Illustrator Script Labels?

I've done a lot of scripting in InDesign and made quite a bit of use out of nearly everything's script label. Now I'm working on a template-oriented Illustrator project that will require I store information about each layer somewhere in the file... just a 1 or 2 word description that would have fit nicely in a script label. However, I discovered there are no script labels. Does anyone have a suggestion how I might store information in an .ai file that can be retrieved later by a different script? At the very least I want to be able to store the name of one of the root layers as the primary layer (position won't help in identifying the primary label). I looked into keywords and xmpdata, but I haven't been able to get it to store anything and I'm not quite sure it's going to be much help.
Thanks,
Ben

Ben:
You can name items in AI and refer to them in a script.
If you're on a Mac using Applescript you could do something like:
make new ellipse at beginning with properties {name:"BensCircle",}
then to call it you could use:
set selection to page item "BensCircle"
Also, if you bring up your Attributes palette, hit the flyout and there is an option to "Show Note". You can store notes about objects in it (but it doesn't work on Layers as you might hope). The Notes are also accessible to scripting.
Hope this helps (somehow).

Similar Messages

Errors and more, my first illustrator script

First, I should mention that I started scripting for Photoshop about a month ago and have had some really motivating successes there. It led me to this one task we have that is just incredibly repetitive and boring in Illustrator that I want to script.
I haven't gotten all the pieces in here that I need so far, and any form of help would be greatly appreciated, whether just suggestion, or really whatever. I don't mind doing research and trying things out myself.
The purpose of this script is to open a template file we have on our network drive, ask for a folder with a collection of files (these are files provided to us that contain the info we need to make labels), place one, save with a specific name, and start over, placing the next file, till they are all on the template. We do this before we can create labels for our products. There are weeks when it has to be done 50+ times and that's pretty mind-numbing.
The steps I think I need are:
ask where the provided files are that need to be placed
open template file
make sure the folder chosen has the right type of stuff in it (PDFs)
place the first file at specified coordinates
embed the link
lock the embedded link
ask user to proof information on screen (ok to continue, cancel to stop and let user interact with file on their own) (95% of the time, there are no errors)
use the embedded link's name as the name of the file and save it to a specific network location
repeat until all the files in the chosen folder have been done
I've been lurking around here for a couple days, reading up on how Illustrator works with scripting and have broken off bits and pieces of different scripts to adapt for my purposes. So far, this is what I've come up with:
function getLabelRequests() {
 return Folder.selectDialog('Please select the folder containing label requests:', Folder('~/Desktop'));
 function placeLabelRequests(selectedFolder) {
 var myDoc;
 if (selectedFolder) {
 var fileRef = File("/Volumes/myNetworkLocation/myTemplateFile.ai")
 open(fileRef);
 myDoc = app.activeDocument;
 var firstImageLayer = true;
 var thisPlacedItem;
 // create document list from files in selected folder
 var fileList = selectedFolder.getFiles();
 for (var i = 0; i < fileList.length; i++) {
 // open each document in file list
 if (fileList[i] instanceof File) {
 // get the file name
 var fName = fileList[i].name;
 // check for supported file formats
 if( (fName.indexOf(".pdf") == -1)) {
 // skip unsupported formats
 continue;
 } else {
 // Give the file the name of the image file
 File.name = fName.substring(0, fName.indexOf(".") );
 // Place the label request on the artboard
 thisPlacedItem = myDoc.layers['Job Form'].placedItems.add();
 thisPlacedItem.file = fileList[i];
 thisPlacedItem.position = [15,-45];
 thisPlacedItem.embed();
 if( firstImageLayer ) {
 // display error message
 alert("Sorry, but the designated folder does not contain any recognized image formats.\n\nPlease choose another folder.");
 myDoc.close();
 getLabelRequests (placeLabelRequests());
 else {
 // display error message
 alert("Rerun the script and choose a folder with label requests, if you please.");
// Start the script off
placeLabelRequests (getLabelRequests ());
So obviously there's no loop in there, which is one of my problems at this point. I know what each of these chunks of code do, but can't necessarily understand all the syntax. Particularly things like
for (var i = 0; i < fileList.length; i++) {
I know it's saying that the variable i is zero, and while the list of files is greater than i, do whatever that last bit means, but I don't really know why it works or how it was constructed originally.
I haven't specified the save either, which might be why I'm running another of my problems, but I don't know how to get the name of the link to be the name of the file when it's saved. I also haven't given it a confirm to let the user proof either.
Here's my list of problems:
Running the script returns the image format error, even though the folder selected contains PDFs (I suppose I don't need to confirm the files are PDFs, that could just be incumbent upon the user)
Running the script places all the files into one iteration of the template (this may be because I haven't gotten the save or the loop in there, but I think it has more to do with the function being set up the way it is)
Obviously, it doesn't save with the link name as the file name
I don't seem to be able to figure out how to lock the link after it's embedded.
I also wonder if there's a way to, rather than opening-placing-saving-closing-repeat, to open-place-save, delete-placenext-save, delete-placenext-save.
Phew, sorry for the short novel.
Here is a copy of the template … or not. Can I not embed files in the post that aren't images?
Here's a JPG of the AI file that I use as a template
This document has two layers in this order normally:
Artwork
Job Form
And here are the blocks I'm using as placement for the information we are provided. These are taking the place of the files that need to be placed, and again, were PDF files, but I'm uploading as JPGs because I either don't know what I'm doing, or you can't upoad those file types.

