Does anybody know how to add group/folder with extend script

Report · Oct 31, 2018

is it possible to add group/folder with extendscript ?

Report · Oct 31, 2018

Wow, that is a good question! I can't find anything in any documentation and I could not figure it out. I could insert a new file component with NewSeriesObject(), but could not convert it to a folder or group. It seems like ComponentType() is read-only. Maybe somebody else happens to know.

Russ

Report · Oct 31, 2018

Should work like this:

        var elemLoc = new ElementLoc() ;
        elemLoc.parent = this.book.HighestLevelElement  ;
        elemLoc.offset = 0;
        if (nextComponent.ObjectValid())
            elemLoc.child = nextComponent.ComponentElement;
        var newComponent = this.book.NewBookComponentOfTypeInHierarchy (folderName, Constants.FV_BK_FOLDER  , elemLoc);

Same for groups.

Hope this helps

Markus

Report · Oct 31, 2018

Well, I did see that, but I assumed the book was unstructured. I could not figure out how to do it without the structure-based methods. But now I play around with it a little more and I can't seem to even create an unstructured book (FM2015). So, are all books structured now?

Russ

Report · Oct 31, 2018

Hi Russ,

I have to asked that question vice versa, have books ever been unstructured? 🙂

No I'm not sure. That's part of a script I wrote for a customer which uses FM12/FM2015 in an unstructured environment, and that was the only way I was able to solve that problem.

And I think customer also works with unstructured FM variant and he never complaint.

But I think Folders and Groups are features which came with FM9. And perhaps starting from then books have this "XML"-logic.

Markus

Report · Nov 02, 2018

Thanks, what about adding .fm files to the group. ?

Report · Nov 02, 2018

Hi,

        var newComponent  = null ;
        if (unstructuredMode == false)
        {
             var elemLoc = new ElementLoc() ;
             elemLoc.offset = Constants.FV_OBJ_END_OFFSET ;
             elemLoc.parent = folderComponent.ComponentElement ;       
             newComponent = this.book.NewBookComponentInHierarchy (filename, elemLoc) ;
        }
        else
        {
            newComponent  = this.book.NewSeriesBookComponent (folderComponent);
            if (newComponent.ObjectValid())
                newComponent.Name = filename;
        }

Hope this helps

Markus

Report · Jun 10, 2019

Hello,

I'm traying to create a .fm document into the folder using the solution of Wiedenmaier but my example doesn't work, All the time I have the error - 43, does anybody know where is the problem?

var book = app.ActiveBook;

var elemLoc = new ElementLoc (book.HighestLevelElement, null, 0);

var folder = this.book.NewBookComponentOfTypeInHierarchy ("Widget Guide", Constants.FV_BK_FOLDER, elemLoc);

var elemLoc2 = new ElementLoc() ;

elemLoc2.offset = Constants.FV_OBJ_END_OFFSET ;

elemLoc2.parent = folder.ComponentElement ;

var newComponent = this.book.NewBookComponentOfTypeInHierarchy(filename, elemLoc2) ;

Thanks in advance.

Report · Jun 10, 2019

I had to create books with groups and folders years ago and I know it was not easy. In the end I made it work by calling the function to add a goup to the book via the Fcodes command:

Fcodes( [ FCodes['KBD_BOOKADDGROUP'] ] );

After this, the new group is the first (only) selected component in the book:

	oNewComp = oBook.FirstSelectedComponentInBook;
	oNewComp.BookComponentTitle = "My New Group Title";

Then you may also want to move the component up, down, left (promote) or right (demote):

oNewComp.MoveComponent( Constants.FA_COMPONENT_PROMOTE );

I hope this helps you enough to get it working.

4everJang

Report · Jun 10, 2019

And doesn't exist any option to do this without Fcodes ?

Report · Jun 10, 2019

I have not found one. But what is wrong with using Fcodes ?

Report · Jun 10, 2019

4everJang schrieb
I have not found one. But what is wrong with using Fcodes ?

no control about anything 😉 Hate Fcodes 😉

Report · Jun 10, 2019

That is not specific to Fcodes. Any built-in function does something that is largely out of control. Setting properties via SetProps( ) for instance often does all kinds of things that you can only guess at. I only use Fcodes when none of the other options works and I cannot afford to spend tons of time to figure out how to get around it. And for unstructured FM books, using the Fcode to add a group works fine - it does exactly what I would do when clicking the button for the command.

So I agree with you that having a proper Book method for inserting a group would be nice, but I cannot say I hate Fcodes, nor do I love them. They are just one of the tools in my toolbox.

Report · Jun 10, 2019

I dug up some Code, and haven't tested it for this post. But I think this should help to understand the logic.

Please note this is only supported, if FM runs in structured mode. Didn't get it to work with unstructured mode (and I think i won't), but it shouldn't be a big issue to change this FM environment setting.

