Help with Illustrator Script for Creating Layers

[pnsyd]

I'm not much into scripting, so I apologise for any stupid questions. I'm trying to create a script to set up layers that I usually create manually every time. I copied this script a while ago and it worked in previous versions of Illustrator, but i get errors in Illustrator 2023. Any help would be much appreciated.

//Apply to myDoc the active document

var layerName = LayerOrderType;

var myDoc = app.activeDocument;

//define first character and how many layers do you need

var layerName

var numberOfLayers=0;

//Create the layers

for(var i=0; i<=numberOfLayers; i++)

{ var layerName = "BACKGROUND"; var myLayer = myDoc.layers.add(); myLayer.name = layerName; }

{ var layerName = "ARTWORK"; var myLayer = myDoc.layers.add(); myLayer.name = layerName; }

{ var layerName = "FOLD"; var myLayer = myDoc.layers.add(); myLayer.name = layerName; }

{ var layerName = "KNIFE"; var myLayer = myDoc.layers.add(); myLayer.name = layerName; }

// Moves the bottom layer to become the topmost layer

if (documents.length > 0) {

countOfLayers = activeDocument.layers.length;

if (countOfLayers > 1) {

bottomLayer = activeDocument.layers[countOfLayers-1];

bottomLayer.zOrder(ZOrderMethod.BRINGTOFRONT);

}

else {

alert("The active document only has only 1 layer")

}

}

This is the error I get

[m1b · Accepted solution]

Hi @pnsyd, no need to apologize; scripting is challenging and it's good that you are trying to make things easier for yourself!

Unfortunately your script has lots of errors—but here is a fixed version:

(function () {

    var layerNames = [
        "BACKGROUND",
        "ARTWORK",
        "FOLD",
        "KNIFE",
    ];

    var doc = app.activeDocument;


    for (var i = 0; i < layerNames.length; i++) {
        var myLayer = doc.layers.add();
        myLayer.name = layerNames[i];
    }

    // Moves the bottom layer to become the topmost layer
    doc.layers[doc.layers.length - 1].zOrder(ZOrderMethod.BRINGTOFRONT);

})();

 - Mark

[pnsyd]

Thank you so much 🙂

[pnsyd]

Is it possible to assign a color to the layer?

[m1b]

Yes, here's an example. You can adjust the RGB values to match the color you want.

(function () {

    var layerData = [
        { name: "BACKGROUND", color: [255, 128, 0] },
        { name: "ARTWORK", color: [128, 255, 128] },
        { name: "FOLD", color: [0, 0, 255] },
        { name: "KNIFE", color: [0, 255, 255] },
    ];

    var doc = app.activeDocument;


    for (var i = 0; i < layerData.length; i++) {
        var myLayer = doc.layers.add();
        myLayer.name = layerData[i].name;

        if (layerData[i].color === undefined)
            continue;

        var c = new RGBColor();
        c.red = layerData[i].color[0];
        c.blue = layerData[i].color[1];
        c.green = layerData[i].color[2];
        myLayer.color = c;
    }

    if (doc.layers[doc.layers.length - 1].locked == false)
        // Moves the bottom layer to become the topmost layer
        doc.layers[doc.layers.length - 1].zOrder(ZOrderMethod.BRINGTOFRONT);

})();

[pnsyd]

Amazing. Thank you