Retriev number of layers

[Loic.Aigon]

Hi,

I am trying to get the total number of layers on a document but without any consistent results so far.

I tried this but it doesn't work efficiently.

As a layer may contain one or several layers, each one of them may contain also one or multiple sub layers, I have tried a recursive function.

But actually, if a layer does not contain any sublayer, the global function stops. Other layers are ignored and the global amount of layers return uncorrect.

Any tip ? TIA Loic

function slcount(x,sln)
{

    //if sln is not defined on the function call, set sln to zero.
    if(!(sln))
    {
        var sln=x.layers.length;
    }

   
    for(i=0; i<x.layers.length; i++)
    {

//check for any sublayer of the x object if there are sublayers  

        if(x.layers.layers.length>0)
        {

//if sublayers are present, launch recursive call on the new sublayer
            sln+=x.layers.layers.length;
            x=x.layers;
            slcount(x,sln);
        }
        else
        {
            continue;
        }
    }
    return sln;
}

x=slcount(app.activeDocument);
x

[Larry G. Schneider]

You might have to work on a copy of the file and use the release to layers command from the layers flyout menu in an action and then count the layers.

[Loic.Aigon]

Hi Larry,

That's very kind of you taking time to answer.

However, maybe, I have misunderstood you but I am not sure how I could use your tip.

I saw that the release to layers command can create layers but my wish is to get the amount of all the layers.

Here is a screenshot. Illustrator gives 3 top layers but there is 8 layers.

I want to get that amount but as you can see a layer may contain a lots of layers spread in many levels.

Do I misuse your advice ?

[Larry G. Schneider]

I just tried and found it doesn't work exactly like I thought. I was under the impression that the release to layers command created single top level layers for each object.

Upon reading the Layer object has a layers property (read-only) which is the number of sublayers contained in the layer. Maybe you can make use of this property.

[Loic.Aigon]

Hi all,

For one interested, a friend of mine wrote that really efficient code :

function count_layers(layer)
{
  var n_layers = layer.layers.length ;

  // Short circuit
  if (0 == n_layers) return n_layers ;

  for (var i = 0 ; i < layer.layers.length ; i++)
    n_layers += count_layers(layer.layers) ;

  return n_layers ;
}

var layers_in_document = count_layers(app.activeDocument) ;
alert("There are " + layers_in_document + " layers in this document") ;

it returns the global amount of layers.

Regards,

Loic