I worked around the place options for the PDF by adding in a function I found on this forum. It detects clipping masks and deletes them.
There's one line in here that doesn't do anything, and I'm figuring out if it needs to be changed. After the clipScan function runs, I'm telling Illustrator to place a variable at a specific position, but because clipScan modifies the variable, it no longer recognizes that group of page items as the variable. Temporarily, I've used the original place position to make sure the link sits right where I want it to, but I have to make sure that the files we are provided never look any different.
If they do, I'll need to asign a new variable and set the position after clipScan runs, I think. If it's necessary, I'll update with the fix, otherwise I think this is the final script.
#target Illustrator
app.userInteractionLevel = UserInteractionLevel.DONTDISPLAYALERTS;
function getLabelRequests() {
 return Folder.selectDialog('Please select the folder containing label requests:', Folder('~/Desktop'));
function placeLabelRequests(selectedFolder) {
 var myDoc;
 if (selectedFolder) {
 var fileRef = File("/Volumes/graphics/Standards/Job Forms/Label Job Form-5C.ai")
 var thisPlacedItem;
 // create document list from files in selected folder
 var fileList = selectedFolder.getFiles("*.pdf");
 for (var i = 0; i < fileList.length; i++) {
 // open each document in file list
 if (fileList[i] instanceof File) {
 //open job form
 open(fileRef);
 myDoc = app.activeDocument;
 // Place the label request on the artboard
 thisPlacedItem = myDoc.layers['Job Form'].placedItems.add();
 thisPlacedItem.file = fileList[i];
 thisPlacedItem.position = [-50,10];
 var myLinkName = myDoc.placedItems[0].file.name
 thisPlacedItem.locked=true
 thisPlacedItem.embed();
 var clippingCount = 0
 clipScan(myDoc)
 thisPlacedItem.position = [15,-45];//this is the line that isn't doing anything right now.
 redraw()
 //make sure the placed job form has the correct information
 var proof = confirm ("Does the job form have the correct information?", true)//needs the redraw step above or nothing shows when the alert happens. Redraw forces Illustrator to display the actions performed so far.
 if (proof) {
 IllustratorSaveOptions = new IllustratorSaveOptions()
 IllustratorSaveOptions.compatibility.ILLUSTRATOR15 //some of our printers have yet to upgrade
 var onPO = Folder ('/Volumes/graphics/ •••Drafts•••/ • Draft Labels/ •On PO')
 var saveFile = File(onPO + '/' + myLinkName);
 myDoc.saveAs (saveFile, IllustratorSaveOptions)
 else alert ('Make note of the file with an error. This file will not be saved.')
 app.activeDocument.close (SaveOptions.DONOTSAVECHANGES)
 else {
 // if user cancels action, display message
 alert("Rerun the script and choose a folder with label requests.");
// run the script
placeLabelRequests (getLabelRequests ());
//////////////////////////function to remove clipping paths from placed item, thanks to KennethWebb, Muppet Mark and CarlosCanto on the Adobe Illustrator Scripting forum.
function clipScan (container) {
 for (i=container.pathItems.length-1;i>=0;i--) {
var item = container.pathItems[i];
 if (item.clipping == true){ //screens for locked or hidden items (removed this after true: && item.editable == true so it no longer screens for locked or hidden items
 container.pathItems[i].remove();
 clippingCount++;

