A fault introduced in CC2019: can't update or relink a link when a document is opened by a script.

Steps to reproduce:

1. To verify that with an existing open document the problem does not occur:
   a. Start a new InDesign document
   b. Place a graphic on the first page
   c. Run this script:

app.documents[0].links[0].update();

No error occurs.

1. To reproduce the error:
   a. Save the document created in step 1 and close it.
   b. Run this script:

s = '/d/test/links.indd'; // Use your string
app.open (File(s));
app.documents[0].links[0].update();

Expected result: The links should be updated.
Actual result: "Error: This file is already open by another user or another application. This file may be stored on a network server and cannot be opened until the other user closes it."

Note 1: It doesn't matter that in this example the link doesn't actually need updating. The result is the same with out-of-date links.

Note 2: The problem is not confined to update(): it also occurs when you relink a link.

I'll attach a self-contained script which first creates in order to demonstrate problems with textStyleRange.convertToNote(). The script creates a small document containing "b"s. These are marked with a smaller pointSize so that they form individual textStyleRanges. The script then converts these textStyleRanges into notes. Unfortunately, the script terminates with a message: "Object is invalid; tsr.convertToNote()". This message happens because the scripting engine has become confused and is trying to convert a "b" within a note into another note. This shouldn't happen and is the first problem.

Open the story window. The beginning of the story has a clear pattern of notes between sentences. This should continue to the end of the document, but looking further down, two more problems can be seen:

(1) Overflow.jpg shows that the text at the frame's overflow boundary has become confused. It should say "The quick green fox ...", but instead it says something like "The The The quick The ...".

(2) Nearer to the end of the story, Confusion.jpg shows that larger phrases are converted into notes even though only "b" should be converted.

I can't attach a script, so here it is:

// Run this script in InDesign CC 2019, Roman Region.
//THIS IS THE PROBLEM PART THE REST IS JUST TO SET IT UP.

// Convert all "b" characters into notes
function hideNotes(story){

 // Find all the "b"s

 app.findTextPreferences = null;

 var findPrefs = app.findTextPreferences;

 findPrefs.findWhat = "b";

 var matchingItems = story.findText()


 // It shouldn't be necessary to copy the findText() results, but just in case ...

 var copy = []

 for (var i = 0; i < matchingItems.length; i++) { 

     copy[i] = (matchingItems[i])

 }

 // Loop through the "b"s and convert them to notes

 for (var i = 0; i < copy.length; i++) { 

     var tsr = copy[i].textStyleRanges.firstItem();

     tsr.convertToNote();

  }

}

// This is just setting up a document with reasonable defaults
function setup(){

// Set up application

var millimeterMeasurementUnits = 2053991795; // This means millimeters

app.viewPreferences.verticalMeasurementUnits = millimeterMeasurementUnits ;

app.viewPreferences.horizontalMeasurementUnits = millimeterMeasurementUnits ;


// Set up new document

var doc = app.documents.add();

doc.zeroPoint = [0, 0];

doc.viewPreferences.rulerOrigin = 1380143215 // This means PageOrigin;

doc.documentPreferences.pageWidth = 210

doc.documentPreferences.pageHeight= 297

doc.marginPreferences.left  = 20

doc.marginPreferences.right  = 20

doc.marginPreferences.top  = 20

doc.marginPreferences.bottom  = 20

// Set up new page

var page = doc.pages.firstItem();

page.marginPreferences.left  = 20

page.marginPreferences.right  = 20

page.marginPreferences.top  = 20

page.marginPreferences.bottom  = 20

// Set up new frame

var textFrame = doc.textFrames.add();

textFrame.geometricBounds = [20, 20, 277, 190];

// Add frame text

for(var i = 0; i < 250; i++){

    var insertionPoint = textFrame.insertionPoints.lastItem()

    insertionPoint.pointSize = 12

    insertionPoint.contents = "The quick green fox jumped over the lazy dog. "

    insertionPoint = textFrame.insertionPoints.lastItem()

    // This point size will set the "b" into its own textStyleRange

    insertionPoint.pointSize = 7

    insertionPoint.contents = "b"

}

}

//Entry Point
setup();
var stories = app.activeDocument.stories;
for (var i = 0; i < stories.length; i++) {

hideNotes(stories[i]);

}

Using at the top of the InDesign tell block:
set user interaction level of script preferences to never interact

The way I understand user interaction levels, when set to 'never interact', it should suppress all dialog boxes from popping up.

