Replace textmarker with number (1, 2, 3 ...)

Question

I wonder if there's a way to work with variables in Indesign.
I've got a indesign file that contains multiple occurences of "##" (as placeholder-text).
I want to replace the first occurence with the number 1, the second with the number 2 and so on...
Is there a way this can be done with scripting in Indesign.
(The way i do this now is by exporting the file to xtag-text and then use a php-script to replace the markers in the tagged file)

Answer 1

Hi,
Try this as a .jsx script to run from ESTK or ID Script Panel:
#target indesign
var
    placeholder = "##",
    mFound, len, start = 1;
    if (app.selection[0] &&  (app.selection[0] instanceof "Text Frame" || app.selection[0].hasOwnProperty ("baseline") ) )
        var mStory = app.selection[0].parentStory;
    else { alert("Select target textFrame or some part of target text\rand try again!"); exit();}
app.findTextPreferences = null;
app.findTextPreferences.findWhat = placeholder;
mFound = mStory.findText();
len = mFound.length;
while (len-->0)
    mFound[len].contents = (len + start).toString();
- placeholder is a string to find; start is a value of first number to replace.
- some part of text or textFrame should be selected.
Jarek