Problem with icons added to listbox (Script UI).

[Kasyan Servetsky]

Dear forum,

I wrote a script whose dialog box has a listbox containing icons. 

The problem is it works as expected on Windows 10 (InDesign 16.1), but on Mac (Big Sur 11.3.1, InDesign 16.1 & 16.2.1) the icons don’t show up on displaying the dialog box. I have to click on the listbox to make them appear.

Below is a small snippet of code extracted from the script in case someone is willing to test it:

InitVariables();
CreateDialog();

function CreateDialog() {
	var iconGreen = IconMaker(iconBinGreen, "bullet_ball_green.png");
	var w = new Window("dialog", "Test");

	w.p2 = w.add("panel", undefined, "Tags:");
	w.p2.alignment = "fill";
	w.p2.lbox = w.p2.add("listbox", undefined, ["one", "two", "three"], {multiselect: true});
	w.p2.lbox.alignment = "fill";

	for (var k = 0; k < w.p2.lbox.items.length; k++) {
		w.p2.lbox.items[k].image = iconGreen;
	}

	w.show();
}

function IconMaker(iconBinGreen, name) {
	var iconFile = null;
	var tmpFolder = new Folder(Folder.temp.absoluteURI + "/Kasyan");
	tmpFolder.create();
	iconFile = new File(tmpFolder.absoluteURI + "/" + name + ".png");
	
	if (!iconFile.exists) {
		iconFile.encoding = "BINARY";
		iconFile.open( "w" );
		iconFile.write(iconBinGreen);
		iconFile.close();
	}

	return iconFile;
}

function InitVariables() {
	iconBinGreen = "\u0089PNG\r\n\x1A\n\x00\x00\x00\rIHDR\x00\x00\x00\x10\x00\x00\x00\x10\b\x06\x00\x00\x00\x1F\u00F3\u00FFa\x00\x00\x00+tEXtCreation Time\x00So 12 Okt 2003 23:43:18 +0100\u00B4\u00D5\u00BC\u00C0\x00\x00\x00\x07tIME\x07\u00D3\n\f\x15+&\u00E6\u0088z7\x00\x00\x00\tpHYs\x00\x00\n\u00F0\x00\x00\n\u00F0\x01B\u00AC4\u0098\x00\x00\x00\x04gAMA\x00\x00\u00B1\u008F\x0B\u00FCa\x05\x00\x00\x01sIDATx\u00DA\u00D5RMKBA\x14=\u00F34\u008D\f\x12\f7E\u00BB\u00A8\\+\u00D2\"7\u00B9h\u00DB\u00B6\u00A0\u009F\u00E0\u00C2\u00A0~D\u0084\u00DB~A-\u00DBD\u00CB\u00B0\u00A0\u0085P\u00AB>\x16A\u0081\u00A0D`j=\u009Dy3\u00EF\u00BD\u0099\u00EE\x13\x02\rKZz\u00E1p\u0099a\u00CE\u00B9\u00E7\u00DE\u00B9\u00C0\u00D8\x07\x1Bv\u00B9x\x1E_\u00E3\u00EF\u00AAhB\u00A1\u00AC\u00F0<\u00B4\u00B8\u00A8`\n%\u00EC\u00E0j\u00A4@\u00FA:Y\u009C\u00F1\u00E2\x07\u0099\u00A5\x15+\x12\u0089\u00C0\u00E6\x1C\u00D5F\x03\u00E5\u00C7\x07\u00DDDg\x0F[8\u00EC\x7F\x1F\u00FAY9\x19N\x1Co\u00E7\u00D6-+l\u0081K\t\u00E1\u00BA\u00801\u0098O\u00CC\u00B2z\u00AD\u0095\u0097\x1Bn\x19g\u00A8~s\u00AC~\x01\u009Bl\u00AF.\u00A7\u00AC\u00B6\u00E4\u0090D\u00D4D\u00F4\x03h\r\u0097ZI-\u00CCY\u00B0\u00B1\u00DB\u00CF\t\u00F7\x1F\fc\u00D9\u00C0v\u00DB\u00B6\u00E1\x11\u00D1Q\u00AAGt}\x1F\x1Ea2:\x01\x16f\x19\x033\\@j\x1F\u00B6\x10P\u00F4X\x13\u009C\x00$\u00A2\u00C8\u008DCB\u008A`\u00F4\u00E0\u00CC\x06Zhw\u009DJ0\u00B0`p\x1F$\u00D4u\x1Ct\u0083\u00EC*H%\u00C9\x19\x07\u0094\u00B9\u00F9U\x001\u0094.\u00EE\u00EFt\u0097\u00AA\u00DAD\u00B6\x05G\u0087\u00B2\u0090$\u00E0\u00F9x\u00A9\u00BEiD\u00FE\u00F8\x05\u009C\u00A2*6\x15\u00AF\u00D5\u009B\u00F9X4\u00CA\u0082N\x1D\u009F\u00F6\u00E0\u00B3\u0083\u00A7\u00E7W-Bj\x1F\x05\u009C\u008C\\$\x1C!\x17L\u009BY,\u00DD\u00EB\u00D95\u00B7\u0098\u00A6\u00CA\x05\\\u00FEgK\u00C7$\u00BE\x00\u0093\u00E9\u00CFJ\u00B3\u00D1\u00D3w\x00\x00\x00\x00IEND\u00AEB`\u0082";
}

Any ideas why this happens? Is there a workaround for this issue?

— Kas

[Mike Bro]

Kas~

Confirmed same behavior on mac OS Mojave running Indesign 15.1.3 and 16.1

Regards

Mike

[brianp311]

Same behavior for me on Big Sur 11.2.3, InDesign 16.0.1

[Lukas Engqvist]

Have you the same path setting in Mac and Windows? Normally the platforms style path is different, this is true for DataMerge. On Windows the Folder is changed by "/" on Mac ":"?
Another possibility is security not allowing the icon to be written?

Looks like a nice function 🙂

[Kasyan Servetsky]

Thanks everyone for reply!
Looks like an old bug.

@Lukas Engqvist  I think the path is correct here for both platforms. Note: the image file is created on the fly in a temporary folder from binary code.

Also, I can use an existing image, say located on the desktop, but the behavior is the same.

var iconGreenFile = new File("~/Desktop/bullet_ball_green.png");
if (iconGreenFile.exists) CreateDialog();

function CreateDialog() {
	var w = new Window("dialog", "Test");

	w.p2 = w.add("panel", undefined, "Tags:");
	w.p2.alignment = "fill";
	w.p2.lbox = w.p2.add("listbox", undefined, ["one", "two", "three"], {multiselect: true});
	w.p2.lbox.alignment = "fill";

	for (var k = 0; k < w.p2.lbox.items.length; k++) {
		w.p2.lbox.items[k].image = iconGreenFile;
	}

	w.show();
}

I don't think there are any issues with security because the icon is created, but it appears only after I touch the list box.

— Kas

[Jens Trost]

I've noticed something similar:
if the listbox has more entries and is scrollable, then the icons appear on scrolling and not before.
But this is not always the case... sometimes they just show.

I've included .revealItem() in my effort to fix this issue – not sure if it did fix it in the end (it's been a while) – but I didn't noticed missing icons if there is no scrolling preset.

[Kasyan Servetsky]

I tried adding .revealItem() — but no joy.

[Kasyan Servetsky]

I thought about replacing icons with checkmarks but it turned out the same problem occurs with them as well.