When AppleScript performs 'merge records', and the merged record contains missing fonts, ONLY SOMETIMES a missing fonts dialog box pops up and breaks the script. One can close this dialog, run the script again, and the dialog doesn't appear. This unpredictability is why I'm logging it as a bug.

Looking at the JavaScript DOM, the userInteractionLevel is a setting at the Application level, not the document.
app.scriptPreferences.userInteractionLevel = UserInteractionLevels.NEVER_INTERACT;

I posted a more detailed explanation on the Adobe Forums here:
https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2581338

Good morning. There is a sample script in InDesign that I LOVE! It makes contact sheets much quicker (and using far less memory) than Photoshop or Bridge. If you have a hundred images and want to make a contact page, this script is the way to go. Much more efficient. The Script is the ImageCatalog under JavaScript samples in the Scripts window. This has always been available, and always worked very well until the last couple of updates. Now when I run it, it just sits there. If I try saving the images again (save a copy) or saving them as a different format (jpeg vs tiff or tiff vs jpeg), sometimes it works. Again - I LOVE this script, and wish you would just make it a regular feature. Is there something I should be doing with my images before I run the script?

These are sample scripts that ship with InDesign. They show up under Windows / Utilities / Scripts / Samples / JavaScript / ImageCatalog.jsx. There is no vendor to contact other than Adobe for this one. There is another version of this under Windows / Utilities / Scripts / Samples / AppleScript / ImageCatalog.jsx, but I've never been able to get the AppleScript version to work.

Hi,
if I set value for snippetImportUsesOriginalLocation of documentPreferences to true, InDesign will place a snippet file with spread.place( snippetFile ) always at the current zero point [0,0].

Wheras I set the value to false the snippet will be placed at its original position.

It should be exactly the other way.

Currently value false will use the original position and value true will chose the current zero point as defined with app.documents[0].zeroPoint .

Tested with German InDesign versions:
CS6 8.1.0
CC 2014 10.2.
2020 v. 15.0.1.209
All on WIndows 10.

In the discussion linked to below Gerald Singelmann can see this also on a Mac OSX-version of InDesign:

https://www.hilfdirselbst.ch/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=573538#573538

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( ACP )

Instructions:

1. Load Script4.txt into ExtendScript CC


2. Open ID CC 2019


3. Connect ExtendScript CC to ID CC 2019


4. Run the script


5. Observe that line 8 gives an "Object is invalid" error. That's because the nextItem() on line 6 didn't work.

To see this more clearly:

1. Load Script4.txt into ExtendScript CC


2. Open ID CC 2019


3. Connect ExtendScript CC to ID CC 2019


4. Comment line 6 and uncomment line 7.


5. Run the script


6. The script runs fine. It prints out "2", the name of the second page.

In other words, nextItem() is broken. The work around (in this case) is to use an index of "Page_263.index+1". I think, in other situations, the work around will require a loop.

Instructions:

1. Load Script.txt into ExtendScript CC


2. Open ID CC 2019


3. Connect ExtendScript CC to ID CC 2019


4. Run the script


5. Observe that the script gives an error on line 6 (Invalid object for this request.) This is because TextFrame281 and TextFrame284 are the same object. They should be different objects.

To see this more clearly:

1. Load script.txt into ExtendScript CC


2. Open ID CC 2019


3. Connect ExtendScript CC to ID CC 2019


4. Uncomment line 4 (var temp = TextFrame_281.id)


5. Run the script


6. The script runs fine. If you look in the document that has been created, the two text frames are in the upper right corner and they are linked to each other.

In other words, the value of TextFrame_281 changes, depending on whether it is accessed. My only guess is that this is some kind of lazy evaluation gone wrong.