Macromedia InDesign - CS4 User Guide

ADOBE® INDESIGN® CS4

ADOBE INDESIGN CS4

SCRIPTING GUIDE: JAVASCRIPT

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Adobe® InDesign® CS4 Scripting Guide: JavaScript

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sentence shall be incorporated by reference.

Contents

1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

How to Use the Scripts in This Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

About the structure of the scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

For More Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

2 Scripting Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Script preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Getting the current script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Script versioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Targeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Compilation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Interpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Using the doScript method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Sending parameters to doScript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Returning values from doScript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Controlling Undo with doScript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Working with script labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Running scripts at start-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Session and main script execution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

3 Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Basic document operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Creating a new document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Opening a document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Saving a document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Closing a document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Basic page layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Defining page size and document length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Defining bleed and slug areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Setting page margins and columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Changing the appearance of the pasteboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Guides and grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Changing measurement units and ruler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Defining and applying document presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Setting up master spreads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Adding XMP metadata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Creating a document template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Printing a document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Printing using page ranges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Setting print preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Printing with printer presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

3

Contents 4

Exporting a document as PDF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Exporting to PDF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Setting PDF export options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Exporting a range of pages to PDF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Exporting individual pages to PDF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Exporting pages as EPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Exporting all pages to EPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Exporting a range of pages to EPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Exporting as EPS with file naming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

4 Working with Page Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Creating Page Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Page Item Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Grouping Page Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Duplicating and Moving Page Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Creating Compound Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Using Pathfinder Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Converting Page Item Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Arranging Page Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Transforming Page Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Using the transform method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Working with transformation matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Coordinate spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Transformation origin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Resolving locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Transforming points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Transforming again . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Resize and Reframe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

5 Text and Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Entering and importing text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Creating a text frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Adding text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Stories and text frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Replacing text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Inserting special characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Placing text and setting text-import preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Exporting text and setting text-export preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Understanding text objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Working with text selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Moving and copying text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Text objects and iteration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Working with text frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Linking text frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Unlinking text frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Removing a frame from a story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Splitting all frames in a story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Creating an anchored frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Contents 5

Formatting text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Setting text defaults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Working with fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Applying a font . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Changing text properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Changing text color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Creating and applying styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Deleting a style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Importing paragraph and character styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Finding and changing text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

About find/change preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Finding and changing text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Finding and changing text formatting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Using grep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Using glyph search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Working with tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Path text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Autocorrect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Footnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Setting text preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

6 User Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Dialog overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Your first InDesign dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Adding a user interface to “Hello World” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Creating a more complex user interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Working with ScriptUI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Creating a progress bar with ScriptUI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

7 Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Understanding the event-scripting model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

About event properties and event propagation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Working with eventListeners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

An example “afterNew” eventListener . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Sample “beforePrint” eventListener . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

8 Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Understanding the menu model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Localization and menu names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Running a menu action from a script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Adding menus and menu items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Menus and events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Working with scriptMenuActions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

A more complex menu-scripting example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Contents 6

9 XML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

The best approach to scripting XML in InDesign? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Scripting XML elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Setting XML preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Setting XML import preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Importing XML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Creating an XML tag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Loading XML tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Saving XML tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Creating an XML element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Moving an XML element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Deleting an XML element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Duplicating an XML element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Removing items from the XML structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Creating an XML comment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Creating an XML processing instruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Working with XML attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Working with XML stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Exporting XML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Adding XML elements to a layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Associating XML elements with page items and text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Marking up existing layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Applying styles to XML elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Working with XML tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

10 XML Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Why use XML rules? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

XML-rules programming model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

XML rules examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Setting up a sample document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Getting started with XML rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Changing the XML structure using XML rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Duplicating XML elements with XML rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

XML rules and XML attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Applying multiple matching rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Finding XML elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Extracting XML elements with XML rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Applying formatting with XML rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Creating page items with XML rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Creating tables using XML rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Scripting the XML-rules processor object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

1

Introduction

This document shows how to do the following:

➤ Work with the Adobe® InDesign® scripting environment.

➤ Use advanced scripting features.

➤ Perform basic document tasks like setting up master spreads, printing, and exporting.

➤ Work with page items (rectangles, ellipses, graphic lines, polygons, text frames, and groups).

➤ Work with text and type in an InDesign document, including finding and changing text.

➤ Create dialog boxes and other user-interface items.

➤ Customize and add menus and create menu actions.

➤ Respond to user-interface events.

➤ Work with XML, from creating XML elements and importing XML to adding XML elements to a layout.

➤ Apply XML rules, a new scripting feature that makes working with XML in InDesign faster and easier.

We assume that you have already read the Adobe InDesign CS4 Scripting Tutorial and know how to create,
install, and run scripts. If you need to know how to connect with your scripting environment or view the
InDesign scripting object model from your script editor, that information can be found in the Adobe
InDesign CS4 Scripting Tutorial.

How to Use the Scripts in This Document

For the most part, the scripts shown in this document are not complete scripts. They are only fragments of
scripts, and are intended to show only the specific part of a script relevant to the point being discussed in
the text. You can copy the script lines shown in this document and paste them into your script editor, but
you should not expect them to run without further editing. Note, in addition, that scripts copied out of this
document may contain line breaks and other characters (due to the document layout) that will prevent
them from executing properly.

A zip archive of all of the scripts shown in this document is available at the InDesign scripting home page,
at: http://www.adobe.com/products/indesign/scripting/index.html
expanded the archive, move the folders corresponding to the scripting language(s) of your choice into the
Scripts Panel folder inside the Scripts folder in your InDesign folder. At that point, you can run the scripts
from the Scripts panel inside InDesign.

About the structure of the scripts

. After you have downloaded and

The script examples are all written using a common template that includes the functions “main,”
“mySetup,” “mySnippet,” and “myTeardown.” We did this to simplify automated testing and publication—
there is no reason for you to construct your scripts this way. Most of the time, the part of the script you will
be interested in will be inside the “mySnippet” function.

7

CHAPTER 1: Introduction For More Information 8

For More Information

For more information on InDesign scripting, you also can visit the InDesign Scripting User to User forum, at

http://www.adobeforums.com

newest scripts. The forum contains hundreds of sample scripts.

