Script add-on that will rename an output pdf file

[Mark5C94]

I need some help with adding a snippet to my funcional pdf export plugin that would automatically rename  the output pdf file. I tried my best over the weekend and with all the time invested I couldn't make it work. 

The very basic plugin I have been using (see below) creates a pdf copy out of the artboard #1, and saves it under the name of the active file, into the home folder of active file. That's exactly what I need, but I have to go into Finder each time and manually change the name of the new created pdf file. So instead of having plugin automatically creating File.pdf I need it to create File-Placard.pdf. Basically renaming it and adding "-Placard" to the active file name. Everything I tried wouldn't work 100%. 

If anyone has an idea how to make this happen please let me know. 

Thank you for all your help. 

MarkA

#target "illustrator"
var aiApp = app.activeDocument;

dest = aiApp.fullName

if (app.documents.length > 0) {
    var saveOpts = new PDFSaveOptions();
    var fileSpec = new File(dest);
    	saveOpts = new PDFSaveOptions(); 
	saveOpts.artboardRange = 1;
	saveOpts.compatibility = PDFCompatibility.ACROBAT5; 
	saveOpts.generateThumbnails = true; 
	saveOpts.preserveEditability = false;
	saveOpts.pDFPreset = 'Placard';
    aiApp.saveAs(fileSpec, saveOpts)
} 

[Mark5C94]

OK, as soon as I posted this I figured out exactly what I needed. 

#target "illustrator"

var doc = app.activeDocument;

// The path of the original document  

var originalDocPath = doc.path;  

// The name of the original document  

var originalDocName = doc.name;

// Get just the file name. Ignore the file extension .pdf and .ai  

originalDocName = originalDocName.replace(/\.pdf|\.ai/gi, "")

// Get just the file name. Ignore the file extension .pdf and .ai  

originalDocName = originalDocName.replace(/\.pdf|\.ai/gi, "")  

{

    var saveOpts = new PDFSaveOptions();

saveOpts = new PDFSaveOptions(); 

saveOpts.artboardRange = 1;

saveOpts.compatibility = PDFCompatibility.ACROBAT5; 

saveOpts.generateThumbnails = true; 

saveOpts.preserveEditability = false;

saveOpts.pDFPreset = 'Placard';

// Save the document in the original folder using the original name with _LR suffix  

doc.saveAs(File(originalDocPath + "/" + originalDocName + "-Placard.pdf"), saveOpts);  

app.activeDocument.close(SaveOptions.DONOTSAVECHANGES);

} 

[m1b · Accepted solution]

Well done! That's much better that you worked it our yourself and I am glad you are using regular expressions! For the sake of extra learning, here's what I was about to reply, which is a slightly more succinct version of yours. It uses a more complex regular expression that looks for the last period in a string (and anything after it).

var suffix = '-Placard';

if (app.documents.length > 0) {
    var doc = app.activeDocument;
    dest = String(doc.fullName).replace(/(.(?!\.))+$/, suffix);
    var saveOpts = new PDFSaveOptions();
    var fileSpec = new File(dest);
    saveOpts = new PDFSaveOptions();
    saveOpts.artboardRange = 1;
    saveOpts.compatibility = PDFCompatibility.ACROBAT5;
    saveOpts.generateThumbnails = true;
    saveOpts.preserveEditability = false;
    saveOpts.pDFPreset = 'Placard';
    aiApp.saveAs(fileSpec, saveOpts)
}

- Mark 

[Mark5C94]

Looks great. Thank you very much.