Comments on: Swapping Color Swatches with Swatch Switcher

By: InDesignSecrets » Blog Archive » InDesignSecrets Podcast 081

InDesignSecrets » Blog Archive » InDesignSecrets Podcast 081 — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:12:45 +0000

[...] New design for InDesignSecrets.com blog * Free script extravaganza: Swatch Switcher, Label Graphics, Swap Object Positions, IndexMatic (beta) to index on character styles, Select [...]

By: Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 03:57:06 +0000

Or you can see what he looks like about 1:10 into the Transparencide video.

By: David Blatner

David Blatner — Fri, 30 May 2008 12:59:30 +0000

Regular readers of InDesign secrets who don’t know Russell will quickly become acquainted with his particularly sharp sense of humor (thus his comments about paypal and so on… just a joke! Really!).

For more on Russell’s humor, you (and everyone you know) should visit yabb-adobe-doo.com

By: Russell Viers

Russell Viers — Thu, 29 May 2008 13:55:22 +0000

Thanks for the kind words, Pat. What you don’t know is that the script also pings your PayPal account for $7.34 every time you use it…and sends it to me.
Feel free to use the script regularly and tell your friends, as well.

By: Pat

Pat — Thu, 29 May 2008 13:50:50 +0000

Just tried this script out and it works great! Thanks a lot guys. This site is great, it explains everything about InDesign and when InDesign can’t do something, you get that featured added. Awesome.

By: jerome

jerome — Thu, 29 May 2008 12:52:51 +0000

I started with AppleScript before JavaScript was supported by Adobe. It is an easier language to program in because it is closer to the spoken language and allows for greater integration the computing environment that it is working on including other programs such as e-mail, word processors, spreadsheets, databases, etc. You can also run (Unix/OS X) shell scripts and in certain programs JavaScript. I can also build a full blown user interface with Apple’s free development environment.

AppleScript’s can be attached to a folder so that they are triggered whenever a file is added, or stay open and watch a folder or series of folders for some event. You can set up rules in an e-mail program to run an AppleScript whenever you receive a message with the subject “ADD THIS.”

JavaScript does have it’s place, it is great for dual platform scripts such as this which are just working inside of ID. It makes it a nice way for a developer to add functions to ID (or PS, ILL, etc) and deploy it to as many users as possible. However, if you want to build a robust work flow then that integrates well into your system then VB Script or AppleScript is probably a better choice.

By: Klaus Nordby

Klaus Nordby — Thu, 29 May 2008 12:15:48 +0000

jerome, thanks. But I’m on Win, so Applescript isn on my menu. (I don’t really get why people bother with Applescript and the Win-only VB script, when JavaScript is dual platform?)

By: jerome

jerome — Thu, 29 May 2008 03:17:42 +0000

I assume that you are talking about hyperlinks Klaus. If you are on a Mac you should be able to use an applescript like this:

set OldDelim to AppleScript’s text item delimiters

tell application “Adobe InDesign CS3″
set theHyperlinks to every hyperlink of document 1
repeat with aHyperlink in theHyperlinks
set AppleScript’s text item delimiters to ” copy”
set newName to name of aHyperlink
try
set name of aHyperlink to text item 1 of (newName)
on error
display dialog “Could not rename hyperlink ” & (name of aHyperlink)
end try
end repeat
end tell

This is pretty simple and takes the name of the hyperlink up to the first instance of ” copy” and uses that for the name and displays an alert to the user for duplicates.

By: Klaus Nordby

Klaus Nordby — Thu, 29 May 2008 00:33:25 +0000

This “copy” stuff in the color name reminds me of a great nuisance in Bookmarks: any copying of them — to a new document! — results in the names being either “XXX copy” or “XXX copy copy” or “XXX copy copy copy”! Quite infuriating. I’ve coped with this by exporting to INX and done search-replaces in a text editor, which sometimes has worked, other times has created a dysfunctional INX when I imported it. I have also had many bad crashes pertaining to Bookmarks in ID, so it seems the Bookmarks subsystem is — a substandard system. Do any of you folks here have any tips or tricks for Bookmark woes? I’d dearly like for David, Anne-Marie or the New Guys to dig into this, and spell it all out.

By: jerome

jerome — Thu, 29 May 2008 00:02:46 +0000

This is a good example of what scripting is good for. I had a similar type of project where we create a number of covers in various color pallets. When the job comes in there are a series of color options they want to see for the first pass so that they can decide which to use.

I created a template with labeled text text boxes and rectangles that make up the base of the cover. Then a script is run, the user enters in the name of the book and the location of the templates and chooses some colors from a predetermined color pallet.

The script creates a new document for each of the versions of the books (teachers and students as well as title pages for each) then, sets the new text in the appropriate text boxes (front cover, spine, and back cover) with the appropriate styles applied makes a series of pages with the various color options for each cover and saves the document.

When it comes back from the client and they want to see another color option it swaps out the appropriate color in the open document all in a matter of seconds. When a final color is chosen then its just a matter of deleting the unwanted pages and its done.

If you are not into scripting a manual way to do this would be to set up the template with a series of “Delete me” colors, then delete and replace with the desired colors, it takes a bit more time than a script and there is a bit more chance for error but it is a lot faster than doing it manually and takes just a bit more time upfront in building the template.