Equivalent of the Place() method in UXP

[Nicolas_H]

Hello everyone,

I recently tried to update my knowledge in indesign scripting by learning InDesign UXP plugins. It's a bit complicated but most of it work fine.

Unfortunately I am facing an issue without a solution despite my extensive research. I cannot find an equivalent to the 'Place()' function we had in regular scripting. It seems to no longer be available for UXP plugins.

I'm trying to import a "Referenced Text Adobe InDesign" file but I have no solution. Anyone has an idea or a more complete documentation?

I used to code it that way :

var file = new File(chemin + "/temp" + Math.random(999999999) + ".txt") // creating a temp file with my references
file.encoding = 'ASCII-MAC';
file.open('w');
file.write("<ASCII-MAC>\n");
file.write(myReferencedText); // a variable defined earlier
file.close();
myPara.place(file) // the paragraphe to replace

 I managed to create the TXT file, but not importing it in my story (like a cmd+D on macos).

Cheers everyone,

Nicolas

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

Can you place this file manually?

In your case, you are executing place() on the myPara object - so it should behave as normal?

But I'm neither JS expert nor UXP, so I might be completely wrong...

Check samples that are included with InDesign:

Not for text but looks pretty "standard" - ImageCatalog.idjs:

[sttk3 · Accepted solution]

Perhaps the problem is "File", not "place". You need to use fs or localFileSystem for file access in UXP.

Alternatively, it is possible to execute ExtendScript from UXP.

const placeText = `
var chemin = '~/Desktop' ;
var file = new File(chemin + '/temp' + Math.random(999999999) + '.txt') // creating a temp file with my references
file.encoding = 'ASCII-MAC';
file.open('w');
file.write('<ASCII-MAC>\\n');
file.write('a variable defined earlier\\n'); // a variable defined earlier
file.close();

var myPara = app.activeDocument.selection[0].paragraphs[0];
myPara.place(file) // the paragraphe to replace
` ;

const { app, ScriptLanguage, UndoModes } = require('indesign');
app.doScript(placeText, ScriptLanguage.JAVASCRIPT, [], UndoModes.ENTIRE_SCRIPT);

[Nicolas_H]

Hello Robert and Sttk3,

Thanks for your answers, these are two good leads to explore.

The "place()" function seems indeed to be working, but not in my case.

I managed to get an error message with the UXP debugger : "Unable to create the link resource from the given URI."

It is maby a permission issue, while I have modified the manifest in this way:

"localFileSystem" : "fullAccess"

I used these (simplified) lines of code:

const { storage } = require("uxp");
const fs = require('fs')

const file = await fs.writeFile(filePathExport, encodedContent, { encoding: "utf-8" }); // "encodedContent" is the file content with the header needed
let selectionLength = selection.length - 2
selection.characters.itemByRange(0, selectionLength).place(file) // selection is the paragraph to replace.

If I can't do it with native UXP, I'll use Sttk3 method. It's a good news to be able to use "regular script" inside UXP.

Thanks again,

Nicolas

[sttk3 · Accepted solution]

A UXP script like this was successful. It seems likely that you have an invalid path set in filePathExport.

const fs = require('fs') ;
const { localFileSystem } = require('uxp').storage ;
const { app } = require('indesign') ;

const filePathExport = '/Users/user_name/Desktop/temp.txt' ;
const encodedContent = 'a variable defined earlier\\n' ;
await fs.writeFile(filePathExport, encodedContent, {encoding: 'utf-8'}) ; // writeFile returns Promise<number> - the length of contents written to the file
const file = await localFileSystem.getEntryWithUrl(filePathExport) ;
const selection = app.activeDocument.selection[0] ;
const selectionLength = selection.length - 2 ;
selection.characters.itemByRange(0, selectionLength).place(file) ; // selection is the paragraph to replace.

[Nicolas_H]

WOW! It worked perfectly, thanks a lot!

I understand now how to use "localFileSystem", I used it this way:

const fsProvider = require('uxp').storage.localFileSystem;

 And I get a little bit more this method "getEntryWithUrl" and how to use it.

A big thanks again, for the solution and the knowledge!

All the best,

Nicolas

[sttk3]

getEntryWithUrl creates an Entry from a path string. Entry is an object like ExtendScript's File and Folder together, so think of it as an alternative to new File(pathString).

[Nicolas_H]

It's much clearer now, thanks again.