers
new_layer = layers.add('Test layer')
color = new_layer.color

Returns:

• (Sketchup::Color)

Version:

• SketchUp 2014

#color=(color) ⇒ Object

The #color= method is used to set the name of a layer.

Examples:

model = Sketchup.active_model
layers = model.layers
new_layer = layers.add('Test layer')
new_layer.color = Sketchup::Color.new(192, 0, 0)

Parameters:

• color (Sketchup::Color)

Version:

• SketchUp 2014

#display_name ⇒ String

The #display_name method is used to retrieve the display name of the layer.

Examples:

model = Sketchup.active_model
layers = model.layers
new_layer = layers.add ("test layer")
name = new_layer.display_name

Returns:

• (String)

See Also:

• #name

Version:

• SketchUp 2020.0

#folder ⇒ Sketchup::LayerFolder^?

The #folder method is used to return the parent layer folder of a layer.

Examples:

model = Sketchup.active_model
layers = model.layers
folder1 = layers.add('Folder1')
parent_folder = folder1.folder # Returns: nil

folder2 = folder1.add('Folder2')
parent_folder = folder2.folder # Returns: folder1

Returns:

• (Sketchup::LayerFolder, nil) —

  nil if the folder is a direct child to the layer manager.

Version:

• SketchUp 2021.0

#folder=(parent) ⇒ Object

The #folder= method is used to set the parent layer folder of a layer.

This will trigger onParentFolderChanged in normal cases and onLayerChanged during undo/redo.

Examples:

model = Sketchup.active_model
layers = model.layers
folder = layers.add_folder('Hello')
layer = layers.add_layer('World')
layer.folder = folder

Parameters:

• parent (Sketchup::LayerFolder, nil) —

  nil will make the layer a direct child to the layer manager.

Version:

• SketchUp 2021.0

#line_style ⇒ Sketchup::LineStyle^?

The #line_style method retrieves the line style on this layer.

Examples:

line_style = Sketchup.active_model.layers[0].line_style

Returns:

• (Sketchup::LineStyle, nil) —

  The line style retrieved.

Version:

• SketchUp 2019

#line_style=(line_style) ⇒ Sketchup::Layer

The #line_style= method lets you set a specific line style to a layer

Examples:

line_style = Sketchup.active_model.line_styles["Dot"]
Sketchup.active_model.layers[0].line_style = line_style

Parameters:

• line_style (Sketchup::LineStyle, nil) —

  The line style to set on this layer.

Returns:

• (Sketchup::Layer) —

  The layer that the line style was applied on.

Version:

• SketchUp 2019

#name ⇒ String

The #name method is used to retrieve the name of the layer.

Examples:

model = Sketchup.active_model
layers = model.layers
new_layer = layers.add "test layer"
name = new_layer.name

Returns:

• (String)

See Also:

• #display_name

Version:

• SketchUp 6.0

#name=(name) ⇒ Object

The #name= method is used to set the name of a layer.

Examples:

model = Sketchup.active_model
layers = model.layers
new_layer = layers.add "test layer"
name = new_layer.name = "new test layer"

Parameters:

• name (String)

Version:

• SketchUp 6.0

#page_behavior ⇒ Integer

The #page_behavior method is used to retrieve the visibility behavior of the layer for new pages and existing pages. For example, you may want your layer to be visible or hidden by default in any new pages (aka Scenes) created by the user.

A page keeps a list of layers that do not have their default behavior. If a layer is not in that list, then it is set to its default visibility determined by one of these values:

The behaviour is composed of a combination of these flags:

Default visibility

These flags are used to set the value of #page_behavior. A page keeps a list of layers that do not have their default behavior. If a layer is not in that list, then it is set to its default visibility which is determined by one of these flags.

• LAYER_VISIBLE_BY_DEFAULT: 0x0000

• LAYER_HIDDEN_BY_DEFAULT: 0x0001

Visibility on new pages

You can also set this addition flag that controls the visibility of a layer on newly created pages.

• LAYER_USES_DEFAULT_VISIBILITY_ON_NEW_PAGES: 0x0000

• LAYER_IS_VISIBLE_ON_NEW_PAGES: 0x0010

• LAYER_IS_HIDDEN_ON_NEW_PAGES: 0x0020

The default visibility for a layer is set by either LAYER_VISIBLE_BY_DEFAULT or LAYER_HIDDEN_BY_DEFAULT. This is what will be used when a page does not contain the visibility state of a layer.

The remaining flags control the visibility of the layer for new pages.

Examples:

model = Sketchup.active_model
layers = model.layers
layer = layers.add('Test Layer')
hidden_by_default = (layer.page_behavior & LAYER_HIDDEN_BY_DEFAULT) ==
                    LAYER_HIDDEN_BY_DEFAULT

Returns:

• (Integer) —

  an integer representing the current behavior of the layer.

Version:

• SketchUp 6.0

#page_behavior=(page_behavior) ⇒ Object

The #page_behavior= method is used to control the layer's visibility behavior on existing and new pages.

When you Update a page (as opposed to creating a new page) the current visibility of the layer is used.

The behavior is composed of a combination of these flags:

Default visibility

These flags are used to set the value of #page_behavior. A page keeps a list of layers that do not have their default behavior. If a layer is not in that list, then it is set to its default visibility which is determined by one of these flags.

• LAYER_VISIBLE_BY_DEFAULT: 0x0000

• LAYER_HIDDEN_BY_DEFAULT: 0x0001

Visibility on new pages

You can also set this addition flag that controls the visibility of a layer on newly created pages.

• LAYER_USES_DEFAULT_VISIBILITY_ON_NEW_PAGES: 0x0000

• LAYER_IS_VISIBLE_ON_NEW_PAGES: 0x0010

• LAYER_IS_HIDDEN_ON_NEW_PAGES: 0x0020

Examples:

layers = Sketchup.active_model.layers
layer = layers.add('Test Layer')
behavior = LAYER_HIDDEN_BY_DEFAULT | LAYER_IS_HIDDEN_ON_NEW_PAGES
layer.page_behavior = behavior

Parameters:

• page_behavior (Integer)

Version:

• SketchUp 6.0

Known Bugs:

• Prior to SketchUp 2014 the LAYER_HIDDEN_BY_DEFAULT flag would trigger the validation check in SketchUp that would reset the #page_behavior of the layer.

#visible=(visible) ⇒ Object

The #visible= method is used to set if the layer is visible.

Examples:

model = Sketchup.active_model
layers = model.layers
layer = layers.add('Hello World')
layer.visible = false

Parameters:

• visible (Boolean)

Version:

• SketchUp 6.0

#visible? ⇒ Boolean

The #visible? method is used to determine if the layer is visible.

Examples:

model = Sketchup.active_model
layers = model.layers
layer = layers.add('Hello World')
layer.visible? # Returns: true

Returns:

• (Boolean)

Version:

• SketchUp 6.0