FMBookWrapper = function(book)
{
    this.book = null ;
    if (typeof(book) != 'undefined')
        this.book = book;
 this.AddFolder = function(previousComponent, folderName)
 {
  var nextComponent = this.NextBookComponent (previousComponent, false);
  var elemLoc = new ElementLoc() ;
  elemLoc.parent = this.book.HighestLevelElement  ;
  elemLoc.offset = 0;
  if (nextComponent.ObjectValid())
   elemLoc.child = nextComponent.ComponentElement;
  if (app.ProductIsStructured)
  {
   var newComponent = this.book.NewBookComponentOfTypeInHierarchy (folderName, Constants.FV_BK_FOLDER  , elemLoc);        
   //needs to be done as book component is not valid at this point 😞
   newComponent = this.FindBookComponent(newComponent);
  }
  else
  {
   alert("Not supported Error!\Adding folders is not supported with unstructured FM") ;
   return ;
   //TODO: this doesn't work... Function is not useable in unstructured FrameMaker
   var newComponent  = this.book.NewSeriesBookComponent (previousComponent);
   if (newComponent.ObjectValid())
   {
    newComponent.ComponentType = Constants.FV_BK_FOLDER;
    newComponent.BookComponentTitle = fileName.replace(".fm","");
   }
  }
  //do some stuff with newComponent here
  return newComponent;
 }
 this.NextBookComponent = function(bookComponent, dfsOrder)
 {
  if (typeof(dfsOrder)=='undefined')
   dfsOrder = true ;
  var comp=this.book.FirstComponentInBook;
  if (bookComponent== null || typeof(bookComponent)=='undefined' || bookComponent.ObjectValid()==false)
   return comp;
  if (dfsOrder)
   comp=bookComponent.NextBookComponentInDFSOrder;
  else
   comp = bookComponent.NextComponentInBook;
  return comp ;
 }
 this.FindBookComponentByFileName = function(fileName)
 {
  var bookComponent = this.FirstBookComponent ();
  while (bookComponent.ObjectValid())
  {
   if (bookComponent.Name == fileName)
    return bookComponent;
   bookComponent = this.NextBookComponent (bookComponent);
  }
  return bookComponent;
 }
 this.FirstBookComponent = function()
 {
  return this.book.FirstComponentInBook;
 }
}

this functionality is wrapped in an object, you can use is like this.

var fmBook = new FMBookWrapper(app.ActiveBook);
var prevComp = null //get the component here. Folder is added after this book component
var folder = fmBook.AddFolder(prevComp, "MyFolder");
//go ahead

Code creates a Folder. If you Need a Group, change FV_BK_Folder to FV_BK_Group in line 17. but this as a Parameter to AddFolder method, and both should work very smooth.

Hope this helps

Markus

Report · Jun 11, 2019

Wiedenmaier,

I have problems with your example. The error is the next one: "this.FindBookComponent(newComponent); " is not a function.

Do you have any idea about this?

Thank you in advance!

Report · Jun 11, 2019

Hi

sorry, assembled wrong function (FindBookComponentByFileName) instead of (FindBookComponent)

take this, which should do the job

FMBookWrapper = function(book)
{
    this.book = null ;
    if (typeof(book) != 'undefined')
        this.book = book;
 this.AddFolder = function(previousComponent, folderName)
 {
  var nextComponent = this.NextBookComponent (previousComponent, false);
  var elemLoc = new ElementLoc() ;
  elemLoc.parent = this.book.HighestLevelElement  ;
  elemLoc.offset = 0;
  if (nextComponent.ObjectValid())
   elemLoc.child = nextComponent.ComponentElement;
  if (app.ProductIsStructured)
  {
   var newComponent = this.book.NewBookComponentOfTypeInHierarchy (folderName, Constants.FV_BK_FOLDER  , elemLoc);        
   //needs to be done as book component is not valid at this point 😞
   newComponent = this.FindBookComponent(newComponent);
  }
  else
  {
   alert("Not supported Error!\Adding folders is not supported with unstructured FM") ;
   return ;
   //TODO: this doesn't work... Funktion is not useable in unstructured FrameMaker
   var newComponent  = this.book.NewSeriesBookComponent (previousComponent);
   if (newComponent.ObjectValid())
   {
    newComponent.ComponentType = Constants.FV_BK_FOLDER;
    newComponent.BookComponentTitle = fileName.replace(".fm","");
   }
  }
  //do some stuff with newComponent here
  return newComponent;
 }
 this.NextBookComponent = function(bookComponent, dfsOrder)
 {
  if (typeof(dfsOrder)=='undefined')
   dfsOrder = true ;
  var comp=this.book.FirstComponentInBook;
  if (bookComponent== null || typeof(bookComponent)=='undefined' || bookComponent.ObjectValid()==false)
   return comp;
  if (dfsOrder)
   comp=bookComponent.NextBookComponentInDFSOrder;
  else
   comp = bookComponent.NextComponentInBook;
  return comp ;
 }
 this.FindBookComponent = function(bookComponent)
 {
  //Workaround implementation, because NewBookComponent, delivers component only with id and no other Props
  if (bookComponent.ObjectValid()==false)
   return bookComponent;
  var comp=this.book.FirstComponentInBook;
  while(comp.ObjectValid())
  {
   if (comp.ComponentElement.id == bookComponent.id)
    return comp ;
   comp=comp.NextBookComponentInDFSOrder;
  }
  return bookComponent ;
 }
 this.FirstBookComponent = function()
 {
  return this.book.FirstComponentInBook;
 }
}
//integrate
var fmBook = new FMBookWrapper(app.ActiveBook);
var prevComp = null //get the component here. Folder is added after this book component
fmBook.AddFolder(prevComp, "MyFolder");