. In the forum, scripters can ask questions, post answers, and share their

2

Scripting Features

This chapter covers scripting techniques related to InDesign’s scripting environment. Almost every other
object in the InDesign scripting model controls a feature that can change a document or the application
defaults. By contrast, the features in this chapter control how scripts operate.

This document discusses the following:

➤ The scriptPreferences object and its properties.

➤ Getting a reference to the executing script.

➤ Running scripts in prior versions of the scripting object model.

➤ Using the doScript method to run scripts.

➤ Working with script labels.

➤ Running scripts at InDesign start-up.

➤ Controlling the ExtendScript engine in which scripts execute.

We assume you already read Adobe InDesign CS4 Scripting Tutorial and know how to write, install, and run
InDesign scripts in the scripting language of your choice.

Script preferences

The scriptPreferences object provides objects and properties related to the way InDesign runs scripts.
The following table provides more detail on each property of the scriptPreferences object:

Property Description

enableRedraw

scriptsFolder

scriptsList

Turns screen redraw on or off while a script is running from the Scripts panel.

The path to the scripts folder.

A list of the available scripts. This property is an array of arrays, in the
following form:

[[fileName, filePath], ...]

Where fileName is the name of the script file and filePath is the full path to
the script. You can use this feature to check for the existence of a script in the
installed set of scripts.

9

CHAPTER 2: Scripting Features Getting the current script 10

Property Description

userInteractionLevel

This property controls the alerts and dialogs InDesign presents to the user.
When you set this property to
InDesign does not display any alerts or dialogs. Set it to

UserInteractionLevels.interactWithAlerts to enable alerts but

disable dialogs. Set it to
alerts and dialogs. The ability to turn off alert displays is very useful when
you are opening documents via script; often, InDesign displays an alert for
missing fonts or linked graphics files. To avoid this alert, set the
user-interaction level to
opening the document, then restore user interaction (set the property to

interactWithAll) before completing script execution.

version

The version of the scripting environment in use. For more information, see

Script versioning” on page 11. Note this property is not the same as the

“

version of the application.

Getting the current script

You can get a reference to the current script using the activeScript property of the application object.
You can use this property to help you locate files and folders relative to the script, as shown in the
following example (from the ActiveScript tutorial script):

var myScript = app.activeScript;
alert("The current script is: " + myScript);
var myParentFolder = File(myScript).parent;
alert("The folder containing the active script is: " + myParentFolder);

UserInteractionLevels.neverInteract,

interactWithAll to restore the normal display of

UserInteractionLevels.neverInteract before

When you debug scripts using a script editor, the activeScript property returns an error. Only scripts run
from the Scripts palette appear in the

When you debug scripts from the ExtendScript Toolkit, using the
To avoid this error and create a way of debugging scripts that use the

activeScript property.

activeScript property returns an error.

activeScript property, use the

following error handler (from the GetScriptPath tutorial script):

function myGetScriptPath() {

try{

return app.activeScript;
}
catch(myError){

return File(myError.fileName);
}

}

CHAPTER 2: Scripting Features Script versioning 11

Script versioning

InDesign CS4 can run scripts using earlier versions of the InDesign scripting object model. To run an older
script in a newer version of InDesign, you must consider the following:

➤ Targeting — Scripts must be targeted to the version of the application in which they are being run

(i.e., the current version). The mechanics of targeting are language specific.

➤ Compilation — This involves mapping the names in the script to the underlying script ids, which are

what the application understands. The mechanics of compilation are language specific.

➤ Interpretation — This involves matching the ids to the appropriate request handler within the

application. InDesign CS4 correctly interprets a script written for an earlier version of the scripting
object model. To do this, run the script from a folder in the Scripts panel folder named

Scripts (for InDesign CS3 scripts) or Version 2.0 Scripts (for InDesign CS2 scripts), or explicitly set

the application's script preferences to the old object model within the script (as shown below). Put the
previous version scripts in the folder, and run them from the Scripts panel.

Targ et in g

Targeting for JavaScripts is implicit when the script is launched from the Scripts panel. If the script is
launched externally (from the ESTK), use the

target directive:

Version 5.0

//target CS4
#target "InDesign-6.0"
//target the latest version of InDesign
#target "InDesign"

Compilation

JavaScripts are not pre-compiled. For compilation, the application uses the same version of the DOM that
is set for interpretation.

Interpretation

The InDesign application object contains a scriptPreferences object, which allows a script to get/set
the version of the scripting object model to use for interpreting scripts. The version defaults to the current
version of the application and persists.

The following examples show how to set the version to the CS3 (5.0) version of the scripting object model.

//Set to 5.0 scripting object model
app.scriptPreferences.version = 5.0;

Using the doScript method

The doScript method gives a script a way to execute another script. The script can be a string of valid
scripting code or a file on disk. The script can be in the same scripting language as the current script or
another scripting language. The available languages vary by platform: on Mac OS
AppleScript or JavaScript; on Windows

®

, VBScript or JavaScript.

®

, you can run

CHAPTER 2: Scripting Features Using the doScript method 12

The doScript method has many possible uses:

➤ Running a script in another language that provides a feature missing in your main scripting language.

For example, VBScript lacks the ability to display a file or folder browser, which JavaScript has.
AppleScript can be very slow to compute trigonometric functions (sine and cosine), but JavaScript

®

performs these calculations rapidly. JavaScript does not have a way to query Microsoft

Excel for the
contents of a specific spreadsheet cell, but both AppleScript and VBScript have this capability. In all
these examples, the

doScript method can execute a snippet of scripting code in another language,

to overcome a limitation of the language used for the body of the script.

➤ Creating a script “on the fly.” Your script can create a script (as a string) during its execution, which it

can then execute using the

doScript method. This is a great way to create a custom dialog or panel

based on the contents of the selection or the attributes of objects the script creates.

➤ Embedding scripts in objects. Scripts can use the doScript method to run scripts that were saved as

strings in the

label property of objects. Using this technique, an object can contain a script that

controls its layout properties or updates its content according to certain parameters. Scripts also can
be embedded in XML elements as an attribute of the element or as the contents of an element. See

Running scripts at start-up” on page 15.

