Partial Filename Text Variable

[michaell76377826]

Hello.

I have read through all the forums and cannot find a current working script of what we are after.

I have an InDesign document that has an alphanumeric code in the slug. I name all our files with an alphanumeric code at the start.

Example: ABC1234 Presentation 1

I'd like to be able to create a text variable that pulls in only the ABC1234 part of the filename. (First 7 characters)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Laubender]

So you have a INDD document name like:

PSCP72_MIRRORS_PRES_R2.indd

And you want it to shorten to:

PSCP72R2.indd

Right?

Regards,
Uwe

[laurenb92964320]

Yes, that is correct!

[Laubender]

Then you could do something like this:

var s = "PSCP72_MIRRORS_PRES_R2.indd";
var a = s.split("_");
var truncatedName = a[0] + a[a.length-1]; // returns PSCP72R2.indd

Here I assume the following rule:

The first chunk before the first occurance of "_" should always be added to the last chunk that begins after the last occurance of  "_" in the name.

To make that work for all names you need at least two occurences of "_".

Regards,
UWe

[laurenb92964320]

Thanks for your help Uwe, and please excuse my ignorance... where exactly does this rule go? Is it within the current code I have such as in the 'Function' rule on line 6? I'm very new to scripts and trying to wrap my head around it!

[attiliol23486554]

What if you wanted to extract certain characters from the filename. For example, if i wanted to get the 3rd to 5th characters of the filename?

[Laubender]

Hi,

if you have a string like that:

var name = "MyName.indd";

and you want to get the 3rd, the 4th and the 5th character of the name, you can simply do a concatenation of single characters where numbering starts with 0 as the first item:

var name = "MyName.indd";
var thirdToFithChar = name[2] + name[3] + name[4] ;

Or do it with method slice().

Quoting documentation:

String.slice( startSlice , endSlice ) extracts a substring of the given string and returns it as a new string. The substring begins at startSlice, and includes all characters up to, but not including the character at the index endSlice.

var name = "MyName.indd";
var thirdToFithChar = name.slice(2,5) ;

But first check the value of length of the string. Could be your file name is not five characters long.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[attiliol23486554]

Thank you for the response, Uwe. I don't have much experience coding so i was wondering how i would add this to the code below. It was using this to find the text variable for the version number in the filenmame, but now i need to zero in on the Client Name "IRV" (eg. 19IRV1234_filename.indd).

UpdateClientName// The present code can be used as a startup script.

#targetengine 'UpdateClientName'

const UpdateClientName = function(/*Event*/ev, doc,m,t)
// -------------------------------------
// AFTER_OPEN event handler.
// Reset the `ClientName` text variable to the 9 first characters of the
// doc file name iff they are formed of uppercase letters and/or digits.
// ---
// Tested conditions:
// 1. The event type MUST be 'afterSave' (prevent wrong listener.)
// 2. The event MUST provide a valid `fullName` prop (File),
// since one can't rely on document.fullName yet!
// 3. The save-as File name MUST match /^[A-Z\d]{9}/.
// 4. The target MUST be a Document instance (who knows!)
// 5. It MUST have a `ClientName` TextVariable...
// 6. ...of the kind 'Custom text.'
// 7. No need to rewrite the variable if already set as expected.
{
( 'afterSave' == ev.eventType )
&& ( m=ev.properties.fullName )
&& ( m=m.name.match(/^[A-Z\d]{9}/) )
&& ( (doc=ev.target) instanceof Document )
&& ( (t=doc.textVariables.itemByName('ClientName')).isValid )
&& ( (t=t.variableOptions) instanceof CustomTextVariablePreference )
&& ( m[0] != t.contents )
&& ( t.contents=m[0] );
};

app.addEventListener('afterSave', UpdateClientName);

[Kris VanderVies]

Hello. I am trying to use this script but keep getting the same job number, even when i resave the document to a new name. It also doesn't seem to be recognizing the if statement to stop if the name hasn't changed- as the document keeps showing that it is unsaved. Can you help?

Here is the script i am trying to use in the startup scripts folder.

#targetengine "com.kv.getkmjobnumber"

main();

//Will add a custom idleTask listener to count current document words

function main()

{

var myIdleTask = app.idleTasks.item("countWords");

if ( !myIdleTask.isValid ) {

myIdleTask = app.idleTasks.add({name:"countWords", sleep:100});

var onIdleEventListener = myIdleTask.addEventListener(IdleEvent.ON_IDLE, onIdleEventHandler, false);

}

}

//Idke task listener

function onIdleEventHandler(myIdleEvent)

{

var doc = app.properties.activeDocument,

tv;

if ( !doc ) return;

tv = doc.textVariables.item("jobCode");

!tv.isValid && tv = doc.textVariables.add({name:"KMJobNumber9", variableType:VariableTypes.CUSTOM_TEXT_TYPE});

var truncatedName = doc.name.match(/^.{9}/)[0];

if(truncatedName == tv.variableOptions.contents){return};

tv.variableOptions.contents = truncatedName;

}