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Author Topic: Installing new extension to inkscape  (Read 2971 times)

November 22, 2018, 07:27:08 AM
Read 2971 times

k2qwrki

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I am trying to install the "living hinge" extension and the "tabbed box" extension into Inkscape. Following the instructions I download>expand> copy..in Inkscape I go to edit>preferences >system >user extensions....At this point I am unable to paste the extension and nothing happens
Any suggestions gladly attempted.  I am also willing to work with Team Viewer or cell phone if someone is willing to walk me through the steps
Thanx, Craig

November 22, 2018, 03:12:51 PM
Reply #1

Moini

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November 22, 2018, 06:57:04 PM
Reply #2

k2qwrki

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I found the  extensions in Inkscape.org>Download>Addons>Living Hinge Creator (page 4/5).

Uh.  Too be honest I am not sure what some of that means or how to do it.. File Manager?


November 22, 2018, 09:02:20 PM
Reply #3

brynn

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Hi k2qwrki!

Here are some instructions which I wrote for newbies, below.  If you're using Windows, the file manager is Windows Explorer.

  • Look at the file path indicated here:  Inkscape > Edit menu > Preferences > System > User Extensions.  It will start with C:\Users\.....
  • Using your file manager, browse to that location. 
    If you don't see an "extensions" folder in the "inkscape" folder, you can make one.  With the "inkscape" folder highlighted, right-click in a blank area of the right section of Windows Explorer, then New > Folder.  Then just type "extensions", then press Enter key.  Now double-click on the new folder, to open it.
  • Paste the file which you downloaded (likely a ZIP file).
  • As you should always do for any file which you download from the internet, scan it for malware.
  • Unpack or extract or unzip (people use a lot of different words for this) (well, different operating systems use different words  :@@: )
  • Look through the extracted files and locate all INX and PY files.  They will have .inx or .py on the end of the file name.  There may be only one of each.  Or sometimes there might be many.
  • If they are not already directly in the folder given in step #1 above, copy them, and paste them in.  (They must be directly in that folder, and not in a folder in that folder.)

I'll be glad to make some screenshots for you, if it would help.  Just let me know!
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November 23, 2018, 08:15:00 PM
Reply #4

k2qwrki

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Oh heck, I hate to admit this.  I need the screen shots please although I did make some progress on how to find Internet Explorer now called File Explorer.
Thank you.  Craig

November 24, 2018, 06:46:58 PM
Reply #5

brynn

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Oh, I'm still on Windows 7.  I didn't realize MS has changed Windows Explorer to File Explorer.  A prime example of how programmers just LOVE to fix things that aren't broken!

If you're not on Windows 7, my screenshot won't look exactly like your computer.  But it should be close enough.  It will take me a few minutes, so I'll be right back.
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November 24, 2018, 08:30:21 PM
Reply #6

brynn

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Ok, here it is with screenshots and a lot more details.  Click on it to make it bigger.

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November 29, 2018, 12:28:24 PM
Reply #7

k2qwrki

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Well, that worked - Sort of.  I was able to follow the pictures and learn more about Microsoft

However, the path listed in Inkspace.org on my computer is C:\Users\k2qwr\AppData\Roaming\Inkscape\extension is not the path I have to follow to get to Inkscape which is C:\Users\k2qwr\k2qwrki\AppData\Roaming\Inkscape\extensions - note the additional step

I was able to copy the .py and .inx files into the correct file(I think) and restarted the computer but still no joy in Muddville since the extension still does not show up in Inkscape.

Anyway thanx for your patience and next step suggestions gladly accepted

November 29, 2018, 08:40:45 PM
Reply #8

brynn

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What makes you think the file path which Inkscape indicates is not the right place?  I don't mean that to sound rude.  I'm really curious.

Because the path which Inkscape indicates, is where Inkscape is looking for the files.

Hhmm....did you install Inkscape for only one user on the computer?  Or at least you intended to?
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November 30, 2018, 02:58:37 PM
Reply #9

k2qwrki

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Personally I think the Inkscape route should be/would be the correct path but I have to add the extra step to get to the next step "AppData".  I have to assume the extra k2qwr file was generated when I first got the computer.  Is there a way to eliminate that file?  Or add that step to the Inkscape program for my computer only?

I am the only user of this computer which I got to use with learning Inkscape and other programs and to send the drawings to a machine for printing/cutting/etc

November 30, 2018, 06:15:39 PM
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k2qwrki

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Also, as you may have guessed I am not as computer literate as I need to be  :-S

December 01, 2018, 08:17:47 PM
Reply #11

brynn

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Personally I think the Inkscape route should be/would be the correct path but I have to add the extra step to get to the next step "AppData".