“

Sending parameters to doScript

To send a parameter to a script executed by doScript, use the following form (from the
DoScriptParameters tutorial script):

var myParameters = ["Hello from DoScript", "Your message here."];
var myJavaScript = "alert(\"First argument: \" + arguments[0] + \"\\rSecond argument:
\" + arguments[1]);";
app.doScript(myJavaScript, ScriptLanguage.javascript, myParameters);
if(File.fs == "Windows"){

var myVBScript = "msgbox arguments(1), vbOKOnly, \"First argument: \" &
arguments(0)";
app.doScript(myVBScript, ScriptLanguage.visualBasic, myParameters);

}
else{

var myAppleScript = "tell application \"Adobe InDesign CS4\\rdisplay
dialog(\"First argument\" & item 1 of arguments & return & \"Second argument: \"
& item 2 of arguments & return & end tell";
app.doScript(myAppleScript, ScriptLanguage.applescriptLanguage, myParameters);

}

Returning values from doScript

The following script fragment shows how to return a value from a script executed by doScript. This
example uses a JavaScript that is executed as a string, but the same method works for script files. This
example returns a single value, but you can return multiple values by returning an array (for the complete
script, refer to the DoScriptReturnValues script).

CHAPTER 2: Scripting Features Using the doScript method 13

//To send parameters to a script run using app.doScript(), the doScript
//statement must not appear inside a function. If it does, the parameters
//will not be passed to the script.
var myDocument = app.documents.add();
var myPage = myDocument.pages.item(0);
var myTextFrame = myPage.textFrames.add();
myTextFrame.geometricBounds = ["72pt", "72pt", "288pt", "288pt"];
myTextFramecContents = "Example text frame.";
var myDestinationPage = myDocument.pages.add(LocationOptions.after, myPage);
var myPageIndex = myDestinationPage.name;
var myID = myTextFrame.id;
var myJavaScript = "var myDestinationPage = arguments[1];\r" ;
myJavaScript += "myID = arguments[0];\r";
myJavaScript += "var myX = arguments[2];\r";
myJavaScript += "var myY = arguments[3]\r;"
myJavaScript += "var myPageItem =
app.documents.item(0).pages.item(0).pageItems.itemByID(myID);\r";
myJavaScript +=
"myPageItem.duplicate(app.documents.item(0).pages.item(myDestinationPage));\r"
//Create an array for the parameters we want to pass to the JavaScript.
var myArguments = [myID, myPageIndex, 0, 0];
var myDuplicate = app.doScript(myJavaScript, ScriptLanguage.javascript, myArguments);
//myDuplicate now contains a reference to the duplicated text frame.
//Change the text in the duplicated text frame.
myDuplicate.contents = "Duplicated text frame.";

Another way to get values from another script is to use the scriptArgs (short for “script arguments”)
object of the application. The following script fragment shows how to do this (for the complete script, see
DoScriptScriptArgs):

var myJavaScript = "app.scriptArgs.setValue(\"ScriptArgumentA\", \"This is the first
script argument value.\");\r";
myJavaScript += "app.scriptArgs.setValue(\"ScriptArgumentB\", \"This is the second
script argument value.\")";
var myScriptArgumentA = app.scriptArgs.getValue("ScriptArgumentA");
var myScriptArgumentB = app.scriptArgs.getValue("ScriptArgumentB");
alert("ScriptArgumentA: " + myScriptArgumentA + "\rScriptArgumentB: " +
myScriptArgumentB);
if(File.fs == "Windows"){

var myVBScript = "Set myInDesign = CreateObject(\"InDesign.Application.CS4\")\r";
myVBScript += "myInDesign.ScriptArgs.SetValue \"ScriptArgumentA\", \"This is the

first script argument value.\"\r";

myVBScript += "myInDesign.ScriptArgs.SetValue \"ScriptArgumentB\", \"This is the

second script argument value.\"";

app.doScript(myVBScript, ScriptLanguage.visualBasic);

}
else{

var myAppleScript = "tell application \"Adobe InDesign CS4\"\r";
myAppleScript += "make script arg with properties{name:\"ScriptArgumentA\",

value:\"This is the first script argument value.\"}\r";

myAppleScript += "make script arg with properties{name:\"ScriptArgumentB\",

value:\"This is the second script argument value.\"}\r";

myAppleScript += "end tell\r";
app.doScript(myAppleScript, ScriptLanguage.applescriptLanguage);

}
var myScriptArgumentA = app.scriptArgs.getValue("ScriptArgumentA");
var myScriptArgumentB = app.scriptArgs.getValue("ScriptArgumentB");
alert("ScriptArgumentA: " + myScriptArgumentA + "\rScriptArgumentB: " +
myScriptArgumentB);

CHAPTER 2: Scripting Features Controlling Undo with doScript 14

Controlling Undo with doScript

InDesign gives you the ability to undo almost every action, but this comes at a price: for almost every
action you make, InDesign writes to disk. For normal work you using the tools presented by the user
interface, this does not present any problem. For scripts, which can perform thousands of actions in the
time a human being can blink, the constant disk access can be a serious drag on performance.

doScript method offers a way around this performance bottleneck by providing two parameters that

The
control the way that scripts are executed relative to InDesign’s Undo behavior. These parameters are
shown in the following examples:

//Given a script "myJavaScript" and an array of parameters "myParameters"...
app.doScript(myJavaScript, ScriptLanguage.javascript, myParameters,
UndoModes.fastEntireScript, "Script Action");
//UndoModes can be:
//UndoModes.autoUnto: Add no events to the Undo queue.
//UndoModes.entireScript: Put a single event in the Undo queue.
//UndoModes.fastEntireScript: Put a single event in the Undo queue.
//UndoModes.scriptRequest: Undo each script action as a separate event.
//The last parameter is the text that appears in the Undo menu item.

Working with script labels

Many objects in InDesign scripting have a label property, including page items (rectangles, ovals, groups,
polygons, text frames, and graphic lines), table cells, documents, stories, and pages. This property can
store a very large amount of text.