Script Label insert into FileName

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
This is a portion of "PageExporterUtility5.0.js" that I'm tailoring to use at our workplace. Finding a simple description of how to use the "Script Label" is stumping me. How would you modify the following to work? My InDesign document has a Text Frame that I'd like to utilize the text contents in the filename. The text frame has been identified with a "Script Label" called "DOC_SIZE". An example of the text contents would be "18X24" (which is not the actual page size, just a rough description is needed).
Current Base Name:
816069-OHI-none-none.indd
Export Name:
816069_18X24_"Output Directory".eps
w/ the Output Directory, I'd like to use the Folder Name, not the full path.
These are the revalent sections of the script identifying the "outFile" Name.
VAR SETUP
for(currentDoc = 0; currentDoc < peuINFO.numDocsToExport; currentDoc++) {
 var tempENTRY = getNewTempENTRY();
 tempENTRY.theDoc = app.documents[currentDoc]
 tempENTRY.singlePage = (tempENTRY.theDoc.documentPreferences.pagesPerDocument==1)?true:false;
 tempENTRY.getOut = true;
 var baseName = (tempENTRY.theDoc.name.split(".ind"))[0];
 var baseName = baseName.replace(/-OHI-none-none/g, "")
MIDDLE
 else{
 currentINFO.outfileName = currentINFO.baseName;
 exportPage(currentINFO, PageRange.allPages);
EXPORT PORTION
 case 2:
 app.epsExportPreferences.pageRange = pgRange;
 currentINFO.theDoc.exportFile(ExportFormat.epsType, (new File(outFile + ".eps")), false);

If the problem is getting the text contents of your labeled box, try something like this:
var docsizeBoxes = new Array;
for (var i = 0; i < app.activeWindow.activePage.textFrames.length; i++) {
 if (app.activeWindow.activePage.textFrames[i].label == "DOC_SIZE") {
 docsizeBoxes.push(app.activeWindow.activePage.textFrames[i]);
 break; }
var docsizeString = app.activeWindow.activePage.textFrames[i].contents;
You should now be able to use docsizeString in parsing out the name of the output file. This assumes that there will be one and only one text frame labeled "DOC_SIZE" on the active page. So you might need some error checking.
If it were me, though, I'd just get the actual pageWidth and pageHeight from documentPreferences and use them. In my place, we don't have too many doc sizes to choose from.

Script Labels Not Working In CC

Any time I attempt to edit a script label in InDesign CC, the change is not applied. Clicking off the element results in anything typed being erased. This was a persistent problem for us in CS5 (hitting tab after entering the content made it stick), but was completely resolved in CS6, but is back rearing its ugly head in CC.

