Chapter 37: Using Scripts

Overview

Scripting automates many features in InDesign ‚ it's essentially a way to program InDesign to do specific actions. Because InDesign uses standard script languages, you can also run scripts that work with multiple programs in concert, including InDesign. (All the applications must support the same scripting language, of course.) For example, you might use scripts to automate database publishing, such as to run a database search, export data to a text file, import that file into InDesign, and then apply the appropriate formatting.

InDesign supports three scripting languages:

• On both Mac and Windows, it supports JavaScript.

• On the Mac only, it supports AppleScript.

• On Windows only, it supports Visual Basic for Applications (VBA).

Because of this, I recommend you use JavaScript wherever possible, so your scripts can work in cross-platform environments. InDesign doesn't force you to choose just one scripting language, so you could keep using old AppleScript or VBA scripts created for previous versions of InDesign, as well as new scripts written in JavaScript.

New Feature ‚  

JavaScript support is new to InDesign CS

As you become comfortable with scriptwriting , you're also likely to discover that virtually everything you do with InDesign is a repetitive task. The more you can free yourself of this kind of work by using scripts, the more time you have to be creative. The possibilities are endless. But before you get too excited, remember that scripting is programming, so most layout artists stay clear, using scripts only if they have a programmer available to write them.