The label of page items can be viewed, entered, or edited using the Script Label panel (choose Window >
Automation > Script Label to display this panel), shown below. You also can add a label to an object using
scripting, and you can read the script label via scripting. For many objects, like stories, pages, and
paragraph styles, you cannot set or view the label using the Script Label panel.

label property can contain any form of text data, such as tab- or comma-delimited text, HTML, or

The
XML. Because scripts also are text, they can be stored in the

Page items can be referred to by their
layers) can be referred to by their
label property (for the complete script, see ScriptLabel):

name. The following script fragment demonstrates this special case of the

label property.

label, just like named items (such as paragraph styles, colors, or

CHAPTER 2: Scripting Features Running scripts at start-up 15

var myDocument = app.documents.add();
var myPage = myDocument.pages.item(0);
var myPageWidth = myDocument.documentPreferences.pageWidth;
var myPageHeight = myDocument.documentPreferences.pageHeight;
//Create 10 random page items.
for(var myCounter = 0; myCounter < 10; myCounter++){

myX1 = myGetRandom(0, myPageWidth, false);
myY1 = myGetRandom(0, myPageHeight, false);
myX2 = myGetRandom(0, myPageWidth, false);
myY2 = myGetRandom(0, myPageHeight, false);
myRectangle = myPage.rectangles.add({geometricBounds:[myY1, myX1, myY2, myX2]});
if(myGetRandom(0, 1, true)){

myRectangle.label = "myScriptLabel";

}

}
var myPageItems = myPage.pageItems.item("myScriptLabel");
if(myPageItems.getElements().length != 0){

alert("Found " + myPageItems.getElements().length + " page items with the label.");

}
//This function gets a random number in the range myStart to myEnd.
function myGetRandom(myStart, myEnd, myInteger){

var myRandom;
var myRange = myEnd - myStart;
if(myInteger == true){

myRandom = myStart = Math.round(Math.random());
}
else{

myRandom = myStart + Math.floor(Math.random()*myRange);
}
return myRandom;

}

In addition, all objects that support the label property also support custom labels. A script can set a
custom label using the

insertLabel method, and extract the custom label using the extractLabel

method, as shown in the following script fragment (from the CustomLabel tutorial script):

var myDocument = app.documents.add();
myDocument.viewPreferences.horizontalMeasurementUnits = MeasurementUnits.points;
myDocument.viewPreferences.verticalMeasurementUnits = MeasurementUnits.points;
var myPage = myDocument.pages.item(0);
var myRectangle = myPage.rectangles.add({geometricBounds:[72, 72, 144, 144]});
//Insert a custom label using insertLabel. The first parameter is the
//name of the label, the second is the text to add to the label.
myRectangle.insertLabel("CustomLabel", "This is some text stored in a custom label.");
//Extract the text from the label and display it in an alert.
var myString = myRectangle.extractLabel("CustomLabel");
alert("Custom label contained: " + myString);

Running scripts at start-up

To run a script when InDesign starts, put the script in the Startup Scripts folder in the Scripts folder (for
more information, see “Installing Scripts” in Adobe InDesign CS4 Scripting Tutorial).

OTE: Scripts run in the session ExtendScript engine when InDesign starts can create objects and

N

functions that will be available to other scripts for the duration of the session. For more information, see

Session and main script execution” on page 16.

“

CHAPTER 2: Scripting Features Session and main script execution 16

Session and main script execution

InDesign has two ways to run a JavaScript, session and main. These names correspond to the
ExtendScript “engine” used to run the script.

By default, when you run an InDesign JavaScript, the script is interpreted and executed by the “main”
ExtendScript engine, which is destroyed when the script completes execution. Script objects created by
the script do not persist.

Scripts run in the session engine can create objects that persist until you close InDesign. You can refer to
these objects from other scripts run in the
InDesign JavaScript, add the following line to the start of your script.

#targetengine "session"

You can create your own persistent ExtendScript interpretation and execution environment. To do this, use

#targetenging statement and provide your own ExtendScript engine name, as shown in the

the
following script fragment:

#targetengine "adobe"

session engine. To set the session engine as the target of an

3

Documents

The work you do in InDesign revolves around documents—creating them, saving them, printing or
exporting them, and populating them with page items, colors, styles, and text. Almost every
document-related task can be automated using InDesign scripting.

This chapter shows you how to do the following

➤ Perform basic document-management tasks, including:

➣ Creating a new document.

➣ Opening a document.

➣ Saving a document.

➣ Closing a document.

➤ Perform basic page-layout operations, including:

➣ Setting the page size and document length.

➣ Defining bleed and slug areas.

➣ Specifying page columns and margins.

➤ Change the appearance of the pasteboard.

➤ Use guides and grids.

➤ Change measurement units and ruler origin.

➤ Define and apply document presets.

➤ Set up master pages (master spreads)

➤ Set text-formatting defaults.

➤ Add XMP metadata (information about a file).

➤ Create a document template.

➤ Print a document.

➤ Export a document as Adobe PDF.

➤ Export pages of a document as EPS.

We assume you already read Adobe InDesign CS4 Scripting Tutorial and know how to create, install, and run
a script.

17

CHAPTER 3: Documents Basic document operations 18

Basic document operations

Opening, closing, and saving documents are some of the most basic document tasks. This section shows
how to do them using scripting.

Creating a new document

The following script shows how to make a new document using scripting (for the complete script, see
MakeDocument):

var myDocument = app.documents.add();

To create a document using a document preset, the add method includes an optional parameter you can
use to specify a document preset, as shown in the following script (for the complete script, see
MakeDocumentWithPreset):

//Creates a new document using the specified document preset.
//Replace "myDocumentPreset" in the following line with the name
//of the document preset you want to use.
var myDocument = app.documents.add(true,
app.documentPresets.item("myDocumentPreset"));

You can create a document without displaying it in a window, as shown in the following script fragment
(from the MakeDocumentWithParameters tutorial script):

//Creates a new document without showing the document window.
//The first parameter (showingWindow) controls the visibility of the
//document. Hidden documents are not minimized, and will not appear until
//you add a new window to the document.
var myDocument = app.documents.add(false);
//To show the window:
var myWindow = myDocument.windows.add();

Some script operations are much faster when the document window is hidden.

