Remove XML text markers

[tpk1982]

Hi,

My requirement is to remove XML text markers between xml tags. It is like symbol :: :: .

It is already discussed in forum, link below:

Help Need!

But i need to remove it.

1) If i removed means it effect xml structure?

2) I tried with <FEFF> but not able to replace.

Regards,

Karthi

[sreekarthik_k]

try this.

var myOverrideType = OverrideType.ALL;

app.findGrepPreferences.findWhat = "~b~b+";

var found = app.activeDocument.findGrep();

while(found.length--){

    RemoveEnterMark();

}

function RemoveEnterMark()

{

    for(var i =0;i<found.length;i++)

    {

        try{

            var found1 = app.activeDocument.findGrep();      

            app.select(found1[0].characters[0]);

            app.menuActions.itemByID(272).invoke();

            app.selection[0].clearOverrides(myOverrideType)

        }

        catch(e){}

        }

    }

[tpk1982]

Thanks Karthik. Sorry it is not working. Nothing removed.

[sreekarthik_k]

Its working for me. copy the script in to script path and run.

[tpk1982]

Really? Tried with script path, not working

Tried in CS6 and CC2014

[tpk1982]

Marks are like below:

[sreekarthik_k]

Sorry for my misunderstanding

[tpk1982]

Hi,

Is it any update for the question? With this marks i am not able to do scripting for find and replace method. It will be helpful if someone provide a solution.

Regards,

Karthi

[Laubender]

Hi Karthi,

did you try TEXT Search/Replace with <FEFF> ?
Not GREP Search/Replace…

Regards,
Uwe

[tpk1982]

Hi Uwe,

Yes i tried in TEXT search method... It find but can't able to delete.

Regards,

Karthi

[Kai Rübsamen]

It seems, that <FEFF> isn’t always the same taste. I’m also not able to delete those characters and they cannot be selected in the UI.

The colon describes anything in InDesign where InDesign can’t find a own sign for it. In this special case, Karthi wants to remove xml-markers. So I tried this one:

var x = curFound.associatedXMLElements[0];

    x.remove();

But then, everything is removed. Maybe not the expected solution 😉

[Dirk Becker]

You'd use the untag() method to remove an XMLElement while keeping its contents.

For example the following snippet untags all stories while keeping other tags (unbound, or images).

The commented out line untags all inner elements while keeping those at story level.

var elements = app.activeDocument.stories.everyItem().associatedXMLElement;

while( elements.length ) {

  var xe = elements.pop();

// if( xe ) xe.xmlElements.everyItem().untag();

  if( xe ) xe.untag();

}

[tpk1982]

Hi All,

Thank you for the reply.

@Kai: May i know what you keep in curFound? Is it like below? But it is not working for me!!

var myDoc = app.activeDocument 

app.findTextPreferences = app.changeTextPreferences = null 

app.findTextPreferences.findWhat = "<FEFF>" 

var myFound = myDoc.findText(); 

var x = myFound.associatedXMLElements[0];

x.remove();

@Dirk: If i use the snippet you provided is useful to untag. But i need to keep XML tags. Removing tags are not allowed.

Regards,

Karthi

[Kai Rübsamen]

Karthi, please provide a testfile, with a exact description, what should be removed and what must stay in the doc. Thanks.

[Laubender]

tpk1982 wrote:

Yes i tried in TEXT search method... It find but can't able to delete.

Hi Karthi,

then I suspect, that all the FEFF characters are XML-markers.

Can you show a screenshot where you enabled "Show Tag Markers"?
And the XML-Structure pane as well?

//Show tag markers etc.pp:
app.documents[0].xmlViewPreferences.properties =
{
    showStructure : true,
    showTagMarkers : true,
    showAttributes : true,
    showTaggedFrames : true,
    showTextSnippets : true
}

I don't know, if you want to remove only some of the XML markers or all inside a story.
( Ah. You answered that already while I typed…)
=> You don't want to untag or remove XML markers.

Hm. Maybe there are empty ones where there is no text between the two markers?

Do you want to remove only these?

Regards,
Uwe

[tpk1982]

Hi,

@Kai: Sorry I am not able to share the document.

@Uwe: I attached the screenshot here. But when i copy the content into another new document it disappeared. Strange but not sure what that is !!

I hope your guess is correct. The empty ones where there is no text between the two markers may cause the problem. But i am not allowed to delete those also. Because after sometime client may fill in that column.

Thanks,

Karthi

[Laubender]

I still do not get why you want to remove something.

[tpk1982]

Hi Uwe,

I am doing various script work with this document. For example, i am going to delete a column in the table. This is working fine with normal document. But it is not working with XML based document.

var myDoc = app.activeDocument;

var stories = myDoc.stories.everyItem ().getElements ();

var myFind = new Array();

var flgsel=app.selection[0];

var x=flgsel.contents.split('\t');

var myColumn=prompt("Enter column number","");

app.findGrepPreferences = null;     app.changeGrepPreferences = null; 

app.findGrepPreferences.findWhat=x[myColumn-1];

for (i=0; i<stories.length; i++){

myFind = stories.findGrep(true);

    for (j=0; j<myFind.length; j++){

    app.changeGrepPreferences.changeTo  ="";

    flgsel.changeGrep();

    }

}

I suspect it is because of that hidden marks.

Thanks,

Karthi

[Laubender]

Usually GREP Search should ignore XML markers in the text that should be searched through.
But what if your search text contains any special characters?
Is that your problem?

What exactly is selected before you run your snippet?
Does this selection contain any XML markers?

If so:
1. Duplicate the formatted text of your selection to a new story ( an added temporary text frame ).
2. Remove all XML markers from that story, remove all <FEFF> characters of that story.
3. Build your array flgsel on the contents of that story.
4. Remove the temporary text frame.

and then run your snippet.

Regards,
Uwe

[tpk1982]

Hi Uwe,

Hope that trick will work. Yes when i am selecting content it contains XML markers in between

Thanks,

Karthi

[claudio.marconato]

Hi tpk1982, hope you've already solve your problem. I've found that ~| is the GREP version of the XML text anchor, so the GREP string [^~|]+ will find all the characters that aren't an XML text anchor. Including the GREP search into a script will allow you to select only the real characters. We are having the same problems trying to update a document with data from a CSV.

[tpk1982]

Thanks Claudio..

[claudio.marconato]

Did you find other solutions?

[tpk1982]

Not yet