Switch Layers Script Question

[boo_radley_2013]

Hi I have a small script here which someone from these forums posted not too long ago... was it Noel? Either way, this script is fantastic and brings up a sub-menu to switch documents. When the menu pops up, it shows a list of all open documents in Photoshop. (I actually modified this script so all it does is switch documents instead of copying the active layer to another document.. somehow I managed it with the very basic knowledge I have )

The default document selection (the document name that is highlighted in the menu) when the list opens is "0"

I'm looking for a way to get the highlighted selection to reflect the active document instead of "0".

I think it's somewhere in this line of code:

win.NewList.selection = 0;

and I've tried changing the 0 to "actLay" and also "activeLayer" but it throws me an error message. Is there a way to get the active document as the highlighted selection? Here's the code...

var aDoc = app.activeDocument; 
var AllDocs = app.documents; 
var actLay = aDoc.activeLayer; 

if (AllDocs.length > 1) { 
var itemDoc = null; 


var win = new Window("dialog","Switch Documents"); 
this.windowRef = win; 
win.Txt1 = win.add ("statictext", undefined, "Switch to which document?"); 
win.NewList=win.add ("dropdownlist", undefined) 
for (var m = 0; m < AllDocs.length; m++) { 
win.NewList.add("item", AllDocs.name)  
} 
win.NewList.selection = 0; 
itemDoc = win.NewList.selection.actLay; 

win.cancelBtn = win.add("button", undefined, "Switch"); 


win.cancelElement = win.cancelBtn; 



win.NewList.onChange= function () { 
    itemDoc = win.NewList.selection.index; 
    return itemDoc; 
    } 

win.show(); 

app.activeDocument = app.documents[itemDoc]; 

app.refresh(); 
} 

[c.pfaffenbichler]

You could include the line

if (AllDocs == app.activeDocument) {win.NewList.selection = m}

in the for-clause.

Why do you use the CancelElement as you do?

[boo_radley_2013]

sorry, the Cancel element was left over from the previous code that I edited out.. hadn't even noticed that.

I've included

if (AllDocs == app.activeDocument) {win.NewList.selection = m}

and the script still runs, but it still isn't auto-selecting the active document in the drop-down list, it only selects index0. What am I doing wrong?

var aDoc = app.activeDocument;  
var AllDocs = app.documents;  
var actLay = aDoc.activeLayer;  

if (AllDocs.length > 1) {  
var itemDoc = null;  


var win = new Window("dialog","Switch 


Documents");  
this.windowRef = win;  
win.Txt1 = win.add ("statictext", undefined, 


"Switch to which document?");  
win.NewList=win.add ("dropdownlist", 


undefined)  
for (var m = 0; m < AllDocs.length; m++) {  
win.NewList.add("item", AllDocs.name) 
if (AllDocs == app.activeDocument) 


{win.NewList.selection = m}  
}  
win.NewList.selection = 0;  
itemDoc = win.NewList.selection.index;  
win.cancelBtn = win.add("button", undefined, 


"Switch");  

win.NewList.onChange= function () {  
    itemDoc = win.NewList.selection.index;  
    return itemDoc;  
    }  

win.show();  

app.activeDocument = app.documents[itemDoc];  

app.refresh();  
} 

[Chuck Uebele]

In your second post, you're on the right track with if statement at line 24; however, you negate this by leaving line 29 in setting the selection back to 0.  I would run though the loop, store which index the active document is in an variable, then set the selection with that variable after the loop.

[boo_radley_2013]

I've removed line 29 so the selection isn't index0 and replaced it with the variable that I defined at the top of the script ( var Current = app.activeDocument; ) Problem is now it's throwing me another error message. It says that the current document (whatever its name may be in Photohop) is not a list index or listitem... This is close but I can't figure out where it's going wrong. The fact that the error message is now referencing my active document is a good sign but I'm still trying to successfully achieve this

var aDoc = app.activeDocument;  
var AllDocs = app.documents;  
var actLay = aDoc.activeLayer;  
var Current = app.activeDocument;

if (AllDocs.length > 1) {  
var itemDoc = null;  


var win = new Window("dialog","Switch


Documents");  
this.windowRef = win;  
win.Txt1 = win.add ("statictext", undefined,


"Switch to which document?");  
win.NewList=win.add ("dropdownlist",


undefined)  
for (var m = 0; m < AllDocs.length; m++) {  
win.NewList.add("item", AllDocs.name)   
}  


{win.NewList.selection = Current} 



itemDoc = win.NewList.selection.actLay;  

win.cancelBtn = win.add("button", undefined,


"Switch");  


win.cancelElement = win.cancelBtn;  



win.NewList.onChange= function () {  
    itemDoc = win.NewList.selection.index;  
    return itemDoc;  
    }  

win.show();  

app.activeDocument = app.documents[itemDoc];  

app.refresh();  
}  

[Chuck Uebele · Accepted solution]

Here's your original code with just minor changes:

Added a var to hold activeDocument index.

