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Meate
Meate
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GroupItems are returning as Layers??

Apr 5, 2012 10:36 AM

I have a layer that contains two clipping groups (groups with a clip mask and other art).  When I call layer.groupItems it returns an empty array.  When I call layer.layers it returns the two clipping groups.  I need to know if these layers are clipping groups, but if they are coming back as layers how can I figure that out?

567 Views   8 Replies   Latest reply: Meate, Apr 6, 2012 8:25 AM
 
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  • Muppet Mark
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    1. Muppet Mark,
    Apr 5, 2012 10:59 AM   in reply to Meate
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    Post a snapshot of your expanded layer palette or a link to a file from some web sharing site…

     
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  • Meate
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    2. Meate,
    Apr 5, 2012 11:40 AM   in reply to Muppet Mark
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    layer_palette.jpg

    The code snippet to get the items is:

     

    var pageItems:PageItems = sourceLayer.pageItems;

    var groupItems:GroupItems = sourceLayer.groupItems;

    var layerItems:Layers = sourceLayer.layers;

     

    where sourceLayer is Layer 1.  pageItems.length is 1.  groupItems.length is 0.  layerItems.length is 2.

     
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  • Muppet Mark
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    3. Muppet Mark,
    Apr 5, 2012 11:47 AM   in reply to Meate
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    That won't pass a syntax check with those colons… What happens if you try this… Change my fluff for any name you like ( that's present in doc )…

     

    #target illustrator
 
var doc = app.activeDocument;
 
var sourceLayer = doc.layers.getByName( 'fluff' );
 
var layPageItems = sourceLayer.pageItems;
var layGroupItems = sourceLayer.groupItems;
var layLayers = sourceLayer.layers;
 
     
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  • Meate
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    4. Meate,
    Apr 5, 2012 11:59 AM   in reply to Muppet Mark
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    I'm doing this in ActionScript, hence the colons and type declaration.  Your code snippet compiles with warnings about missing type declarations, but the result is the same.

     
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    5. Muppet Mark,
    Apr 5, 2012 12:38 PM   in reply to Meate
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    ActionScript why didn't you say? I know nothing of ActionScript sorry…

     
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  • Meate
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    6. Meate,
    Apr 5, 2012 12:48 PM   in reply to Muppet Mark
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    The syntax is very similar, but the api is exactly the same.  Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!

     
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  • Muppet Mark
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    7. Muppet Mark,
    Apr 6, 2012 1:13 AM   in reply to Meate
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    I don't really know what I can add… I quickly made a doc that looks like your structure and slighty modified the above snippet to debug…

    All the results are exactly what I would expect? Is you dupe layer question also ActionScript?

     

    #target illustrator
 
var doc = app.activeDocument;
 
var sourceLayer = doc.layers.getByName( 'Layer 1' );
 
$.writeln( sourceLayer.pageItems.length ); // returns 3
$.writeln( sourceLayer.groupItems.length ); // returns 2
$.writeln( sourceLayer.layers.length ); // returns 0

     

    Screen shot 2012-04-06 at 09.08.34.png

     
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  • Meate
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    8. Meate,
    Apr 6, 2012 8:25 AM   in reply to Muppet Mark
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    I'm just not getting warm fuzzies over this api.  It seems very broken.  I would expect the results you are getting, but why my results are different baffles me.

     

    The dupe layer question is also ActionScript, but after perusing these forums it seems it's a known issue that z-ordering is broken in this api.  There is no way to reliably get the correct z-order for elements in a layer.

     

    Thank you Mark for your responses.

     
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