[JS] Exporting InDesign group as eps

Question

Although all types of page items have an exportFile method in the object model, it does not seem to be possible to export a group of page items on a given page without exporting the entire
parent page using the exportFile method. Maybe this is a matter of implementation lagging behind documentation? In any case, I have used workarounds such as the following, but is there is a less clunky way to accomplish this task?
//Initial selection is either a group of page items or a single page item.
var d = app.documents[0];
var hUnits = d.viewPreferences.horizontalMeasurementUnits;
var vUnits = d.viewPreferences.verticalMeasurementUnits;
aGroup = app.selection[0];
path = app.documents[0].fullName.absoluteURI;
path = path.substring( 0, path.lastIndexOf('/') );
bnds = aGroup.geometricBounds;
var nd = app.documents.add(false);
with ( nd.masterSpreads[0].pages[0].marginPreferences ) {
  top = bottom = left = right = 0;
with ( nd.viewPreferences ) {
  horizontalMeasurementUnits = hUnits;
  verticalMeasurementUnits = vUnits;
with ( nd.documentPreferences ) {
  pageHeight = bnds[2] - bnds[0];
  pageWidth = bnds[3] - bnds[1];
var copiedGroup = aGroup.duplicate( nd.layers[0] );
copiedGroup.move( [0,0] );
copiedGroup.exportFile( ExportFormat.EPS_TYPE, File( path + '/' + 'TEST.eps' ), false );
nd.close(SaveOptions.NO);

Answer 1

Hello Uwe,
Thanks for the advice! I took your suggestion, and I find it worked nicely, after I adjusted pasteboardMargin preferences in the new document, but it does fail when there are multiple eps images already placed on the target page for reasons that are not clear to me. Below are the two different methods I came up with, the first copies the targeted group to a new doc, and the second uses your double eps export method. The problem I describe occurs even when I comment out the lines that remove the temporary eps file and close the temporary InDesign doc after exporting the final eps, which I thought might be causing the problem. Maybe there's not a perfect workaround, but I'd be pleased to be proven wrong in that regard!
Copy group selected for eps export to new document method:
var d, hUnits, vUnits, aGroup, path, bnds, nd, copiedGroup, fileName, docPreset;
if ( app.documents.count() != 1 || app.documents[0].saved != true || app.documents[0].selection.length != 1 ) { alert("A single, saved document must be open with a single item selected!\r"); exit(); }
aGroup = app.selection[0];
d = app.documents[0];
hUnits = d.viewPreferences.horizontalMeasurementUnits;
vUnits = d.viewPreferences.verticalMeasurementUnits;
path = app.documents[0].fullName.absoluteURI;
path = path.substring( 0, path.lastIndexOf('/') );
bnds = aGroup.visibleBounds;
fileName = prompt( "Enter a file name with a '.eps' extension for the eps file to be created from the  current selection:", ".eps" );
if ( fileName == null  ) exit();
if ( fileName.toLowerCase().search(/\.eps$/) < 1 ) {
  alert( "Invalid file name provided. Script will terminate!" ); exit();
docPreset = app.documentPresets.add({top:0, bottom:0, left:0, right:0});
app.scriptPreferences.enableRedraw = false;
app.scriptPreferences.userInteractionLevel = UserInteractionLevels.NEVER_INTERACT;
nd = app.documents.add(true, docPreset );
with ( nd.viewPreferences ) {
  horizontalMeasurementUnits = hUnits;
  verticalMeasurementUnits = vUnits;
with ( nd.documentPreferences ) {
  pageHeight = bnds[2] - bnds[0];
  pageWidth = bnds[3] - bnds[1];
copiedGroup = aGroup.duplicate( nd.layers[0] );
copiedGroup.move( [0,0] );
copiedGroup.exportFile( ExportFormat.EPS_TYPE, File( path + '/' + fileName ), false );
nd.close(SaveOptions.NO);
docPreset.remove();
app.scriptPreferences.userInteractionLevel = UserInteractionLevels.INTERACT_WITH_ALL;
app.scriptPreferences.enableRedraw = true;
Double eps export method:
var d, pg, hUnits, vUnits, aGroup, path, bnds, pgbnds, nd, fileName, tempFileName, docPreset;
if ( app.documents.count() < 1 || app.documents[0].saved != true || app.documents[0].selection.length != 1 ) { alert("A saved document must be open with a single group or a single page item selected!\r"); exit(); }
aGroup = app.selection[0];
d = app.documents[0];
pg = aGroup.parentPage;
pgbnds = pg.bounds;
hUnits = d.viewPreferences.horizontalMeasurementUnits;
vUnits = d.viewPreferences.verticalMeasurementUnits;
path = app.documents[0].fullName.absoluteURI;
path = path.substring( 0, path.lastIndexOf('/') );
bnds = aGroup.visibleBounds;
fileName = prompt( "Enter a file name with a '.eps' extension for the eps file to be created from the  current selection:", ".eps" );
if ( fileName == null  ) exit();
if ( fileName.toLowerCase().search(/\.eps$/) < 1 ) {
  alert( "Invalid file name provided. Script will terminate!" ); exit();
tempFileName = Math.random().toString() + '.eps';
app.epsExportPreferences.pageRange = pg.name;
d.exportFile( ExportFormat.EPS_TYPE, File( path + '/' + tempFileName ), false );
app.epsExportPreferences.pageRange = PageRange.ALL_PAGES;
docPreset = app.documentPresets.add({top:0, bottom:0, left:0, right:0});
app.scriptPreferences.enableRedraw = false;
app.scriptPreferences.userInteractionLevel = UserInteractionLevels.NEVER_INTERACT;
nd = app.documents.add(true, docPreset );
nd.pasteboardPreferences.pasteboardMargins = [ (pgbnds[3] - pgbnds[1])*2, (pgbnds[3] - pgbnds[1])*2 ];
with ( nd.viewPreferences ) {
  horizontalMeasurementUnits = hUnits;
  verticalMeasurementUnits = vUnits;
with ( nd.documentPreferences ) {
  pageHeight = bnds[2] - bnds[0];
  pageWidth = bnds[3] - bnds[1];
nd.pages[0].place( File(  path + '/' + tempFileName ), [ pgbnds[1] - bnds[1], pgbnds[0] - bnds[0] ], undefined, false, false );
nd.exportFile( ExportFormat.EPS_TYPE, File( path + '/' + fileName ), false );
nd.close(SaveOptions.NO);
File(  path + '/' + tempFileName ).remove();
docPreset.remove();
app.scriptPreferences.userInteractionLevel = UserInteractionLevels.INTERACT_WITH_ALL;
app.scriptPreferences.enableRedraw = true;