Script for exporting LAB Color swatch values to Excel (CSV)

[Andreas Jansson]

Not sure this landed on the right place. Where is the scripting part of the forum? Was it deleted? All that work...

(This post is not a question.)

Below you will find a sample script for exporting LAB color swatches from InDesign. InDesign seem to have difficulties keeping thousands of swatches in its palette, so take care. A variant of this script made for Illustrator or Photoshop would probably have been a better idea.

/*
	Script for exporting LAB colours from InDesign Swatches. 
	Number, Name, L, A, and B columns semi colon separated.
	By Andreas Jansson, Code Combinations AB, Sweden, 2019.
	
	Description:
	First import a library of Pantone Colours so that they are present in the swatches palette of InDesign (you can export swatches from Photoshop, to an ASE file that is importable in InDesign).
	Then alter the path below to a folder of your choice and run this script with InDesign.
	The resulting file, I pasted into Excel.
*/

var result = '';
for (var i = 0; i <= app.swatches.length-1; i++){	
	var currentSwatch = app.swatches[i];
	if (currentSwatch.hasOwnProperty('space') && currentSwatch.space == ColorSpace.LAB){
		var val = currentSwatch.colorValue;
		result += i.toString() + ';' + currentSwatch.name + ';' + val[0] + ';' + val[1] + ';' + val[2] + '\r\n';
	}
}
result = 'N:o;Name;Lightness;A;B' + '\r\n' + result;
var outPath = 'C:/temp/test/out.txt';  // Put an existing path here
alert(writeToFile (result, outPath));

function writeToFile(fileContents, destinationFilePath){
	var myFileOut = new File(destinationFilePath);
	myFileOut.open('w');
	// myFileOut.encoding = 'UTF-8';
	myFileOut.write(fileContents);
	myFileOut.close();
	return new File(destinationFilePath).fsName;
}

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

The script is getting the app and not the document swatches. 

By @rob day

And the solution is so simple... 

[Andreas Jansson]

Great! 

You are right, my script was just interacting with the default swatches in my installation. I never even checked what swatches were in Jeremy@m's document, and jumped to the wrong conclusion when testing.

My version of the script works even without any open documents. I don't recall whether it was intentionally, but it ought to be much more useful in this updated version.  Thanks Rob Day!

[Jeremy@M]

This works great!
Thanks, @rob day for your help!

[Roger Breton]

Hi Andreas,

Thanks for the script. I need to tell you that, in v18.1 x64 on Windows, I had to modify your script by adding the "activeDocument" everywhere otherwise it would result "nothing". Here is the modified script that is working for me :

var result = '';
var Roger = app.activeDocument.swatches.length;

for (var i = 0; i <= app.activeDocument.swatches.length-1; i++){	
	var currentSwatch = app.activeDocument.swatches[i];
	if (currentSwatch.hasOwnProperty('space') && currentSwatch.space == ColorSpace.LAB){
		var val = currentSwatch.colorValue;
		result += i.toString() + ';' + currentSwatch.name + ';' + val[0] + ';' + val[1] + ';' + val[2] + '\r\n';
	}
}
result = 'N:o;Name;Lightness;A;B' + '\r\n' + result;
var outPath = 'C:/temp/test/out.txt';  // Put an existing path here
alert(writeToFile (result, outPath));

function writeToFile(fileContents, destinationFilePath){
	var myFileOut = new File(destinationFilePath);
	myFileOut.open('w');
	// myFileOut.encoding = 'UTF-8';
	myFileOut.write(fileContents);
	myFileOut.close();
	return new File(destinationFilePath).fsName;
}

It took me a while to figure the problem. Had to download and install VScode and Adobe's ExtendScript Plug-in (v2.0.3). Overall , very frustrating beccause there is no documentation around.

[Roger Breton]

Update: March 14 2024

I tried running the script from VScode, using Adobe ExtendScrip Plug-in installed.

The script returned nothing when ran against the current Adobe Illustrator document? Seems the the 

currentSwatch.space

property does not exist in Illustrator?

But the scrupt will run fine against an Adobe InDesign open document since InDesign natively "honors" CIE Lab color model as far as swatch names are concerned.

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

---

@Roger Breton wrote:

Update: March 14 2024

I tried running the script from VScode, using Adobe ExtendScrip Plug-in installed.

The script returned nothing when ran against the current Adobe Illustrator document? Seems the the 

currentSwatch.space

property does not exist in Illustrator?

But the scrupt will run fine against an Adobe InDesign open document since InDesign natively "honors" CIE Lab color model as far as swatch names are concerned.

---

activeDocument - doesn't have swatches collecton - only document have - in Illustrator.

I'm not JS guy, but this should work:

var result = '';
var Roger = app.activeDocument;

for (var i = 0; i <= Roger.swatches.length-1; i++){	
	var currentSwatch = Roger.swatches[i];
...

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

But the rest won't...

In Illustrator, swatch have those properties - screenshot is from VB:

then Color can be LabColor:

So you first need to check if currentSwatch is LabColor type - then refer to it's 3x values:

result += i.toString() + ';' + currentSwatch.name + ';' + currentSwatch.color.l + ';' + currentSwatch.color.a + ';' + currentSwatch.color.b + '\r\n';

Not sure if in JS it will be l, a, b or L, A, B.

[Roger Breton]

Thank you very much, Robert.

