I am new to Applescript so thanks a bunch for your patience! I am trying to load a JPG into the place gun with Applescript for Adobe InDesign. The purpose would be to learn the rudimentary action for use in more complex scripts.
The InDesign Applescript dictionary shows load place gun as a command that allows any file input (see image at bottom), but when I run the following script it throws this error,"Adobe InDesign 2024 got an error: "/Users/michael/Desktop/BCC_portfolio.jpg" doesn’t understand the “load place gun” message."
on run
set filePath to "/Users/michael/Desktop/BCC_portfolio.jpg"
tell application id "com.adobe.indesign"
activate
load place gun filePath
end tell
end run
I came across one semi-related forum that listed the following as a way to place items using the choose file command (which works on my system), but when I change the choose file command to a simple path, it throws the same error from before.
set loadFiles to "/Users/michael/Desktop/BCC_portfolio.jpg"
tell application id "com.adobe.indesign"
activate
tell active document
if loaded of place gun 1 is false then
tell place gun 1
repeat with loadFile in loadFiles
load place gun loadFile without showing options
end repeat
end tell
end if
end tell
end tell
This leads me to believe there's something I'm doing wrong in the handling of the file path, but other commands in inDesign/Photoshop seem to work fine with the normal POSIX path.
I haven't found any pertinent info online, in the inDesign SDK, or Applescript Dictionary, but if if someone could point me to the correct resources, or knows the solution, it would be greatly appreciated!
In order for the steps in your script to work, the variable loadFiles must be a list and that list must contain a file object.
The following uses {} to ensure that loadFiles is a list and POSIX file to convert the POSIX path into the HSF path needed for the file object.
set loadFiles to {POSIX file "/Users/michael/Desktop/BCC_portfolio.jpg"}
tell application id "com.adobe.indesign"
activate
tell active document
if loaded of place gun 1 is false then
tell place gun 1
repeat with loadFile in loadFiles
load place gun loadFile without showing options
end repeat
end tell
end if
end tell
end tell