Adding section to active page

[Petteri_Paananen]

Hi

I´m trying to create a very simple javascript for adding new section to active page. So far I have made following code:

var myDoc = app.activeDocument;
var numero = app.activeWindow.activePage.name;
var numero2 = numero -1;
myDoc.sections.add(myDoc.pages[numero2]);

It basically works as it should, whren I double-click some page thumbnail in pages panel, that page will become active... and if I run the script at that point it usually adds section to active page pretty nicely....

However, if I use that script with Configurator 2.0 and create a custom panel, with Add a section button (where I have attached that same javascript) InDesign starts to throw me some weird alert:

If I answer yes, script will work as it should, but I would like to make it work so that users won´t get that alert at all....

If I run that scrpt from Scripts panel, it works without alerts...

Another thing I have tried to figure out is how to create some kind of error handler that would stop the script if active page already has a section start, now script generates a javascript error in those cases.... it would be more classy if simply nothing happened....

Any help appreciated.... thanks

[John Hawkinson]

Does it work better with?:

var numero = app.activeDocument.layoutWindows[0].activePage.name;

just a guess.

[Petteri_Paananen]

No, it gives me same alert... thanks anyway....=)

[Harbs.]

I have not played with Configurator much.

One thing you can try is using app.documents[0] instead of activeDcoument.

You can also wrap the whole thing in a try/catch. This would probably solve both of your issues in one go...

Harbs

[John Hawkinson]

In case it wasn't clear, if you

try {
 ...
} catch (e) {
  $.writeln("Error "+e.message+" at line "+e.line);
}

then you'll know what it is complaining about, instead of being a mystery.

[Petteri_Paananen]

Thanks guys...=) but no luck here....

And I noticed something quite weird. This script is meant to use with single pages, but when I accidentally used it with facing pages spreads, I got that same alert + script changed the way page numbers are marked below thumbs:

It replaced 10-11 with 10,11

I also tried

try {
var myDoc = app.documents[0];
var numero = app.documents[0].layoutWindows[0].activePage.name;
var numero2 = numero -1;
myDoc.sections.add(myDoc.pages[numero2]);
} catch (e)
{  $.writeln("Error "+e.message+" at line "+e.line);}

But I still have that same alert.... When I run that code in Extend Script ToolKit, I got following javascrip console message:

Error undefined is not an object at line 2
Result: undefined

[Laubender]

It replaced 10-11 with 10,11

Petteri,
nothing weird here: 10-11 means, that the whole spread belongs to a single section.
Now, after adding a new section at page 11, InDesign indicates with the comma between the page numbers that the spread belongs to two sections.
A second indicator is the tiny triangle at top of page 11.

See also the following screen shot where one spread contains 4 pages and is part of three sections:

Uwe

Message was edited by: Laubender

[John Hawkinson]

try {

var myDoc = app.documents[0];

Error undefined is not an object at line 2

Well, clearly you don't have an app.documents[0];. Perhaps app is wrong, or app.documents is wrong. So try printing out a bunch of these things to find out. Check app.reflect.properties and app.documents.length and all that stuff... Maybe even try BridgeTalk (shudder).

[Petteri_Paananen]

@Laubender

Thanks for the clarification...=) InDesign is amazing peace of software, I have used it since version one (and even written 4 books about it) and still sometimes I learn something new. I have used sections many many times but I have never noticed that behaviour...

@John

I have to study this little further. My problem is that I´m really a newbie with javascript. I have done quite a lot ActionScript but it´s just different enough to drive me crazy sometimes...=)

Thanks anyway to everyone.....