Destroying ScriptUI Palette Windows

In ExtendScript, I've run up against a very strange scenario with which I need some help from a ScriptUI guru. I've got a huge InDesign script that, during the course of its execution, displays a progress bar in a palette window:
var w = new Window("palette", "Progress");
I would like this palette to be closed when the script is finished, so I added a w.close() at the end of the script.
However, this only occurs if the focus is still in InDesign. Some of our people like to work on other tasks while the InDesign script is running on another screen in the background, which is fine, but when they return to InDesign, that progress bar palette is still on the screen, showing 100% completion. This palette window can be moved around, but it cannot be closed, even if the little red 'x' in the corner is clicked. This eventually leads to multiple palettes staying on the screen throughout the day, as this script is called dozens of times in a normal workday.
Reading Peter Kahrel's excellent guide to ScriptUI, I learned that all palettes remain in memory, even after being closed with .close(). I want them completely erased from memory and purged, so they don't stay on the screen if the user switches to another application while the script is running. Any ideas on how to accomplish this?
By the way, I wanted to include some sample code so you could see for yourself, but it doesn't seem to work when it's just some small code called from with the ESTK; only in my 4,647-line production script. Thus, I cannot paste any example code.

Hello Peter,
do you mean this post?
http://www.indiscripts.com/post/2013/12/indesign-scripting-forum-roundup-5#hd3sb2
Roland

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When one ScriptUI palette opens another

I have two general-purpose ScriptUI palettes (one for Indesign and one for InCopy) that calls a smaller palette (which works in both applications) using a doScript() command. I've done the same thing for ScriptUI dialogs, which works just fine because the dialog must be dismissed before the user can do anything else.
With a floating palette, though, the "big" script can call multiple instances of the little one. This is probably a silly thing to worry about, but it just seems sloppy to allow that.
So I'm looking for a way to test whether the little palette is open. I don't think these ScriptUI windows show up in the app.panels array.
The best I've come up with so far is:
if (ntWindowShowing==undefined) {
ntWindow.show();
ntWindowShowing = true; }
near the top of the little script, after the "ntWindow" palette is defined. Later, there's an onClose handler that sets ntWindowShowing to undefined. It seems to work OK, but I wonder if anyone has a better solution. I recall an admonition to avoid switching a variable from one data type to another but wonder if there's any harm in going from undefined to true to undefined again.

Didn't exactly set off a debate over best practices. Oh well.
I realized today that the if statement should be:
if (typeof ntWindowShowing=="undefined")
otherwise the script throws an error after a restart of the application. Seems to have something to do with the difference between an undeclared variable and an undefined one.

ScriptUI and Windows 8

Hi,
Every so often I'm getting feedback from users that certain ScriptUI things are not working in Windows 8.
I don't have Windows 8, so I can't test.
Has anyone come across problems with ScriptUI and Windows 8?
For example, I have a free script here:
http://www.freelancebookdesign.com/scripts/quick-apply-with-next-style
Somebody has just posted that it's not working with Windows 8 (but it does work with Windows 7).
Can anyone shed any light on this?
Thanks,
Ariel

Hi Fred,
I think the problem exists also with CS6 on Windows 8. The new CC SciptUI is completely rewritten, and was probably tested on Windows 8 as well.
If you've got Windows 8 installed and ID CS5 or CS6, you should be able to test this and see what, if anything, can be done.
I doubt that Adobe are going to fix it, of course, because as far as they're concerned CC is probably the "fix" they want people to use!
Actually, Microsoft are probably the people to blame, as their aim is always backwards compatibility with new Windows releases, and this is broken for ScriptUI.

