I've checked around and there is nothing existing. So that's your answer.
...
Oh alright, let's have a bit of fun! The pages I pointed you towards are a great start; I had an ASE reader up and running in no time. Fortunately, Adobe software comes with *lots* of sample ASE files to test with, even though they all seem to be using CMYK. But creating samples is as easy as defining some random colors in InDesign and then exporting them.
With that successfully done, the next step is to write them. In theory, easy as π. In practice: not so much. I have often lamented the lack of modern features in JavaScript, and lo and behold, reading and writing floating point numbers is one of them. I've concocted my own read-and-write float routines below, so if it does not work for you that might be the problem. However, of course I tested this and the small list of CSS color names and their values happily import into InDesign, so I declare this Mission Accomplished.
As you can see, at the start there is a simple array of name, red,green,blue values. You did not specify the input format in detail, nor what the color model should be, but I made sure to document my code for practically every line you'd need to change for different formats and so I am sure this should give you a good start in changing it per your unnamed requirements.
//DESCRIPTION:Create ASE file from array
// A Jongware Script 01-Dec-2019
source = [
'darkkhaki',189,183,107,
'darkmagenta',139,0,139,
'darkolivegreen',85,107,47,
'darkorange',255,140,0,
'darkorchid',153,50,204,
'darkred',139,0,0,
'darksalmon',233,150,122,
'darkseagreen',143,188,143
];
File.prototype.writeLong = function (value)
{
var buf = String.fromCharCode((value>>24) & 0xff)+String.fromCharCode((value>>16) & 0xff)+String.fromCharCode((value>>8) & 0xff)+String.fromCharCode((value>>0) & 0xff);
this.write (buf);
}
File.prototype.writeShort = function (value)
{
var buf = String.fromCharCode((value>>8) & 0xff)+String.fromCharCode((value>>0) & 0xff);
this.write (buf);
}
/* warning: not tested for invalid numbers such as
too small, too large, or +/-Inf */
/* (so you have been warned) */
File.prototype.writeFloat = function (value)
{
var sign,value,exponent,mantissa_pre,mantissa,i;
if (value == 0)
{
this.writeLong(0);
return;
}
sign = value < 0 ? 0x80000000 : 0;
value = Math.abs(value);
exponent = 127;
if (value <= 1)
{
while (value < 1)
{
exponent--;
value *= 2;
}
} else
{
/* tested 'caus I need it! */
while (value >= 2)
{
exponent++;
value /= 2;
}
}
mantissa_pre = value-Math.floor(value);
/* rough conversion to binary */
mantissa = 0;
for (i=0; i<22; i++)
{
mantissa_pre *= 2;
mantissa <<= 1;
mantissa += (mantissa_pre>>0);
mantissa_pre -= (mantissa_pre>>0);
}
/* final bit */
mantissa <<= 1;
mantissa_pre = Math.round(2*mantissa_pre);
mantissa += (mantissa_pre>>0);
/* concatenate all */
result = sign + (exponent<<23)+mantissa;
this.writeLong (result);
}
aseFile = File(Folder.myDocuments+'/mylist.ase')
if (aseFile.open('w') == false)
{
alert ('okay, we cannot write that file');
exit();
}
aseFile.encoding = "binary";
/* Signature */
aseFile.write ('ASEF');
aseFile.writeLong(0x10000);
/* Number of colors */
aseFile.writeLong(source.length/4);
/* The colors themselves */
for (i=0; i<source.length/4; i++)
{
/* Block type: color */
aseFile.writeShort(1);
/* Block length: nameLength + 2*name + '0,0' + 'mode' + 3*value + 'type' */
aseFile.writeLong (2+2*source[4*i].length+2+4+3*4+2);
/* Name, in unicode (presumably!) */
aseFile.writeShort (source[4*i].length+1);
for (j=0; j<source[4*i].length; j++)
{
aseFile.writeShort(source[4*i].charCodeAt(j));
}
/* .. terminating 0 .. */
aseFile.writeShort(0);
/* Mode: RGB */
aseFile.write ('RGB ');
/* Values */
r = source[4*i+1]/255;
g = source[4*i+2]/255;
b = source[4*i+3]/255;
aseFile.writeFloat(r);
aseFile.writeFloat(g);
aseFile.writeFloat(b);
/* type: normal */
aseFile.writeShort(0);
}
aseFile.close();
(Edit: Ah – the ol' OCD kicking in. I just had to re-visit that writeFloat and check if it could write larger numbers as well. It didn't so I fixed it, just in case it's of any use for anyone else.)
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