as mentioned, it's not tested in Detail.

But in an empty book, it creates a Folder and if you change "FV_Bk_FOLDER", to "FV_Bk_GROUP" it also creates a group in the book

Hope this helps

Markus

Report · Jun 11, 2019

It create correctly the folder but how I can add ".fm" file into the folder?

Any idea about that?

Thanks!

Report · Jun 11, 2019

When oLastComp points to the group or folder, this should work:

	var oNewComp = oBook.NewSeriesBookComponent( oLastComp );
	oNewComp.ComponentType = Constants.FV_BK_FM;
	oNewComp.Name = sFileName;

Report · Jun 13, 2019

Any idea to define the element parent? I don't know how I can say wich is the parent folder.

I can create a fm file document but not into the folder

var newComponent = this.book.NewBookComponentOfTypeInHierarchy (folderName, Constants.FV_BK_FOLDER , elemLoc); newComponent = this.FindBookComponent(newComponent);

var newElement = this.NextBookComponent (newComponent, false);

var elemLoc2 = new ElementLoc() ;

elemLoc2.parent =newElement ;

elemLoc2.offset = 0;

if (newElement.ObjectValid())

elemLoc2.child = newElement.ComponentElement;

var oNewCompBerria = this.book.NewSeriesBookComponent (newElement);

oNewCompBerria.ComponentType = Constants.FV_BK_FM;

oNewCompBerria.Name = "file.fm" ;

I can create this structure

book

-> folder

->file

-> folder 2

but I need something like this

book

->folder

->file

->folder 2

Report · Jun 13, 2019

Hi,

add These lines after line 65

this.AddFileToFolder = function(folderComponent, filename, unstructuredMode)
{
        if (typeof(unstructuredMode) == 'undefined')
            unstructuredMode = !app.ProductIsStructured;
        var newComponent = 0 ;
        var elemLoc = new ElementLoc() ;
        elemLoc.offset = Constants.FV_OBJ_END_OFFSET ;
        elemLoc.parent = folderComponent.ComponentElement ;       
        var newComponent  = null ;
        if (unstructuredMode == false)
        {
            newComponent = this.book.NewBookComponentInHierarchy (filename, elemLoc) ;
        }
        else
        {
            newComponent  = this.book.NewSeriesBookComponent (folderComponent);
            if (newComponent.ObjectValid())
                newComponent.Name = filename;
        }
        //search for component again. Sometimes you dont get the correct initialized bookcomponent back
        newComponent = this.FindBookComponent(newComponent);
        return newComponent;
}

and than you can call it like this:

var folder = fmBook.AddFolder(prevComp, "MyFolder");  
fmBook.AddFileToFolder(Folder, "your filename");

should work

Markus

Report · Jun 13, 2019

It works perfectly.

Thank you!

Report · Jun 19, 2019

Hello,

I have other question about that, your code create the folders and files correctly but I have a litte problem with the order. I have created a loop to create differente folders and I wan't to know if exist any possibility to create the folders in different order, always you code create the last folder in the top of the list.

Your code:

Folder 2

File 2.1

File 2.2

Folder 1

File 1.1

I need :

Folder 1

File 1.1

Folder 2

File 2.1

File 2.2

Any idea about it?

Thank you!

Report · Jun 19, 2019

I think you have to Change Line 11 in AddFolder from

elemLoc.offset = 0;

to

elemLoc.offset = Constants.FV_OBJ_END_OFFSET ;

this should insert Folder to the end of parent.

Please give it a try, and depending on Usecases you have to Play around with that.

Markus

Report · Jun 19, 2019

Changing this line create this structure:

-My Folder 1

-Muy Folder 2

- File

But not folder 1 and 2 in the same level.

Report · Jun 19, 2019

you need to Play around with the element Location, and I'm sure you'll find the solution 😉

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Does anybody know how to add group/folder with extend script