Have you tried searching the forum? There have been several questions regarding this.
Searching has changed between CS2 and CS4.
Try putting the script in folder: Applications/Adobe InDesign/Scripts/Scripts Panel/Version 4.0 Scripts

[CS3 JS] Getting a page item by its script label

I have a text frame on a master page with its script label set. In my script, I am trying to get a reference to the text frame with this:
var doc = app.activeDocument;
var spread = doc.masterSpreads[0];
var tabFrame = spread.allPageItems.item("TabLeft");
I get the error "spread.allPageItems.item is not a function"
Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.
Rick

Hi Rick,
spread.allPageItems returns a flattened array of all of the page items in the spread, at any level of the hierarchy (i.e., inside groups and other page items). Is that what you want? Sadly, allPageItems does not benefit from the special case where we use the label as a name, so you'll have to iterate if that's what you want.
As Peter says (thanks, Peter!), spread.pageItems.item("label") gives you all of the page items whose label matches the string, but it does so in sort of a weird way--you'll always get a page item object. If no page items match, you get an invalid page item; if one matched, you get a single page item, and if multiple page items matched, you get a page item object that actually contains multiple page items. It can take a little testing to figure out exactly what it is that was returned.
Thanks,
Ole

How to enable the script label of a text frames in indesign using applescript

hi all,
am using Indesign CS2 with applescript..
Using script I have to open a template in indesign and flow the word document into it...
I can able to flow the word document into the template using "Place" command..but script labels of the text frames gets disabled...
I need the script labels to be enabled...
can anybody help me
thanks in advance

Script labels can't be disabled, so I'm not sure what your problem is -- perhaps seeing some code could help. Could it be that you're referencing a page item by label, but it is not responding because the item is part of a group?
Shane Stanley <[email protected]>
AppleScript Pro Sessions <http://scriptingmatters.com/aspro>

[AS] Script Label Items in a Group

Hi all,
I have a group of shapes that, when grouped together in Indesign, form an object. This grouped object is script labeled "special". I am trying to script label each of the individual parts of this grouped object "special" so that if users ever mistakenly ungroup the object, I can still manipulate all items with the "special" label...which is effectively my original grouped object.
The catch is that I need to do this labeling with a script because I have thousands and thousands of files I'm working with. I'd love it if something like this worked (but it doesn't):
tell application "Adobe InDesign CS3"
set theObject to page item "special" of document 1
set theShapes to every page item of all page items of theObject
set label of theShapes to "special"
end tell
The problem I keep running into is that it seems when an object is grouped, all the objects inside that group become, for all practical purposes, invisible. The line "set theshapes to every page item of all page items of theObject" returns an empty list "{ }" as though there ARE no items making up the group.
So then I thought I'd take a more tactile approach. Select it, ungroup it, label it, group it back:
tell application "Adobe InDesign CS3"
set theObject to page item "special" of document 1
select theObject
ungroup selection
set label of selection to "special"
group selection
end tell
The problem with this approach is that after ungrouping the object with a script, there is no longer a selection as there is when doing the same by hand, so trying to set the label of a selection that does not exist produces an error. Grrrrr.
Friends, I know this can be done, but I need a little outside perspective on this to help me figure this one out. As always, thanks in advance for your help!

OK. Got it working but I'm not sure why. I went back to the bigger script of which the below is a part. And it works fine. I just don't understand why.
tell application "Adobe InDesign CS4"
     activate
     set myDocument to active document
     set myPage to page pageNum of myDocument
     set active page of layout window 1 to myPage
     if not (exists library "Logowear_Lib.indl") then
          set theFile to open tagsLib
     end if
     set assetPlacer to item 1 of (place asset asset "3_12:13" of library "Logowear_Lib.indl" on myDocument)
     move assetPlacer to myPage
     move assetPlacer to myCoordinates
     set color_code_counter to 5
     set color_box_counter to 1
     tell myDocument
          repeat color_counter times
               set theColorCode to item color_code_counter of Style_List
               set oldLabelName to ("CW" & color_box_counter)
               set newLabelName to my makeImageName(theSap, theColorCode)
               set label of (object reference of every item of all page items of page pageNum of myDocument whose label = oldLabelName) to newLabelName
               set color_code_counter to (color_code_counter + 2)
               set color_box_counter to (color_box_counter + 1)
          end repeat
     end tell
end tell

Script Label feature exhibits unexpected behavior. Is it a bug?

