Grouped object - ungroup - Pathfinder Add - Convert to Rectangle

Question

Playing with scripting and finding it very frustrating but this one would save me a good bit of time 
 
I just want to ungroup an object - leave it selected
I figured that out
var ungroupMenuItem = app.menuActions.item("$ID/Ungroup");

if (ungroupMenuItem.isValid) {
    // Invoke the menu item
    ungroupMenuItem.invoke();
} else {
    alert("The Ungroup menu item was not found.");
}

Seems to work - maybe not the best wayBut can't access
Object>Path>add
 
Then next step is
Object>Convert to Shape>Rectangle
 
All the while leaving the object selected while running through
 
1 out of 3 ain't bad... 
 
Ultimately - I have 2 of these objects on every page that need to be ungrouped
Ideally I'd like to just make them a link - as I'm replacing them with an image anyway 
 
If they were converted to links that would be ideal So I would select the objects on the page in 1 selection - then run the script - it makes them a link
Then I can just relink them
 
But given that I can't convert the group to a rectangle by scripting I feel the former and latter part of my plan is beyond me.
 
Any help is much appreciated.

rob day · Accepted Answer

Thanks for the help @Robert at ID-Tasker @rob day

I'm 99% there with what I want to

That is to replace the grouped object(s) with a link - which I set out at first.

I did limit myself by just wanting to convert to a rectangle at the start.

But then possibilities opened up and the idea expanded.

Now, I am at the point of replacing every object on the page that's selected with the link.

Which is great, only thing is I have to select the link how many times it's being replaced, if there's 4 objects it's 4 clicks to replace the link.

As I can't figure out a way to just have 1 link.

Not a big deal - but I'm far closer to when I started.

I'll further revise on Monday when I can test properly.

You want to open the file outside of the loop, so I think this might work:

var s = app.activeDocument.selection;

var f = File.openDialog("Select the file", "")
if (f != null) {
    for (var i = 0; i < s.length; i++){
        if (s[i].constructor.name == "Group") {
            s[i].pageItems[0].addPath(s[i].allPageItems);
            s[i].pageItems[0].convertShape(ConvertShapeOptions.CONVERT_TO_RECTANGLE);
            s[i].pageItems[0].place(f)
            s[i].pageItems[0].fit(FitOptions.FILL_PROPORTIONALLY);
            s[i].ungroup();
        } else {
            s[i].place(f)
            s[i].pageItems[0].fit(FitOptions.FILL_PROPORTIONALLY);
        } 
    }
}  

rob day · Answer

Hi Eugene, I don’t think you need to resort to the menu invoke() method— there is the the selection’s ungroup() method. The question might be which item in the group do you want to convert to a rectangle?

//the first item in a selection–a selected group would have 1 item
var s = app.activeDocument.selection[0];

//check if your selection is a group
if (s.constructor.name == "Group") {
    //converts the first page  item in the group to a rectangle
    s.pageItems[0].convertShape(ConvertShapeOptions.CONVERT_TO_RECTANGLE) 
} 

//ungroups the group
s.ungroup() 
Before and after
 

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