understanding dialog box in Adobe Indesign

Question

I'm trying basic scripting exercices with indesign. I created a script doing basic functions like inserting a textframe, a table, a smiley etc.. It's working

Now I want to create a dialog box to launch each function individually.

But I don't understand why my insertTextFrame function works when launch from main() but doesn't work when launch from the dialog box.

Here is my code :

function insertTextFrame(doc) {
  alert("function Insert Text Frame is ON.");
  var textFrame = doc.pages[0].textFrames.add();
  alert("textFrame added.");
  textFrame.geometricBounds = [0, 0, 100, 100];
  textFrame.contents = "Hello World";
  textFrame.contents += "\r\r";
  textFrame.contents += "#waza";
}

function insertTable(doc) {
  var numRows = 3;
  var numColumns = 4;
  var cellWidth = 50;
  var cellHeight = 20;

  var tableFrame = doc.pages[0].textFrames.add();
  tableFrame.geometricBounds = [50, 50, 50 + numRows * cellHeight, 50 + numColumns * cellWidth];

  var table = tableFrame.insertionPoints[0].tables.add({
    numRows: numRows,
    numColumns: numColumns
  });

  for (var row = 0; row < numRows; row++) {
    for (var col = 0; col < numColumns; col++) {
      var cell = table.rows[row].cells[col];
      cell.contents = "Ligne " + (row + 1) + ", Colonne " + (col + 1);
    }
  }
}

function insertSmiley(doc) {
  var docWidth = doc.documentPreferences.pageWidth;
  var docHeight = doc.documentPreferences.pageHeight;

  var head = doc.ovals.add({
    geometricBounds: [docHeight / 2 - 50, docWidth / 2 - 50, docHeight / 2 + 50, docWidth / 2 + 50],
    fillColor: "Yellow",
    strokeColor: "Black",
    strokeWeight: 1
  });

  var leftEye = doc.ovals.add({
    geometricBounds: [docHeight / 2 - 20, docWidth / 2 - 20, docHeight / 2 + 20, docWidth / 2],
    fillColor: "Black",
    strokeColor: "Black",
    strokeWeight: 1
  });

  var rightEye = doc.ovals.add({
    geometricBounds: [docHeight / 2 - 20, docWidth / 2, docHeight / 2 + 20, docWidth / 2 + 20],
    fillColor: "Black",
    strokeColor: "Black",
    strokeWeight: 1
  });

  var mouth = doc.graphicLines.add();
  mouth.paths[0].entirePath = [
    [docWidth / 2 - 20, docHeight / 2 + 40],
    [docWidth / 2, docHeight / 2 + 50],
    [docWidth / 2 + 20, docHeight / 2 + 40]
  ];
  mouth.strokeColor = "Black";
  mouth.strokeWeight = 1;

  var smileyGroup = doc.groups.add([head, leftEye, rightEye, mouth]);
  smileyGroup.name = "Smiley";
}

function findAndReplace(doc, findText, replaceText) {
  // Loop through all stories in the document
  for (var i = 0; i < doc.stories.length; i++) {
    var story = doc.stories[i];
    
    // Check if the story contains the text to find
    if (story.contents.indexOf(findText) !== -1) {
      // Create a find/change object
      var findChangeObject = app.findTextPreferences;
      findChangeObject.findWhat = findText;
      
      // Create a change object
      var changeObject = app.changeTextPreferences;
      changeObject.changeTo = replaceText;
      
      // Search and replace text in the story
      story.changeText();
      alert("Text replaced successfully.");
    }
  }
}

function exportToPdf(doc) {
  var pdfPath = "~/Desktop/HelloWorld.pdf";
  var pdfFile = new File(pdfPath);
  doc.exportFile(ExportFormat.pdfType, pdfFile);
}


function dialogBox(doc) {
  // Create a dialog box
  var dialog = new Window("dialog", "Script Menu");

  // Create buttons for various actions
  var btnExit = dialog.add("button", undefined, "Exit");
  var btnInsertTextFrame = dialog.add("button", undefined, "Insert Text Frame");
  var btnInsertTable = dialog.add("button", undefined, "Insert Table");
  var btnInsertSmiley = dialog.add("button", undefined, "Insert Smiley");
  var btnFindAndReplace = dialog.add("button", undefined, "Find and Replace");
  var btnExportToPdf = dialog.add("button", undefined, "Export to PDF");

  // Function to handle button clicks
  function buttonClickHandler(buttonName) {
    if (buttonName === "Exit") {
      dialog.close();
    } else if (buttonName === "Insert Text Frame") {
      insertTextFrame(doc);
      dialog.close();
    } else if (buttonName === "Insert Table") {
      insertTable(app.activeDocument);
    } else if (buttonName === "Insert Smiley") {
      insertSmiley(app.activeDocument);
    } else if (buttonName === "Find and Replace") {
      var findText = "#waza";
      var replaceText = "Hello World";
      findAndReplace(app.activeDocument, findText, replaceText);
    } else if (buttonName === "Export to PDF") {
      exportToPdf(app.activeDocument);
    }
  }

  // Add event listeners for button clicks
  btnExit.onClick = function () {
    buttonClickHandler("Exit");
  };

  btnInsertTextFrame.onClick = function () {
    buttonClickHandler("Insert Text Frame");
  };

  btnInsertTable.onClick = function () {
    buttonClickHandler("Insert Table");
  };

  btnInsertSmiley.onClick = function () {
    buttonClickHandler("Insert Smiley");
  };

  btnFindAndReplace.onClick = function () {
    buttonClickHandler("Find and Replace");
  };

  btnExportToPdf.onClick = function () {
    buttonClickHandler("Export to PDF");
  };

  // Show the dialog box
  dialog.show();
}



function main() {
  // Check if InDesign is open
  if (app.documents.length > 0) {
    var doc = app.activeDocument;

    // Show the dialog box
    dialogBox(doc);


    // Insert a text frame
    insertTextFrame(doc);

    // Insert a table
    insertTable(doc);

    // Insert a smiley
    insertSmiley(doc);

    // Find and replace text
    var findText = "#waza";
    var replaceText = "Hello World";
    findAndReplace(doc, findText, replaceText);

    // Export to PDF
    //exportToPdf(doc);


    alert("Operations completed successfully.");
  } else {
    alert("No open document. Please open a document first.");
  }
}

// Appel de la fonction principale
main();

Answer 1

There are two types of interactive windows:

• dialog (can change a document only after you close the dialog window)
• palette (can change a document any time)

They are very different beasts with different logic of work.

As far as I can tell from your code you mean to make a palette. To accomplice this you have to make these changes:

1. Add at the start of the code the two magic spells:

//@target "indesign"
//@targetengine "session"

2. Replace the line:

var dialog = new Window("dialog", "Script Menu");

with:

var dialog = new Window("palette", "Script Menu");

3. Replace the main function with this:

function main() {
    // Check if InDesign is open
    if (app.documents.length > 0) {
        var doc = app.activeDocument;
        
        // Show the dialog box
        dialogBox(doc);
    } else {
        alert("No open document. Please open a document first.");
    }
}

After that it should work as intended.