If I create a table, select a cell on any row, apply a Script Label (using Window -> Utilities -> Script Label), and then insert a new row above or below it, the new row will have the same script label in the same column. I can't imagine this being by design so it sounds like a bug.
Has anyone else encountered this? If so, have you implemented any workarounds? I'm thinking I might have to write a post-insertion process to detect when a row is created and remove all the script labels for that row, but that seems like a lot of work. I'd have to check all the rows in the table, because if I insert multiple rows in one operation, they all inherit the original row's script labels.
I'm using the CC2014 SDK, but I wouldn't be surprised if this occurs on all versions.
Thanks for any feedback.
Bob

I can reproduce it as well. Feels like a bug...
Locking the variable for read in code has the same effect:
public void Main()
// Lock variable for read
Dts.VariableDispenser.LockForRead("User::myStringVariable");
// Create a variables 'container' to store variables
Variables vars = null;
// Add variable from the VariableDispenser to the variables 'container'
Dts.VariableDispenser.GetVariables(ref vars);
// Now try giving it a new name
vars["User::myStringVariable"].Value = "new value";
// Release the locks
vars.Unlock();
Dts.TaskResult = (int)ScriptResults.Success;
For reference:
https://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer/Feedback/Details/991697
Please mark the post as answered if it answers your question | My SSIS Blog:
http://microsoft-ssis.blogspot.com |
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Duplicate script label warning into preflight panel - possible?

Hello!
Duplicate script labels are creating problems for us.They occur when our graphic designers copy a picture box and forget to change the script label, resulting in two identical images - if the indesign document is closed - and reopened.
Is there any way to either provide a warning for duplicate script labels, and/or a insert duplicate script label-warning in the preflight panel?

Hi Hans,
Thanks for that suggestion.Simple and affective.
Cheers!
Date: Fri, 22 Mar 2013 01:07:21 -0700
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Indesign script for locating metadata in images
    Re: Indesign script for locating metadata in images
    created by -hans- in InDesign Scripting - View the full discussion
Why scripting¿ http://forums.adobe.com/servlet/JiveServlet/downloadImage/2-5169242-310155/450-213/Copyrig ht.png
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Referencing Bridge folder from an Illustrator script... How?

I need to access a file in the Bridge directory, from a script in Illustrator. I can do this for PC with a concrete reference like this:
var loc = "C:/Program Files/Adobe/Adobe Bridge CS3/webaccesslib.dll"
How do you construct a string to get at it on a Mac?
thanks,
-J

Go to the scripting Forums and select the Illustrator Script forum and ask there.

Script label: Set and get it?

Hi
How can I set and get the script label of a frame in my plugin?
Thanks for the help.
Best regards
Hans

Hi, the IScript-Interface has a GetTag() and SetTag() method. While GetTag() is fine, you'll get Asserts when using SetTag() - thus I changed that to processing kSetScriptingTagCmdBoss. Example (script-label on a splineitem, stripped of nil-pointer-checks): InterfacePtr<IScript> script(itemRef, UseDefaultIID()); PMString label = script->GetTag(); ScriptList scriptList.push_back(script); InterfacePtr<IScriptManager>scriptMgr(Utils<IScriptUtils>()->QueryScriptManager(kScript TagMgrBoss)); InterfacePtr<ICommand> cmd( CmdUtils::CreateCommand(kSetScriptingTagCmdBoss)); InterfacePtr<IScriptTagCmdData> scriptTagData(cmd, UseDefaultIID()); scriptTagData->SetScriptList(scriptList, scriptMgr->GetRequestContext(), label); cmd->SetItemList(UIDList(itemRef)); ErrorCode err = CmdUtils::ProcessCommand(cmd); Regards, Bernt

