Check if document contains a certain swatch

[cmoke73]

In my last post I tried (successfully) to find out how I can get the values out from self-defined swatches.

Now I would like to know how to determine if a swatch/color already exists in the document before a new is added (by input request).

Thank you in advance.

[tpk1982]

use try catch method

[cmoke73]

Oh, I would, if I could...

Unfortunatelly I´ve never used "try/catch". (shame on me)

[tpk1982]

Sure I will show you.. is it you have/wrote code anything now?

[tpk1982]

try
{
app.activeDocument.colors.item("LineNum").name; //change LineNum as you desired
}
catch (myError){
app.activeDocument.colors.add({name:"LineNum", model:ColorModel.process, colorValue:[0, 0, 0, 100]});
}

[cmoke73]

Does that mean:

lines 1-4 = the script tries to find that particular color

lines 5-7 = if there is not, add color

????

[tpk1982]

Yes.. but try what Uwe said

[cmoke73]

Thank you tpk1982!

I´ve allready written, but just simple things. I´m more designer who want to help himself with tiny scripts.

This one would be (for me) something new. But I appreciate it to learn new things. Let´s see...

[Laubender · Accepted solution]

Hi Andreas,
in this case I would not use a try/catch scenario.

Instead I would ask if the color isValid .

var myColorToCheck = app.documents[0].colors.itemByName("ColorName");

// Positive check: is valid:
if(myColorToCheck.isValid){/*do something*/};
// Negative check: is not valid:
if(!myColorToCheck.isValid){/*do something else*/};

But this code is only looking for the color's name.

If you want to make sure that all properties are applied you can enforce this.
Just define all the needed properties with their values as an object and apply that object to the properies property, if the color is already there.

Just as I was showing this here:

Re: Get Colour out of a multidimenisonal Array

To rephrase this:

// The full discription of a color as object:
var myColorToCheckProperties =
{  
    name : "SF_Rot" ,  
    colorValue : [15,100,100,0] ,  
    model : ColorModel.PROCESS ,  
    space : ColorSpace.CMYK  
};
// At this point it's not clear, if the color exists in the document:
var myColorToCheck = app.documents[0].colors.itemByName( myColorToCheckProperties.name );
if(myColorToCheck.isValid)
{
     /* Do something: Enforce that the right properties are used: */
     myColorToCheck.properties = myColorToCheckProperties
};
if(!myColorToCheck.isValid)
{
     /* Do something else: Add the color to the document */
     app.documents[0].colors.add
     (
          myColorToCheckProperties
     )
};

Regards,
Uwe

[cmoke73]

Hi Uwe.

The hint from tpk1982 works in a short test-script. In my main-script it doesn´t. (Maybe I made a mistake because of the functions inside the script). But I learned something new.

For me your way of doing sounds logical because I´m more familiar with the IF-condition. I'll try to do this after work... I will get back to you later.

Thanks by the way!

[cmoke73]

Well, it works, at last! I took the short version.

Here is the function with comments (in German).

function newColour() {
    var myColorToCheck = app.documents[0].colors.itemByName(colourArray[colourSwatch-1].name);  
    // Wenn die Farbe (Eingabe) vorhanden ist ... 
    if(myColorToCheck.isValid){
        //Holt sich die gewünschte Farbe aus den Dokumentenfarbpalette, anhand der Eingabe und der vordefinierten Farben im colourArray
        tabellenFarbe = myColours.itemByName(colourArray[colourSwatch-1].name);            
        alert("Farbe ist bereits in der Farbpalette vorhanden: " + tabellenFarbe.name);
        };  
    // Wenn die Farbe nicht vorhanden ist ...
    if(!myColorToCheck.isValid){
       //Erstellt ein neues Farbfeld anhand der Eingabe und der vordefinierten Farben im colourArray
        tabellenFarbe = myColours.add({name:colourArray[colourSwatch-1].name, model: ColorModel.PROCESS, space:ColorSpace.CMYK, colorValue:colourArray[colourSwatch-1].colorValue});    
        alert("Die neue Farbe aus Ihrer Eingabe wurde hinzugefügt: " + colourArray[colourSwatch-1].name);
        };
    // Einfärben : 
    // 1. von jeder unterkante einer jeden Zelle
    myTable.cells.everyItem().bottomEdgeStrokeColor = tabellenFarbe;
    // 2. von jeder Oberkante einer jeden Zelle 
    myTable.cells.everyItem().topEdgeStrokeColor  = tabellenFarbe; 
    // 3. aller Zeichen in der erste Zeile
    myTable.rows.firstItem().cells.everyItem().characters.everyItem().fillColor = tabellenFarbe;    
} 

Perhaps it helps a newbie ...

Than you again Uwe!