Hhmm.....  There seems to be something strange happening with your file structure.  Can you show me a screenshot of

Computer > OS (C drive) > Users > k2qwr

It will be something like the screenshot below (fs3.png), except that instead of "brynn" yours will be "k2qwr".  Be sure that you've clicked on k2qwr, so that I can see the list of files on the right side of the window.  Do you know how to make screenshots?  I wrote a tutorial for newbies here:  https://forum.inkscapecommunity.com/index.php?action=articles;sa=view;article=12

If you don't want to go to that much trouble, we can skip over that to the next thing I have in mind.  I'm just so curious about your file structure. 

I don't know why AppData would be hidden for k2qwr and not k2qwrki.  And I also don't know why k2qwrki has an AppData folder at all.  But here's a way to find it, even though it might be hidden.

Go back to Inkscape Preferences > System > User extensions.  (Remember there is a screenshot in the tutorial I posted above.)  This time, highlight and copy that file path (instead of just remembering it).

Now go to Windows Explorer or File Explorer, or whatever it's called for you.  In my attached screenshot , I put a red rectangle around something that looks like a bar, at the top.  But if you put your mouse there and click, it changes into a field where you can type or paste things.

So paste the copied  file path in there, and then press Enter.

That should be opening the right folder for you, even though it's hidden.  There you can paste in the INX and PY files, on the right side of the window.

Does that work?

This process which you just did allows you to find hidden files, without unhiding them.  But it's also possible to unhide them, so you can find them in the normal way.  I can tell you how to do that, if  you like.
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December 03, 2018, 07:36:00 AM
Reply #12

k2qwrki

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 :ur:
Well, I managed to paste the path as you said and found a file empty message
Then I managed to unhide the hidden files and then put the hinge extension and inx and py files where they should have been and SCORE

Now, how do I get rid of the k2qwrki file and its contents and how do I rename the k2qwr file.  Assuming you have time

Thank you very much for your help and hosting the Inkscape Community

Craig

December 03, 2018, 10:05:47 AM
Reply #13

k2qwrki

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Down loaded several extensions once I cracked the system. 

However,
1. The Ratchet gear does not work and I havent found a tutorial on it yet
2.  The Quick Joint extension ended up in the Modify Patch files of extensions and does not work - tutorial?
3.  The Polar Axes extension ended up in fsmMLK, what ever that is

Thanx again

December 03, 2018, 10:53:16 AM
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Moini

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Where did you download these from? Have you contacted their authors?

December 03, 2018, 11:04:58 AM
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brynn

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Now, how do I get rid of the k2qwrki file and its contents and how do I rename the k2qwr file.

I'm not sure if you want to get rid of k2qwrki folder.  Without knowing more about your system, I would wonder if you might have other programs using it.

(Geez, I just had a huge brainstorm.  Suddenly it occurs to me -- why don't we have a simple button in Inkscape, which can open the files and locate the PY and INK files, and paste them into the proper folder.  Surely a relatively simple script could do all this for us??  I might have to make a feature request!)  (I mean, if I can think of it, how hard could it be?  Haha)

And what led me to have that brainstorm, is that I was just about to say that other programs automatically install things into AppData, without the user necessarily knowing it.  So it's possible other programs are using it, and it would affect those programs if you deleted the k2qwrki folder.  Even changing the name might affect other programs, if they are using it.

So we've seen for sure that k2qwr is a user on your computer.  At least that's how it seems to me, based on the fact the extension is working.  If that's the case, you should be able to change that name.

For k2qwrki, I'm still not sure.  Are you sure that k2qwrki is a folder inside k2qwr ?  Or are there 2 users, so that k2qwr and k2qwrki are side by side (so to speak).  If I could see the screenshot I asked about in my last message, I might be able to say with more certainty.


For the other extensions, could you give me links to those, to make sure I look at the right ones?

Where they end up in the menu is up to the author.  If one of them ended up in the Modify Path submenu, it's because that's the general category where it belongs.  Apparently whatever it does is to modify an existing path.  For the one in a submenu called fsmMLK, I think that's the username of the author.  Sometimes the extension authors start out making extensions, for their own personal use, and they didn't intend on sharing them.  Maybe they put them in their own submenu, because that was convenient for them?  And later when they decided to share them, they forgot to change the menu to something more appropriate.

I think I know how to change the menu, so I could tell you how.  But just so you know, you'd have to start calling yourself a "hacker" after that  :wink1:  Just kidding.  But it does mean changing a tiny bit of code.

1 - Tell me more about what "does not work" means.  Do you mean you click on it, but there's no dialog coming up?  Or you changed some settings, clicked Ok or Apply or whatever it is, and nothing happens?  Or something happens but it's not what you expected?  I don't know about a tutorial, until I know exactly which extension you installed.  But if there is one, it will most likely be at the site or page where you downloaded it.

