[JS] How do you set change GREP preferences to a custom color swatch?

Question

Hi All
I am having difficulty with setting the 'changeGrepPreferences' to a specific color swatch in an InDesign CS3 document.
The code below is meant to search within text styled with the Character Style "Hyperlink" and change any spaces (which import from Word as black text, i.e. have a black underscore) to the font color of the Character Style (which is a spot color that I've named 'Hyperlinks grey'). I think I have cracked it except for the changeGrepPreferences line; but I'll let the experts be the judge of that.
app.findGrepPreferences = null;
app.changeGrepPreferences = null;
app.findGrepPreferences.appliedCharacterStyle = 'Hyperlink';
app.findGrepPreferences.fillColor = 'Black';
app.findGrepPreferences.findWhat = ' ';
app.changeGrepPreferences.fillColor = app.activeDocument.swatches.itemByName('Hyperlinks grey');
app.changeGrepPreferences.changeTo = '$0';
app.activeDocument.changeGrep();
Any help will be greatly received.
Simon

Answer 1

Hi Ole
Thanks for the quick response. Your workaround works well up to a point. However, because the color 'Hyperlinks grey' already exists in the document I'm working on, when you add a new swatch it creates 'Hyperlinks grey 2'. I really need the text to be colored with the original color: in our production workflow we use a system called Odystar to create a Web and a Print PDF. For a print PDF, Odystar first looks for text in the spot color 'Hyperlinks grey' and turns it to black and removes the underscore. It means that hyperlinks look like hyperlinks for a Web PDF, but not for a print PDF.
Also, the line of code that removes the created color only works if no replacements were made. When replacements have been made Hyperlinks grey 2 stays in the swatch. And if you ran the script again in which a replacement was made, it would make Hyperlinks grey 3 etc etc.
So... do you have any further tricks up your sleeve?
Thanks again for you help so far.
With kind regards
Simon