TextVariable is "ReadOnly" - or "InsertOnly" ;)

Property ResultText As String
read-only
Member of InDesign.TextVariableInstance
The text that replaces the variable marker. Note: This property cannot be set; it can be used only to update variables. .

robin

--
www.adobescripts.com

sorry :(

Peter is right

robin

--
www.adobescripts.com

>Where does one get such info?

It should be in the guides, and I guess you should be able to find it in the object browser. InDesign's object model is indeed complex. To find which methods and properties exist, you have to go through the lists (guides, obj viewer) and see what's there. It's like reading a dictionary.

Peter

Hi,

I checked OMV, SciptDebugger's dictionary and VB6's object browser but didn't find "contents" property of "variableOptions" in any of them. Peter, how did you find it?

Kasyan

It isn't particularly clear indeed. VariableOptions has any of these properties (as an object)

PageNumberVariablePreference
ChapterNumberVariablePreference
DateVariablePreference
FileNameVariablePreference
MatchCharacterStylePreference
MatchParagraphStylePreference
CustomTextVariablePreference

As Ken wanted to set a text variable, I then looked under customTextVariablePreference, where I found contents.

Actually, it so happened that I figured this out last week for a script, and it took me a good deal longer than the above description may have suggested!

Peter

Fellow Scripters,

I agree that the documentation should cover text variables better--and I created it. There just wasn't time to get them in, and it's high on my list of things to fix for CS4.

Ken, I don't think you need another browser--the VB6 version is at least as good as the JavaScript versions mentioned above. The only trick is to understand that TextVariable.VariableType tells you which "preferences" object to look at for the settings for the variable.

For a simple text (custom) variable, you'd see that the VariableType is idVariableType.idCustomTextType. That tells you that the object you want to look at is the CustomTextVariablePreference object. Looking at that object, you can see that it has only a Content and a Parent property.

This, by the way, is why the type of the TextVariable.VariableOptions property is a Variant--it can be any of the text variable preferences objects. When you think of the question in terms of the user interface, this seems reasonable--the different preferences objects correspond to the menu choices in the Text Variables dialog box. The menu choice you make changes the controls that appear in the dialog box. The controls correspond to the options in the preferences object.

Which brings me to a point: the more you know about the way that InDesign works, the easier it is to understand the object model. That said, InDesign is a big program, with a very large object model!

Sorry I didn't get to text variables in the documentation, and I'll do better next time. Until then, ask questions here! It's an incredible resource.

Thanks,

Ole

Coming back to scripted text variables, here's a script that illustrates a couple of things that were raised in this thread. I use it to display and set all text variables in a document. I use it to set variables in documents I use as masters for journals, to set things like volume, issue, year, date, and whatever else.

When first run, the script creates a two-column table on the first page of the document. It places variable names in the first column, their values in the second column. To set different values for any variable, replace the value in the second column with the new value. Then run the script again.

Peter

(PS: jongware's list is a great tool indeed, should have mentioned that)

doc = app.activeDocument;
if ( doc.textFrames.item ('vars___') == null)
show_variables (doc);
else
set_variables (doc);

function show_variables (doc)
{
var v = doc.textVariables;
var table_contents = [];
var n = 0;
for (var i = 0; i < v.length; i++)
{
if (v[i].variableType == VariableTypes.customTextType)
{
table_contents.push (v[i].name);
table_contents.push (v[i].variableOptions.contents);
n++;
}
}
var tf = doc.pages[0].textFrames.add ({label: 'vars___'});
tf.geometricBounds = [20,20,500,500];
var table = tf.insertionPoints[0].tables.add();
table.columnCount = 2;
table.bodyRowCount = n;
table.contents = table_contents;
}

function set_variables (doc)
{
var t = doc.textFrames.item ('vars___').parentStory.tables[0];
var var_names = t.columns[0].contents;
var new_contents = t.columns[1].contents;
var vars = doc.textVariables;
for( var i = 0; i < var_names.length; i++)
vars.item (var_names[i]).variableOptions.contents = new_contents[i];
// doc.textFrames.item ('vars___').remove()
}

McClure,

>... the opportunity to mimic variable properties in the document as a means of coding the script to include header or footer "Use:" cases for variable definition and adjustment.

>Is there a simple way to call existing variables of all types into a table where the table cells reflect each of the ExtendScript values for ease of use in coding?

I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean. Could you elaborate?

Thanks,

Peter

Sorry, I still don't get it. Are we talking about the same type of variable?

Peter

John,

The other variable types are a bit harder to handle than text variables (in a script). As text variables are the only ones that are changed regularly, they're the only ones for which I think quick access is sensible to script. Other variable types are set once (in my experience anyway).

Peter