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Error in expression for reading a file
Hello,
I have the following expression:
var myPath = "~/Desktop/source.txt";
$.evalFile(myPath);
try {
eval(thisComp.name + thisLayer.name);
} catch (err) {
"Missing";
}And I keep getting an error message:
Error at line 1 in property 'Source Text' of layer 1 ('TitleLayer') in comp 'Comp1'. Syntax error.Every place I look, I see this expression (or a very similar one) to read text from a file, but this doesn’t seem to work.
Now, I have After Effects CC. Is there something that I need to do differently in this version, or did I not enable some option?
Thanks for any help you can provide about this.
Just so you can see what’s in my source.txt, here it is:
var Comp1TitleLayer = "Some Text";
var Comp1SubTitleLayer = "Some More Text";(this is just for getting it right so far)
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10 Replies
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Setting it up the way you have described here, I get “Some Text”. I’m not sure why your results would be different.
Dan
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Is there some kind of setup that I need to do? I am using OS X Mavericks, perhaps there is something in the Javascript engine that may be the cause?
Thanks.
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Is “~/Desktop” a valid path on a Mac? I ran my test on Win 7.
Dan
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Yes it is. It’s a path variable ~ is equal to /Users/[Username]/. If I enter it into safari, it opens up the file giving the following name: file:///Users/anubisascends/desktop/source.txt. If I use this instead of the ~/Desktop/Source.txt I still get the same result.
This is really weird, as no one seems to have this problem. I will have to try it out on my Windows computer to see what it might be.
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I’m not sure but if you put:
file:///Users/anubisascends/desktop/source.txt.
using 3 ” /// ” after file: that could be a problemThe idea of using the entire pathname is a good one.
Cheers.
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It’s not actually using 3 forward slashes. It’s broken down like this:
file://
/Users/…..On a mac, ‘/’ denotes the root drive (just like all unix/linux os’). I tried it on my Windows computer and I don’t get a syntax error, rather I get a file not found error. Here is the path that I used:
C:\User\andrew.riebe\Desktop\source.txt
This is a really annoying thing that should simply work (as I can see it working properly in all the tutorials).
Thanks for the help.
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I’d say try multiple combinations of file paths. Depending on which directory the AE project is in maybe just use a /source.txt.
Just make sure an put the text file in the after effects project file.
Just some thoughts.
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@Andrew Riebe,
Did you ever figure this problem out working on Adobe CC and Mavericks with regards to $.evalFile(myPath) ?
I’m in the same predicament right now and pulling out what little hair I have left….
Everything I do returns either a file does not exist or syntax error.Playing with path names fixes “file does not exist” but then I get a syntax error on line 1 – with or without the “var”:
var myPath = “~/Desktop/source.txt”;
$.evalFile (myPath);
try {
eval (thisComp.name) [0];
}catch (err){
“Missing”;
}If you found a fix, please share.
Thanks!
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I don’t work much with AE lately so sorry I cannot be of much help.
I’d just check and re-check my code …..maybe run simpler versions if possible.
Sorry….good luck to ya.
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Thanks for the response. FINALLY figured it out.
You’r right – simplify what you’re doing to confirm paths are working, and then check, re-check, and re-re-check code….
For anyone working on a Mac, it really behooves you to write the .txt file in a code-friendly text program like TextWrangler. (in a large font …he he)
Thanks!
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