Difficulty in replacing a source file

Question

Hi,
I'm new to scripting, and am trying to replace a layer's source file while keeping all it's attributes. I wrote the following script which I thought would work, but it doesn't... I have searched all the pdf support files for an answer to this without any result... I can't find a example to do this either. When using AE, this can be done by holding ALT and dragging a file to the layer. (see below)
Replace layer sources with references to another footage item
Select one or more layers in the Timeline panel
Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Mac OS) a footage item from the Project panel onto a selected layer in the Timeline panel.
This is what I'm trying to accomplish in script. Here's what isn't working:
//app.project.item(index).layer(index) .replaceSource (newSource, fixExpressions)
var mynewSource = "c:\\AE Media\Jpg files\replacementfile.jpg"
app.project.item(1).layer(1).replaceSource (mynewSource,false)
I hope I can get help with this... thanks!

Answer 1

You were missing a third closing bracket on this line, but your lack of semi-colons was causing it to report the error as on the next line:
app.project.importFile(new ImportOptions(File(mynewSource)));
Also your mynewSource variable is only ever a string of the path, not the imported footage, so it won't work to replace it. Try something like:
var mynewSource = "c:\\AE Media\Jpg files\replacementfile.jpg";
var myFile = File (mynewSource);
if (myFile.exists) {
     alert("file exists!");
     var importOptions = new ImportOptions(myFile);
     //importOptions.importAs = ImportAsType.COMP; // you can do stuff like this at this point for PSDs
     var theImport = app.project.importFile(importOptions);
     app.project.item(1).layer(1).replaceSource(theImport,false);