How do I apply values to a layer based on a portion of the layer source name?

[Mark Paterson]

I've written a ScriptUI toolbox to speed up intitial comp setups in our studio.

A typical comp might have 3 QuickTime layers in it…

"random_text_RMN.mov"

"random_text_JFK.mov"

"random_text_LBJ.mov"

All the text before the last three letters is subject to change. The last three letters (JFK, LBJ, etc) will always be present (and there's about 10 more files that I haven't listed).

I have a button that takes the active layer and applies a set of hard coded values to it (for position, scale, and anchor point). It works great, but I had to create a button for every possible QuickTime layer, which makes the toolbox huuuuge. I would like to improve this by having one button that simply reads the last portion of the layer source name then applies a set of unique scale, position, and anchor point values to it. I'm having a little trouble with the syntax though.

I assume I need something like…

app.beginUndoGroup("Auto Comp")
         
var character = app.project.activeItem.selectedLayers[0];
     
if (character == item.file.fsName.indexOf("JFK.mov") > -1) {
 character.property("Anchor Point").setValue([2000,3020]);
 character.transform.position.setValue([2126,3695]);
 character.transform.scale.setValue([95,95]);
 }
else if (character == item.file.fsName.indexOf("LBJ.mov") > -1) {
 character.property("Anchor Point").setValue([2000,3600]);
 character.transform.position.setValue([1267,2984]);
 character.transform.scale.setValue([47,47]);
}
app.endUndoGroup();

 but when I click the button with the correct layer selected, nothing happens. I probably did something dumb. 😞

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks

[Martin_Ritter]

I think what you are looking for is the includes() method of strings.

*Martin

[Mark Paterson]

Thanks. I'm fairly new to this. I've edited the post with some updated code, but the syntax is wrong. nothing happens when i click the button with the correct layer selected.

[Dan Ebberts · Accepted solution]

I think maybe you just need to check the name of the layer, like this:

if (character.name.indexOf("JFK.mov") > -1) {

Dan

[Mark Paterson]

Thanks Dan! Totally worked.