[JS] #include does not work

[vincentp81166026]

Hi guys,

i'm an Applescript guy trying to translate an AS script in JS.

So far, it's working with one pb though: i want to use the array.filter method in my script but it doesn't work.

I've replaced it via a simple loop and it work, but as it seems it could be done via the use of a polyfill, i tried that too, without success.

I guess i have done something wrong somewhere and i hoped someone here could help me find it!

What i've done so far:

- copy the polyfill for that method from this page on MDN,

- creating a new file on ExtendScript*, paste the code, save the file ("polyfills.jsx"**) in the same folder as my script.

- added at the beginning of my script "#include 'polyfills.jsx';"

* I don't know if it's relevant, but the selected engine when saving the file was "Adobe InDesign CC2017 (12.064)", the same used by my script.

** I couldn't use the .jsxinc extension as when i do that, it create a "polyfills.jsxinc.jsx" file.

When i launch my script in ExtendScript Toolkit, it throws an error on the line where i use the filter method : 'xxx.filter is not a function'.

So the polyfill doesn't seem to work.

The code where i use the filter method:

var my_textFrames = doc.textFrames;

var my_filtered_textFrames = my_textFrames.filter(function (element) {

    return (element.label.indexOf('tableau') !== -1);

});

Thank for your help!

config:

OS X 10.11.6

InDesign CC 2017 12.0.0.81

ExtendScript Toolkit 4.0.0.1

[Vamitul · Accepted solution]

doc.textFrames is not an ARRAY but a collection.

you should convert it to an array:

var my_textFrames = doc.textFrames.everyItem().getElements();

[vincentp81166026]

Ok i'll try that, thanks for the quick reply!

[Laubender]

Hi Vincent,

you have to be very careful using the right string for filtering with prototyped method filter() as presented at MDN.

Example

I know, it's a bit dump, but I like to show a point here.

Category 1 | Have some text frames labeled:

"SelectThis"

Category 2 | Others should be labeled:

"DoNotSelectThis"

Example line in your filter function:

return (element.label.indexOf("SelectThis") !== -1);

would return all two categories of labeled text frames.

So I would suggest the more lame approach with a different tool set to get the labeled text frames:

var doc = app.documents[0];
var textFramesArray = doc.textFrames.everyItem().getElements();
var textFramesArrayLength = textFramesArray.length;
var n = 0;
var regExp = RegExp("^SelectThis$"); // A softened version would be: RegExp("^SelectThis$", "i")
var resultArrayOfTextFrames = [];
for(n=0;n<textFramesArrayLength;n++)
{
    var currentItem = textFramesArray;
    if(currentItem.label.match(regExp))
    {
        resultArrayOfTextFrames[resultArrayOfTextFrames.length++] = 
        textFramesArray;
    };
};

Or this alternative in the for loop using method test() on a RegExp.

// ALTERNATIVE for match():
    if(regExp.test(currentItem.label))
    {
        resultArrayOfTextFrames[resultArrayOfTextFrames.length++] = 
        textFramesArray;
    };

Regards,
Uwe

[vincentp81166026]

Hi Uwe,

thanks for the reply.

In the context of my script, i think my test is ok as there is only one text frame in the document that have a label which contain that string, so there is no ambiguity in this case.

But still, i'll look carefully at your alternative methods: my AS>JS journey is only beginning and i need every advise and code exemples i could get  😉

Regards,

Vincent

[vincentp81166026]

Hi Vamitul,

it worked as expected, thanks for the tip.

For JS/ExtendScript newbies like me, i found a treasure tove of informations regarding how to work with collections in those two articles of Marc Autret.

A little difficult to digest at once but nevertheless incredibly useful.

Regards,

Vincent