In case you're interested, I painted a bunch of Liquitex Acrylic paint onto some canvas and proceeded to measure each one using an X-Rite SP64 sphere spectrophotometer (I could have used an i1pro or some other but I happen to also have an SP64 in good order) into CIE Lab D50/2. You see, once I have all the measurements, my question becomes "Where do I enter these values in my computer?". Ultimately, I want the freedom of using those Lab values anywhere, such as in Excel or, ideally, Matlab, so that I can plot them in 3D for my students to see and compare against the sRGB gamot (or some other), and find the closest PANTONE Coated V4 swatch and Munsell notations. But, as you can see, I am trying to avoid having to retype these 42 triplets: only want to enter them once and use "many". InDesign or Illustrator are good places since then I can give the ASE to my students for them to use in their asignments.

[rob day]

But, as you can see, I am trying to avoid having to retype these 42 triplets: only want to enter them once and use "many"

Sounds like you want to create swatches from a list or spreadsheet of Lab values?

@Andreas Jansson ’s script is exporting InDesign Swatch values to a text file. My InDesign example script above from Nov 2021 does the opposite—reads a CSV file and creates swatches from the provided values. The CSV named LabColors.csv is on the desktop, and has 4 columns for the color name and its Lab values.

[Roger Breton]

Rob, can you share your "Import CSV to InDesign swatches" script?

[rob day]

var path = File(Folder.desktop + "/LabColors.csv");
var cTable = readFile(path);
//split the table into an array of rows
var r = cTable.split("\n");

var doc = app.activeDocument;
app.scriptPreferences.measurementUnit = MeasurementUnits.INCHES
var sArray = []
var c, ns, sr;

for (var i = 1; i < r.length; i++){
    //split the row into an array of cells
    c = r[i].split(",");
    try {
       ns = makeSwatch(doc, c[0]); 
       ns.model = ColorModel.PROCESS;
       ns.space = ColorSpace.LAB;
       ns.colorValue = [Number(c[1]),Number(c[2]),Number(c[3])]
    }catch(e) {}  

    sr = doc.pages[0].rectangles.add({geometricBounds:[0, 0, 2, 2], fillColor:ns.name});
    sArray.push(sr)
};   

//makes a group of rectangles with the new swatch fills
var sGroup = doc.pages[0].groups.add(sArray);
sGroup.name = "LabSwatches"


/**
* Read a text file 
*  the file’s path 
*  the file’s contents 
* 
*/

function readFile(p) {
	var f = new File(p);
	f.open("r");  
	var x = f.read();  
	f.close();
	return x; 
}


/**
* Makes a new swatch 
*  the document to add the swatch to 
*  swatch name 
*  the new or existingswatch 
* 
*/
function makeSwatch(d, n){
    var s;
    try {
        d.colors.add({name:n});
    }catch(e) {
        s = d.colors.itemByName(n);
    } 
    return d.colors.itemByName(n);
}

The example .csv is attached

[Roger Breton]

Works perfect 🙂 
THANK YOU!

[rob day]

Overall , very frustrating beccause there is no documentation around.

Hi @Roger Breton , Illustrator and InDesign do not share the same scripting API, so the script above would not work with Illustrator.

When running from VS Code you have to set a launch.json file for the script’s parent folderto specify which application you are targeting when you run the script from VSCode. The documentation for setting up a launch.json file for a folder of scripts can be found her:

https://blog.developer.adobe.com/extendscript-debugger-for-visual-studio-code-public-release-a2ff616...

The complete object API documentation for InDesign can be found here:

https://www.indesignjs.de/extendscriptAPI/indesign-latest/#about.html

Illustrator‘s is here:

https://www.indesignjs.de/extendscriptAPI/illustrator-latest/#Application.html

[Roger Breton]

Thanks Rob for your relevant suggestion. I don't have enough script developement, these days, to set the launch.json file. When I hit the "Run & Debug" icon, VScode prompts me accordingly everytime. It's annoying but it works 🙂
Any reason, in your opinion, why the online document should reside on a German page?

[rob day]

All 3 links are loading in english for me.

[Roger Breton]

Yes, in "English" but the friendly ".de" extension tells you this is not in the US. Weird.
It does not matter. I'm just saying...

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

Yes, in "English" but the friendly ".de" extension tells you this is not in the US. Weird.
It does not matter. I'm just saying...

By @Roger Breton

This should explain a lot:

https://www.indesignjs.de/extendscriptAPI/illustrator-latest/#about.html

[Roger Breton]

Hallo Robert,

Vielen danke fûr der dokumentation!!! Es ist wunderbar!!!

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

Hallo Robert,

Vielen danke fûr der dokumentation!!! Es ist wunderbar!!!

By @Roger Breton

It's not mine. 

[Gary32959987ifey]

I need to export the LAB values from an .ase file to an Excel CSV file. Can this be done outside of InDesign or Illustrator/Photoshop? Someone referenced that there were utilities available that could do this.

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@Gary32959987ifey

You can start from this: 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/script-for-exporting-lab-color-swatch-values-to-... 

You can use Google to find other solutions. 

[Gary32959987ifey]

This solution requires scripting it in InDesign. I was looking for something that worked outside of any Adobe products or at least withing Illustrator.

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@Gary32959987ifey

Why? You don't have InDesign installed?