FtpConnection and palette window problem

I've tried to implement a progress bar for handling FtpConnection puts and gets.
My progress bar code works; I use it in PSCS2 and PSCS3 just fine. My ftp code
is also working in Bridge CS3: my progress bar and text is getting updated
correctly, the files are getting transferred, I am just locked out of doing
anything with it, like hit the cancel key.
I've tried doing this with ftp sync and async, I've pumping and not pumping.
Nothing I do will let the palette window acquire focus while FtpConnection is
doing a get or a put.
Has anybody got a progress bar/palette working with FtpConnection yet?
-X

Hi,
You can create a scheduled task and call pump() on the ftp object from within that, then use the ftp call back to update your progress bar. With the Asynch demo Bridge/dialog will lock because the main thread is sleeping and writing to the console inside the while loop.
Try the following, you will have to adjust the timings and what not to get exactly what you are after but this works. I 'quickly' tested with a 100mb zip file using Bridge/ESTK CS3 and plain old ftp server.
Make sure a selection is made in Bridge and then run the script from ESTK - hope it helps.
Cheers,
// Load the webaccess library
if( webaccesslib == undefined )
if( Folder.fs == "Windows" ) {
var pathToLib = Folder.startup.fsName + "/webaccesslib.dll";
} else {
var pathToLib = Folder.startup.fsName + "/webaccesslib.bundle";
// verify that the path is valid
var libfile = new File( pathToLib );
var webaccesslib = new ExternalObject("lib:" + pathToLib );
// Create the progress dialog
var win = new Window("palette", "FTP Dialog");
// Add a panel to contain the components
win.pnl = win.add("panel", undefined, "FTP Status");
// Add a progress bar with a label and initial value of 0, max value of 100.
var pBar = win.pnl.add("progressbar", undefined, 0, 100);
// Add buttons
win.cancelButton = win.add("button", undefined, "Cancel");
win.cancelButton.onClick = function()
$.writeln("FTP Cancelled");
ftpServer.cancel();
app.cancelTask(MyTask.id);
win.close();
// This task will be scheduled to control the progress bar upddate
MyTask = {};
MyTask.id = 0;
MyTask.updateStatus = function()
//$.writeln("updateStatus() called");
ftpServer.pump();
var ftpAddress = "";
var ftpUsername = "";
var ftpPassword = "";
var ftpDir = "";
// Create ftp object and assign username/password
var url = "ftp://" + ftpAddress;
var ftpServer = new FtpConnection(url);
ftpServer.timeout = 30;
// We don't want a blocking connection
ftpServer.async = true;
ftpServer.username = ftpUsername;
ftpServer.password = ftpPassword;
ftpServer.onCallback = function(reason,p_log,total)
if(reason == FtpConnection.reasonProgress)
pBar.value += 10;
if( reason == FtpConnection.reasonStart ) {
$.writeln("AsyncFTP: Upload started");
if( reason == FtpConnection.reasonComplete ) {
$.writeln("AsyncFTP: Upload finished");
app.cancelTask(MyTask.id);
win.close();
if(reason == FtpConnection.reasonFailed ) {
$.writeln("AsyncFTP: Upload failed");
app.cancelTask(MyTask.id);
win.close();
ftpServer.open(url);
if(ftpServer.isOpen)
// Move to a directory (if needed)
ftpServer.cd = "bridge"
// Create the destination directory on the server
//ftpServer.mkdir(ftpDir);
// Move to the new directory
ftpServer.cd = ftpDir;
if(app.document.selections.length == 1)
win.show();
// The selected thumbnails in Bridge
var sels = app.document.selections;
ftpServer.put(sels[0].spec, sels[0].name);
// Rerun this task every 100 ms
MyTask.id = app.scheduleTask("MyTask.updateStatus()", 100, true);
"End"

Error updating a progress palette window

I am updating the progress palette window for each file executed using the fileIterator code that Bob was kind enough to provide. I am updating the status text with the name of each file. This works the first and second time, but on the third iteration I am getting the error:
Processed ( 0 ): 2005-01-12_0026nanaimo%20second%20growth.jpg
Processed ( 1 ): 20050104_0004.jpg
{LiveObject("StaticText").property(0x027f9a58)} is undefined
When I look at the statictext member it no longer has a text field in the data browser.
Has anyone encountered this type of error?

Rory,
I assume you're playing with the BridgeTalkIterator?
If so, when you add your message to the Iterator queue, the arguments are:
btIterator.addMessage( target, script, filename )
If you include the file name on the addMessage call, it will show the filename in the progress palette for you.
As for the amazing disappearing statictext element, I have no idea how that could be happening from the iterator itself.
Could you post the line(s) of code you are using to update the progress palette? It's possible you are overwriting a key property or method name of the statictext element.
Bob
Adobe Workflow Scripting

How do I get my palette windows back in Illustrator CC2014?

