Author: Rick Quatro

In a recent Adobe webinar, I used a chm file for FrameMaker 12 ExtendScript’s object model. Here is a link to the web site. Scroll to the bottom and you will see the link. After you download the chm, right+click on it and choose Properties. Click the Unblock button and you will be able to use the chm file.

The chm file has the same content as the ExtendScript Object Model Viewer, but in my opinion, is much easier to use. If you prefer HTML, there is a link to an HTML version as well.

It is not unusual to have “mixed” FrameMaker workflows where members of a team are using different versions of FrameMaker. Documents saved in a lower version can be opened with higher versions, but you can’t open documents saved with a higher version with a lower version of FrameMaker. There are two solutions: First, you can use the higher version to “save down” to the lower version. However, you can only save down to the next lowest version, for example, from FrameMaker 12 to FrameMaker 11. Second, you can save the document to MIF (Maker Interchange Format) in which case you can open it with any lower version of FrameMaker.

The main sticking point with saving to MIF is that you have to remember to do it. But with ExtendScript, you can automate this. You can create a script that will automatically save the document to MIF whenever you choose File > Save or press Control+S. When you are ready to pass the MIF file onto another team member that may be using a lower FrameMaker version, you know that it will always reflect the latest saved changes.

Here is how to set up the script below:

1. Copy the code below and paste it into an empty text file.
2. Save the text file to a convenient location with the name “SaveAsMif_Event.jsx”.
3. Quit FrameMaker if it is running.
4. Copy the file to C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\FrameMaker\<Version>\startup, where <UserName> is your Windows login name and <Version> is the FrameMaker version that you are using. If the startup folder does not exist, create it.
5. Start FrameMaker and test the script. Open a document, make some changes to it, and save it. You should see a corresponding MIF file in the same folder as the document.

If you have any questions, problems, or comments, please post them in the comments section. Here is a link to a video that walks through the creation of the script.

Notification (Constants.FA_Note_PostSaveDoc, true);

function Notify (note, object, sparam, iparam) {

    switch (note) {
        case Constants.FA_Note_PostSaveDoc :
        saveAsMif (object);
        break;
    }
}

function saveAsMif (doc) {
	
	// Get required parameters for the save function.
    var params = GetSaveDefaultParams();
    var returnParamsp = new PropVals();
    
    // Replace the .fm extension with .mif.
    var saveName = doc.Name.replace (/\.[^\.\\]+$/,".mif");
    
    // Get the FileType save parameter and set it to MIF.
    var i = GetPropIndex(params, Constants.FS_FileType);
    params[i].propVal.ival = Constants.FV_SaveFmtInterchange;

    // Save the document as MIF.
    doc.Save(saveName, params, returnParamsp);
}

Adobe is hosting a pair of ExtendScript webinars, taught by Rick Quatro (me). Here is the press release and a link to the registration page. I hope to see you there!

Write your own FrameMaker ExtendScript, Part 1

Wed Jan 14 at 10 AM

Registration link: http://adobe.ly/1DOIa9x

In this two part series, FrameMaker maven Rick Quatro of Carmen Publishing will be walking you through the process of writing your own Extendscripts, and will include files you can download during the session. Rick’s previous session gave an excellent overview of Regular Expressions in FrameMaker. Join this two-part deep dive and discover how you can automate many functions w/in FrameMaker via your own, custom scripts.

Before continuing our discussion of removing conditions from text, let’s take a look at table rows. Working with conditional table rows is easier that working with conditionalized text, so we can get this code out of the way. To set the stage, add a table to a document and apply two conditions, Condition1 and Condition2 to one of the rows. Select the conditionalized row and run this code:

#target framemaker

var doc = app.ActiveDoc;
var row = doc.SelectedTbl.TopRowSelection;

alert (row.InCond);

This is similar to what we did when working with a text range in Part 1, but more direct. Since we have a function for removing conditions from text, we can use this as a starting point for a table rows function.

function removeConditionsFromText (textRange, removeConditions, doc) {
    
    var prop, condFmts, i;
    
    // Get a list of the conditions applied to the beginning of the text range.
    prop = doc.GetTextPropVal (textRange.beg, Constants.FP_InCond);
    condFmts = prop.propVal.osval;
    if (condFmts.length === 0) {
        return; // No conditions are applied to the text range; exit the function.
    }

    // Loop through the condition format names that are applied to the text.
    for (i = 0; i < condFmts.length; i += 1) {
        // See if the format is in the remove list.
        if (removeConditions.indexOf (condFmts[i].Name) > -1) {
            // Remove it from the list.
            Array.prototype.splice.call (condFmts, i, 1);
        }
    }

    if (condFmts.length !== prop.propVal.osval.length) {
        // Conditions were removed; apply the updated list back to the text range.
        prop.propVal.osval = condFmts;
        doc.SetTextPropVal (textRange, prop);
    }
}