Convert Illustrator script from cs3 to CS5

Hi Everyone,
I'm new to illustrator scripting I did some simple InDesign script before but this the first time I am ask to create script for Illustrator.
We have an old script that will create a report for the properties (e.i.: fonts, linkedImages, strokeWeights, dashes, strokeColors, etc.) of illustrator file. The script is working in CS2 and CS3 but since most of production people are now using CS5 and CS6 they ask if we could migrate this script to CS5. The script is using hashtable.jsx to get those properties. Does the CS5 script still need hashstable file or I have to create the script from scratch with out using the hashtable script?
Any suggestion or information on how I could convert the script to higher version is mostly appreciated.
Thanks and regards,
--elmer

I can't see #include in the script the only thing hashtable is called by this function. According to what I've read about the hashtable.jsx since it is in the startup script folder illustrator will autoload this script upon launching of the application.
function TechArtProperties(parent) {
this.width = 0;
this.height = 0;
this.colorMode = DocumentColorSpace;
this.fonts = new Hashtable();
this.embeddedImages = new Hashtable();
this.linkedImages = new Hashtable();
this.lockedObjects = 0;
this.hiddenObjects = 0;
this.strokeWeights = new Hashtable();
this.dashes = new Hashtable();
this.strokeColors = new Hashtable();
this.fillColors = new Hashtable();
this.effects = new Hashtable();
this.brushes = new Hashtable();
this.transparencies = new Hashtable();
this.gradients = new Hashtable();
this.layers = new Hashtable();
this.parent = parent;
this.total =0;
this.artName = "";

Listing (for further action) all page items that have a certain script label

hello from France,
Well the question is essentially in the subject line: how to find and work on all page items of a document (or a page/spread) that have the same script label (or better: whose script label contain the same word)?
I tried some variations around something like that, with no results:
set list_pageitems to every page item of page i whose label is "product"
Any clues?
Thanks for your help
Vincent

I found the answer (for those who might be interested), but still have a question (for those who know).
The solution:
set list_pageitems to page item "product" of page i
If you want to do it for a whose document (in may case, deleting some page items):
delete page item "product" of document 1
Strange syntax but it works :-)
The remaining question:
How to find page items whose label contains a certain string: it would be like selecting page items by tags (every word of the script label would be considered as a tag)?
Thanks

View all script labels and find an object by its script label

Hello,
I have an InDesign document in which many objects get a script label. I know how to view and edit the script label of an object, but is it possible to:
1 - See a list of all the script labels of the document (as can be done with the styles for example)?
2 - Search an object in the document by its script label?

If you are using OSX this AppleScript displays a list of document labels:
global labels
set labels to []
tell application "Adobe InDesign CS6"
    set x to every page item of active document
    repeat with i in x
        if class of i is group then
            my checkGroup(i)
        else
            my getLabel(i)
        end if
    end repeat
    display dialog labels as string
end tell
on checkGroup(g)
    tell application "Adobe InDesign CS6"
        set gi to all page items of g
        repeat with a in gi
            if class of a is group then
                my checkGroup(a)
            else
                my getLabel(a)
            end if
        end repeat
    end tell
end checkGroup
on getLabel(pageitem)
    tell application "Adobe InDesign CS6"
        if label of pageitem is not "" and label of pageitem is not in labels then
            set labels to labels & label of pageitem
        end if
    end tell
end getLabel

Find a text frame on the page with script label

hello to all
I need to create a script to
find a text frame on the page with script label "xxx"
and read its contents into a variable.
The content of the text frame is a number.
thanks

Hi Roberto,
Welcome to the forum,
This will find the labeled textFrame on the active page.
var myLabel = "Foo", // change to label
      myPage = app.properties.activeWindow && app.activeWindow.activePage,
      myTextFrames = myPage.textFrames.everyItem().getElements().slice(0),
      l = myTextFrames.length,
      myVariable
while (l--) {
    if (myTextFrames[l].label != myLabel) continue;
    myVariable = myTextFrames[l].contents;
    break; // presuming there's only one "Foo" labeled frame on the page
    // Otherwise you'll nead an array
alert(myVariable)
Trevor

Illustrator Script Labels?

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