I usually work out of the "Essentials" palette, but today I noticed all my palette windows have disappeared and I can't figure out how to get them back. No layers, Type, Characters, Swatches – etc. On the other hand I do have all the tool bar. I'm thinking I may've inadvertently hit a shortcut key that's temporarily hidden them.
I have noticed that the palette windows are there if I am in Painting, Printing and Proofing, Tracing, Typography, and Web. But not available for Essentials or Layout – until I did a reset in Layout and then they came back. I've done a reset on Essentials without any luck.
Working in Painting or some other format for now.
Thanks.
Sandra

Just because it wasn't otherwise noted...
Sandra MacPherson wrote:
I'm thinking I may've inadvertently hit a shortcut key that's temporarily hidden them.
That is easy to do, seeing as it's the TAB key. It's an off/on toggle.

Character palette window malfunction

In trying to sort out a problem I was having with non-English fonts, I went to the Help Viewer and thought I had a lead with the Special Characters selection under the Edit menu. I opened the Special Characters window and found a variety of non-English fonts (I was specially interested in Hebrew). The instructions said to open an application and select the charachter. I opened Textedit and made an attempt which did not work that I could tell. What it did do, was cause the Character Palette window to malfunction. It flashes partially open on an irregular but frequent basis, perhaps connected to program activity. The window appears in the middle of the screen, it is titled and has the litlle rotating activity icon in the middle but is blank otherwise. It remains for less than a second and then disappears. When I look at it with the Console utility, it gives this sort of message:
Nov 23 19:08:24 william-scotts-ibook-g4 crashdump[608]: CharPaletteServer crashed
Nov 23 19:08:24 william-scotts-ibook-g4 crashdump[608]: crash report written to: /Users/williamscott/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/CharPaletteServer.crash.log
Looking for devices matching vendor ID=1193 and product ID=8718
Looking for devices matching vendor ID=1193 and product ID=8717
Looking for devices matching vendor ID=1193 and product ID=8718
Looking for devices matching vendor ID=1193 and product ID=8717
Looking for devices matching vendor ID=1193 and product ID=8718
Looking for devices matching vendor ID=1193 and product ID=8717
etc...
I can't seem to make it stop. Relaunching the Finder didn't help. Logging out didn't help. Turning the machine completely off and restarting didn't help. Its driving me nuts...
I have an iBook G4 running 10.4.8

Hi sonopan
Fully understand the frustration
Open "Activity Monitor" in /Applications/Utilities/
On the panel you will see all of the programs in memory
scroll down and one click on "ChaPaletteServer" it will highlight
click on "Quit Process" at the top of the screen
that should clear it
To use another language I select it in System Preferences > International > Input Menu
enable "Character Palette" and "Keyboard Viewer"
at the bottom of the pane
enable "Allow a different input source for each document"
and "Show input menu in menu bar"
Open Textedit
click on the flag icon on the menu bar
select "Show keyboard viewer"
select the language
and away you go - the keyboard viewer shows the characters as available on your keyboard
You can access the International Prefs from the icon as well so if you want to deselect a language you can but change back to English (if that's you normal language) before doing so
chris
Please use the "Question Answered" and "Points Systems" (if appropriate) as it does indicate to others the need for help, or a possible answer for others with a similar problem.

"In the Data Palette window, drag the Login to Portal portlet ..."?

Hi;
In http://e-docs.bea.com/workshop/docs81/doc/en/portal/samples/login.html?skipReload=true it says "In the Data Palette window, drag the Login to Portal portlet onto a placeholder on the page. "What does this mean and how do I do it?
And the following line is "In the Property Editor window, set any relevant properties." - where is the property window and what properties do I want to set and to what value?
thanks - dave

Help please
thanks - dave

Bug? InDesign CC/CC2014 loses focus when closing ScriptUI dialog window

When closing a "dialog" type window, created using ScriptUI from Extendscript, InDesign will lose focus as "active application" in Windows (7/8) and instead switch to another application in Windows altogether. This behavior does not occur on previous versions of InDesign (CS6 and earlier). I can easily reproduce the problem at my company on various machines (both on Windows 7 and Windows 8). The Mac OS version of InDesign does not seem to have this problem. Also, the problem does not seem to occur when using "palette" or "window" type ScriptUI windows.

