Automate find and update (not change/replace)

[Gioyer07]

On a 1000+ page book I have to do a very repetitive updating operation that runs now as follows:

1) Find-change windows contains the text to update (let's say is "XYZ"), pressing NEXT will select it

2) update selection ("XYZ"): applied via a custom shortcut assigned to the "update selected" in the dropdown list of Easy Catalog plugin.

The thing works but this operation has to be repeated thousands of times. After all the point is to just automate two operations. Can somebody help automate this task? Thank you.

[Peter Spier]

Not sure why you can't use Change All...

Is the updated text different for each instance? Some other reason why you can't change all?

More details, please.

[Gioyer07]

It is precisely what the plugin does.... it picks data from a database and updates its fields. In this case it's about an URL.

[James Gifford—NitroPress · Accepted solution]

What Peter said. From your description, this is either a fairly straightforward find/change operation, perhaps using GREP to help, or (if it needs to select the information from the plug in) something approaching AI. If you need to make a choice as part of the operation, automating it might be tricky.

ETA: you might also consider a system/keyboard macro rather than trying to do it entirely with internal ID resources. I find a macro keyboard to be an absolutely irreplaceable asset for things like this.

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[Gioyer07]

Thank you for your post. This seems to be the right path to go.

[Peter Spier]

One of the possibilities that occurs to me is that if a choice needs to be made from drtopdown, but tit's the same chosice for all. it might work to do it once manually, copy the change to the clipboard, then use find/change and replace with contyents of the clipboard.

[Gioyer07]

Not sure if I understand what you mean but consider that each "item" (that has to be updated) picks different data from the source.

[Peter Spier]

Are you saying the trigger data is the same (the "find" string), but each time it is found you pick a different choice for your catalog plugin? Is there a pattern to the choice slection, such as a rotation through them, or is it random?

For a pattern it might be scriptable, but I don't see a path to an automated solution to a random choice.

[Gioyer07]

Hi Peter. Issue is solved via macros set outside ID. But yes, you rightly understand that each time find executes, the next shortcut/command calls an update from the database. This is a crazy repetition for tens of thousands manmade operations within a catalogue, but a click for a cosy program like Pulover's Macro Creator.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Operations like this almost always have a solution outside a "layout" program like ID. Glad the system macro worked; as I said, a Logi macro keyboard and some app tools for it have been a regular part of my workflow for things like this for a long time.

The other approach is to think in terms of data merge etc.: use some other tool to do the merged/updated/linked document and then bring it into ID for layout.

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