Opening a document

The following script shows how to open an existing document (for the complete script, see
OpenDocument):

app.open(File("/c/myTestDocument.indd"));

You can choose to prevent the document from displaying (i.e., hide it) by setting the showing window
parameter of the
performance of a script. To show a hidden document, create a new window, as shown in the following
script fragment (from the OpenDocumentInBackground tutorial script):

//Opens an existing document in the background, then shows the document.
//You'll have to fill in your own file path.
var myDocument = app.open(File("/c/myTestDocument.indd"), false);
//At this point, you could do things with the document without showing the
//document window. In some cases, scripts will run faster when the document
//window is not visible.
//When you want to show the hidden document, create a new window.
var myLayoutWindow = myDocument.windows.add();

open method to false (the default is true). You might want to do this to improve

CHAPTER 3: Documents Basic document operations 19

Saving a document

In the InDesign user interface, you save a file by choosing File > Save, and you save a file to another file
name by choosing File > Save As. In InDesign scripting, the
shown in the following script fragment (from the SaveDocument tutorial script):

//If the active document has been changed since it was last saved, save it.
if(app.activeDocument.modified == true){

app.activeDocument.save();

}

The save method has two optional parameters: The first (to) specifies the file to save to; the second

stationery) can be set to true to save the document as a template, as shown in the following script

(
fragment (from the SaveDocumentAs tutorial script):

//If the active document has not been saved (ever), save it.
if(app.activeDocument.saved == false){

//If you do not provide a file name, InDesign displays the Save dialog box.
app.activeDocument.save(new File("/c/myTestDocument.indd"));

}

You can save a document as a template, as shown in the following script fragment (from the
SaveAsTemplate tutorial script):

save method can do either operation, as

//Save the active document as a template.
var myFileName;
if(app.activeDocument.saved == true){

//Convert the file name to a string.
myFileName = app.activeDocument.fullName + "";
//If the file name contains the extension ".indd", change it to ".indt".
if(myFileName.indexOf(".indd")!=-1){

var myRegularExpression = /.indd/gi

myFileName = myFileName.replace(myRegularExpression, ".indt");
}

}
//If the document has not been saved, then give it a default file name/file path.
else{

myFileName = "/c/myTestDocument.indt";

}

app.activeDocument.save(File(myFileName), true);

Closing a document

The close method closes a document, as shown in the following script fragment (from the
CloseDocument tutorial script):

app.activeDocument.close();
//Note that you could also use:
//app.documents.item(0).close();

The close method can take up to two optional parameters, as shown in the following script fragment
(from the CloseWithParameters tutorial script):

CHAPTER 3: Documents Basic page layout 20

//Use SaveOptions.yes to save the document,SaveOptions.no to close the
//document without saving, or SaveOptions.ask to display a prompt. If
//you use SaveOptions.yes, you'll need to provide a reference to a file
//to save to in the second parameter (SavingIn).
//Note that the file path is provided using the JavaScript URI form
//rather than the platform-specific form.
//
//If the file has not been saved, display a prompt.
if(app.activeDocument.saved != true){

app.activeDocument.close(SaveOptions.ask);
//Or, to save to a specific file name:
//var myFile = File("/c/myTestDocument.indd");
//app.activeDocument.close(SaveOptions.yes, myFile);

}
else{

//If the file has already been saved, save it.
app.activeDocument.close(SaveOptions.yes);

}

You can close all open documents without saving them, as shown in the following script fragment (from
the CloseAll tutorial script):

for(myCounter = app.documents.length; myCounter > 0; myCounter--){

app.documents.item(myCounter-1).close(SaveOptions.no);

}

Basic page layout

Each document has a page size, assigned number of pages, bleed and slug working areas, and columns
and margins to define the area into which material is placed. Again, all these parameters are accessible to
scripting, as shown in the examples in this section.

Defining page size and document length

When you create a new document using the InDesign user interface, you can specify the page size,
number of pages, page orientation, and whether the document uses facing pages. To create a document
using InDesign scripting, use the
creating a document, you can use the
the following script fragment (from the DocumentPreferences tutorial script):

var myDocument = app.documents.add();
with(myDocument.documentPreferences){

pageHeight = "800pt";
pageWidth = "600pt";
pageOrientation = PageOrientation.landscape;
pagesPerDocument = 16;

}

NOTE: The app object also has a documentPreferences object. You can set the application defaults for
page height, page width, and other properties by changing the properties of this object.

documents.add method, which does not specify these settings. After

documentPreferences object to control the settings, as shown in

Defining bleed and slug areas

Within InDesign, a bleed or a slug is an area outside the page margins that can be printed or included in an
exported PDF. Typically, these areas are used for objects that extend beyond the page edges (bleed) and

CHAPTER 3: Documents Basic page layout 21

job/document information (slug). The two areas can be printed and exported independently; for example,
you might want to omit slug information for the final printing of a document. The following script shows
how to set up the bleed and slug for a new document (for the complete script, see BleedAndSlug):

myDocument = app.documents.add();
//The bleed and slug properties belong to the documentPreferences object.
with(myDocument.documentPreferences){

//Bleed
documentBleedBottomOffset = "3p";
documentBleedTopOffset = "3p";
documentBleedInsideOrLeftOffset = "3p";
documentBleedOutsideOrRightOffset = "3p";
//Slug
slugBottomOffset = "18p";
slugTopOffset = "3p";
slugInsideOrLeftOffset = "3p";
slugRightOrOutsideOffset = "3p";

}

Alternately, if all the bleed distances are equal, as in the preceding example, you can use the

documentBleedUniformSize property, as shown in the following script fragment (from the

UniformBleed tutorial script):

//Create a new document.
myDocument = app.documents.add();
//The bleed properties belong to the documentPreferences object.
with(myDocument.documentPreferences){

//Bleed
documentBleedUniformSize = true;
documentBleedTopOffset = "3p";

}

If all the slug distances are equal, you can use the documentSlugUniformSize property, as shown in the
following script fragment (from the UniformSlug tutorial script):

//Create a new document.
myDocument = app.documents.add();
//The slug properties belong to the documentPreferences object.
with(myDocument.documentPreferences){

//Slug:
documentSlugUniformSize = true;
slugTopOffset = "3p";

}

In addition to setting the bleed and slug widths and heights, you can control the color used to draw the
guides defining the bleed and slug. This property is not in the

pasteboardPreferences object, as shown in the following script fragment (from the

in the

documentPreferences object; instead, it is

BleedSlugGuideColors tutorial script):

with(app.activeDocument.pasteboardPreferences){

//Any of InDesign's guides can use the UIColors constants...
bleedGuideColor = UIColors.cuteTeal;
slugGuideColor = UIColors.charcoal;
//...or you can specify an array of RGB values (with values from 0 to 255)
//bleedGuideColor = [0, 198, 192];
//slugGuideColor = [192, 192, 192];

