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Theunis De Jong
MemberDoes this make it work?
if (myDocument.textFrames[i].tables[j].rows[k].cells[l].contents.length > 0)
The 'contents' property of a cell is not guaranteed to be a string — it can also be a single special character or nothing at all (not even an empty string).
MemberEl, it's possible some other script switched off “User Interaction”, to hide all dialogs and messages while a script is running. Of course, the script should have switched it back on at the end, but perhaps something went wrong (and you'll never know, because you won't have seen the error message either). Or perhaps the script writer simply forgot.
If you suspect this might be the case, you can run a single line script to restore the normal mode, so you don't have to restart ID and loose all your custom settings. This is further discussed in https://forums.adobe.com/message/1973478
(And if you are certain which script causes this to happen, you might be able to fix it.)
MemberDoes this make it work?
if (myDocument.textFrames[i].tables[j].rows[k].cells[l].contents.length > 0)
The 'contents' property of a cell is not guaranteed to be a string — it can also be a single special character or nothing at all (not even an empty string).
MemberEl, it's possible some other script switched off “User Interaction”, to hide all dialogs and messages while a script is running. Of course, the script should have switched it back on at the end, but perhaps something went wrong (and you'll never know, because you won't have seen the error message either). Or perhaps the script writer simply forgot.
If you suspect this might be the case, you can run a single line script to restore the normal mode, so you don't have to restart ID and loose all your custom settings. This is further discussed in https://forums.adobe.com/message/1973478
(And if you are certain which script causes this to happen, you might be able to fix it.)
MemberAre you using Adobe's ESTK Editor for your coding? Or do you avoid it like the plague, being more used to a normal code editor? (I do. :-) My Windows editor of choice is TextPad, on the Mac it's TextWrangler.)
All available Help is built-in in the ESTK* Editor itself, and can be found in the Help menu -> Object Model Viewer. Then you get a fancy sliding-cards window and you can browse through the libraries under the “Browser' pop-down list. Be careful to select the correct InDesign version! For some reason, Adobe made a little mistake in the InDesign lib names (of all things!). You'll probably see stuff like “InDesign CS4 (3.0) Model” — but the “CS4” is wrong, and those are the classes for InDesign 3.0 — the original CS! Just pick the bottom one to be sure …
So– if you don't use the ESTK Editor then you cannot use the built-in Help! No problem.
I disliked the entire Help system so much I made my own implementation of the help files; first, in easy-on-the-eye HTML pages, then combined into a single indexed and super-hyperlinked Windows CHM file. That's not even a problem if you have a Mac, because there are a couple of good CHM viewers for OSX. I usually recommend Robin Lu's iCHM, almost on a par with the real Microsoft thing, but looking much nicer. My version of the help files can be downloaded from … my web page! (There are files for lots of versions of InDesign — make sure you select the correct one.)
(Coming this far, I may as well point out that my version of the same data sports other improvements than just the looks. It displays an easy-to-understand graphical hierarchy for most common object relations, has way more hyperlinks, and lists in what other functions each class, property, and method are used.)
* It's actually not even built-in. It's very smart: when starting the ESTK for the first time, it scans the application folders of Bridge, Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop for all plugins that support scripting. It then interrogates what the names are from all classes, properties, and methods, and descriptions of each (which the plugin write should provide). All of this is cached, so it starts up way faster the next time; but if you install a new InDesign plugin that can be scripted, it'll notice and rebuild the Help file with the latest additions. Quite an achievement, really. Such a shame Adobe decided to use a weird Hypercard inspired interface.
June 27, 2010 at 2:37 pm in reply to: Grep to ital between commas if it contains an ' and two numbers #56185MemberAh, you're using Find & Change because there just may be oddball sentences. Yeah, GREP styles are great in applying your styles everywhere that fulfill the requirements, but there is no easy way of having it ignore one particular sentence …
Just FYI, your '80s mixer can be ignored in three ways. You might want to give either a try if you are finding too much false matches.
