Find and place images from subfolders

[Antony_Mooe]

Hello,

I have an Indesign file with the name of the images I want to place:

Each images has it's folder and they're in a top folder named "fotos".

The structure:

fotos / 10 - description / image1

fotos / 20 - description / image2

fotos / 30 - description / image2

fotos / etc………    

Here is the code I'm using:

It finds the subfolders and the images files, but don't place them into Indesign.

if(app.documents.length != 0)
{ 
var subf = Folder ("/Users/iMac/Desktop/fotos/");
var sf = subf.getFiles(onlyFolders);
var s = "";
for (var n = 0; n < sf.length; n++) {
  s += sf.name + "\r";
}
alert(s);
function onlyFolders(subf) {
  if (subf.name == "File") {
    return false;
  } else {
    return true;
  }
} 
    if(subf != null){ 
        // reset the Find/Change dialog 
        app.findGrepPreferences = app.changeGrepPreferences = null; 
        // formulate a grep search string 
        app.findGrepPreferences.findWhat = '@.+?@'; 
        // find all occurrence, last one first 
        f = app.activeDocument.findGrep (true); 
        for (i = 0; i < f.length; i++){ 
            // construct file name 
            name = f.contents.replace (/@/g, ''); 
            // place the image 
            var placedObjects = f.insertionPoints[0].place (File (sf +  '/'+ name+'/')); 
        } 
    // delete all @??@ codes 
    app.activeDocument.changeGrep(); 
    } 
} 
else{ 
   alert('Please open a document and try again.'); 
} 

Here is the error from ExtendScript Toolkit:

Can I get help from you guys?!

Thank you.

[Loic.Aigon]

Your biggest mistake is that you are using your reference to the array of files your retrieve from the folder user selection instead of the folder itself.

var sf = subf.getFiles(onlyFolders);

//This is an array of files objects

var placedObjects = f.insertionPoints[0].place (File (sf +  '/'+ name+'/'));

//sf isn't the folder object !

//subf is

[Antony_Mooe]

Hello,

Thank you for your reply.

I changed the code to:

if(app.documents.length != 0)
{ 
var subf = Folder ("/Users/iMac/Desktop/fotos/");
var sf = subf.getFiles(onlyFolders);
var s = "";
for (var n = 0; n < sf.length; n++) {
  s += sf.name + "\r";
}
alert(s);
function onlyFolders(subf) {
  if (subf.name == "File") {
    return false;
  } else {
    return true;
  }
} 
    if(subf != null){ 
        // reset the Find/Change dialog 
        app.findGrepPreferences = app.changeGrepPreferences = null; 
        // formulate a grep search string 
        app.findGrepPreferences.findWhat = '@.+?@'; 
        // find all occurrence, last one first 
        f = app.activeDocument.findGrep (true); 
        for (i = 0; i < f.length; i++){ 
            // construct file name 
            name = f.contents.replace (/@/g, ''); 
            // place the image 
            var placedObjects = f.insertionPoints[0].place (File (subf +  '/'+ name+'/')); 
        } 
    // delete all @??@ codes 
    app.activeDocument.changeGrep(); 
    } 
} 
else{ 
   alert('Please open a document and try again.'); 
} 

But it returns to the top folder and don't search in the subfolders.

Do you know how can fix the code?

Thank you.

[Loic.Aigon · Accepted solution]

The problem is that getFiles won't look at subfolders (unless I am wrong). You need a recursive function.

A possible approach:

var lib = {
getFiles : function ( fo, aExtensions, bRecursive, aFiles, includeFolder )
{
var exts = aExtensions? aExtensions.join("|") : ".+" ;
var pattern = new RegExp ( "\\."+exts+"$", "g" );
var files = aFiles? aFiles : [];
var filterFunction = function(file)
{
return pattern.test ( file.name );
}
if ( bRecursive )
{
var foFiles = fo.getFiles();
while (  f = foFiles.shift() )
{
if ( f instanceof Folder )
{
if (includeFolder===true) files[ files.length ] = f;
this.getFiles ( f, aExtensions, true, files );
}
if ( f  instanceof File && pattern.test ( f.name ) && f.name!=".DS_Store" ) 
files[ files.length ]  = f;
}
return files;
}
else
{
return fo.getFiles ( filterFunction );
}
},
getFilesDB:function(arrFiles){
var db = {}, n = arrFiles.length, aFile;
while ( n-- ) {
aFile = arrFiles;
db[decodeURI(aFile.name)] = aFile;
}
return db;
},
replaceFiles:function ( doc, db ){
var fgp = app.findGrepPreferences.properties,
found = [], 
text,
n = 0, 
fileName = "",
file;
app.findGrepPreferences.properties = {
findWhat:"@.+@",
};
found = doc.findGrep();
n = found.length;
while ( n-- ) {
text = found;
tf = text.parentTextFrames.length ? text.parentTextFrames[0] : text.parentStory.textContainers[0];
fileName = text.contents.replace(/@/g, "" );
file = db[fileName];
if ( file ) {
tf .contents = "";
tf.contentType = ContentType.GRAPHIC_TYPE;
tf.place ( file );
tf.fit ( FitOptions.FILL_PROPORTIONALLY );
tf.fit ( FitOptions.CENTER_CONTENT );
}
}
}
};
var main = function(paragraph) {
var doc = app.properties.activeDocument,
fo, files, db;
if ( !doc ) return;
fo = Folder.selectDialog("Please choose the parent folder" );
if ( !fo ) return;
files = lib.getFiles ( fo, ["jpe?g"], true);
if  (!files.length) {
alert("no files returned!");
return;
}
db = lib.getFilesDB ( files );
lib.replaceFiles ( doc, db );
}
var u;
app.doScript ( "main(app.activeDocument.stories[0].paragraphs[-1])",u,u,UndoModes.ENTIRE_SCRIPT, "The Script" );

[Antony_Mooe]

Man,

you made my day!!!!

Thank you so much!!

Cheers!

[Loic.Aigon]

Be aware it might not be bulletproof. What if several images are equally named ? Actually script "overrides" file references so the latest found file will prior when placed (I only one "1.jpg" file will be placed even if several found).

[Antony_Mooe]

I will keep that in mind.

It works perfectly for what I need.

Thank you again!