batch-find-and-replace.jsx

[fabianmoronzirfas]

Hi there, I wrote a batch-processing script for find change queries and thought I share it with you. You can get it over here 

You can process GREP, TEXT, GLYPH and OBJECT searches. 

Purpouse

While creating books in InDesign with several documents we always come across some find change queries that need to be used again, and again, and again. To make this process easier you can just grab their names and put them into a list. The script will than try to process all your queries in one click. 

prerequisites

1. make sure you have a toml file.
2. make sure the toml file is next to the script.
3. make sure the toml file has the right formatting (see below in section TOML)
4. if you want the script to autoexecute (without toml file selection), make sure the .toml file has the right name: "batch-find-and-replace.toml"
5. make sure your fcqueries work right

Usage

• Place the script and the toml file into your Scripts Panel Folder 
• define some find and change queries and save them via the InDesign dialogue.
• get the xml file names and add them to the "batch-find-and-replace.toml" file in the right spot. text search goes into text.files = [], grep search goes into grep.files = [] and so on. Make shure to remove the .xml from the filename. You can find these files on:
• • Mac OS Users[username]\Library\Preferences\Adobe InDesign[Version][Language]\Find-Change Queries[query type] 
• • Windows XP Documents and Settings[username]\Application Data\Adobe\InDesign[Version][Language]\Find-Change Queries[query type] 
• • Windows Vista and Windows 7 Users[username]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\InDesign[Version][Language]\Find-Change Queries[query type] 
• the .toml file should be located next to the script file and have the  appropriate name (batch-find-and-replace.toml). If so the script wont ask for the toml file and process the data right away. If not the script will ask you to select the .toml file.
• Thats it. Watch the magick happen.

TOML

Tom's Obvious, Minimal Language is a simple markup language that makes settings human readable. It is still in development and may change a lot. But still. It is a pretty easy language and can be learned by anyone.
The basic toml filer looks like this: 

# these are the basic settings
# the MUST be there
do_text = true
do_grep = true
do_glyph = true
do_object = false
# now the file names
# they have to be in one line
# the toml specs say you can break lines in arrays
# but the toml.js does not allow that at the moment
[text]
files = ["my_first_text_find_and_change","another one"]
[grep]
files = ["somegrepsearch", "find tabs", "something else"]
[glyph]
files = []
[objects]
files = []

MUST HAVE Settings

With the do_text, do_object, do_grep and do_glyph you can define if the script should do the corresponding find and replace. Set them to true or false.

CAN HAVE Settings

In the [text],[grep],[glyph] and [objects] areas you can define the filenames that should be processed. Make sure the filenames are written right. If there is a file mentioned that does not exist the script will throw an error. It will try to process all the .xml files it can find.
!IMPORTANT! you MUST remove the .xml from the filename in the list as shown above.

The Script is here --> https://raw.github.com/...find-and-replace.jsx

The basic .toml file here --> https://raw.github.com/...ind-and-replace.toml

The Readme here --> https://github.com/...lob/master/README.md

And the whole package here --> https://github.com/...e/archive/master.zip

[mirnad86]

Good morning,

Excellent script, works like a charm ! Great job.

I was wondering if I could use this script for all currently open documents, instead of only the active one?

Right now, when I run the script, it only does the job on the currently active document. The other documents that are also open in InDesign, are not being edited. Thing is, I would like to use this for 300+ buttons every 2 weeks. Those buttons are made in seperate InDesign files. To click the script on every document is not an option, then I could just run the actual queries instead.

Would be great if this is possible, to apply this script with one click on all open documents.

Can you help me in the right direction? Thanks !

Greets,

Mirna

[fabianmoronzirfas]

Good morning Mirna,
cool you dig this. I updated the script so it can work on all open documents. In the .toml file is a new "must have setting" called

do_all_docs = true 

Set it to true if you want to process all open documents.
Let me know if this works for you.

Cheers

:Fab

P.S. The download link in the description points to the new version.

[mirnad86]

Thank you so much for the fast response.

Unfortunately I get an error.

There was an error while trying to process the "MPP_TITLE_SDF.xml"

Please make shure (sure) it exists and is at the right spot

Error: changeText

After clicking away this error for 8 times (I have 4 docs open, each doc has to execute 2 queries) only the active document is changed, the others aren't edited at all.

Tried both text and grep, they gave me the same errors on "changeText" and "changeGrep". In the .toml file ".xml" has been removed.

Thank you for your time, I really appreciate it.

Greets,

Mirna

EDIT: I changed "true" to "false" on the do_all_docs and I get no error. So it's only when this setting is set to "true".