Let’s rework it together line-by-line: on line 1, change the name to removeConditionsFromRow and change the first argument from textRange to row.

function removeConditionsFromText (textRange, removeConditions, doc) {

We won’t need a prop variable so remove it from line 3:

function removeConditionsFromRow (row, removeConditions, doc) {
    
    var condFmts, i;

Lines 5-10 can be shortened to this:

function removeConditionsFromRow (row, removeConditions, doc) {
    
    var condFmts, i;
    
    // Get a list of the conditions applied to the row.
    condFmts = row.InCond;
    if (condFmts.length === 0) {
        return; // No conditions are applied to the row; exit the function.
    }

Lines 12-19 from the original function can be used as is, except for a minor change to the first comment:

function removeConditionsFromRow (row, removeConditions, doc) {
    
    var condFmts, i;
    
    // Get a list of the conditions applied to the row.
    condFmts = row.InCond;
    if (condFmts.length === 0) {
        return; // No conditions are applied to the row; exit the function.
    }

    // Loop through the condition format names that are applied to the row.
    for (i = 0; i < condFmts.length; i += 1) {
        // See if the format is in the remove list.
        if (removeConditions.indexOf (condFmts[i].Name) > -1) {
            // Remove it from the list.
            Array.prototype.splice.call (condFmts, i, 1);
        }
    }

    if (condFmts.length !== prop.propVal.osval.length) {
        // Conditions were removed; apply the updated list back to the text range.
        prop.propVal.osval = condFmts;
        doc.SetTextPropVal (textRange, prop);
    }
}

Finally, lines 21-25 of the original function can be changed to work with a row:

function removeConditionsFromRow (row, removeConditions, doc) {
    
    var condFmts, i;
    
    // Get a list of the conditions applied to the row.
    condFmts = row.InCond;
    if (condFmts.length === 0) {
        return; // No conditions are applied to the row; exit the function.
    }

    // Loop through the condition format names that are applied to the row.
    for (i = 0; i < condFmts.length; i += 1) {
        // See if the format is in the remove list.
        if (removeConditions.indexOf (condFmts[i].Name) > -1) {
            // Remove it from the list.
            Array.prototype.splice.call (condFmts, i, 1);
        }
    }

    if (condFmts.length !== row.InCond.length) {
        // Conditions were removed; apply the updated list back to the row.
        row.InCond = condFmts;
    }
}

Now we can test the finished function. Add the following code before the removeConditionsFromRow function and add the augmentObjects function to the end of the script. Select the table row that has Condition1 and Condition2 applied to it and run the complete script. You should see the Condition2 format removed from the selected row.

#target framemaker

// Call a function to add functions to built-in objects.
augmentObjects ();

var doc = app.ActiveDoc;

// List of conditions to remove.
var removeConditions = ["Condition2"];

// Remove the condition(s) from the selected row.
var row = doc.SelectedTbl.TopRowSelection;
removeConditionsFromRow (row, removeConditions, doc);

In an upcoming post, we will return to working removing conditions from text.

Part 1 and Part 2 of this series show the beginning of the typical script development process that I use. I like to isolate scripting tasks to the smallest units possible. For this task, we worked on a single selection of conditionalized text in the active document. When we switched to tables, we selected a single row with conditions applied. This approach allows us to get the basic functionality working without worrying about the overhead that the larger script requires. Once the basic functionality is working, we can expand it to work on an entire document or book.

Let’s start by figuring out how to specify which Condition Formats to remove from the text and table rows in a document. To keep things simple, we can use an array of Condition Format names:

#target framemaker

var doc = app.ActiveDoc;

// Make an array of Condition Format names to remove.
var removeConditions = ["Condition2"];

Even if we add an interface to the script later (like a dialog box), we can still use an array to store the condition names. We need to figure out a way to compare the contents of the array with the conditions that are applied to a given range of text. To set this up, make sure you have a document open with two Condition Formats, Condition1 and Condition2, applied to a paragraph. Select some of the text in the paragraph. We can add our array to some of the code we previously developed:

#target framemaker

var doc = app.ActiveDoc;

// An array of condition formats to remove from the text and rows.
var removeConditions = ["Condition2"];

var textRange = doc.TextSelection;
var prop = doc.GetTextPropVal (textRange.beg, Constants.FP_InCond);
var condFmts = prop.propVal.osval;

// Display the condition format names that are applied to the text.
for (var i = 0; i < condFmts.length; i += 1) {
    alert (condFmts[i].Name);
}

The script will display each condition format that is applied to the selected text. We need a way to test each name and see if it is in the removeConditions array. Any conditions that are in the removeConditions array need to be removed from the condFmts list. In some implementations, a JavaScript array has an indexOf method so you can test and see if the array contains a particular member. If the member exists, indexOf returns the array index; otherwise, it returns -1. We could do this:

