Why is my startup script getting a timeout error in FrameMaker?

Question

Using FM 11
ExtendScript
Windows 7
I'm running an ExtendScript from the FM Startup directory, by starting FM from a batch file. The Extendscript opens multiple book files (one at a time) and does a save as pdf for each one. FrameMaker terminates the script with a timeout error at random points in the script after only one or two saves. The Extendscript runs fine when I run it from the FM Scripting window. It only times out when I run it as a startup script. Is there some workaround for this? Sadly, I find no documentation about this.

Answer 1

Thanks, Rick. Here is the body of the Extendscript that is in the FM Startup directory. The batch file starts FM and then this script gets kicked off.
main();
function main() {
    log("Starting the script.");
    var controlFile = File("G:\\fmToPdf\\fmToPdf.control");
    var controlContent = null;
    if(controlFile.exists === true) {
        // Open the file.
        controlFile.open("r"); // r means read only.
        // Read the file contents into a variable.
        controlContent = controlFile.read();
        // Close the file.
        controlFile.close();
    var bookRegEx = /^book="(.*)"/;
    var targetRegEx = /^target="(.*)"/;
    var pathRegEx = /([^\\]+)$/;
    var lines = controlContent.split("\n");
    for (i = 0; i < lines.length; i++) {
        var line = lines[i];
        if (bookRegEx.test(line) === true) {
            var result = line.match(bookRegEx);
            var inBook = result[1];
            var pathComponents = pathRegEx.exec(inBook);
            var fileName = pathComponents[1].replace("book", "pdf");
            for (i = i + 1; i < lines.length; i++) {
                line = lines[i];
                if (targetRegEx.test(line)===true) {
                    result = line.match(targetRegEx);
                    var outBook = result[1] + fileName;
                    log("Starting to generate: " + outBook);
                    fileId = openBook(inBook);
                    saveBook(fileId,outBook);
                    closeBook(fileId);
                    log("Finished with: " + outBook);
                } else {
                    break;
    // close FrameMaker
    Constants.FF_CLOSE_MODIFIED = 1;
    app.Close (Constants.FF_CLOSE_MODIFIED);
    log("We're done.");
    return;   
function openBook(filename)
    var openProp = GetOpenDefaultParams();
    var retParm = new PropVals();
    var BookOpen=Open(filename,openProp,retParm);
    return BookOpen
// save as pdf
function saveBook(file, pdfName)
    var saveProp = GetSaveDefaultParams();
    var i = GetPropIndex(saveProp, Constants.FS_FileType);
    saveProp[i].propVal.ival = Constants.FV_SaveFmtPdf;
    //i = GetPropIndex (saveProp, Constants.FS_DontNotifyAPIClients)
    //saveProp[i].propVal.ival = true;
    var retParmspdf = new PropVals();
    // pdf settings
    file.PDFBookmark = true;
    file.PDFBookmarksOpenLevel = Constants.FV_PDFBookmarksOpenDefaultLevel;
    file.PDFConvertCMYKtoRGB = true;
    file.PDFDistillerAbsent = 0;
    file.PDFJobOption = "High Quality Print";
    file.PDFSeparateFiles = false;
    file.DocIsViewOnly = 1;
    file.Save(pdfName, saveProp, retParmspdf);
    return
// close file
function closeBook(filename)
    filename.Close (Constants.FF_CLOSE_MODIFIED);
function log(message, reset)
    var logfile = File("G:\\fmToPdf\\fmToPdf.log");
    var openMode = (reset === undefined) ? "a" : "w";
    logfile.open(openMode);
    logfile.writeln(getTimeStamp() + " " + message);
    logfile.close();
function getTimeStamp(){
    var d = new Date();
    var timestamp = d.getFullYear() + "." +
                    zeroFill ((d.getMonth() + 1), 2) + "." +
                    zeroFill (d.getDate(), 2) + " " +
                    zeroFill (d.getHours(), 2) + ":" +
                    zeroFill (d.getMinutes(), 2) + ":" +
                    zeroFill (d.getSeconds(), 2);
    return timestamp;
function zeroFill( number, width )
  width -= number.toString().length;
  if ( width > 0 )
    return new Array( width + (/\./.test( number ) ? 2 : 1) ).join( '0' ) + number;
  return number + ""; // always return a string