}

CHAPTER 3: Documents Basic page layout 22

Setting page margins and columns

Each page in a document can have its own margin and column settings. With InDesign scripting, these
properties are part of the
new document, then sets the margins and columns for all pages in the master spread. (For the complete
script, see PageMargins.)

myDocument = app.documents.add();
with (myDocument.pages.item(0).marginPreferences){

columnCount = 3;
//columnGutter can be a number or a measurement string.
columnGutter = "1p";
bottom = "6p"
//When document.documentPreferences.facingPages == true,
//"left" means inside; "right" means outside.
left = "6p"
right = "4p"
top = "4p"

}

To set the page margins for an individual page, use the margin preferences for that page, as shown in the
following script fragment (from the PageMarginsForOnePage tutorial script):

marginPreferences object for each page. This following sample script creates a

myDocument = app.documents.add();
with (myDocument.pages.item(0).marginPreferences){

columnCount = 3;
//columnGutter can be a number or a measurement string.
columnGutter = "1p";
bottom = "6p"
//When document.documentPreferences.facingPages == true,
//"left" means inside; "right" means outside.
left = "6p"
right = "4p"
top = "4p"

}

InDesign does not allow you to create a page that is smaller than the sum of the relevant margins; that is,
the width of the page must be greater than the sum of the left and right page margins, and the height of
the page must be greater than the sum of the top and bottom margins. If you are creating very small
pages (for example, for individual newspaper advertisements) using the InDesign user interface, you can
easily set the correct margin sizes as you create the document, by entering new values in the document
default page Margin fields in the New Document dialog box.

From scripting, however, the solution is not as clear: when you create a document, it uses the application’s
default-margin preferences. These margins are applied to all pages of the document, including master
pages. Setting the document margin preferences affects only new pages and has no effect on existing
pages. If you try to set the page height and page width to values smaller than the sum of the
corresponding margins on any existing pages, InDesign does not change the page size.

There are two solutions. The first is to set the margins of the existing pages before you try to change the
page size, as shown in the following script fragment (from the PageMarginsForSmallPages tutorial script):

CHAPTER 3: Documents Basic page layout 23

var myDocument = app.documents.add();
myDocument.marginPreferences.top = 0;
myDocument.marginPreferences.left = 0;
myDocument.marginPreferences.bottom = 0;
myDocument.marginPreferences.right = 0;
//The following assumes that your default document contains a single page.
myDocument.pages.item(0).marginPreferences.top = 0;
myDocument.pages.item(0).marginPreferences.left = 0;
myDocument.pages.item(0).marginPreferences.bottom = 0;
myDocument.pages.item(0).marginPreferences.right = 0;
//The following assumes that your default master spread contains two pages.
myDocument.masterSpreads.item(0).pages.item(0).marginPreferences.top = 0;
myDocument.masterSpreads.item(0).pages.item(0).marginPreferences.left = 0;
myDocument.masterSpreads.item(0).pages.item(0).marginPreferences.bottom = 0;
myDocument.masterSpreads.item(0).pages.item(0).marginPreferences.right = 0;
myDocument.masterSpreads.item(0).pages.item(1).marginPreferences.top = 0;
myDocument.masterSpreads.item(0).pages.item(1).marginPreferences.left = 0;
myDocument.masterSpreads.item(0).pages.item(1).marginPreferences.bottom = 0;
myDocument.masterSpreads.item(0).pages.item(1).marginPreferences.right = 0;
myDocument.documentPreferences.pageHeight = "1p";
myDocument.documentPreferences.pageWidth = "6p";

Alternately, you can change the application’s default-margin preferences before you create the document,
as shown in the following script fragment (from the ApplicationPageMargins tutorial script):

with (app.marginPreferences){

//Save the current application default margin preferences.
var myY1 = top;
var myX1 = left;
var myY2 = bottom;
var myX2 = right;
//Set the application default margin preferences.
top = 0;
left = 0;
bottom = 0;
right = 0;

}
//Create a new example document to demonstrate the change.
var myDocument = app.documents.add();
myDocument.documentPreferences.pageHeight = "1p";
myDocument.documentPreferences.pageWidth = "6p";
//Reset the application default margin preferences to their former state.
with (app.marginPreferences){

top = myY1;
left = myX1 ;
bottom = myY2;
right = myX2;

}

Changing the appearance of the pasteboard

The pasteboard is the area that surrounds InDesign pages and spreads. You can use it for temporary
storage of page items or for job-tracking information. You can change the size of the pasteboard and its
color using scripting. The

previewBackgroundColor property sets the color of the pasteboard in Preview

mode, as shown in the following script fragment (from the PasteboardPreferences tutorial script):

CHAPTER 3: Documents Basic page layout 24

myDocument = app.documents.add();
with(myDocument.pasteboardPreferences){

//You can use either a number or a measurement string
//to set the space above/below.
minimumSpaceAboveAndBelow = "12p";
//You can set the preview background color to any of
//the predefined UIColor enumerations...
previewBackgroundColor = UIColors.gray;
//...or you can specify an array of RGB values
//(with values from 0 to 255)
//previewBackgroundColor = [192, 192, 192];

}

Guides and grids

Guides and grids make it easy to position objects on your document pages. These are very useful items to
add when you are creating templates for others to use.

Defining guides

Guides in InDesign give you an easy way to position objects on the pages of your document. The following
script fragment shows how to use guides (for the complete script, see Guides):

var myDocument = app.documents.add();
var myPageWidth = myDocument.documentPreferences.pageWidth;
var myPageHeight = myDocument.documentPreferences.pageHeight;
with(myDocument.pages.item(0)){

//Place guides at the margins of the page.
guides.add(undefined, {orientation:HorizontalOrVertical.vertical, <lb>
location:marginPreferences.left});
guides.add(undefined, {orientation:HorizontalOrVertical.vertical, <lb>
location:(myPageWidth - marginPreferences.right)});
guides.add(undefined, {orientation:HorizontalOrVertical.horizontal, <lb>
location:marginPreferences.top});
guides.add(undefined, {orientation:HorizontalOrVertical.horizontal, <lb>
location:(myPageHeight - marginPreferences.bottom)});
//Place a guide at the vertical center of the page.
guides.add(undefined, {orientation:HorizontalOrVertical.vertical, <lb>
location:(myPageWidth/2)});
//Place a guide at the horizontal center of the page.
guides.add(undefined, {orientation:HorizontalOrVertical.horizontal, <lb>
location:(myPageHeight/2)});

}

Horizontal guides can be limited to a given page or extend across all pages in a spread. From InDesign
scripting, you can control this using the

fitToPage property. This property is ignored by vertical guides.