#target framemaker

var doc = app.ActiveDoc;

var removeConditions = ["Condition2"];

var textRange = doc.TextSelection;
var prop = doc.GetTextPropVal (textRange.beg, Constants.FP_InCond);
var condFmts = prop.propVal.osval;

// Loop through the condition format names that are applied to the text.
for (var i = 0; i < condFmts.length; i += 1) {
    // See if the format is in the remove list.
    if (removeConditions.indexOf (condFmts[i].Name) > -1) {
        // Remove it from the list.
        Array.prototype.splice.call (condFmts, i, 1);
    }
}

// Apply the updated list back to the text range.
prop.propVal.osval = condFmts;
doc.SetTextPropVal (textRange, prop);

The indexOf method is being used in the if statement on line 12. There is one problem with this code: The current Adobe ExtendScript implementation does not have an indexOf method on arrays. We are going to call (line 4 in the following code) a function (lines 27-45) that will augment the built-in Array object and add an indexOf method to it. Object augmentation is beyond the scope of this lesson, but google it if you are interested in how it works. Here is the entire code:

#target framemaker

// Call a function to add functions to built-in objects.
augmentObjects ();

var doc = app.ActiveDoc;

var removeConditions = ["Condition2"];

var textRange = doc.TextSelection;
var prop = doc.GetTextPropVal (textRange.beg, Constants.FP_InCond);
var condFmts = prop.propVal.osval;

// Loop through the condition format names that are applied to the text.
for (var i = 0; i < condFmts.length; i += 1) {
    // See if the format is in the remove list.
    if (removeConditions.indexOf (condFmts[i].Name) > -1) {
        // Remove it from the list.
        Array.prototype.splice.call (condFmts, i, 1);
    }
}

// Apply the updated list back to the text range.
prop.propVal.osval = condFmts;
doc.SetTextPropVal (textRange, prop);

function augmentObjects () {
    
    // Add an indexOf method to the Array object.
    if (!Array.prototype.indexOf) {
        Array.prototype.indexOf = function (obj, fromIndex) {
            if (fromIndex == null) {
                fromIndex = 0;
            } else if (fromIndex < 0) {
                fromIndex = Math.max(0, this.length + fromIndex);
            }
            for (var i = fromIndex; i < this.length; i++) {
                if (this[i] === obj) {
                    return i;
                }
            }
            return -1;
        };
    }
}

OK, we have the basic functionality working, so let's encapsulate it into a function that we easily drop into a bigger script. We want the function to take a text range, a list of conditions to remove, and a document object. Here is one way we can do this:

#target framemaker

// Call a function to add functions to built-in objects.
augmentObjects ();

var doc = app.ActiveDoc;

var removeConditions = ["Condition2"];
var textRange = doc.TextSelection;

// Remove the condition(s) from the selected text.
removeConditionsFromText (textRange, removeConditions, doc);

function removeConditionsFromText (textRange, removeConditions, doc) {
    
    var prop, condFmts, i;
    
    // Get a list of the conditions applied to the beginning of the text range.
    prop = doc.GetTextPropVal (textRange.beg, Constants.FP_InCond);
    condFmts = prop.propVal.osval;

    // Loop through the condition format names that are applied to the text.
    for (i = 0; i < condFmts.length; i += 1) {
        // See if the format is in the remove list.
        if (removeConditions.indexOf (condFmts[i].Name) > -1) {
            // Remove it from the list.
            Array.prototype.splice.call (condFmts, i, 1);
        }
    }

    // Apply the updated list back to the text range.
    prop.propVal.osval = condFmts;
    doc.SetTextPropVal (textRange, prop);
}

// augmentObjects function not shown but required!

Some important points:

• The new function is on lines 14-34.
• We followed best practices and declare all variables at the top of the function (line 16).
• Because the function uses the indexOf method, we have to include the augmentObjects function in any script that uses our new function. In addition, we have to remember to call augmentObjects at the top of our script (like we do on line 4).
• IMPORTANT: The script gets the condition format properties at the beginning of the text range. It removes the appropriate conditions from that list and then applies those properties to the entire text range. For this reason, we want to pass in text ranges that only have distinct condition formats applied to them. If you are not sure why, post a comment below.

