Add to and replace contents of an array

[subieguy2]

I am pulling all of the textFrames from 2 specific layers. It is working fine. I am then pushing them into an array isolatedText[];

My regExp is matching fine. So when I try to replace the word and move it to the front of the string it isn't replacing it in the textFrame.

For example one of my search strings is:

AIR FILTER RESTRICTION SWITCH

I would like it to replace the contents to look like this:

SWITCH - AIR FILTER RESTRICTION

My alert shows it correctly....it is just not replacing the text in the text frame itself.

Here is my code....any help would be much appreciated!!!

var doc = app.activeDocument      
var hyperText = doc.layers['Hypertext'].textFrames;
var compText = doc.layers['Component Table'].textFrames;
var isolatedText = [];
for (var i = 0; i < hyperText.length; i++) {
    isolatedText.push(hyperText.contents);
}
for (var i = 0; i < compText.length; i++) {
    isolatedText.push(compText.contents);
}
for (var ii = 0; ii < isolatedText.length; ii++){
    if (isolatedText[ii].match(/SWITCH|SW(?!ING)/) != null) {
    isolatedText[ii] = "SWITCH - " + isolatedText[ii].replace(/SWITCH|SW(?!ING)/g, "");
    alert(isolatedText[ii]);
}
}

[Silly-V]

You are grabbing the contents of the textFrames, which takes those contents and copies them into a new stand-alone string variable for you. Then when you change those string variables, it does nothing to your textFrame.contents.

So, you will need to ensure that your new changed text is applied back into the textFrame.contents of all your frames somehow.

[subieguy2]

Ok I follow. How do I feed my string back into the textFrame.contents?

[Disposition_Dev]

textFrame.contents = "the new contents of the textFrame"

[subieguy2]

Yes I understand that part. I guess I don't understand how to get THAT specific textFrame since my array isn't defined as a textFrame item.

I tried this...

for (var ii = 0; ii < isolatedText.length; ii++){
    if (isolatedText[ii].match(/SWITCH|SW(?!ING)/) != null) {
    isolatedText[ii] = "SWITCH - " + isolatedText[ii].replace(/SWITCH|SW(?!ING)/g, "");
    isolatedText[ii].contents = isolatedText[ii];
    alert(isolatedText[ii]);
}
}

It still doesn't replace the contents.

[Disposition_Dev]

woops. sorry i realize you already said that didn't work. let me look a little closer.

change line 19 in your example above to this:

isolatedText[ii].contents = "SWITCH - " + isolatedText[ii].replace(/SWITCH|SW(?!ING)/g, "");

[subieguy2]

#target illustrator-22
var doc = app.activeDocument      
var hyperText = doc.layers['Hypertext'].textFrames;
var compText = doc.layers['Component Table'].textFrames;
var isolatedText = [];
for (var i = 0; i < hyperText.length; i++) {
    isolatedText.push(hyperText.contents);
}
for (var i = 0; i < compText.length; i++) {
    isolatedText.push(compText.contents);
}
for (var ii = 0; ii < isolatedText.length; ii++){
    if (isolatedText[ii].match(/SWITCH|SW(?!ING)/) != null) {
    isolatedText[ii].contents = "SWITCH - " + isolatedText[ii].replace(/SWITCH|SW(?!ING)/g, "");
}
}

Still doesn't replace the contents of the textFrame

[Disposition_Dev · Accepted solution]

ah, ok. so the problem is, you're pushing the contents of text frames to your arrays, rather than pushing the textFrame objects themselves. therefore, when you try to do:

isolatedText[ii].contents = "some text"

you're attempting to change the .contents property of a string, which doesn't exist. i'm actually surprised it doesn't give an error.

try this:

var doc = app.activeDocument
var hyperText = doc.layers['Hypertext'].textFrames;
var compText = doc.layers['Component Table'].textFrames;
var isolatedText = [];
for (var i = 0; i < hyperText.length; i++)
{
    isolatedText.push(hyperText);
}
for (var i = 0; i < compText.length; i++)
{
    isolatedText.push(compText);
}
for (var ii = 0; ii < isolatedText.length; ii++)
{
    if (isolatedText[ii].contents.match(/SWITCH|SW(?!ING)/) != null)
    {
        isolatedText[ii].contents = "SWITCH - " + isolatedText[ii].contents.replace(/SWITCH|SW(?!ING)/g, "");
        alert(isolatedText[ii].contents);
    }
}

[subieguy2]

DOH! I was so close. lol!

Thank you for your help as always! That worked perfect!

[Disposition_Dev]

any old time, friend. glad to help. 😃