That's in itself an interesting observation, but I have the focus problem
also with scripts that don't use ScriptUI at all.
Peter
On Mon, 13 Oct 2014 08:38:27 +0100, DirkEBM <[email protected]>

[CS4 JS] ScriptUI - Update palette with properties from front document

Hi all. I have created, with ScriptUI, a palette containing, among other things, a ListBox containing items for every xmlElement in a document. I want the control to read from the front document when there is more than one document open, and to update when there is a new front document.
I've added event listeners for "afterRevert," "afterOpen," "afterNew" and "afterClose" that call the function that populates the ListBox. The ListBox is successfully updated on closing the front document, reverting, or making a new document, or when opening a document when no others are open. However:
1.) The control doesn't update when a second or third document is opened. It "hangs on" to the first document. I've tried defining my document variable, in the function called by the event listeners, as app.documents.item(0) and as app.activeDocument, with no change in behavior. And
2.) I don't know how to update the control when bringing to the front an already-open document. I've tried adding an onActivate listener to my palette window that calls the ListBox population function, but the palette window isn't deactivated when you change the front document using command-~ or the Window menu, so it only works if you switch documents by clicking their tabs in the application window.
Can anyone help me? I think I'm missing something basic in my approach. If not, I can clean up some code to post.
Thanks,
Jeff

2.) I don't know how to update the control when bringing to the front an already-open document. I've tried adding an onActivate listener to my palette window that calls the ListBox population function, but the palette window isn't deactivated when you change the front document using command-~ or the Window menu, so it only works if you switch documents by clicking their tabs in the application window.
Perhaps adding an eventListener to the appropriate menuItems (that changes the activeDocument) to update your palette will do the trick?

JS ScriptUI window too busy to accept a click

I have a script that shows a Script UI 'window' (resizable, with minimize/maximize buttons etc).
The users can keep this interface minimized or put it beside the document, and still work with the active document (which is good).
(A previous interface for the same "main import code", used the old InDesign modal dialogue, that did not allow this.)
My problem is that as soon as I click the "start" button on this ScriptUI window, I can no longer interact with the form, until it's all done. It seems to be "too busy" to interact with anything at all, while running the main code loop. I can't even move the window.
The Esc (Escape) button does not work (I wouldn't expect it to either).
When the main loop (initiated by the Start-button) is done, the form is accessible again.
Is there a way to let the main code "wait" a fraction of a second, to let it accept button clicks? I'd like to have an abort button on the window, or just any way to let a user abort the script code before it's all done.
Thanks,
Andreas

Andreas,
You can try using
myPalette.update();
Where si myPalette your variable name for ScriptUI palette.
Unfortunately, there are some issues on MacOS when update is happening too quickly.
Hope that helps.
Marijan (tomaxxi)
http://tomaxxi.com

