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10 first letters/digits Partial filename

Explorer ,
Jun 29, 2021 Jun 29, 2021

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I was looking around here I could not find the information i was looking for, anyone that could help me with the following?

 

I want to get first 10 letters or digits from my filename as a text variable in my document.

ex:

110538-001 Design sample design

only 110538-001 should be grabbed from the filename into my document.

 

 

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correct answers 4 Correct answers

Community Expert , Jun 29, 2021 Jun 29, 2021

Just make your own custom text variable? 

 

If you need a script to do it, try this as JSX:

 

var doc = app.documents[0];

var tenName = doc.name.slice(0,10);

var tv = doc.textVariables.add({  variableType: VariableTypes.CUSTOM_TEXT_TYPE,

name: "Doc Name 10"

});

tv.variableOptions.contents = tenName;

 

 

 

Also see this thread if you need to automate it more: 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign/partial-filename-text-variable/td-p/9733786

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Advisor , Jun 30, 2021 Jun 30, 2021

Hello @charlieg19576563

 

When copying the code into TextEdit you need to change the it to "Make Plain Text" under Format menu before saving it as a .jsx file.

 

Regards,

Mike

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Community Expert , Jun 30, 2021 Jun 30, 2021

Did you use Mike's code or mine? If Mike's, I made some revisions to execute the change afterSave, rather afterOpen, and I made it check that the variable didn't already exist before trying to rename. See below. 

 

 

#targetengine "session"

var eventListener = app.addEventListener("afterSave", myCustomTextVariable, false); 

function myCustomTextVariable() {
 try {
  var doc = app.documents[0];
  var fileName = doc.name.replace(/\.indd$/i, ""); 
   if(fileName.length > 10){
    var tenName = fi
...

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Advisor , Jun 30, 2021 Jun 30, 2021

Hello @charlieg19576563

 

When you say: When i change the indesign document name, would it be possible to get the variable to match and change as well?
it looks like it's always priting the first variable when i change the document name.
110538-001 Design sample design.ind
110538-002 Design sample design.ind

 

I assume you're changing the file name by doing a Save As, if so give the below code a try as it will update the text variable "Doc Name 10" contents with the new document name.

#targetengine "se
...

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Community Expert ,
Jun 29, 2021 Jun 29, 2021

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you cant refine the variables to that degree, but you cant fake it: you can assign a paragraph style to it with a grep style to "hide" any text after the first ten digits for eg by changing the text colour to none.

 

/G

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Community Expert ,
Jun 29, 2021 Jun 29, 2021

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Just make your own custom text variable? 

 

If you need a script to do it, try this as JSX:

 

var doc = app.documents[0];

var tenName = doc.name.slice(0,10);

var tv = doc.textVariables.add({  variableType: VariableTypes.CUSTOM_TEXT_TYPE,

name: "Doc Name 10"

});

tv.variableOptions.contents = tenName;

 

 

 

Also see this thread if you need to automate it more: 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign/partial-filename-text-variable/td-p/9733786

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Community Expert ,
Jun 29, 2021 Jun 29, 2021

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Here's a convulouted non-script way 

 

Set your Slug area in File>Document Setup to be a larger size (larger than your bleed

 

EugeneTyson_0-1624976994251.png

 

 

Insert a Text Frame

And then insert a cross reference

This will pull the entire File Name.

EugeneTyson_1-1624977053389.png

 

EugeneTyson_2-1624977084063.png

 

 

 

Create a new character style and call it Filename (or something) and you don't have to do anything with this - just leave it plain and blank.

 

Create a New Paragraph Style for the text in the slug

in the white are is just a space

EugeneTyson_4-1624977287798.png

 

 

Create a New Text Variable

EugeneTyson_3-1624977203889.png

 

 

It will draw on first set of characters up to a space in your slug area - drawn from the cross reference - and inserted as a variable in the text above.

 

The only draw back is that I have to update the Cross Reference when resaving to a different file name.

 

Attached is a sample IDML file which should work.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/q8d6ueksuhd5a44/54321_123%20Design%20sample%20design.idml?dl=0

 

 

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Advisor ,
Jun 29, 2021 Jun 29, 2021

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Hello @charlieg19576563

 

Here's a play off of Brian's code as a startup script, this script will run when a Indesign document in opened and only if the filename is equal or greater than 10 characters it will create the text variable "Doc Name 10" of the first 10 characters.

