How to check if assignment is in use?

[mmargeta]

Hi,

before exporting a document to pdf I'm running few checks on links (if out of date or missing etc...). But I realized that you can have inaccessible  assignment which is a little bit harder to find. Can anybody help me with this one... is there a way to check if the assignment is "in use" beside checking if lock file of assignment file exists?

The thing is that in some kind of workflow you could export document to pdf without knowing that someone else is still holding a piece of text in InCopy. Browsing through links is not helpfull with this situation.

TNX!

Regards,

Marko

[moucri]

There is an "Assignments" palette in InDesign that will help you with this. You can find it under Window > Editorial > Assignments. That should show you all InCopy links, and if there's a pencil icon with a red line through it, that means someone is currently working on the that piece.

[mmargeta]

Of course... and you can see who is working in that document if you place a mouse over it and wait a little bit.

Tnx Moucri for your reply, but I'm searching for a scripting solution (this forum is about InDesign scripting).

Something like ReadOnly Property AssignmentFileStatus in VB.Net but this property will not return if the file is in use, only if needed update or if missing.

Regards,

Marko

[moucri]

Oh, sorry.

[Jongware]

I don't work with InCopy and Assignments, so I don't know what an "inaccessible assignment" is, but you could do some tests on the properties of an Assignment: http://jongware.mit.edu/idcs6js/pc_Assignment.html. Would "assignmentFileStatus" be the one you are looking for?

You loop through your assignments using the property app.activeDocument.assignments

[Jongware]

Sorry, I see you already mentioned that property does not work

[-hans- · Accepted solution]

Hi,

isn't it just the storyproperty lockState?

var currStories = app.activeDocument.stories.everyItem().getElements();
l= currStories.length;
while(l--){
cS = currStories    ;
lS = cS.lockState;
if(lS == LockStateValues.LOCKED_STORY){
    cS.textContainers[0].select()
    alert('Locked Story')
    }    
    }

the other way round: assignments -> assignedStories -> storyReference -> check if story -> check lockState

[Pickory]

Hi,

The alert from Hans is probably what you are looking for.

We have a script that lists assignments and the status.

http://www.kerntiff.co.uk/products-4-indesign/assignmentnavigator

P.

[mmargeta]

TNX!

This one works fine.  Here is VB version also:

        'Check for Locked Stories
        For storyCount As Integer = 1 To myApplication.ActiveDocument.Stories.Count
            Dim myStory As InDesign.Story = myApplication.ActiveDocument.Stories.Item(storyCount)
            If myStory.LockState = idLockStateValues.idLockedStory Then
                Dim myStoryContent As String = myStory.Texts.Item(1).Contents.ToString
                MsgBox("Locked Story: " + vbNewLine + vbNewLine + myStoryContent.Substring(0, 100) + vbNewLine + vbNewLine + "Exiting...")
                Exit Sub
            End If
        Next

Thanks once again!

Kind regards,

Marko