Now That You Know What…

Just as you probably don’t think about the millions of lines of C++ code that make up InDesign every time you choose a menu option or click a button in a palette, you don’t need to think about AppleScript, JavaScript, or VBScript when you run a script. But I’m hoping that once you see what InDesign scripting can do for you, you’ll want to learn how to write your own scripts.

After all, you can wait—possibly forever—for Adobe to add the features you want to InDesign, or you can add them yourself, today, using InDesign scripting.

What else can scripts do?

Scripts can do just about anything that you can do using InDesign’s user interface, and a few things that you can’t do. Don’t think about scripting only in terms of automating tedious, repetitive tasks. Scripting’s good for that, but you can also use it to speed up the smaller tasks that drive you crazy during the course of the day. When you take a common task that involves some number of actions and replace it with a simple double-click or keystroke (all it takes to run a script), you reduce the difficulty and complexity of your work.

Like what? Here’s an example: it can be a chore tracking down the original graphics files you’ve placed in your document. Sure, you can use the Links palette to show you the file path to a graphic, but it’s quite another thing to find that location on disk. Below is a simple JavaScript that opens the folder containing the selected graphic in the Finder (on the Mac OS) or in Windows Explorer. You can copy this out and save it as a text file in your Scripts folder (make sure the file’s name ends with .js), or download it from ZIP FILE.

//SimpleShowLink.js
//Opens the folder containing the selected graphic.
//Assumes that the graphic is selected using the Direct Selection tool.

var myFilePath = app.selection[0].itemLink.filePath;myFilePath.parent.execute();

The above script will fail if you’ve selected the graphic with the Selection tool (rather than the Direct Selection tool). What if you want to select a graphic using the Selection tool, or select a series of graphics? To do that, we need to add a little bit more to the script. Something like this:

//ShowFolder.js
//An InDesign CS JavaScript
////This script opens the folder containing the selected linked file.
////Create a list--we’ll use it to store the qualifying graphics.
var myObjectList = new Array;if(app.documents.length != 0)
{ if(app.selection.length !=0){ for(var myCounter = 0; myCounter < app.selection.length; myCounter ++)
{ switch(app.selection[myCounter].constructor.name)
{ case "Rectangle": case "Oval": case "Polygon": case "GraphicLine": case "Image": case "EPS": case "PDF":
switch(app.selection[myCounter].constructor.name){
//If a frame was selected with the Selection tool, and the frame
 //contains a graphic, then add the graphic to the list.
case "Rectangle": case "Oval": case "Polygon": case "GraphicLine":
if(app.selection[myCounter].contentType == ContentType.graphicType){ myObjectList.push(app.selection[myCounter].graphics.item(0)); } break;
//If a graphic was selected with the Direct Selection tool,
//then add it to the list. default: myObjectList.push(app.selection[myCounter]); break; } } }
if(myObjectList.length != 0){ for(myCounter = 0; myCounter < myObjectList.length; myCounter++)
{ myOpenLinkFolder(myObjectList[myCounter]); } } }}function myOpenLinkFolder(myGraphic)
{ var myLink = myGraphic.itemLink; var myFilePath = myLink.filePath; myFilePath.parent.execute();}

What the example scripts do

Here’s a brief description of each of the example scripts on the InDesign CD:

• AddGuides draws guides around the selected object or objects.

• AddPoints adds additional editable points to the paths of the selected objects.

• CreateCharacterStyle: When you create a character style by example in InDesign, only the properties of the selected text that differ from the default formatting of the text surrounding it are added to the character style. This script creates a complete character style based on the formatting of the selected text.

• CropMarks (below) draws crop marks and/or registration marks around the selected object or objects. The AppleScript version of this script has a minor error—you need to set your measurement units to points before you run it, or you’ll be looking at very large printers marks. (Or, you can download the updated version Adobe has posted; see the URL at the end of this article).

  

• ExportAllStories exports all of the stories in a document to a specified folder as text, RTF, or InDesign tagged text.

• Neon creates a “glow” effect around the selected paths. Something like a blend in Illustrator.

• PathEffects changes the shape of the paths of the selected objects. Includes the ever-popular Illustrator effects “Bloat,” “Twirl,” and “Punk,” and the ability to convert objects to rectangles or ovals (as you can in QuarkXPress).

• RandomFill fills the selected frame or frames with random objects.

• SortParagraphs sorts the paragraphs in the selection alphabetically.

• TabUtilities sets a tab or an indent at the current cursor position, or sets a right tab exactly at the right edge of the text column.

• TextCleanup performs a series of find/change operations—you can define the changes using a simple text file.

• TextCounter counts the characters, words, or lines of text in the selection, in the text frame containing the selection, or in the story containing the selection. It’s about the same as the word count feature of the Info palette, but has a few additional capabilities.

Great features you may have missed

Want to draw crop marks around the selected objects on a page? Or convert an oval to a rectangle? Run a bunch of find/change operations all at once? Select all of the image frames on a page or spread? Sort a list of paragraphs alphabetically? All of these things, and more, can be done using the example scripts that are on your InDesign CS disc. But first, you’ll have to find and install them.

To find the scripts, open the Adobe Technical Info folder on your InDesign CS CD—the example scripts are in the Scripting folder. If your copy of InDesign came as part of the Creative Suite, you’ll find the scripts on the Resources and Extras disc.

If you’re using the Mac OS, you can use either the AppleScript (.as files) or JavaScript (.js) versions of the scripts; if you’re using Windows, you can use either the VBScript (.vbs) or JavaScript versions.

Installing an InDesign script is easy: Put the script file (or an alias/shortcut to the file) in the Scripts folder (which lives inside the Presets folder within your InDesign folder). Create the Scripts folder if it does not already exist.

Once the script is in the folder, it will appear in the Scripts palette inside InDesign—choose Scripts from the Scripting submenu of the Window menu to display the palette.

Scripts palette with scripts installed

To run the script, double-click the script name in the Scripts palette. Most of the scripts have a user interface to make them look like any other software option, which of course is what they are.

Most of the example scripts include a user interface.

You can even assign a keyboard shortcut to a script using the Edit Shortcuts dialog box: Choose Scripts from the Product Area popup menu inside the Edit Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box and you’ll see all the scripts listed.

That’s pretty simple, right? If not, we’re not certain you should be using a computer at all (or driving a car, for that matter).

Harry Potter and the secret of InDesign