JavaScripting InDesign

I'm about to find myself embroiled in a catalog project. This is the second time around for me for this particular publication which involves presentation of a large number of complex objects that are similar to each other and yet subtly different. The last time around, I used InDesign 2, AppleScript, and a support library of object templates.

For this time around, I'll be using InDesign CS2, JavaScript and (I think) a folder of snippets (the choice is to once again use a library). Libraries have the advantage that you can directly place library assets inline to a story (although you do have to using live insertion points to do so).

OK, clearly, if I'm to use snippets, I need a script to place a snippet inline. So, let's take a look at that issue.

//DESCRIPTION: Test Script to place a snippet inline

var myFile = File.openDialog("Find a snippet:");
if (myFile == null) { exit() }

The first thing the script does is have the user find a snippet in the filing system. The File.openDialog() call returns null if the user cancels.

For now, we'll just assume that the active document has a currently active insertion point, so

var myDoc = app.activeDocument;
var myIP = app.selection[0];

So, now we can use myDoc to refer to the active document and myIP to refer to the current insertion point.

It appears that to place the snippet, I must use:

myDoc.place(myFile)

but this returns nothing, so how do I know what I just placed? It's time to actually try the script to see what happens; perhaps the placed item will be selected.

Nope. It's just sitting there on the page. So somehow I have to deduce what it is. Some experimentation suggests that after placing a snippet, myDoc.pageItems[-1] is a reference to it. While researching this, I noticed that myDoc.place() is new in CS2. In CS, you had to place on to a page. You can still do that in CS2, where according to the scripting reference:

myObj.myDoc.pages[0].place(myFile)

should give a reference to the placed object. Turns out that this is true for everything except a snippet, so there is no advantage to using that syntax.

OK, enough nosing around. Let's get on with the task of importing a snippet and making it inline. We have the insertionPoint in myIP and we know how to get a reference to the placed snippet, so it should be as easy as:

var myObj = myDoc.pageItems[0];
myObj.move(LocationOptions.after,myIP);

Oh misery me. That doesn't work. I knew that! You can't move a pageItem inline directly. You have to copy and paste. But I don't want to do that; I don't like using the clipboard for this kind of thing. It happens that there is an alternative approach using a library, but if I have to use a library in order to import my snippets, what's the point of using snippets when I can simply put the templates in the library and be done with it.

So, today's script doesn't work, but still, it has helped me make an important decision. I've also taken the chance to communicate this problem with snippets to appropriate people at Adobe.