[PC / Mac] Modal vs. Non-modal ScriptUI windows issue

Hi,
in Photoshop ScriptUI 'dialog' Windows are supported (they're modal windows), while 'palette' Window's behavior is peculiar (they're non-modal, and as long as there's something going on in the script, they keep displaying - otherwise they automatically close). Apparently, this is different in InDesign (for instance), where palettes can stay idle - at least this is what I've been told.
I've found a couple of workarounds to work with palette Windows (my goal is to show them in order to let the user interact with either PS and the script's GUI - just like you'd do with regular panels and extensions - that is: to work with them as non-modal, idle palettes that mimic extension behavior), namely:
// usual Window stuff
win.show()
while (isDone === false) { // isDone is set true in win.onClose() etc.
app.refresh();
or
var s2t = function(stringID) {
return app.stringIDToTypeID(stringID);
var waitForRedraw = function() {
var d;
d = new ActionDescriptor();
d.putEnumerated(s2t('state'), s2t('state'), s2t('redrawComplete'));
return executeAction(s2t('wait'), d, DialogModes.NO);
// Window stuff
while (isDone === false) { // isDone is set true in win.onClose() etc.
waitForRedraw()
The problem is as follows:
1. They both work on Mac, either CS5 and CS6
2. app.refresh() seems to work on PC + CS5, but not PC + CS6
3. waitForRedraw() fails on both PC + CS5 and PC + CS6.
Mind you: When I wrote that the workarounds fails in CS5 and/or CS6 on PC, I mean that the 'palette', idle windows are modal and not non-modal as it is on Mac (which is my main coding platform).
[EDIT] Further testing has shown that PC palettes are... halfway between modal and non-modal. For instance, you can click on menus, but not select a Tool; you can collapse or drag a panel, but not access its content. You can't absolutely click on the image - for instance I'm desperately trying to enable panning on PC palettes: no way, you can't have the Hand tool to click&drag the image. For some reason, a "soft-scrolling" is enabled (on my MacBookPro, two fingers scrolling in all directions in the trackpad - but how to mimic this behavior in a desktop PC with no trackpad I don't know). Weirdly enough, the trackpad's "soft-scrolling" works in all directions on PC + CS5 64bits only, either CS5 @32bits, CS6 @32/64bits goes up and down only, no left/right allowed - frankly, to deal with platform-dependent issues is one thing, to take into account 32/64bits too is... ehm...
So, to sum up there are big differences in the ScriptUI behavior depending on how platform and PS version are combined:
PC, 'palette' Window:
CS5 + waitForRedraw() = modal
CS5 + app.refresh() = non-modal
CS6 + (app.refresh() OR waitForRedraw()) = modal
Mac, 'palette' Window:
(CS5 OR CS6) + (app.refresh() OR waitForRedraw()) = non-modal
Is there any... "working workaround" to make on PC CS6 a 'palette' ScriptUI Window to keep a non-modal, idling behavior? (the unasked question is: why is that palettes are behaving as non-modal in CS5 and not in CS6?! )
Thanks in advance!
Davide
Message was edited by: DBarranca - added blue text, further testing comparing 32/64bit versions

In the meantime, I've published two posts either describing in detail my issues:
ScriptUI Window in Photoshop - palette vs. dialog
and testing a workaround:
ScriptUI - BridgeTalk persistent window examples
Hopefully they may be useful to others as well.
Regards
Davide

Hide or destroy NonModalExternal Window

Hi,
I want to print the content of a popup window with the web dynpro print functionality. For this I created a non modal external window as an intermediate window for keeping the content. On the wdDoinit method of this external window view I am triggering the print functionality, that opens the print preview of this external window.
After printing the view, have to close the print preview screen and the intermediate external window.
How can I hide or destroy the intermediate external window, so that the user have to close only the print preview screen and go back to the real application.
I tried to assign the window as a context variable to component controller and tried to hide this variable in wdDoInit of the external window. But its throwing me Null.PointerException. So I am not able to store the window variable in the context.
please help me regarding this issue,
Regards,
Yasar

Hi Ayyapparaj,
Thanks for this information.
I know that it is not possible to print the content of a popup window. The usage of non external window is a workaroung for this issue.
My problem in this case is,I am creating and showing the non modal external window from the "onactionprint" method of the popup view. The content of the popup window will be mapped with the ContextMapper class that I found on the blog here:
On the external window view, I am triggering the print functionality in wdDoInit of the external window view, which opens the print preview of this external window view. In this case after clicking on the print button of the popup windows, two separate windows will be openned (external window and print preview of external window). I want to hide or destroy the external window in the wdDoInit of the external window view.
The Mapping of the IWDWindow variable between popup view and external window view over component controller is not working. While destroying the external window I get Null.pointer exception, because the mapping of the created nonmodal external window between popup view and external window view is not working.
Is it also not possible to map an external window between two different views?
Regards,
Yasar