You can use scripting to change the layer, color, and visibility of guides, just as you can from the user
interface, as shown in the following script fragment (from the GuideOptions tutorial script):

CHAPTER 3: Documents Basic page layout 25

var myDocument = app.documents.add();
var myPageWidth = myDocument.documentPreferences.pageWidth;
var myPageHeight = myDocument.documentPreferences.pageHeight;
with(myDocument.pages.item(0)){

//Place guides at the margins of the page.
guides.add(undefined, {orientation:HorizontalOrVertical.vertical, <lb>
location:marginPreferences.left});
guides.add(undefined, {orientation:HorizontalOrVertical.vertical, <lb>
location:(myPageWidth - marginPreferences.right)});
guides.add(undefined, {orientation:HorizontalOrVertical.horizontal, <lb>
location:marginPreferences.top});
guides.add(undefined, {orientation:HorizontalOrVertical.horizontal, <lb>
location:(myPageHeight - marginPreferences.bottom)});
//Place a guide at the vertical center of the page.
guides.add(undefined, {orientation:HorizontalOrVertical.vertical, <lb>
location:(myPageWidth/2)});
//Place a guide at the horizontal center of the page.
guides.add(undefined, {orientation:HorizontalOrVertical.horizontal, <lb>
location:(myPageHeight/2)});

}

You also can create guides using the createGuides method on spreads and master spreads, as shown in
the following script fragment (from the CreateGuides tutorial script):

var myDocument = app.documents.add();
with (myDocument.spreads.item(0)){

//Parameters (all optional): row count, column count, row gutter,
//column gutter,guide color, fit margins, remove existing, layer.
//Note that the createGuides method does not take an RGB array
//for the guide color parameter.
createGuides(4, 4, "1p", "1p", UIColors.gray, true, true,

myDocument.layers.item(0));
}

Setting grid preferences

To control the properties of the document and baseline grid, you set the properties of the

gridPreferences object, as shown in the following script fragment (from the DocumentAndBaselineGrid

tutorial script):

var myDocument = app.documents.add();
//Set the document measurement units to points.
myDocument.viewPreferences.horizontalMeasurementUnits = MeasurementUnits.points;
myDocument.viewPreferences.verticalMeasurementUnits = MeasurementUnits.points;
//Set up grid preferences.
with(myDocument.gridPreferences){

baselineStart = 56;
baselineDivision = 14;
baselineShown = true;
horizontalGridlineDivision = 14;
horizontalGridSubdivision = 5
verticalGridlineDivision = 14;
verticalGridSubdivision = 5
documentGridShown = true;

}

CHAPTER 3: Documents Basic page layout 26

Snapping to guides and grids

All snap settings for a document’s grids and guides are in the properties of the guidePreferences and

gridPreferences objects. The following script fragment shows how to set guide and grid snap properties

(for the complete script, see GuideGridPreferences):

var myDocument = app.activeDocument;
with(myDocument.guidePreferences){

guidesInBack = true;
guidesLocked = false;
guidesShown = true;
guidesSnapTo = true;

}
with(myDocument.gridPreferences){

documentGridShown = false;
documentGridSnapTo = true;
//Objects "snap" to the baseline grid when
//guidePreferences.guideSnapTo is set to true.
baselineGridShown = true;

}

Changing measurement units and ruler

Thus far, the sample scripts used measurement strings, strings that force InDesign to use a specific
measurement unit (for example, “8.5i” for 8.5 inches). They do this because you might be using a different
measurement system when you run the script.

To specify the measurement system used in a script, use the document’s

viewPreferences object., as

shown in the following script fragment (from the ViewPreferences tutorial script):

var myDocument = app.activeDocument;
with(myDocument.viewPreferences){

//Measurement unit choices are:
//* MeasurementUnits.agates
//* MeasurementUnits.picas
//* MeasurementUnits.points
//* MeasurementUnits.inches
//* MeasurementUnits.inchesDecimal
//* MeasurementUnits.millimeters
//* MeasurementUnits.centimeters
//* MeasurementUnits.ciceros
//Set horizontal and vertical measurement units to points.
horizontalMeasurementUnits = MeasurementUnits.points;
verticalMeasurementUnits = MeasurementUnits.points;

}

If you are writing a script that needs to use a specific measurement system, you can change the
measurement units at the beginning of the script, then restore the original measurement units at the end
of the script. This is shown in the following script fragment (from the ResetMeasurementUnits tutorial
script):

CHAPTER 3: Documents Basic page layout 27

var myDocument = app.activeDocument
with (myDocument.viewPreferences){

var myOldXUnits = horizontalMeasurementUnits;
var myOldYUnits = verticalMeasurementUnits;
horizontalMeasurementUnits = MeasurementUnits.points;
verticalMeasurementUnits = MeasurementUnits.points;

}
//At this point, you can perform any series of script actions
//that depend on the measurement units you've set. At the end of
//the script, reset the measurement units to their original state.
with (myDocument.viewPreferences){

try{

horizontalMeasurementUnits = myOldXUnits;

verticalMeasurementUnits = myOldYUnits;
}
catch(myError){

alert("Could not reset custom measurement units.");
}

}

Defining and applying document presets

InDesign document presets enable you to store and apply common document set-up information (page
size, page margins, columns, and bleed and slug areas). When you create a new document, you can base
the document on a document preset.

