selected property == inherently slow ?

Hi CarlosCanto,

Thanks for responding. Yeah its solely for selection based on other factors, so only the items contained in the array are needed. Everything works as stated virtually instantly, but using "selected" is very slow, thus I was hoping for another possible approach for better speed.

Hi CarlosCanto,

Thanks for getting back with me, sorry for the delay in responding it was getting late last evening. Anyway, I have done further tests this morning and as stated "selected" is inherently slow? The initial code for populating the array happens instantaneously so I know thats not the issue here. The following are some loop tests I have tried on the array once populated, none of which really make a tremendous difference when setting the "selected" property.

//

// Various Loop Variations Tested:

//

// 1.

var i = selectionArray.length;

while (i--) {

    selectionArray[i].selected = true;

}

// 2.

for (var i = 0; selectionArray[i]; i++) {

    selectionArray[i].selected = true;

}

// 3.

for (var i = 0, len = selectionArray.length; i !== len; i++) {

    selectionArray[i].selected = true;

}

// 4.

for (var i = selectionArray.length - 1; i >= 0; --i) {

    selectionArray[i].selected = true;

}

All results are fairly similar using "selected", however when changing to remove() or even width or another property again there is a huge discrepancy in execution time, thus my question about why is "selected" so darn slow and can anything be done to overcome it. When testing this, this is true for array length tests of 1000 - 15000, "selected" is very slow in comparison to other properties being quite fast. For example with an array of approx 13000, remove() takes 2 seconds, using width takes 187 seconds (3 min), while "selected" takes approximately 1476 seconds (24 min), this is maybe an extreme test but shows the point. Obviously these three property tests demonstrate there are internal differences as to whats going on, but why is selection so darn slow comparatively? I assume it is due to it being a boolean and needing to be evaluated but man its so slow.

Is there anything that can be done, or another approach for selecting the items faster which are contained with in the array? I mean for example selectObjectsOnActiveArtboard is virtually instantaneous (Test: 25000+ in 1 second) is there something similar or another approach for my case of items with in an array?

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[Q:] A Related Question: what Javascript engine is embedded in the suites or ESTK and what version of JS is it using/targeting? Just wondering if there are any specific optimizations that can be considered or kept in mind in general based on the specific JS engine when coding.

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Thanks CarlosCanto, and others for reviewing this and offering any feedback, many thanks in advance.

Hi CarlosCanto,

Thanks so much for your response and information. I don't have CS6 yet, just CS5.+, but it's good to know that there are some *cough* advancements there concerning scripting.

Ah, problems and limitations, that seems to be the ongoing theme I find when searching about scripting illustrator. It does offer an opportunity for critical thinking, creative approaches and after the dust settles from head banging, sometimes working solutions. I think your right about the redraw and perhaps also coupled with the boolean of the property itself, it becomes very slow.

Anyway your last post pushed my thinking further thankfully. I ended up moving the items to a designated selection layer and using hasSelectedArtwork (of course once made its easy to then toggle the selection also in the layer palette manually, if desired). "Move" seems instantaneous and I can always merge things back if needed. [Q:] Does "move" work like paste in place? It seems to, but just asking to make sure things are keeping position and just moving layers.

Thanks again CarlosCanto, for the insight and support, really appreciate it.