Batch updating .ai files to be PDF compatible.

Question

Hello,
We have a huge library of technical drawings in Illustrator that we have been progressively building for many years. Many of these files are from very old versions of Illustrator (7) up to and including files from CS4. Some are saved as .ai, others as .eps.
What we would like to do in the interests of facilitating accessibility to this data, is to resave all these files as CS3 .ai files with PDF compatibility. I have found an AppleScript here: http://www.justskins.com/forums/how-do-i-remove-pdf-compatability-on-multiple-files-32987. html that I have been able to modify to add PDF compatibility rather than remove it, but this script will only work on one folder at a time (our files are organised in a hierarchy 5 or more levels deep) and seems to be quite fault intolerant (falls over on files with no extension).
We would like to maintain the carefully organised hierarchy of our library, so ideally I need to make a script that will drill down into the folders of our library, opening files as it finds them and then overwriting them with PDF compatible files.
Is this something that is even possible with a script?
Thanks in advance for any light you can shed on this issue…

Answer 1

here you go:
if (!Array.prototype.forEach)
  Array.prototype.forEach = function(fun /*, thisp*/)
    var len = this.length >>> 0;
    if (typeof fun != "function")
      throw new TypeError();
    var thisp = arguments[1];
    for (var i = 0; i < len; i++)
      if (i in this)
        fun.call(thisp, this[i], i, this);
//should we overwrite our files? i strongly recommend that you DON'T or if you do, have a backup
var OVERWRITE = false;
function main() {
    var initDir = Folder.selectDialog();
    if(initDir == null) return;
    var dlg = prompt("Would you like to overwrite existing?(Strongly suggested that you don't)", "NO", "Overwrite?");
    if(dlg == null) return;
    else if(dlg.toLowerCase() == "yes") {
        var cdlg = confirm("Are you really sure that you want to overwrite all files?");
        if(cdlg) OVERWRITE = true;
    recurseDirs(initDir);
function recurseDirs(dir){
    var files = dir.getFiles(isFile);
    var dirs = dir.getFiles(isDir);
    if(files.length>0) recurseFiles(files);
    if(dirs.length>0) dirs.forEach(recurseDirs);
function recurseFiles(files){
    for(j = files.length - 1; j>=0; j--) {
                if(files[j].hidden || files[j].name.substring(0,1) == '.') continue;
                var _doc = app.open(files[j]);
                var name = '', ext = '';
                if(files[j].name.indexOf(".ai") > -1) {
                    name = files[j].name.substring(0, files[j].name.indexOf(".ai"));
                    ext = ".ai";
                } else if(files[j].name.indexOf(".eps") > -1) {
                    name = files[j].name.substring(0, files[j].name.indexOf(".eps"));
                    ext = ".eps";
                } else {
                    name = files[j].name;
                    ext = '';
                var path = '';
                if(!OVERWRITE) {
                    path = files[j].path + "/" + name + "_CS3" + ext;
                } else {
                    path = files[j];
                exportFileToAI(path);
                _doc.close(SaveOptions.DONOTSAVECHANGES);
                //app.redraw();
function isDir(fileObj) {
    if(fileObj instanceof File) return false;
    else if(fileObj instanceof Folder) return true;
    return false;
function isFile(fileObj) {
    if(fileObj instanceof File) return true;
    else if(fileObj instanceof Folder) return false;
    return false;
function exportFileToAI (dest) {
    if ( app.documents.length > 0 ) {
        var saveOptions = new IllustratorSaveOptions();
        var ai13Doc = (dest instanceof File) ? dest : new File(dest);
        saveOptions.pdfCompatible = true;
        saveOptions.compatibility = Compatibility.ILLUSTRATOR13;
        saveOptions.flattenOutput = OutputFlattening.PRESERVEAPPEARANCE;
        app.activeDocument.saveAs( ai13Doc, saveOptions );
main();
hope it helps;
cheers;
*later edit* i think you can also use this for taking the script to other platforms as well. add the function to the script:
function isValidFile(file) {
    var os = (file.creator == "????") 'win' : 'unix';
    if(os == 'win') {
        if(file.name.indexOf(".ai") > -1 || file.name.indexOf(".eps") > -1) return true;
    } else if( os == 'unix') {
        if(file.creator.substring(0,3) == 'ART') return true;
    return false;
... and replace this line:
if(files[j].hidden || files[j].name.substring(0,1) == '.') continue;
with
if(!isValidFile(files[j])) continue;
whatever suits your needs.