Creating a preset by copying values

To create a document preset using an existing document's settings as an example, open a document that
has the document set-up properties you want to use in the document preset, then run the following script
(from the DocumentPresetByExample tutorial script):

var myDocumentPreset;
if(app.documents.length > 0){

var myDocument = app.activeDocument;
//If the document preset "myDocumentPreset" does not already
//exist, create it.
myDocumentPreset = app.documentPresets.item("myDocumentPreset");
try {

var myPresetName = myDocumentPreset.name;
}
catch (myError){

myDocumentPreset = app.documentPresets.add({name:"myDocumentPreset"});
}
//Set the application default measurement units to match the document
//measurement units.
app.viewPreferences.horizontalMeasurementUnits =
myDocument.viewPreferences.horizontalMeasurementUnits;
app.viewPreferences.verticalMeasurementUnits =
myDocument.viewPreferences.verticalMeasurementUnits;

CHAPTER 3: Documents Basic page layout 28

//Fill in the properties of the document preset with the corresponding
//properties of the active document.
with(myDocumentPreset){

//Note that the following gets the page margins

//from the margin preferences of the document; to get the margin

//preferences from the active page,replace "app.activeDocument" with

//"app.activeWindow.activePage" in the following line (assuming the

//active window is a layout window).

var myMarginPreferences = app.activeDocument.marginPreferences;

left = myMarginPreferences.left;

right = myMarginPreferences.right;

top = myMarginPreferences.top;

bottom = myMarginPreferences.bottom;

columnCount = myMarginPreferences.columnCount;

columnGutter = myMarginPreferences.columnGutter;

documentBleedBottom =

app.activeDocument.documentPreferences.documentBleedBottomOffset;

documentBleedTop =

app.activeDocument.documentPreferences.documentBleedTopOffset;

documentBleedLeft =

app.activeDocument.documentPreferences.documentBleedInsideOrLeftOffset;

documentBleedRight = app.activeDocument.documentPreferences.

documentBleedOutsideOrRightOffset;

facingPages = app.activeDocument.documentPreferences.facingPages;

pageHeight = app.activeDocument.documentPreferences.pageHeight;

pageWidth = app.activeDocument.documentPreferences.pageWidth;

pageOrientation =

app.activeDocument.documentPreferences.pageOrientation;

pagesPerDocument =

app.activeDocument.documentPreferences.pagesPerDocument;

slugBottomOffset =

app.activeDocument.documentPreferences.slugBottomOffset;

slugTopOffset = app.activeDocument.documentPreferences.slugTopOffset;

slugInsideOrLeftOffset =

app.activeDocument.documentPreferences.slugInsideOrLeftOffset;

slugRightOrOutsideOffset =

app.activeDocument.documentPreferences.slugRightOrOutsideOffset;
}

}

CHAPTER 3: Documents Basic page layout 29

Creating a document preset

To create a document preset using explicit values, run the following script (from the DocumentPreset
tutorial script):

var myDocumentPreset;
//If the document preset "myDocumentPreset" does not already exist, create it.
myDocumentPreset = app.documentPresets.item("myDocumentPreset");
try {

var myPresetName = myDocumentPreset.name;

}
catch (myError){

myDocumentPreset = app.documentPresets.add({name:"myDocumentPreset"});

}
//Fill in the properties of the document preset.
with(myDocumentPreset){

pageHeight = "9i";
pageWidth = "7i";
left = "4p";
right = "6p";
top = "4p";
bottom = "9p";
columnCount = 1;
documentBleedBottom = "3p";
documentBleedTop = "3p";
documentBleedLeft = "3p";
documentBleedRight = "3p";
facingPages = true;
pageOrientation = PageOrientation.portrait;
pagesPerDocument = 1;
slugBottomOffset = "18p";
slugTopOffset = "3p";
slugInsideOrLeftOffset = "3p";
slugRightOrOutsideOffset = "3p";

}

Setting up master spreads

After setting up the basic document page size, slug, and bleed, you probably will want to define the
document’s master spreads:. The following script shows how to do that (for the complete script, see
MasterSpread):

myDocument = app.documents.add();
//Set up the document.
with(myDocument.documentPreferences){

pageHeight = "11i"
pageWidth = "8.5i"
facingPages = true;
pageOrientation = PageOrientation.portrait;

}
//Set the document's ruler origin to page origin. This is very important
//--if you don't do this, getting objects to the correct position on the
//page is much more difficult.
myDocument.viewPreferences.rulerOrigin = RulerOrigin.pageOrigin;

CHAPTER 3: Documents Basic page layout 30

with(myDocument.masterSpreads.item(0)){

//Set up the left page (verso).
with(pages.item(0)){

with(marginPreferences){

columnCount = 3;
columnGutter = "1p";
bottom = "6p"
//"left" means inside; "right" means outside.
left = "6p"
right = "4p"

top = "4p"
}
//Add a simple footer with a section number and page number.
with(textFrames.add()){

geometricBounds = ["61p", "4p", "62p", "45p"];

insertionPoints.item(0).contents = SpecialCharacters.sectionMarker;

insertionPoints.item(0).contents = SpecialCharacters.emSpace;

insertionPoints.item(0).contents = SpecialCharacters.autoPageNumber;

paragraphs.item(0).justification = Justification.leftAlign;
}

}
//Set up the right page (recto).
with(pages.item(1)){

with(marginPreferences){

columnCount = 3;

columnGutter = "1p";

bottom = "6p"

//"left" means inside; "right" means outside.

left = "6p"

right = "4p"

top = "4p"
}
//Add a simple footer with a section number and page number.
with(textFrames.add()){

geometricBounds = ["61p", "6p", "62p", "47p"];

insertionPoints.item(0).contents = SpecialCharacters.autoPageNumber;

insertionPoints.item(0).contents = SpecialCharacters.emSpace;

insertionPoints.item(0).contents = SpecialCharacters.sectionMarker;

paragraphs.item(0).justification = Justification.rightAlign;
}

}

}

To apply a master spread to a document page, use the appliedMaster property of the document page, as
shown in the following script fragment (from the ApplyMaster tutorial script):

//Assumes that the active document has a master page named "B-Master"
//and at least three pages--page 3 is pages.item(2) because JavaScript arrays are
zero-based.
app.activeDocument.pages.item(2).appliedMaster =
app.activeDocument.masterSpreads.item("B-Master");

Use the same property to apply a master spread to a master spread page, as shown in the following script
fragment (from the ApplyMasterToMaster tutorial script):

//Assumes that the active document has master spread named "B-Master"
//that is not the same as the first master spread in the document.
app.activeDocument.masterSpreads.item(0).pages.item(0).appliedMaster =
app.activeDocument.masterSpreads.item("B-Master");