First one is adding the period to the 'scan-for-end-of-italics' command. In effect, nothing may follow the digits except a comma or period, and only if it's then followed by a comma, it's a good match (i.e., comparing will end on the next comma or period, and only if there is a comma it's “good”).
(?<=,)[^,]*~]dd(?!d)[^,.]*(?=,)
The other method relies on the difference in the year notation: the two digits must be followed by a space or a comma, like this:
(?<=,)[^,]*~]dd(?=[,s])[^,]*(?=,)
Also, if the year is always immediately followed by the ending comma, as in your original example, this is the most simplest case:
(?<=,)[^,]*~]dd(?=,)
which will effectively only match comma, all other stuff except comma's, year, comma (and exclude the comma's at start and end).
MemberAre you using Adobe's ESTK Editor for your coding? Or do you avoid it like the plague, being more used to a normal code editor? (I do. :-) My Windows editor of choice is TextPad, on the Mac it's TextWrangler.)
All available Help is built-in in the ESTK* Editor itself, and can be found in the Help menu -> Object Model Viewer. Then you get a fancy sliding-cards window and you can browse through the libraries under the “Browser' pop-down list. Be careful to select the correct InDesign version! For some reason, Adobe made a little mistake in the InDesign lib names (of all things!). You'll probably see stuff like “InDesign CS4 (3.0) Model” — but the “CS4” is wrong, and those are the classes for InDesign 3.0 — the original CS! Just pick the bottom one to be sure …
So– if you don't use the ESTK Editor then you cannot use the built-in Help! No problem.
I disliked the entire Help system so much I made my own implementation of the help files; first, in easy-on-the-eye HTML pages, then combined into a single indexed and super-hyperlinked Windows CHM file. That's not even a problem if you have a Mac, because there are a couple of good CHM viewers for OSX. I usually recommend Robin Lu's iCHM, almost on a par with the real Microsoft thing, but looking much nicer. My version of the help files can be downloaded from … my web page! (There are files for lots of versions of InDesign — make sure you select the correct one.)
(Coming this far, I may as well point out that my version of the same data sports other improvements than just the looks. It displays an easy-to-understand graphical hierarchy for most common object relations, has way more hyperlinks, and lists in what other functions each class, property, and method are used.)
* It's actually not even built-in. It's very smart: when starting the ESTK for the first time, it scans the application folders of Bridge, Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop for all plugins that support scripting. It then interrogates what the names are from all classes, properties, and methods, and descriptions of each (which the plugin write should provide). All of this is cached, so it starts up way faster the next time; but if you install a new InDesign plugin that can be scripted, it'll notice and rebuild the Help file with the latest additions. Quite an achievement, really. Such a shame Adobe decided to use a weird Hypercard inspired interface.
June 27, 2010 at 7:37 am in reply to: Grep to ital between commas if it contains an ‘ and two numbers #53242MemberAh, you're using Find & Change because there just may be oddball sentences. Yeah, GREP styles are great in applying your styles everywhere that fulfill the requirements, but there is no easy way of having it ignore one particular sentence …
Just FYI, your '80s mixer can be ignored in three ways. You might want to give either a try if you are finding too much false matches.
First one is adding the period to the 'scan-for-end-of-italics' command. In effect, nothing may follow the digits except a comma or period, and only if it's then followed by a comma, it's a good match (i.e., comparing will end on the next comma or period, and only if there is a comma it's “good”).
(?<=,)[^,]*~]\d\d(?!\d)[^,\.]*(?=,)
The other method relies on the difference in the year notation: the two digits must be followed by a space or a comma, like this:
(?<=,)[^,]*~]\d\d(?=[,])[^,]*(?=,)
Also, if the year is always immediately followed by the ending comma, as in your original example, this is the most simplest case:
(?<=,)[^,]*~]\d\d(?=,)
which will effectively only match comma, all other stuff except comma's, year, comma (and exclude the comma's at start and end).
