Set unit preferences (Javascript)

[PBossens]

I can't find a way to set the unit preferences for Illustrator CS6/CC using JavaScript.

I found that this works (setting units for stroke):

var units = 2; // 0-inches, 1-milllimeters, 2-points

app.preferences.setIntegerPreference("strokeUnits", units)

But I want to set the ruler units ("General" in the interface), and this does not work:

app.preferences.setIntegerPreference("rulerUnits", units)

Any help?

Peter

[Ten A · Accepted solution]

Hi,

We can set ruler unit using "rulerType" key not "rulerUnit".

Check below script:

var units = 0; //(0 to 6)

app.preferences.setIntegerPreference("rulerType", units);

/*Unit list

0 : point

1 : pica

2 : inch

3 : mm

4 : cm

5 : H/Q

6 : px

*/

Ten

[PBossens]

Ten,

Yes, this works, finally! Thank you very much with this simple but poorly documented feature.

I noticed that the unit mapping is:  0: inches, 1: mm, 2: points, 3: pica, 4: cm, 5: custom, 6: pixels

Regards,

Peter

[Ten A]

Oops! Apologies for my mistake.

I'll update my documentation, Thanks.

Ten

[Michael Trim]

Where can I find the documentation for all preference set via the setIntegerPreference and similar methods on app.preferences ?

[Ten A]

There are no documentation by Adobe.

But, You can reference below script:

https://github.com/ten-A/Extend_Script_experimentals/blob/master/preferencesKeeper.jsx

Ten

[Silly-V]

Unfortunately I just can't get this one to work, I'm on Ai 21.1.0

To confirm- the expected result is to see the active ai's documents to be changed right after the script command is executed?

[CarlosCanto]

yes, the expected result is to see units changed in the general preference window. Still works in Win CC2017

[Silly-V]

That's funny, it does affect the dropdown selection in the preferences dialog, but does not change the active document's ruler units. Changing the selection on the preferences dialog does set the active document, but only when the unit is different than the one you just set via script, I think because it thinks it's already applies so it says no change needed.

[Ten A]

Additionally, We can access document level unit preference from Javascript.

But its READ ONLY...

[Silly-V]

Unfortunately.. so the only current way of changing a document's current ruler units is GUI scripting with send-keys, or creating a completely new document and pasting all art inside?

[moluapple]

Again, possible way can be: save document uncompressed then modify the file directly.

%AI5_RulerUnits: 2

Change 2 to 0-6.

app.preferences.setBooleanPreference ('aiFileFormat/enableContentRecovery', true);
app.preferences.setBooleanPreference ('aiFileFormat/dumpPGFwithoutShortcut', true);
var d = app.activeDocument,
    fn = d.fullName,
    f = File(d.path + '/_' + d.name),
    unit = 3;
d.close();
app.open(fn);
app.activeDocument.close();
parseData(f, unit);
app.open(f);
// then save as origin name with compression if you like.
app.preferences.setBooleanPreference ('aiFileFormat/dumpPGFwithoutShortcut', false);
function parseData(f, unit) {
    f.encoding  = 'BINARY';
    f.open('e');
    var re = /%AI5_RulerUnits: \d/;
    while (!f.eof) {
        if (re.test(f.readln())) {
            f.seek(-1 - (f.lineFeed == 'windows' ? 2 : 1), 1);
            f.write(unit);
            f.close();
            break;
        }
    }
}

[quann28535593]

Unit properties follow ExtendScipt Tool

/*Unit list -

Unknown: - 1

Points - 4 :

Picas - 5 :

Inches -  2 :

Millimeters - 6 :

Centimeters - 3

Pixel - 8

Qs - 7

/*

[schroef]

Sorry for bugging here, but im loosing my mind here with scripting. I want to change the default AdjustLayout.jsx script to metric using millimeters, so change all points references in the file. But when the popup comes it keeps calculating my input to points. How is this even possible?

I know this is illustrator but the scripting is same language right?