Strange interaction with XHTML For Digital Editions

Question

Hi all,
I have written a scripted plugin with menuItems for Indesign CS4.
This scripted plugin is interacting in a strange way with XHTML
For Digital Editions. In my plugin there is a menu item that exports
Indesign content to XML. When using this function an error is
generated sometimes:
error number 30476.
The requested action cannot be processed because the object is no more existing.
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Indesign CS4\Scripts\XHTML For Digital Editions\6
Line:381
There is a startup script to load my plugin and it uses a targetengine.
How can it be that my plugin is interacting with "XHTML For Digital Editions"?
Suggestions to solve this problem are very welcome.
Kind regards,
Michel

Answer 1

Michel,
to reduce confusion let's call a script a script rather than plugin, even if it is delivered as jsxbin.
Isolation into a target engine is good, but the target engine is not at all indicated by the error message, so do not assume this is an issue.
The error is about a strange file "6" containing at least those 381 lines, which during initial execution (when its functions were defined / installed) was located within that XHTML for Digital Editions subdirectory. If there is no such file, it could already be removed when the error pops up, who knows. That is, unless InDesign lies about the source file, but I have never heard of that.
It would now be good to know who created that presumed temporary file containing 381 lines of executable code, e.g. by accidentally using a wrong path. One possibility is the implicit reference to the "Folder.current" variable by a relative path - do you use relative paths anywhere? Folder.current is explained in JavaScript Tools Guide available from ESTK Help.
It would also be good to know whether your script uses try-catch brackets in all its entries (menu callbacks or other handlers), or why not. If this is new to you, this way you can intercept any system error message like the quoted one which is a very generic one, and add your own comments such as "while performing this/that task" or other context information. You could then also recover gracefully from any errors such as a stale references to a deleted object. For the beginning though, you can at least find out whether the problem is at all within your code.
It is also generally good practice to have an option ready in source code that produces an exhaustive log file for any general steps but also caught error messages. It is not like walking around with a debugger, but you can find out the call chain and general area of code involved when the dreaded dialog pops up again.
Finally if it is the same problem as mentioned by Ralf, you should better get in direct contact with him - this forum has a personal mail feature and probably both of you have a phone ;-) .
Dirk