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Objects names to a text block

Explorer ,
Jan 02, 2021 Jan 02, 2021

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I've got a few thousand object names I need added to a text block. Copy & pasting will take forever. Even exporting them to a text document would work. Is there anything out there to heklp with this?

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Import and export , Scripting , Type

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LEGEND ,
Jan 02, 2021 Jan 02, 2021

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Can you share a sample file? Maybe someone can write a custom script for you.

 

This very rudimentary script will parse the document objects and list their names in a single text block in the top, left corner of the current document:

rcraighead_0-1609648833914.png

nameList();
function nameList() {
    var aDoc = app.activeDocument;
    var myObj, tFrame;
    aDoc.textFrames.add();
    var tFrame = aDoc.textFrames[0];
    tFrame.name = "myTextBlock";

    for (var i = 0; i < aDoc.pageItems.length; i++) {
        myObj = aDoc.pageItems[i];
        if (myObj.name != 'myTextBlock') {
            tFrame.textRange.characterAttributes.size = 10;
            tFrame.contents = (tFrame.contents + "\n" + myObj.name);
            tFrame.position = [5, -1];
        }
    }
}

 

 

 

 

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Explorer ,
Jan 03, 2021 Jan 03, 2021

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Well that kind of works. Anything more than a dozen objects and it gets very, very.... very slow. I'll have to see if I can do batches.

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Community Expert ,
Jan 03, 2021 Jan 03, 2021

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Does it work better if you replace the lines

for (var i = 0; i < aDoc.pageItems.length; i++; )

with 

for (var i = aDoc.pageItems.length; i <= 0; i--; )

 and see if it runs better.

Any time you work with a list you should work backwards.

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Guide ,
Jan 03, 2021 Jan 03, 2021

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If iterating backwards, the counter should start with aDoc.pageItems.length - 1.  It won't make a difference with regards to time in this case though. 

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LEGEND ,
Jan 04, 2021 Jan 04, 2021

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Thanks @femkeblanco . I'm still learning about iterating backwards. Your comment is very helpful.

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Explorer ,
Jan 04, 2021 Jan 04, 2021

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Is that what causes the multiples of commas?
You're right, this runs much faster. Just did a test with 167 objects and it was done in a blink.

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LEGEND ,
Jan 04, 2021 Jan 04, 2021

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The array entries are separated by commas. Copy and paste the result to any text editor and auto-replace the commas with returns. I used Text Edit on the Mac to create a list.

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LEGEND ,
Jan 03, 2021 Jan 03, 2021

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"Kind of works"? I tested it with 750 items. It took 4.5 minutes to create the text block. I'm sure there are ways to speed it up, but that's a whole lot faster than "copy/paste". 😉

 

@Larry G. Schneider , I was not able to get your suggestion to work. Not sure what I'm doing wrong.
The script is updating the text frame content + the new text each time. I don't know if there is a more efficient way to update a text item.

 

EDIT:
This replaces the last "Edit".
The solution was to save the "pageItems" array as a list of names and display it in an Alert at the end of the script. The result can be copied as a "Comma-delemited" text file and used in what ever way you wish. The time savings is substantial:

 

nameArray();

function nameArray() {
    var aDoc = app.activeDocument;
    var myObj, newName;
    var data = [];
    for (var i = 0; i < aDoc.pageItems.length; i++) {
        myObj = aDoc.pageItems[i];
        newName = myObj.name;
        data.push(newName);
    }
    alert(data);
}

 

This example took less than 2 sec to complete:

rcraighead_0-1609729445349.png

 

 

 

 

 

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Explorer ,
Jan 03, 2021 Jan 03, 2021

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Let me give that a try. I'd tried it with 40 some odd objects and after 20 minutes I shut it down.

And belatedly, thanks! I was not looking forward to copy & pasting.

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Community Expert ,
Jan 04, 2021 Jan 04, 2021

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@kylwell  wrote:
"… Is that what causes the multiples of commas? …"


An unnamed object does not have a name. Thereby empty elements are passed into the array, separated by commas.

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LEGEND ,
Jan 04, 2021 Jan 04, 2021

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Thank you @pixxxelschubser ! I'm in over my head as usual. My test file had all named objects so I missed that fact.

 

I did notice if I changed a Symbol Instance to the SAME name as the original Symbol the object was skipped. Guess AI cannot tell the difference between a manually typed name and the original generic Symbol name.

 

Edit:
So, if one wished to capture the "default" names given to objects in a document is that possible?

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Guide ,
Jan 04, 2021 Jan 04, 2021

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Hi @rcraighead . Sorry, I just noticed that if iterating backwards, the loop condition should be i >= 0 or i > -1, i.e. the line should be

for (var i = aDoc.pageItems.length - 1; i > -1; i--) {

This is extraneous to the subject of this thread, but forward vs. backward iteration can be summarised like this: When removing items from, or moving items to, the beginning of a collection, forward iteration will cause problems because of indices changing. For example, when removing items, every other item will be skipped. So, say you want to remove all items from a collection (here the array and splice(i, 1) substitute for a collection and remove() in illustrator):

// forward iteration
var a = ["A", "B", "C"];
for (var i = 0; i < a.length; i++) {
    a.splice(i, 1);
}
alert( a );  // B

"B" was skipped.  This breaks down like this

- At iteration 0
         a[0] = "A"
         a[1] = "B"
         a[2] = "C"
         The value of a[0], i.e. "A", is removed; "B" becomes a[0]
         a[0] = "B"
         a[1] = "C"

- At iteration 1

         a[0] = "B"
         a[1] = "C"

         The value of a[1], i.e. "C", is removed; notice that "B" was skipped
         a[0] = "B"

- At iteration 2, the condition (i < a.length) is not met and the loop ends

 

This is solved thus

// backward iteration
var a = ["A", "B", "C", "D", "E", "F", "G"];
for(var i = a.length - 1; i > -1; i--) {
    a.splice(i, 1);
}
alert( a );  // empty array

 

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