[JS] Menu Added via Scripting Moves

That's odd. John's post seems to exist, but doesn't show up...

Hi Dan,

There would be much to say about your code (variable scope, etc.) but the two most important, I think, are:

— Custom menus and submenus are application-persistent while script menu actions are (usually) session-persistent

— In the specific case where an action directly relies on a script file, you don't need to deal w/ session-persistence and you can directly address the script file (no need of app.doScript() stuff and so on).

Here is a possible approach (provided that the featured script files are located in the parent folder of the Startup scripts folder):

#targetengine "DanRodneyMenu"
// =====================================
// This script is a 'startup script', it runs each time ID starts
// and shouldn't be rerun during the session. We don't really need
// it to be session-persistent. However we use a #targetengine to
// save a 'done' flag which prevents the script from being rerun.
// =====================================
(function(/*obj|undefined*/HOST)
// -------------------------------------
// Install and/or update the menu/submenu
// and connect the menu actions
{
    // ---
    // HOST can be your framework container, if needed (default: $.global)
    // ---
    HOST || (HOST=$.global);
    // ---
    // Prevent the current (startup) script from being uselessly rerun
    // ---
    if( HOST[$.engineName] )
        {
        alert( "This script is automatically executed at startup. You shouldn't run it manually." );
        return;
        }
        // ---
    HOST[$.engineName] = true;
    // ---
    // Settings and constants
    // ---
    var MENU_NAME = "My Test Menu",
        FEATURES = [
            { caption: "My Menu Item 1", fileName: 'File-One.jsx', subName: "" },
            { caption: "My Menu Item 2", fileName: 'File-Two.jsx', subName: "My Sub Menu" }
            ],
        LO_END = LocationOptions.atEnd,
        INDESIGN_ROOT_MENU = app.menus.item( '$ID/Main' ),
        FEATURE_LOCATION_PATH = (function()
            {
            var f;
            try{ f=app.activeScript; }
            catch(_){ f=File(_.fileName); }
            return f.parent.parent + '/';
            })();
    // ---
    // (Re)set the actions
    // Note: checks also whether script files are available
    // ---
    var    t, f, i = FEATURES.length;
    while( i-- )
        {
        t = FEATURES;
        if( (f=File(FEATURE_LOCATION_PATH + t.fileName)).exists )
            {
            // The script file exists => create the corresponding action
            // and directly attach the event listener to the file
            // (no need to use app.doScript(...) here)
            // ---
            (t.action = app.scriptMenuActions.add( t.caption )).
                addEventListener('onInvoke', f);
            }
        else
            {
            // The script file does not exist => remove that feature
            // ---
            FEATURES.splice(i,1);
            }
        }
    // ---
    // Create/reset the custom menu container *if necessary*
    // Note:  menus/submenus are application-persistent
    // ---
    var    mnu = INDESIGN_ROOT_MENU.submenus.itemByName( MENU_NAME );
    if( !mnu.isValid )
        {
        // Our custom menu hasn't been created yet
        // ---
        if( !FEATURES.length ) return;
        mnu = INDESIGN_ROOT_MENU.submenus.add(
            MENU_NAME,
            LocationOptions.after,
            INDESIGN_ROOT_MENU.submenus.item( '$ID/&Window' )
            );
        }
    else
        {
        // Our custom menu already exists, but we must clear
        // any sub element in order to rebuild a fresh structure
        // ---
        mnu.menuElements.everyItem().remove();
        // If FEATURES is empty, remove the menu itself
        // ---
        if( !FEATURES.length ){ mnu.remove(); return; }
        }
    // ---
    // Now, let's fill mnu with respect to FEATURES' order
    // (Possible submenus are specified in .subName and created on the fly)
    // ---
    var s,
        n = FEATURES.length,
        subs = {},
        sub = null;
    for( i=0 ; i < n ; ++i )
        {
        t = FEATURES;
        // Target the desired submenu
        // ---
        sub = (s=t.subName) ?
            ( subs || (subs=mnu.submenus.add( s, LO_END )) ) :
            mnu;
        // Connect the related action
        // ---
        sub.menuItems.add( t.action );
        }
})();

@+

Marc

Dan, I haven't gone and tested this in your example, so this is speculative but:

subMenu1 = app.scriptMenuActions.item(menuItem1T);   if( subMenu1 == null ) {           subMenu2 = app.scriptMenuActions.add(menuItem1T);   }

This isn't really advisable. In CS5 and later, if you don't check .isValid, you can have problems (I think).

But also, in JavaScript, in general, you should not write

if (varname == null)

because it is usually sufficient to simply write

if (varname)

or

if (!varname)

and you should also never use the == operator when you can use the === operator, because it coerces to truthiness. So you should rather instead use

if (varname===null)

if you truly needed to check for null as opposed to undefined or zero.

Perhaps more significnatly, shouldn't you be setting submenu1 inside that if, rather than submenu2?