An applescript that creates a custom menu in the top bar in InDesign using scripts found in a folder you specify.
Using a menu sanitises the use of scripts a bit, making them appear indistinguishable from proper InDesign commands for less-techy users.
I use it to distribute the scripts I write for work to the other team members under a menu with our company name as the title, which seems to impress those who are easily impressed (ie. the boss).
This is a rewrite from the more-custom version I use, so it’s had a bit less testing. Post if you have issues with it.
This file structure in the script folder:
Will create this menu:
Installation instructions in the comments at the start of the script.
(*
version 1.0
fatboy
If you save this in a file called "01_Macscripter_menu.scpt"
and place it in the startup scripts folder for InDesign:
"/Applications/Adobe InDesign CS5/Scripts/startup scripts"
it will generate a menu in InDesign called "Macscripter".
It will search a folder specified in the property scriptFolderPath and add the
scripts in that folder to a menu in InDesign.
Change the filename to change the menu name, but follow
the above name pattern.
The names of the menu items in InDesign are dictated by the file names
of the scripts in Finder.
Any filetype suffixes are removed from the names (.scpt, .scptd, .jsx etc.) by
knocking off the final dot and anything after.
The names can have prefixes of digits followed by an underscore
to dictate the order they appear in InDesign. eg
01_My Script Name.scpt
02_Another Script Name.scpt
Add dividers by having any file with a name like this one:
03_div
Sub folders are searched recursively, adding submenus with the
name of the folder. eg
a folder named:
04_Sub Menu
will make a submenu named "Sub Menu", whose contents will be the
contents of the folder in Finder.
*)
-- Change the value of this property to the path to your scripts folder.
property scriptFolderPath : alias POSIX file "/Users/fatboy/Desktop/Scripts Temp"
set oldDelims to AppleScript's text item delimiters
-- Generate the menu name from the filename of this file
tell application "Finder"
set myPath to path to me as string
set menuName to name of (alias myPath)
end tell
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to "_menu."
set menuName to text item 1 of menuName
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to "_"
set menuName to text item 2 of menuName
tell application "Adobe InDesign CS5"
try
-- delete the menu if it already exists so it can start afresh
tell submenu menuName of menu "$ID/Main" to delete
end try
end tell
tell application "Finder"
set scriptDetails to my makeScriptDetails()
end tell
repeat with oneItem in scriptDetails
tell application "Adobe InDesign CS5"
my addMenu(menu "$ID/Main", menuName, oneItem)
end tell
end repeat
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to oldDelims
-- Subroutines
on makeScriptDetails()
tell application "Finder"
set temp to items of scriptFolderPath
set theResult to {}
repeat with i from 1 to (count temp)
-- Loop through the items found in scriptFolderPath, creating
-- records with the details of each item
set end of theResult to my getFinderItemDetails(item i of temp)
end repeat
return theResult
end tell
end makeScriptDetails
on getFinderItemDetails(theItem)
-- Create records for the found items
tell application "Finder"
set oldDelims to AppleScript's text item delimiters
set theName to name of theItem
try
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to "_"
set theName to text items 2 thru -1 of theName as string
end try
try
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to "."
set theName to text items 1 thru -2 of theName
end try
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
set theName to theName as string
set theRecord to {subContents:{} ¬
, itemName:missing value ¬
, itemType:missing value ¬
, itemPath:missing value}
set itemName of theRecord to theName
set itemPath of theRecord to theItem as string
if class of theItem is folder then
set itemType of theRecord to "sub_menu"
set temp to (items of theItem)
repeat with oneContents in temp
oneContents
set end of subContents of theRecord to my getFinderItemDetails(oneContents)
end repeat
else if itemName of theRecord is "div" then
set itemType of theRecord to "divider"
else
set itemType of theRecord to "script"
end if
theRecord
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to oldDelims
return theRecord
end tell
end getFinderItemDetails
on addMenu(parentMenu, menuName, menuItem)
set oldDelims to AppleScript's text item delimiters
tell application "Adobe InDesign CS5"
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
tell parentMenu
if not (exists submenu menuName) then
set currentMenu to (make submenu with properties {title:menuName})
else
set currentMenu to (submenu menuName)
end if
tell currentMenu
if itemType of menuItem is "divider" then
make menu separator
else if itemType of menuItem is "sub_menu" then
repeat with i from 1 to (count subContents of menuItem)
my addMenu(currentMenu, itemName of menuItem, item i of subContents of menuItem)
end repeat
else if itemType of menuItem is "script" then
make menu item with properties {associated menu action:my MakeMenuAction(itemName of menuItem, itemPath of menuItem)}
end if
end tell
end tell
end tell
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to oldDelims
end addMenu
on MakeMenuAction(theTitle, theScriptPath)
tell application "Adobe InDesign CS5"
try
set menuAction to script menu action theTitle
on error
set menuAction to make script menu action with properties {title:theTitle}
end try
tell menuAction
--If the script menu action already existed,
--remove the existing event listeners.
if (count every event listener) > 0 then
tell every event listener to delete
end if
set myEventListener to make event listener with properties {event type:"onInvoke", handler:theScriptPath}
end tell
end tell
menuAction
return menuAction
end MakeMenuAction