[fabianmoronzirfas]

Hi Mirna,

thats strange. This error should only occur when the .xml files are not at the right place or do not exist. The line where this error can happen is already within the doc processing. So it has nothing to do with the new loop that goes through all the docs.

Please double check again if your find change queries are at the right spot and the names match. 

I tried it on my setup with 3 docs with text and grep searches and it works. Download the script again. I added some more debugging "try catch" with some alerts. If the error still happens please give me the error messages. 

Cheers

:Fab

P.S. fixed the typo thanks

Edit:

It would be easier for me if we do the debugging on github. Here is the issue tracker for the script https://github.com/fabiantheblind/batch-find-and-replace/issues

Edit: sry for the Miranda. Don't know where this came from

[mirnad86]

Hi Fab,

Thank you so much for the help. Installed a fresh version of the script, and now it works except for one issue. But the errors are gone!

I added the issue on github Hope I did it properly, i'm not too femiliar with github.

Much appreciated.

Greets,

Mirna

[fabianmoronzirfas]

Hey Mirna,

thats great that it works. Unfortunatly there is no issue on github.

And I realy want to know what the issue is

[mirnad86]

That's weird, I added it an hour ago. I only see it when I'm logged in.

When I go to your script page, I click "issues" and I see it in the list.

it's called

following documents are changed to last query

https://github.com/fabiantheblind/batch-find-and-replace/issues/1

[fabianmoronzirfas]

Yeah thats strange. I get an 404 when I click on the link you provided. Did you get a account confirmation email or something like this? Maybe github wants to check if your not a robot.

[fabianmoronzirfas]

Maybe you need to varify your account. Have a look here https://help.github.com/articles/setting-up-email-verification

[Laubender]

@mirnad86 – Hm. I cannot see any issues at:

https://github.com/fabiantheblind/batch-find-and-replace/issues

I also get a 404 with your links…

Uwe

[mirnad86]

I had to verify my email, thanks Fab for the link. Didn't got an email for that (not even in spam). Done that, and filed an issue again.

Do I need a paid plan to file issues?

[fabianmoronzirfas]

No. You don't need an paid account for that.

Now it gets even stranger. I can see your issues (the first and the secound) in my github timeline but when I click on the links I still get the 404.

Also I get a 404 when I try to see your account…

[fabianmoronzirfas]

I wrote to the github support. Maybe they can tell us what the problem is.

[fabianmoronzirfas]

The github support fixed it on the fly. Now it works. Man - they are fast.

I will have a look into it.

[mirnad86]

That's so weird, but glad to see github could help you out ! Indeed super fast !

Glad to hear you can now view it. Have a great weekend !

Greets,

Mirna

[fabianmoronzirfas]

Hi Mirna,

I updated the script again. Give it a try and tell me if it fixes your problem.

Cheers

:Fab

P.S. I had a good weekend I hope you too.

P.P.S. Are you getting the messages from the issue tracker on github?

[mirnad86]

Hi Fab,

Sorry I didn't got to this earlier, I got all messages but didn't had the time (nor the files) this weekend to test it out.

My weekend was ok, i'm glad to hear you had a great weekend too

Greets,

Mirna

[Guest]

Great script, it worked perfectly with grep, text, glyph, not only worked with OBJECTS, because I do the same operation and does not work. Can you give me a hand? Thank you.

In arquivo.toml is thus:

# These are the basic settings

# The MUST be there

do_text = true

do_grep = false

do_glyph = false

do_object = true

do_all_docs = false

# Now the file names

# They have to be in one line

# TomL the specs say you can break lines in arrays

# But does not allow the toml.js que momento

[text]

files = ["_OVER_BLACK_TXT", "_OVER_CORPROF_TXT"]

[grep]

files = []

[glyph]

files = []

[object]

files = ["_OVER_BLACK_FILL", "_OVER_BLACK_STRK"]

This is the image of the Scripts Panel folder:

[Guest]

It was not working because the. Jsx on line 1289, was missing the character "s" in the syntax. Instead of app.findObjectPreferece is to be app.findObjectPreferences, was missing the "s" in the word Preferences. I hope I have contributed to other users. Greetings!

[fabianmoronzirfas]

Hi Turtles,

thanks for the hint. I did not receive a notification for your reply. Sorry for the delay I will fix this right away.

Cheers

Fabian

[fabianmoronzirfas]

fixed. it. Latest version is online here

[ivanh74]

Hi! After almost a decade this is still a very usable script, but I just discovered a terrible error that it can produce if not used carefully:

If you execute a saved Find/Change that calls for a replacement Character Style that does not exist in an InDesign document, the found text will simply be deleted. There is neither message about error nor the batch stops.