InDesign Script: export to IDML

Question

I am trying to write a script to perform a data merge, followed by a find/replace, page add, and finally export. I can get it to perform the merge and find/replaces that are needed. When I add a new page manually I normally select the first page in the pages window then click add a new page at the bottom. Doing that makes every page after that go to 2 pages. I don't know how to do this in the script, what I tried below didn't work. It adds a new page at the end of the document.

app.activeDocument.pages.item(0).select();
app.activeDocument.pages.add(); 

After the merge, editing gets really slow, taking 15-20 per letter I add or delete.The only way i've found to have it edit like you'd expect is by exporting it to the IDML format then reopening that file in InDesign. I haven't been able to find much on exporting via a script in javascript. What I plan to try next is: app.activeDocument.exportFile(ExportFormat.INDESIGN_MARKUP, newDoc, false); But I don't know if that will work or not. I'm very new to scripting in InDesign. I'm using InDesign CS5.5 and here is the whole script thus far:

main();

function main()
{
    //Possibly let the user go find and choose a file
    //var mergeTemplate = File.openDialog();
    //var myDocument = app.open(mergeTemplate);

    //Open the template file to be used by the data merge.
    var myDocument = app.open(File("Macintosh HD/Users/Christian/Desktop/InDesign_Data_Merge/MMM14 Template_v1.indd"));
    //Load the data source
    var myDataSource = File("Macintosh HD/Users/Christian/Desktop/InDesign_Data_Merge/MMM v1.mer");

    myDocument.dataMergeProperties.selectDataSource(myDataSource);
    myDocument.dataMergeProperties.mergeRecords();

    //Save the document under a new name for later use.
    app.activeDocument.save(File("Macintosh HD/Users/Christian/Desktop/InDesign_Data_Merge/DataMerge_MMM.indd"));

    //Close the document, NOT saving original template,  so the original file is not destroyed or overwritten.
    myDocument.close(SaveOptions.no);

    //Find line break placeholder and replace with line break
    findReplace ("$$", "^n");
    //Find the tab placeholder and replace with tab
    findReplace ("##", "^t");

    //Select the first page of the document
    //app.activeDocument.pages.item(0).select();
    //Add another page to make the document print on both sides, like an open book
    //app.activeDocument.pages.add(); 

//export to IDML
//exportIDML();
}


function findReplace(findVal,replaceVal)
{
     // Clear the find/change text preferences.
    app.findTextPreferences = NothingEnum.NOTHING;
    app.changeTextPreferences = NothingEnum.NOTHING;

     // Set the find options
    app.findChangeTextOptions.caseSensitive = false;
    app.findChangeTextOptions.includeFootnotes = false;
    app.findChangeTextOptions.includeHiddenLayers = false;
    app.findChangeTextOptions.includeLockedLayersForFind = false;
    app.findChangeTextOptions.includeLockedStoriesForFind = false;
    app.findChangeTextOptions.includeMasterPages = false;
    app.findChangeTextOptions.wholeWord = false;

    // Search the document for the string findVal
    app.findTextPreferences.findWhat = findVal;
    // Change it to the string replaceVal
    app.changeTextPreferences.changeTo = replaceVal;
    // Perform the search-and-replace operation
    app.activeDocument.changeText();

}

function exportIDML()
{
    var newDoc = app.open(File("Macintosh HD/Users/Christian/Desktop/InDesign_Data_Merge/DataMerge_MMM.indd"));
    app.activeDocument.exportFile(ExportFormat.INDESIGN_MARKUP, newDoc, false);
}

Edit: Another post led me to this site jongware.mit.edu but i'm not sure how to start searching for what I need here?

Answer 1

Adding pages and flowing text

Instead of

app.activeDocument.pages.add(); 

you can use a handy parameter in the Pages.add function:

app.activeDocument.pages.add(LocationOptions.AT_END); 

You don't need the second parameter "reference", because AT_END already tells ID precisely where the new page must come (ie, if you want to always add a page after the first one, you'd use AFTER for at and app.activeDocument.pages[0] for reference ).

That, however, only adds a page. To make your text flow onto it, you need to manually add a new text frame and "thread" (link) the one from the previous page:

newframe = newpage.textFrames.add(..)
startframe.nextTextFrame = newframe; // <- thread

Unfortunately, only adding a new text frame to a page does not automatically size it to its parent page's margins. All you get is a tiny new frame in the top left. So you have to read out the page size (using its bounds property) and the current margins , and then you can resize the frame. Another snag awaits you, if your margins are mirrored : for some reason, the MarginPreferences object does not "see" whether you are on a left or a right hand sided page. So I use page.index to check if it's odd, and if so, reverse left and right margins.

Another possible pitfall is when your text contains Continuously Overset items -- text that will not fit on a page, whatever you do. That may happen with a large table, a large image, or text with some weird attribute such as a huge left indent or No-Break applied to more text than can fit on a single line. If not checked, this script would keep on checking for overflow, detect it, create a new page and text frame, which then will also overflow and so on and so forth. A quick check is to add a new text frame and check if it actually contains anything -- a Continuously Overflowing frame will always be entirely empty.

With that out of the way, here is the part that you can use instead of your own commented-out code. It assumes the to be added text is in an overset text frame on the very last page (index -1 ) of your current document. It also assumes this text frame is the only one on that page(!).

startframe = app.activeDocument.pages[-1].textFrames[0];
while (startframe.overflows)
{
    newpg = app.activeDocument.pages.add(LocationOptions.AT_END);
    newframe = newpg.textFrames.add();
    if (newpg.index & 1)
        newframe.geometricBounds = [newpg.bounds[0]+newpg.marginPreferences.top,
            newpg.bounds[1]+newpg.marginPreferences.left,
            newpg.bounds[2]-newpg.marginPreferences.bottom,
            newpg.bounds[3]-newpg.marginPreferences.right];
    else
        newframe.geometricBounds = [newpg.bounds[0]+newpg.marginPreferences.top,
            newpg.bounds[1]+newpg.marginPreferences.right,
            newpg.bounds[2]-newpg.marginPreferences.bottom,
            newpg.bounds[3]-newpg.marginPreferences.left];
    startframe.nextTextFrame = newframe;
    startframe = newframe;
//  Check for Continuous Overflow!
    if (startframe.contents.length == 0)
    {
        alert ("Continuous Overflow detected, cannot continue");
        break;
    }
}

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Exporting

That is an annoying issue you got, with ID slowing down after a Data Merge. I can't recall if that has been reported before; you might want to ask on the Adobe InDesign forum . Only maybe : perhaps you can manually try this. Directly after doing your merge, don't use "Save" but do a "Save As", and overwrite your old file. "Save As" cleans up and reallocates memory; I've found it sometimes helps. If that doesn't work, I cannot recommend anything else than, indeed, export to IDML and re-open that.

Your attempt to exporting to IDML is a fair one, but it contains a few mistakes!

First off, you should not use app.open -- this does what it says, it opens a previously saved file. You want to create a new file here; the parameter to in exportFile refers to the file that it will create . With your code, it would overwrite an existing file -- unless ID notices you already have it open and so complains about that. Not a statement I would be willing to test for correctness.

Second, you need to set its file extension correctly to .idml :)

A third, minor, point: the Folder object provides a handy shortcut to your Desktop folder.

var newDoc = new File(Folder.desktop+"/DataMerge_MMM.idml");
app.activeDocument.exportFile(ExportFormat.INDESIGN_MARKUP, newDoc);

---

Disclaimer

I don't have a CS5 at hand, I tested with my CS6. If you get errors on "unknown properties" and their ilk, call back in the morning and I will see what I can do.