[basiljs] remove all pages except one

[doekewartena]

In a script i create pages, export to pdf, remove pages and then create again etc.

At the moment i use this:

for(var j = b.pageCount(); j > 1; j--) {

          b.removePage(j);

}

But it is really slow. I think indesign does a lot of calculating after removing a page (due link textfields) so it would be more efficient to remove all the pages at once.

Now my question is how can i do that?

I tested and if i delete about 5500 empty pages with the script it takes around 8 minutes.

If i select them all in indesign and then delete it takes around 10 seconds.

Another way to speed up a litle is to clear all the content. It will still take long but probably a bit faster.

Thing is i have

b.clear(b.doc());

but this remove the master page as well and i need to keep the master page.

In short, how can i remove all pages (except one since indesign needs one page) at once?

[milligramme · Accepted solution]

Hi,

i do removing many pages in indesign with

• use documentPreferences.pagesPerDocument (faster)
• use while or for loop
• close doc without saving, and open again. (in some case)

here is test code, run with old Macbook Air + CS5 + OSX10.7

var pp = function (args) {
  $.writeln(args);
}
var remove_all_pages_use_pref = function (doc) {
  pp("start deleting (use preferences)");
  $.hiresTimer;
  doc.documentPreferences.pagesPerDocument = 1;
  pp("end deleting");
  pp($.hiresTimer);
}
var remove_all_pages_use_loop = function (doc) {
  var i = doc.pages.length;
  pp("start deleting (while --)");
  $.hiresTimer;
  while (i--) {
    if (i==1) {break;}
    doc.pages.remove();
  }
  pp("end deleting");
  pp($.hiresTimer);
}
function main() {
  var doc = app.documents.add();
  $.hiresTimer;
  doc.documentPreferences.pagesPerDocument = 5500;
  pp('# create 5500 pages');
  pp($.hiresTimer);
  var indd = new File("~/Desktop/5500.indd");
  doc.save(indd);
  pp("------------");
  remove_all_pages_use_pref(doc);
  doc.close(SaveOptions.NO);
  pp("------------");
  pp("# try another way");
  var doc2 = app.open(indd);
  remove_all_pages_use_loop(doc2);
  doc2.close(SaveOptions.NO);
}
main();

result

# create 5500 pages
30395026
------------
start deleting (use preferences)
end deleting
28215999
------------
# try another way
start deleting (while --)
end deleting
268641063

thanks

mg

[doekewartena]

looks promosing!

How can i do this on the current document?

I tried:

    var doc = app.documents.current();

And i did found a html reference for indesign but if i did a search on app i had more then 500 hits and the same for document so that wasn't really helping.

thanks

[Larry G. Schneider]

var doc = app.activeDocument should do it.

[doekewartena]

thanks!

so in short:

var doc = app.activeDocument;

doc.documentPreferences.pagesPerDocument = 1;