Script | Selection on merged row makes indesign crash

Hi Uwe,

InDesign CC2021 16.2.1 on MacOs Catalina 10.15.7

"did you mean that InDesign crashed when you selected the Edit main menu in the user interface?"

yes, with this type of selection.

Bye, Roberto

i had the same problem today.

Also, with this selection, InDesign crash if you select the "Edit" menu.

I found a workaround:

If you have a reference of the table, you can use "getTableSelectedCells(tbl);": return Array of cells

In scripts used by other users, if you do not have the table reference, use "getDocumentSelectedCells(doc);": return Array of cells.

function getDocumentSelectedCells (doc) {
    var fixNeeded = false;

    try {
        doc.selection;
    } catch (e) {
        fixNeeded = true;
    }

    if (fixNeeded) {
        var tbl = getTable(doc);
        return getTableSelectedCells (tbl);
    } else {
        var s = doc.selection;
        if (s.length === 1) {
            s = s[0];
    
            if ('cells' in s) {
                return s.cells.everyItem().getElements();
            } else {
                return [];
            }
         }
    }
}

function getTableSelectedCells (tbl) {
    var doc = tbl.storyOffset.parent.parent.getElements()[0];
    var fixNeeded = false;

    try {
        doc.selection;
    } catch (e) {
        fixNeeded = true;
    }

    if (fixNeeded) {
        var currentDoc = app.activeDocument.getElements()[0];
        app.activeDocument = doc;//doc containing the table must be the active document
        var maToGfx = app.menuActions.itemByName('$ID/Convert To Graphic Cell');
        var selectedCellsName = [];
        var selectedCells = [];

        var changed = app.doScript('toTxtCell(tbl)', ScriptLanguage.JAVASCRIPT, undefined, UndoModes.ENTIRE_SCRIPT);
        var maToGfx = app.menuActions.itemByName('$ID/Convert To Graphic Cell');

        //invoke menu action Table -> convert cell to graphic cell (target is the selection)
        maToGfx.invoke();

        var cells = tbl.cells;
        var i, ilen = cells.length;
        var gfx = CellTypeEnum.GRAPHIC_TYPE_CELL;

        for (i = 0; i < ilen; i++) {
            cell = cells[i];
            if (cell.cellType === gfx) {
                selectedCellsName.push(cell.name);//push(cell) doesn't work because references are lost after undo
            }
        }
    
        doc.undo();//undo maToGfx.invoke();

        if (changed > 0) {
            doc.undo();//undo toTxtCell function
        }

        //get cell references from cell names
        for (i = 0, ilen = selectedCellsName.length; i < ilen; i++) {
            selectedCells.push(cells.itemByName(selectedCellsName[i]));
        }

        app.activeDocument = currentDoc;//restore original activeDocument
        return selectedCells;
    } else {
        //fix not needed
        var s = doc.selection;
        if (s.length === 1) {
            s = s[0];
    
            if ('cells' in s) {
                return s.cells.everyItem().getElements();
            } else {
                return [];
            }
         }
    }
}

function toTxtCell (tbl) {
    var cells = tbl.cells;
    var i, ilen = cells.length;
    var cell;
    var gfx = CellTypeEnum.GRAPHIC_TYPE_CELL;
    var txt = CellTypeEnum.TEXT_TYPE_CELL;
    var changed = 0;

    //change graphic cells to text cells
    for (i = 0; i < ilen; i++) {
        cell = cells[i];
        if (cell.cellType === gfx) {
            cell.convertCellType(txt);
            changed++;
        } else if (cell.contents !== '') {
            cell.contents = '';//cells must be empty for the subsequent change to graphic cell
            changed++;
        }
    }

    return changed;
}

function getTable (doc) {
    var currentDoc = app.activeDocument;
    app.activeDocument = doc;

    var hop = Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty;
    var tblStr = app.translateKeyString('$ID/Table');
    var remStr = app.translateKeyString('$ID/Remove');

    var Mm = app.menus.itemByName('$ID/Main');//InDesign (main menu)
    var tblSm = Mm.submenus.itemByName(tblStr);//InDesign -> Table (submenu)
    var remSm = tblSm.submenus.itemByName(remStr);//InDesign -> Table -> Remove (submenu)
    var remTblMi = remSm.menuItems.itemByName(tblStr);//InDesign -> Table -> Remove table (menuItem)
    var remTblMa = remTblMi.associatedMenuAction;////InDesign -> Table -> Remove table (menuAction)

    var tableKeys = {};

    remTblMa.invoke();//remove table

    var tables = doc.stories.everyItem().tables.everyItem().getElements();
    var i, ilen = tables.length;
    var tbl;
    
    for (i = 0; i < ilen; i++) {
        tableKeys[tables[i].id] = true;
    }

    doc.undo();// undo remove table;

    tables = doc.stories.everyItem().tables.everyItem().getElements();

    for (i = 0, ilen = tables.length; i < ilen; i++) {
        if (!hop.call(tableKeys, tables[i].id)) {
            tbl = tables[i].getElements()[0];
            break;
        }
    }

    app.activeDocument = currentDoc;
    return tbl;
}

Roberto Bertazzoni (Italy)

Hey Uwe,

Indesign kept crashing because I wasn't using try {} catch (e) {}. At least I'm able to stop the script before it crashes.

I opened a thread earlier this morning on uservoice: https://indesign.uservoice.com/forums/601180-adobe-indesign-bugs/suggestions/41451565-script-selection-on-merged-row-makes-indesign-cr but not on the prerelease yet.

Would that problem have better chances to be solved if you open a thread on usevoice and prerelease?

Thanks again,
Nicolas

Also happening in VS Code Extendscript Debugger, on Catalina running the latest ID. Definitely a bug with selecting merged rows. If you select the merged cell as well, it works fine. I'll play around more.