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How to loop through a selection to modify the fill color of the the selected items in InDesign?

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
November 14, 2022
3 replies
921 views

I try to loop through a selection to modify the fill color of the the selected items in InDesign using ExtendScript. Some of the selected items are grouped.

var mySelection = app.selection;
for (var myIndex in mySelection) {
    var myPageItem = mySelection[myIndex];
    myPageItem.fillColor = app.activeDocument.swatches.item("Black");
}

The fill color of the selected is not modified.

How can I loop through a selection to modify the fill color of the the selected items in InDesign using ExtendScript?

I thank you for your help.

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer rob day

Sorry I should have checked before posting, you don’t need the nested loop—this works even with multiple groups:

var mySelection = app.selection;
for (var i = 0; i < mySelection.length; i++){
    mySelection[i].fillColor = "Black"
};

rob day

Community Expert

Some of the selected items are grouped

Hi @Alexander17 , A selection of a single group would have a length of 1 and nothing inside of the group would get the new fill color. I think you will have to create a nested loop to get at all the page items in the selection. Something like this:

//selection is a group
var mySelection = app.selection;
//returns 1 if the selection is a group
$.writeln(mySelection.length) 

var api;
for (var i = 0; i < mySelection.length; i++){
    mySelection[i].fillColor = "Black"
    api = mySelection[i].allPageItems
    for (var j = 0; j < api.length; j++){
        api[j].fillColor = "Black"
    };   
};

rob day

Correct answer

Community Expert

Sorry I should have checked before posting, you don’t need the nested loop—this works even with multiple groups:

var mySelection = app.selection;
for (var i = 0; i < mySelection.length; i++){
    mySelection[i].fillColor = "Black"
};

A

Alexander17Author

Participant

Thank you very much for your help. This works.

L

Laubender

Community Expert

Hi @Alexander17 ,

what kind of items do you have selected?

Please show a screenshot with the Layers panel open so that we can see what exactly is selected.

Also provide a test document.

myPageItem.fillColor = "Black";

should also work.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

brian_p_dts

Community Expert

Extendscript doesn't support for in expressions for arrays. Instead it would be : for (var myIndex = 0; myIndex < mySelection.length; myIndex++)

Also try itemByName("Black") instead of just item, which can be buggy I've found.

A

Alexander17Author

Participant

Thank you. I've tried both proposals. But the fill color of the selected items is still not modified.

var mySelection = app.selection;
for (var myIndex = 0; myIndex < mySelection.length; myIndex++) {
    var myPageItem = mySelection[myIndex];
    myPageItem.fillColor = app.activeDocument.swatches.itemByName("Black");
}

Robert at ID-Tasker

Legend

Maybe you also need to set FillTint to 100:

myPageItem.fillTint = 100;

if for some reason it wasn't 100 before.

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