Conditional scripting for Object States?

[rsbisa]

Hello, Experts!

I have been working on an .indd project that is somewhat a mock calculator that will be deployed via digital publishing. I’ve mocked up a selector box, with 5 states, so when you toggle up or down, you toggle through the states. Correspondingly, there are objects throughout the document that also have 5 states and they, too, change simultaneously as click the toggle buttons. So far so good.

My question: Is it possible to create a script that would check which state my button my selector is on, and also check the state of a second selector and cause a third object to have multiple possible states, based on the combination of both selectors? Basically, an if-and statement?

Example,

If selector 1 shows “Apple” and selector 2 shows “Macintosh”, the third object would show “Red”. But, if Selector 2 showed “Golden Delicious”, third object would show “Yellow”. And if Selector 1 shows “Citrus”, and Selector 2 shows “Lime”, object 3 would show “Green”; “Yellow” if Selector 2 is in the “Lemon” state.

I hope this clear. I’m trying to get around my current restriction, where each of some 20 objects all must have exactly 5 states and that change as my one selector changes its 5 states. And, I want this to function after deployment.

Here’s an example of what I’m doing. https://indd.adobe.com/view/45d9f43c-1b33-46ee-a8e1-338570fb7041

Any help — even a “can’t be done” would be greatly appreciated.

[FRIdNGE]

Cool! …

Could you share the native file (.idml) + fonts?

Best,

Michel, from FRIdNGE

[rsbisa]

The font is Century Gothic, and is in your ID font selection. I can share the .idml later. I was inspired by this tutorial on Multi-state Objects (MSO), by Ajar Productions.

[Laubender · Accepted solution]

HI rsbisa ,

I think, such a project should be done with JavaScript for Web and then included in the Publish Online project.

It's nothing you could do with InDesign scripting, because for that you need InDesign at runtime.

Or you have to do it  as you fear:

Prepare all states for all possible results with an MSO.

That could be a project for InDesign scripting.

Regards,
Uwe

[rsbisa]

Thank you! After sleeping on it, I woke with the same conclusion. Not the answer I wanted - but certainly the answer I needed. I could have spent days struggling with 100s of possible states.