Save and place the script here: Applications⁩ ▸ ⁨Adobe InDesign 2021⁩ ▸ ⁨Scripts⁩ ▸ ⁨startup scripts⁩

 

#targetengine "session"

var eventListener = app.addEventListener("afterOpen", myCustomTextVariable, false); 

function myCustomTextVariable() {
 try {var doc = app.documents[0];
  var fileName = doc.name.replace(/.indd$/i, ""); 
   if(fileName.length >= 10){
    var tenName = fileName.slice(0,10);
    }else{
    exit();
   }
var tv = doc.textVariables.add({ variableType: VariableTypes.CUSTOM_TEXT_TYPE,
name: "Doc Name 10"
});
tv.variableOptions.contents = tenName;
  
 } catch(err) {}
}

 

 

Regards,

Mike

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Explorer ,
Jun 30, 2021 Jun 30, 2021

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Thank you all for your passion 😄

image.png

 I got the following syntax error

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Advisor ,
Jun 30, 2021 Jun 30, 2021

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Hello @charlieg19576563

 

When copying the code into TextEdit you need to change the it to "Make Plain Text" under Format menu before saving it as a .jsx file.

 

Regards,

Mike

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Explorer ,
Jun 30, 2021 Jun 30, 2021

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I got this! amazing! 🙂
When i change the indesign document name, would it be possible to get the variable to match and change as well?
it looks like it's always priting the first variable when i change the document name.
110538-001 Design sample design.ind
110538-002 Design sample design.ind

 

 

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Community Expert ,
Jun 30, 2021 Jun 30, 2021

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Did you use Mike's code or mine? If Mike's, I made some revisions to execute the change afterSave, rather afterOpen, and I made it check that the variable didn't already exist before trying to rename. See below. 

 

 

#targetengine "session"

var eventListener = app.addEventListener("afterSave", myCustomTextVariable, false); 

function myCustomTextVariable() {
 try {
  var doc = app.documents[0];
  var fileName = doc.name.replace(/\.indd$/i, ""); 
   if(fileName.length > 10){
    var tenName = fileName.slice(0,10);
    } else{
       tenName = fileName;
    }
   var tv = doc.textVariables.itemByName("Doc Name 10");
   if (!tv.isValid) {
      tv = doc.textVariables.add({ 
         variableType: VariableTypes.CUSTOM_TEXT_TYPE,
         name: "Doc Name 10"
      });
   }
   tv.variableOptions.contents = tenName;
  
   } catch(err) {}
}

 

 

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Explorer ,
Jul 01, 2021 Jul 01, 2021

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Thank you so much! its working great!
When i try to apply paragrapgh style it seems like the text is in one block. is there a workaround to add such a specific paragrap style?Skärmavbild 2021-07-01 kl. 12.18.33.png

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Community Expert ,
Jul 01, 2021 Jul 01, 2021

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Apply a character style to the hyphen automatically by setting a GREP style in the paragraph style settings. 

Create a Character Style with the Kern settings you want, then set the GREP style to trigger that Character Style on: \-

 

 

 

 

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Explorer ,
Jul 01, 2021 Jul 01, 2021

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Thanks Brian!
It's still not really applying the GREP in the Variable text, i put a video here. The script is working and is really useful 🙂

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Community Expert ,
Jul 01, 2021 Jul 01, 2021

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Right, forgot that you can't apply GREP style to Text Variables. Alternative would be to add a space between the hyphens or figure out some kind of manual spacers on a master page. But in this case, you might have to just forsake design for convenience. 

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Community Expert ,
Jul 01, 2021 Jul 01, 2021

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LATEST

Haven't tried it, but you might be able to convert the variable to text in the Text Variable options to get the GREP style to stick. Of course that might mess up the script and future docs, but once a doc was set in stone and not used to propagate new docs it could work. 

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Advisor ,
Jun 30, 2021 Jun 30, 2021

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Hello @charlieg19576563

 

When you say: When i change the indesign document name, would it be possible to get the variable to match and change as well?
it looks like it's always priting the first variable when i change the document name.
110538-001 Design sample design.ind
110538-002 Design sample design.ind

 

I assume you're changing the file name by doing a Save As, if so give the below code a try as it will update the text variable "Doc Name 10" contents with the new document name.

#targetengine "session"

var eventListener = app.addEventListener("afterOpen", myCustomTextVariable, false); 

function myCustomTextVariable() {
 try {var doc = app.documents[0];
  var fileName = doc.name.replace(/.indd$/i, ""); 
   if(fileName.length >= 10){
    var tenName = fileName.slice(0,10);
    }else{
    exit();
   }
var tv = doc.textVariables.add({ variableType: VariableTypes.CUSTOM_TEXT_TYPE,
name: "Doc Name 10"
});
tv.variableOptions.contents = tenName;
  
 } catch(err) {}
}

var eventListener = app.addEventListener('afterSaveAs', myCustomTextVariableUpdate, false);
function myCustomTextVariableUpdate() {
   try {var doc = app.documents[0];
    var fileName = doc.name.replace(/.indd$/i, ""); 
     if(fileName.length >= 10){
      var tenName = fileName.slice(0,10);
      }else{
      exit();
     }
    app.activeDocument.textVariables.item('Doc Name 10').variableOptions.contents = tenName;
    
   } catch(err) {}
  }

 

Regards,

Mike

 

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