Is it possible to copy text to the clipboard in Illustrator via Javascript ?

[orgicus]

I am working on a very basic script that exports coordinates from Illustrator.

At the moment I am just outputing the values via $.writeln()

I was wondering if I could copy the output values to the clipboard. If so, what

am I looking for in the API ?

Thanks,

George

[Muppet_Mark-QAl63s · Accepted solution]

I can't app.copy() here Im at work with CS2… But you may be able to create a temporary text frame set then select the contents then copy… remove…

[orgicus]

Thanks Mark, this workaround is fine.

Wish there was a method in the API withouth the need to add a pathText.

[Muppet_Mark-QAl63s]

Just wondering… why did you need it on the clipboard? There is no direct way with the ESTK such as AppleScript's…

set the clipboard to "Some String"

[orgicus]

For an actionscript project I will need to animate a few hundred objects to certain destinations. These destinations are given by a designer who works on the look and feel of things in Illustrator.

I would like to make it as simple as possible for the designer to adjust things visually in Illustrator, then he can get a snippet to test in Flash as well.

Thank you very much for the applescript idea!

I'll use something like:

app.system("osascript -e 'set the clipboard to \"" + code + "\"'");

[Muppet_Mark-QAl63s]

app.system() is Bridge and Photoshop only isn't it? Not even documented in Photoshop either… Would be nice to have suite wide I have mentioned several times in the forums before now… Did someone listen and I didn't notice… If it did work you could try pbcopy & pbpaste…

[orgicus]

ouch! You're right!

So, can I go from JS to Applescript and set the clipboard ?

How would I set the clipboard without using textPath ?

[Muppet_Mark-QAl63s]

Unfortunately No… The only app in the suite that allows JS to perform AS is Indesign… With its app.doScript() you will quickly find me on a rant about a level playing field for this stuff… That's why the copy from text frame is probably still the way I would go… too many hoops to jump thru otherwise…

[orgicus]

app.system() through out CS feature request form sent, who knows

Thank you very much Mark, this is very helpful.

[wckdtall]

Any idea what the equivalent to app.system is in illustrator? I'm trying to call an OSA script through Javascript.

[yukh]

There is an additional trouble -- 'TextFrame' has no 'select()' method or property.

myTextFrame.selected = true;

Alas. It doesn't work.

I've managed do select and copy/cut through two steps:

1. Select all objects.

2. Exclulde from the selection every item which name is not equal to name of my 'TextFrame'.

var myDoc = app.activeDocument;
var clip = myDoc.textFrames.add(); // create a temporary TextFrame
clip.contents = "aaa"; // place your text here
clip.name = "TextFrame for copy"; // any unique name for the temporary TextFrame

myDoc.selectObjectsOnActiveArtboard(); // select all objects

// the loop for deselecting all but the 'clip' with unique name
var sel = myDoc.selection;
for (i=0; i<sel.length; i++) {
     if (sel.name != clip.name) sel.selected = false; 
}  
app.cut(); // cut temporary TextFrame to clipboard

[Silly-V]

With text frames, you select text ranges inside the text frames.

[yukh]

Yes, you can select and deselect text ranges, but you can not copy (app.copy()) this selection to clipboard.

var myDoc = app.activeDocument;
var clip = myDoc.textFrames.add();
clip.contents = "abc";

clip.selected = true;    // it doesn't work
clip.textRange.select(); // it works...
app.copy();              // it doesn't work again

[Silly-V]

Indeed, it is so! Apparently when selecting through script, the cursor does not find its way inside the text frame and copy/cut complains about some gradient mesh.

But, for me 'textFrame.selected = true' does work, so if I needed to put into clipboard some text, I'd copy that text frame which has the text.

Interestingly, copying a text frame will let me paste the text contents into Notepad, and the reverse is true where pasting notepad text yields a new point text item.

[yukh]

Probably 'textFrame.selected = true' doesn't work in Illustrator CS6 only? It looks like a bug.

I've found the variant that works fine for me:

var tempObj = app.activeDocument.pathItems.add(); // create some temporary object

var myText = app.activeDocument.textFrames.add(); // create the text frame

myText.contents = 'abc';

tempObj.selected = true; // select the temporary object first -- it is important part!

myText.selected = true; // <--- suprise! now you can select the text frame just like any other object

tempObj.remove(); // delete the temporary object

app.copy(); // voilá

Surely this solution is more efficient than the loop through all objects.

[Silly-V]

Yea, strange - but I cannot say, I have not used CS6 since years ago.