"everyItem().getElements()"! … What use?

Let's illustrate it with example: say, I want to get the list of all the fonts available in InDesign and write it to a text file on the desktop.

var scriptName = "Test";
Main();
function Main() {
    var arr = [],
    startTime = new Date();
    
    var fonts = app.fonts.everyItem().getElements();
    
    for (var i = 0; i < fonts.length; i++) {
        arr.push(fonts.name);
    }
    
    var text = arr.join(",");
    WriteToFile(text);
    
    var endTime = new Date();
    var duration = GetDuration(startTime, endTime);
    alert("Elapsed " + duration, scriptName, false);
}
function GetDuration(startTime, endTime) {
    var str;
    var duration = (endTime - startTime)/1000;
    duration = Math.round(duration);
    if (duration >= 60) {
        var minutes = Math.floor(duration/60);
        var seconds = duration - (minutes * 60);
        str = minutes + ((minutes != 1) ? " minutes, " :  " minute, ") + seconds + ((seconds != 1) ? " seconds" : " second");
        if (minutes >= 60) {
            var hours = Math.floor(minutes/60);
            minutes = minutes - (hours * 60);
            str = hours + ((hours != 1) ? " hours, " : " hour, ") + minutes + ((minutes != 1) ? " minutes, " :  " minute, ") + seconds + ((seconds != 1) ? " seconds" : " second");
        }
    }
    else {
        str = duration + ((duration != 1) ? " seconds" : " second");
    }
    return str;
}
function WriteToFile(text) {
    var file = new File("~/Desktop/" + scriptName + ".txt");
    file.encoding = "UTF-8";
    file.open("w");
    file.write(text); 
    file.close();
}
function ErrorExit(error, icon) {
    alert(error, scriptName, icon);
    exit();
}

With .everyItem().getElements() -- using static array -- it takes less than a sec.

if I remove it (use live collection) it takes 9 secs.

— Kas

Hi Obi,

I asked the same question a few years ago:

What is the difference between the following two lines? var myFrame = app.activeDocument.textFrames; and var myFrame = app.activeDocument.textFrames.everyItem().getElements(); In both cases the script works as expected. Why do you add .everyItem().getElements()?

Here's what Harbs answered me:

Because everyItem().getElements() builds a static Array of the items. Without it, it's a dynamic collection. When you have a collection, there has to be interaction with InDesign every time you access a member of the collection and InDesign rebuilds the collection each time it's accessed. That means a lot of extra overhead. Bottom line: using a static array is almost always faster than using collections.

Regards,
Kas