Characters itemByRange cannot be coerced to Text without an Array

[spyle]

I've been trying to figure out how to return a text object from a range of characters. See the attached INDD file for a very simple example which has one text frame with the following text:

This is a test file.
Τηισ ισ α τεστ φιλε.

I want to return the first ten characters in a Text object. Right now, I'm unable to coax the range of characters in a text object. All I'm able to get is an array from contents. Output is from my extendscript-repl project.

jsx> app.activeDocument.stories.firstItem().constructor.name
Story
jsx> app.activeDocument.stories.firstItem().characters.itemByRange(0,9).constructor.name
Character
jsx> app.activeDocument.stories.firstItem().characters.itemByRange(0,9).contents.constructor.name
Array
jsx> app.activeDocument.stories.firstItem().characters.itemByRange(0,9).contents.toSource()
["This is a "]

I'd love to be able to do something like the following (or similar). I just can't seem to understand why I can't easily get a Text object with a character index range.

jsx> app.activeDocument.stories.firstItem().characters.itemByRange(0,9).texts.firstItem().contents
"This is a "

Any ideas on how to do that easily would most appreciated. Thanks!

My environment:

Adobe InDesign 2020 v15.0.1

Mac OS X 10.14.6

[Peter Kahrel · Accepted solution]

Try this:

app.activeDocument.stories.firstItem().characters.itemByRange(0,9).texts[0];

 P.

[spyle]

Thanks @Peter_Kahrel. Looks like texts[0] and texts.firstItem() return the same thing, a Text object that returns an Array when contents is called. I'll just have to work around it. I can't see any other way to make the Text object return a non-array. 

texts[0]:

jsx> app.activeDocument.stories.firstItem().characters.itemByRange(0,9).texts[0].toSource()
resolve("(/document[@id=1047]/story[@location=first]/character[0] to /document[@id=1047]/story[@location=first]/character[9])/text[0]")
jsx> app.activeDocument.stories.firstItem().characters.itemByRange(0,9).texts[0].constructor.name
Text
jsx> app.activeDocument.stories.firstItem().characters.itemByRange(0,9).texts[0].contents.toSource()
["This is a "]

texts.firstItem():

jsx> app.activeDocument.stories.firstItem().characters.itemByRange(0,9).texts.firstItem().toSource()
resolve("(/document[@id=1047]/story[@location=first]/character[0] to /document[@id=1047]/story[@location=first]/character[9])/text[@location=first]")
jsx> app.activeDocument.stories.firstItem().characters.itemByRange(0,9).texts.firstItem().constructor.name
Text
jsx> app.activeDocument.stories.firstItem().characters.itemByRange(0,9).texts.firstItem().contents.toSource()
["This is a "]

[Peter Kahrel]

firstItem() and [0] are notational variants, they (almost) always return the same object.

app.activeDocument.stories.firstItem()

app.activeDocument.stories[0]

are equivalent. They differ only in typing effort.

Working with itemByRange can be tricky. If you want the text content to be a string, do this:

app.activeDocument.stories.firstItem().characters.itemByRange(0,9).texts.everyItem().getElements()[0]

Then your test (by adding .contents.constructor.name) returns String.

P.