Added if statement to set the above variable.

Added a line to set the dropdownlist selection.

You should also start scripts with the target application. In this case: #target photoshop

#target photoshop   
    var aDoc = app.activeDocument;  
    var AllDocs = app.documents;  
    var actLay = aDoc.activeLayer; 
    var activeIndex;//add var to hold activeDocument's index

    if (AllDocs.length > 1) {  
    var itemDoc = null;  


    var win = new Window("dialog","Switch Documents");  
    this.windowRef = win;  
    win.Txt1 = win.add ("statictext", undefined, "Switch to which document?");  
    win.NewList=win.add ("dropdownlist", undefined)  
    for (var m = 0; m < AllDocs.length; m++) {  
    win.NewList.add("item", AllDocs.name)   
    if(AllDocs.name == aDoc.name){activeIndex = m}//set activeIndex if activeDocument name matches current doc in list
    } 
var docR = activeDocument

    win.NewList.selection = activeIndex;   //Set selection for dropdownlist

    //itemDoc = win.NewList.selection.actLay;


    win.cancelBtn = win.add("button", undefined, "Switch");  


    win.cancelElement = win.cancelBtn;  



    win.NewList.onChange= function () {  
        itemDoc = win.NewList.selection.index;  
        return itemDoc;  
        }  

    win.show();  

    app.activeDocument = app.documents[itemDoc];  

    app.refresh();  
    }  

[boo_radley_2013]

Update, after playing with this for a few hours, I've managed to get around the error messages, but the problem now is that when the list pops up, some of the documents are listed as many as 3 times. I'm having some success in getting the active document to be the highlighted document by default, but it's still a little erratic. I'm pulling my hair out over this one. Can someone spot the error - it's almost there

var aDoc = app.activeDocument;  
var AllDocs = app.documents;  
var actLay = aDoc.activeLayer;  
var IndexCurrent = app.index

if (AllDocs.length > 1) {  
var itemDoc = null;  


var win = new Window("dialog","Switch 


Documents");  
this.windowRef = win;  
win.Txt1 = win.add ("statictext", undefined, 


"Switch to which document?");  
win.NewList=win.add ("dropdownlist", 


undefined)  
for (var m = 0; m < AllDocs.length; m++) {  
win.NewList.add("item", AllDocs.name) 
win.NewList.add("item", aDoc.name) 
if (AllDocs == app.activeDocument) 


{win.NewList.selection = m}; 
}  


itemDoc = win.NewList.selection.index;  

win.cancelBtn = win.add("button", undefined, 


"Switch");  


win.cancelElement = win.cancelBtn;  



win.NewList.onChange= function () {  
    itemDoc = win.NewList.selection.index;  
    return itemDoc;  
    }  

win.show();  

app.activeDocument = app.documents[itemDoc];  

app.refresh();  
}  

[boo_radley_2013]

nevermind, I got it! WOOHOO! It works now   Thanks for your guys help.. and just want you to know that I'm not looking for handouts... I'm genuinely trying to learn this type of code and after a few hours of experimenting/researching, I finally figured it out. Here it is:

var aDoc = app.activeDocument;  
var AllDocs = app.documents;  
var actLay = aDoc.activeLayer;  
var IndexCurrent = app.index

if (AllDocs.length > 1) {  
var itemDoc = null;  


var win = new Window("dialog","Switch 


Documents");  
this.windowRef = win;  
win.Txt1 = win.add ("statictext", undefined, 


"Switch to which document?");  
win.NewList=win.add ("dropdownlist", 


undefined)  
for (var m = 0; m < AllDocs.length; m++) {  
win.NewList.add("item", AllDocs.name) 

if (AllDocs == app.activeDocument) 


{win.NewList.selection = m}; 
}  


itemDoc = win.NewList.selection.index;  

win.cancelBtn = win.add("button", undefined, 


"Switch");  


win.cancelElement = win.cancelBtn;  



win.NewList.onChange= function () {  
    itemDoc = win.NewList.selection.index;  
    return itemDoc;  
    }  

win.show();  

app.activeDocument = app.documents[itemDoc];  

app.refresh();  
}  

[boo_radley_2013]

oh geez - thanks csuebele - I replied with my code literally 1 minute after you!! Thank you though.. what a coincidencel lo... I'll study your script as well, it's probably more stable than mine.