June 27, 2010 at 4:09 am in reply to: Grep to ital between commas if it contains an ' and two numbers #56182MemberYou know, I'll let you off on the “geek” because I'm looking forward to the hugs! That is, if this GREP style works for you:
(?<=,)[^,]*~]dd(?!d)[^,]*(?=,)
It comes with a few features:
- It'll start and end at comma's but will not include them into the italics. I usually do it like that because it's typographically correct, in this use, but feel free to scream if you want them italicized anyway.
- It does not react to a straight ' before the year, only for the correct character: ’ (the Right Single Quotation Mark). That's the correct character to use; but if you're willing to dispense more hugs, I could make it check for the straight quote as well (just in case some are correct and some are not).
- It'll only work when the year has exactly two digits. Try it; the italics will switch off when you accidentally type '1980 or '078 or something like that.
So this GREP is hyper-correct, but don't worry, I can have it relax a bit if you want me to.
June 26, 2010 at 9:09 pm in reply to: Grep to ital between commas if it contains an ‘ and two numbers #53240MemberYou know, I'll let you off on the “geek” because I'm looking forward to the hugs! That is, if this GREP style works for you:
(?<=,)[^,]*~]\d\d(?!\d)[^,]*(?=,)
It comes with a few features:
- It'll start and end at comma's but will not include them into the italics. I usually do it like that because it's typographically correct, in this use, but feel free to scream if you want them italicized anyway.
- It does not react to a straight ' before the year, only for the correct character: ’ (the Right Single Quotation Mark). That's the correct character to use; but if you're willing to dispense more hugs, I could make it check for the straight quote as well (just in case some are correct and some are not).
- It'll only work when the year has exactly two digits. Try it; the italics will switch off when you accidentally type '1980 or '078 or something like that.
So this GREP is hyper-correct, but don't worry, I can have it relax a bit if you want me to.
MemberCheck your PDF export color conversion — the colors are probably converted to CMYK at that point.
Also, if I wanted to get a job lot of these printed with a commercial printers using a document exported to pdf/x1a are the dull colours as displayed in the pdf, and not the bright colours, printed? If so, this would be a real shame.
Ask if he accepts PDFs in RGB color space. If so, his printer may have an internal RGB-to-CMYK conversion, which usually is much better than InDesign's, because it can use the full technical capabilities of that particular printer and its ink or toner.
(But the colors won't ever be as bright as they appear on screen. The screen is a lamp and emits light, where paper only reflects it.)
MemberCheck your PDF export color conversion — the colors are probably converted to CMYK at that point.
Also, if I wanted to get a job lot of these printed with a commercial printers using a document exported to pdf/x1a are the dull colours as displayed in the pdf, and not the bright colours, printed? If so, this would be a real shame.
Ask if he accepts PDFs in RGB color space. If so, his printer may have an internal RGB-to-CMYK conversion, which usually is much better than InDesign's, because it can use the full technical capabilities of that particular printer and its ink or toner.
(But the colors won't ever be as bright as they appear on screen. The screen is a lamp and emits light, where paper only reflects it.)
Member(OT:)
Hey, how d'you get that “Select Code” button?
I also noticed in another post the backslash-eater has been removed from the premises (although I didn't dare edit my post to remove the now-obsolete ones :-D).
Thanks! Any more improvements, forum-wise?
Member(OT:)
Hey, how d'you get that “Select Code” button?
I also noticed in another post the backslash-eater has been removed from the premises (although I didn't dare edit my post to remove the now-obsolete ones :-D).
Thanks! Any more improvements, forum-wise?
MemberIt only clicked for me when I got a good code editor with loads of simple examples in its help — before that, I was as befuddled as anyone else!
To construct complicated GREPs, I create a GREP style that applies a character style that's glaring obvious (say, red Arial Black with a green underline), click on the Preview button, and start typing away until I'm sure only the items I need are highlighted.
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