2 - Same as 1.
3 - Already answered.
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December 03, 2018, 07:21:12 PM
Reply #16

k2qwrki

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Brain storm, I love brain storms.  nothing would please me more than to have things simpler especially since i now know I might have a bunch of hidden files and duplicates cluttering the drive

Screen shots attached I hope

The links are harder to do since they seem to be in HTML and wont attach.  I found them in Inkscape.org>downloads>addons  You should be able to find them easy

Thanx



December 03, 2018, 07:31:32 PM
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k2qwrki

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Still more that I forgot

QuickJoint gives the impression of generating taps and slots but nothing appears on the selected object

Ratchet program briefly flashes (<1 second) but produces no drawings

Polar Axes is somewhere in the fsm file but the py and inx are not to be found or cannot be opened or are hidden or....

December 03, 2018, 11:01:44 PM
Reply #18

brynn

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Oh, you don't attach links.  You just copy and paste into the message text.  Here's how:

1 - Place the mouse over the blue underlined text.
2 - Right-click, which will display what's called a context menu.
3 - Choose Copy Link Location.  The exact words might have changed for Windows 10, so possibly it might be "Copy Link" or "Copy URL" or something like that.  This copies the URL (or address) onto the clipboard (which you can't actually see - I guess it's a virtual clipboard).
4 - Put the cursor into the message editor.
5 - Click once, and then Paste.  You can use right-click again, then choose Paste.  Or use the key shortcut Ctrl  v   

Whatever you paste will usually start with https://  Not always, but usually.  And it will usually end with .com or .org or .net, etc.  Sometimes the links can be 2 or 3 lines long.  But usually I'd say they average 1 to 1.5 inches in length.

We really do need the links, because there are approx 300 external extensions, and often there are 2 or 3 or even more which do very similar things.  For example, there must be 8 or 10 boxmaker extensions.  So we need to be sure to download the same one you're using, or we might be giving you the wrong instructions.

Oh my goodness, that file manager in Windows 10 is very different indeed!  I knew there was a good reason I returned my new Windows 10 machine!  And, the file structure is exactly like you described.  I thought you must have been just misreading what you saw, but it's exactly what you described.  Unfortunately, I don't know what it means.

Is there any chance that you had copied the k2qwr folder, and pasted it inside k2qwr, and renamed it k2qwrki?  I guess probably not, but that's the only way I can think that might have happened.  Unless there's some new kind of feature in Windows 10 that I'm just not aware of.

But I guess the bottom line is that I don't feel comfortable saying that it's ok to delete k2qwrki.  However it happened, it appears to be a user folder which is inside another user folder.  I'm just not sure enough what it means.

However, you should be able to rename k2qwr.  And I don't see why you can't name it k2qwrki....except that it could become confusing at some point.  Hhmm, but how to change that name.....  Do you have a control panel in Windows 10?  If so, go to Start menu > Control Panel > User Accounts.  There should be an option there to choose your username and change it.

The hidden files and folders are not duplicates, and not clutter, but have some purpose.  I'm just not sure what it means or what the purpose is, of a user folder inside another user folder.  And by the way, Windows has TONS of hidden files, some which even some Windows experts can't find.  They are system files which MS does not want its users to have access to (mostly for safety reasons, but probably also MS (Microsoft) just being MS  :@@:).

So I guess I can't help any further with your files.  But once we have the links for those extensions, we can help you learn how they work.
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July 21, 2019, 05:26:17 AM
Reply #19

Feliciah

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Hi k2qwrki!

Here are some instructions which I wrote for newbies, below.  If you're using Windows, the file manager is Windows Explorer.

  • Look at the file path indicated here:  Inkscape > Edit menu > Preferences > System > User Extensions.  It will start with C:\Users\.....
  • Using your file manager, browse to that location. 
    If you don't see an "extensions" folder in the "inkscape" folder, you can make one.  With the "inkscape" folder highlighted, right-click in a blank area of the right section of Windows Explorer, then New > Folder.  Then just type "extensions", then press Enter key.  Now double-click on the new folder, to open it.
  • Paste the file which you downloaded (likely a ZIP file).
  • As you should always do for any file which you download from the internet, scan it for malware.
  • Unpack or extract or unzip (people use a lot of different words for this) (well, different operating systems use different words  :@@: )
  • Look through the extracted files and locate all INX and PY files.  They will have .inx or .py on the end of the file name.  There may be only one of each.  Or sometimes there might be many.
  • If they are not already directly in the folder given in step #1 above, copy them, and paste them in.  (They must be directly in that folder, and not in a folder in that folder.)

I'll be glad to make some screenshots for you, if it would help.  Just let me know!
this t

Hello,

I am a new memeber to the community and fairly new when it comes to using inkscape. I was having trouble installing an extension for embroidery. I found this to be very helpful and simpole instructions and was able to install it in no time at all. Thank you so much.

Feliciah
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