Modeless window using "palette" does not stay up in CS5

I am having trouble running a modeless dialog with CS5 (on Windows 64-bit). My own script does not stay up and neither does the SnpCreateDialog.jsx snippet that comes with the ESTK and is supposed to demonstrate modeless dialogs. I have tried:
Running from the Scripts panel
Add #target photoshop
Being sure the drop-down menu says Photoshop, not CTSK
as suggested in an older discussion at http://forums.adobe.com/message/3008230#3008230. (I decided to make a new discussion as that one was marked answered.)
It also does not stay up when moved into the Photoshop Scripts folder and run from the File menu in Photoshop.
The relevant code in SnpCreateDialog.jsx is:
function SnpCreateDialog()
     this.windowRef = null;
Functional part of this snippet.
Create a window of type "palette" (a modeless dialog) and display it.
@return True if the snippet ran as expected, false otherwise.
@type Boolean
SnpCreateDialog.prototype.run = function()
     // Create a window of type palette.
     var win = new Window("palette", "SnpCreateDialog",[100,100,380,245]); // bounds = [left, top, right, bottom]
     this.windowRef = win;
     // Add a frame for the contents.
     win.btnPanel = win.add("panel", [25,15,255,130], "SnpCreateDialog");
     // Add the components, two buttons
     win.btnPanel.okBtn = win.btnPanel.add("button", [15,65,105,85], "OK");
     win.btnPanel.cancelBtn = win.btnPanel.add("button", [120, 65, 210, 85], "Cancel");
     // Register event listeners that define the button behavior
     win.btnPanel.okBtn.onClick = function() {
          $.writeln("OK pressed");
          win.close();
     win.btnPanel.cancelBtn.onClick = function() {
          $.writeln("Cancel pressed");
          win.close();
     // Display the window
     win.show();
     return true;
"main program": construct an anonymous instance and run it
as long as we are not unit-testing this snippet.
if(typeof(SnpCreateDialog_unitTest) == "undefined") {
    new SnpCreateDialog().run();
If I put a breakpoint on the "return true;" line, then I can see that the dialog has, in fact, been created and is visible, but it has returned from win.show() and will go away as soon as the script continues.
Any help would be appreciated.

Kenneth Evans wrote:
The advantage of a modeless dialog is that you can continue to do things in Photoshop while the dialog is up. At least I presume so, since I haven't got one to work, including the ESTK example.
Sorry but no, most of the Photoshop UI is disabled while a script is running even if the script displays a palette window.
A dialog window does wait for show() to complete. That is what makes dialogs modal. A palette window does not wait for show() to complete. It runs the rest of the script.
In the example you posted all the script does after showing the window is return true then ends. Which is why all it does is flash the window. If you put a $.sleep(1000) line before the return true line the windows will display until sleep timeouts then the script will end and the window will close. That is why with Photoshop palette windows are really only useful for progress bars or other script status type windows.
Although palette windows may allow the user to intreact with the app UI while the window is displayed that doesn't work with Photoshop. The window only displays while the script is running and a running script limits Photoshop UI interaction.
I have tested palette windows in CS2, CS3, CS4, and CS5 with the same results. The window only shows while the script is running.
With Photoshop if you want the user to interact with the UI you have to create a panel.

ITunes destroys Windows 7 on HP Laptop NX9420

Hi,
I repeatedly destroyed my fresh Windows 7 installation on my HP NX9420 Laptop computer after installing iTunes.
* I install a fresh Windows 7 OS (no upgrade, format+install)
* I run windows update and install the critical updates
* I install MS Security Essentials
* Install Office 2007
-- Everything runs fine! No problems
* In install Itunes - it runs fine
* I shut down my PC and start it later
* Windows will not start it goes into “Startup Repair” but is not possible to solve the problem.
It is also not possible to go back to a previous restore point.
Reinstalling Windows 7 seems the only way to get my laptop working again..
I can repeat this situation, everytime the problem starts after having installed iTunes.
I found only one link on the internet with same symptoms:
http://h30434.www3.hp.com/psg/board/message?message.uid=99807
3rd message in the thread by Ewong – he has a similar problem with the HP NX9420 only for him there is no iTunes involved
Well hope someone can help me with the cause? Windows 7? iTunes ? HP drivers ?
Im lost… using my laptop without iTunes at the moment and that runs fine!

It's certainly unusual. I've seen something reported here once before, but that was on a Vista box.
Have you tried running an sfc /scannow on the PC?
[How to use the System File Checker tool to troubleshoot missing or corrupted system files on Windows Vista or on Windows 7|http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929833]
Does the scannow report it can't repair some files? If so, which files are they?

Destroying ScriptUI Palette Windows

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