Before moving on, there is one issue we should address. One line 32, we apply the updated list of conditions back to the propVal object; then line 33 applies the property list to the text range. But what if this list was empty to start with, or hasn't been changed by the loop on lines 23-29? There is no sense in going further, so let's add a couple of tests to the function. We can add this below line 20:

if (condFmts.length === 0) {
    return; // No conditions are applied to the text range; exit the function.
}

If there are no conditions applied to the text, then there are none that can be removed; so we simply exit the function. If there are conditions applied, they may be conditions that aren't in our removeConditions array. So we can test to make sure that conditions were actually removed before updating the text (this code would replace lines 31-33):

if (condFmts.length !== prop.propVal.osval.length) {
    // Conditions were removed; apply the updated list back to the text range.
    prop.propVal.osval = condFmts;
    doc.SetTextPropVal (textRange, prop);
}

Here is the finished function:

function removeConditionsFromText (textRange, removeConditions, doc) {
    
    var prop, condFmts, i;
    
    // Get a list of the conditions applied to the beginning of the text range.
    prop = doc.GetTextPropVal (textRange.beg, Constants.FP_InCond);
    condFmts = prop.propVal.osval;
    if (condFmts.length === 0) {
        return; // No conditions are applied to the text range; exit the function.
    }

    // Loop through the condition format names that are applied to the text.
    for (i = 0; i < condFmts.length; i += 1) {
        // See if the format is in the remove list.
        if (removeConditions.indexOf (condFmts[i].Name) > -1) {
            // Remove it from the list.
            Array.prototype.splice.call (condFmts, i, 1);
        }
    }

    if (condFmts.length !== prop.propVal.osval.length) {
        // Conditions were removed; apply the updated list back to the text range.
        prop.propVal.osval = condFmts;
        doc.SetTextPropVal (textRange, prop);
    }
}

In a future post, we will show how to loop through the text in a paragraph and isolate ranges of text that have distinct sets of conditions applied to them. These will get passed to our new removeConditionsFromText function to remove the specified conditions from paragraphs in a document. We will also develop a function that will remove conditions from table rows.

In the previous post, we gained a basic understanding of how to remove a CondFmt (Condition Format) from a text range. Let’s see it in action. To set this up, make sure you have a sample document with two conditions, Condition1 and Condition2, and have both conditions applied to a paragraph in the document. Select some of the text in the paragraph and run this:

#target framemaker

var doc = app.ActiveDoc;

var textRange = doc.TextSelection;
var prop = doc.GetTextPropVal (textRange.beg, Constants.FP_InCond);
var condFmts = prop.propVal.osval;

// Remove the second condtion format and update the osval list.
Array.prototype.splice.call (condFmts, 1, 1);
prop.propVal.osval = condFmts;

// Apply the updated list back to the text range.
doc.SetTextPropVal (textRange, prop);

To keep the example simple, we are making a couple of assumptions: First, we are removing Condition2 from the text and second, that Condition2 is the second CondFmt in the osval list. We will use code to eliminate these assumptions later.

On line 7, we assign the osval list to a variable (condFmts). We need a way to remove members from this condFmts list. If condFmts was a true JavaScript array, we could use its splice method to remove the desired member. But it is actually an array-like list of CondFmt objects that doesn’t contain a splice method. However, JavaScript allows us to “borrow” the splice method from the built-in Array object and use it on our list; this is what we are doing on line 10.

On line 11, we assign the modified list back to prop.propVal.osval and on line 14 we apply the updated property to the selected text. When you run this, you should see the Condition2 format removed from the selected text.

If we wanted to remove all formats from the text, we could use this shortcut:

#target framemaker

var doc = app.ActiveDoc;

var textRange = doc.TextSelection;
var prop = doc.GetTextPropVal (textRange.beg, Constants.FP_InCond);

// Remove all conditions from the text.
prop.propVal.osval.length = 0;

// Apply the updated list back to the text range.
doc.SetTextPropVal (textRange, prop);

Line 9 simply sets the length of the osval list to 0 (zero), which removes all of the members.

Conditionalized table rows are handled a little bit differently than text. To set this up, add a table to your document and apply Condition1 and Condition2 to one of the rows and leave the row selected. Run this code:

#target framemaker

var doc = app.ActiveDoc;

// Get the selected row object.
var tbl = doc.SelectedTbl;
var row = tbl.TopRowSelection;

// Display the list of Condition Formats applied to the row.
alert (row.InCond);

As you can see, the condition list is easier to get to with a table row than it is with text. Let’s splice the second member from the list and apply it back to the table row:

#target framemaker

var doc = app.ActiveDoc;

// Get the selected row object.
var tbl = doc.SelectedTbl;
var row = tbl.TopRowSelection;

// Remove the second condition from the list and update the row.
var inCond = row.InCond;
Array.prototype.splice.call (inCond, 1, 1);
row.InCond = inCond;

As with text, we can use a shortcut to remove all conditions from the row:

#target framemaker

var doc = app.ActiveDoc;

// Get the selected row object.
var tbl = doc.SelectedTbl;
var row = tbl.TopRowSelection;

// Remove all conditions from the list and update the row.
var inCond = row.InCond;
inCond.length = 0;
row.InCond = inCond;

In the next post, we will generalize this code into functions so that you can remove conditions from all of the text and table rows in a document.