Automating flow tag changes

The fastest way would be to script this using Extendscript. The core script for this could be as simple as:

#target framemaker

var doc = app.ActiveDoc;

var docName = doc.Name;

var flow = doc.FirstFlowInDoc;

// set the name of the flow tag that you want to rename to

var newName = "BodyText";

// loop through all flows in a doc and rename any "A" flows to newName

while (flow.ObjectValid()) {

    if (flow.Name == "A") {

        flow.Name = newName;

        }

    flow = flow.NextFlowInDoc;

}

// save the updated document

doc.SimpleSave(docName, false);

This changes all "A" flows in a document to "BodyText" and then saves the document. 

You could automate this further to loop through all files/documents in a book (if you create a temporary book to hold all of the files that you want to modify ) as follows:

#target framemaker

var book = app.ActiveBook

// get first doc in book

var doc = book.FirstComponentInBook;

// get first flow in the first doc

var flow = doc.FirstFlowInDoc;

while(doc.ObjectValid() ){

// get name of current doc

     var docName = doc.Name;

// loop through all flows in the current doc

     while (flow.ObjectValid()) {

         if (flow.Name == "A") {

             flow.Name = newName;

             }

         flow = flow.NextFlowInDoc;

     }

// save the updated document using the original name

     doc.SimpleSave(docName, false);

// get next doc in book

    doc =  doc.NextComponentInBook;

}

Please note that this a quick & dirty with minimal checks. Make backups of your originals and do all of this a temp folder with copies of the files. It's really easy to mess up a lot of files without due caution...

The alternative approach could involve more manual steps. First save the files as MIF, then using a text editor (or grep command line tool) change all of these statements:

<TFTag `A'>

to

<TFTag `BodyText'>

 

I have the book open and selected in the tree, with no document open. To identify that script, I use File > Script > Run.

 

This was a quick&dirty to show you the basics. Just iterating from the book requires you to also open each document (& close it after saving too). If all the files are open in advance, then it should work.

With the possibility of nested books, groups & folders, this (iterating over all files in a book) isn't a trivial operation (anymore). If you look at any of the Adobe Extendscript of the week blogs (for example, see: http://blogs.adobe.com/techcomm/2011/11/extendscript-of-the-week-close-all-files-in-a-book -without-saving.html ) and examine the BookIterator.jsx routine in the downloadable script package, you'll see the complexity of checking for all conditions cleanly when opening book components.

In the Book file, a Shift+File > Open All Files in Book  should get all of the components opened for you. Then run the script.

Here's a revised script that will open, change the flow name, save and close all of the book component files. (I've tested this to be sure it works.)

#target framemaker

var book = app.ActiveBook;

// get first doc in book

var comp = book.FirstComponentInBook;

// set flow tag names

var newName = "BodyText";

var oldName = "A";

// loop through all docs in book

while (comp.ObjectValid()) {

  // get name of current doc

     var docName = comp.Name;

// open document

    var doc = SimpleOpen (docName, false);

// get first flow in the first doc

    var flow = doc.FirstFlowInDoc;

  // loop through all flows in the current doc

     while (flow.ObjectValid() ) {

         if (flow.Name === oldName) {

             flow.Name = newName;

             }

         flow = flow.NextFlowInDoc;

     }

// save the updated document using the original name

   doc.SimpleSave(docName, false);

// close the document

   doc.Close (Constants.FF_CLOSE_MODIFIED);

// get next doc in book

    comp =  comp.NextComponentInBook;

}

Again, this doesn't do any extensive checking, so if the files open cleanly from a book, this should be ok.