ExtendsScript – dynamic variable names function loop – Help

Posted by Ronan De lacy on January 25, 2021 at 9:37 am

Hello,

Hoping someone can point me in the right direction. I have a script that creates a shape layer with a series of horizontal lines on a single shape layer. These lines will represent a grid.

I have everything working, by manually creating each group and name but trying to shorten my code to create the same result using a loop.

Here’s what I have that works;

var addLayer = app.project.item(5).layers;
//Add Headline Grid
var addGrid = addLayer.addShape();
addGrid.label = (13);
addGrid.name = ("headline-text-grid"
var group1 = addGrid.content.addProperty("ADBE Vector Group");
group1.name = "P1";
var myShapeGroup = group1.content.addProperty("ADBE Vector Shape - Group");
var myShape = new Shape();
myShape.vertices = [
    [-compWidth / 2, -compHeight / 2],
    [compWidth / 2, -compHeight / 2]
];
myShape.closed = false;
// set the value of th path too the shape object
myShapeGroup.property("ADBE Vector Shape").setValue(myShape);
var stroke = group1.content.addProperty("ADBE Vector Graphic - Stroke"); // add a stroke
var p1 = group1.property("ADBE Vector Transform Group").property("ADBE Vector Position");
p1.expression = "[0, effect('Pos-1')('Slider')];"
var group2 = addGrid.content.addProperty("ADBE Vector Group");
group2.name = "P2";
var myShapeGroup2 = group2.content.addProperty("ADBE Vector Shape - Group");
var myShape2 = new Shape();
myShape2.vertices = [
    [-compWidth / 2, -compHeight / 2],
    [compWidth / 2, -compHeight / 2]
];
myShape2.closed = false;
// set the value of th path too the shape object
myShapeGroup2.property("ADBE Vector Shape").setValue(myShape2);
var stroke2 = group2.content.addProperty("ADBE Vector Graphic - Stroke"); // add a stroke
var p2 = group2.property("ADBE Vector Transform Group").property("ADBE Vector Position");
p2.expression = "[0, effect('Pos-2')('Slider')];"
var group3 = addGrid.content.addProperty("ADBE Vector Group");
group3.name = "P3";
var myShapeGroup3 = group3.content.addProperty("ADBE Vector Shape - Group");
var myShape3 = new Shape();
myShape3.vertices = [
    [-compWidth / 2, -compHeight / 2],
    [compWidth / 2, -compHeight / 2]
];
myShape3.closed = false;
// set the value of th path too the shape object
myShapeGroup3.property("ADBE Vector Shape").setValue(myShape3);
var stroke3 = group3.content.addProperty("ADBE Vector Graphic - Stroke"); // add a stroke
var p3 = group3.property("ADBE Vector Transform Group").property("ADBE Vector Position");
p3.expression = "[0, effect('Pos-3')('Slider')];"

And here’s my attempt of shortening the above using a loop. The intention is for the loop to repeat 7 times. Can anyone tell me where I’m going wrong?

Many thanks,

Ronan

var addLayer = app.project.item(5).layers;
//Add Headline Grid
var addGrid = addLayer.addShape();
addGrid.label = (13);
addGrid.name = ("headline-text-grid");
    function createGrid(){
    var group = [];
    var myShapeGroup = [];
    var myShape = [];
    var stroke = [];
    var p = [];
    for (i = 1; i <=7; i++){
    group[i] = addGrid.content.addProperty("ADBE Vector Group");
    group[i].name = "P"+[i];
    myShapeGroup[i] = group[i].content.addProperty("ADBE Vector Shape - Group");
    myShape[i] = new Shape();
    myShape[i].vertices = [
        [-compWidth / 2, -compHeight / 2],
        [compWidth / 2, -compHeight / 2]
    ];
    myShape[i].closed = false;
    // set the value of th path too the shape object
    myShapeGroup[i].property("ADBE Vector Shape").setValue(myShape[i]);
    stroke[i] = group[i].content.addProperty("ADBE Vector Graphic - Stroke"); // add a stroke
    p[i] = group[i].property("ADBE Vector Transform Group").property("ADBE Vector Position");
    p[i].expression = "[0, effect('Pos-"[i]"')('Slider')];"
    }
}

Ronan De lacy replied 5 years, 3 months ago 2 Members · 3 Replies

3 Replies

Filip Vandueren
January 25, 2021 at 10:02 am
You defined the function createGrid(), but you didn’t execute it.

Just add:
```
createGrid();
```
and it will run.

I haven’t checked the rest of the code to see if it would indeed run correctly.
Filip Vandueren
January 25, 2021 at 10:11 am
As for the rest of the script, you used [i] in two places where it won’t work:
```
group[i].name = "P"+[i];
```
should be
```
group[i].name = "P"+i;
```
and
```
p[i].expression = "[0, effect('Pos-"[i]"')('Slider')];"
```
I’m guessing it should be (depending on what you named your Sliders):
```
p[i].expression = "[0, effect('Pos-"+i+"')('Slider')];"
```
Finally, compWidth and compHeight aren’t defined, but they might be global variables in some part of your code that you didn’t post.
Ronan De lacy
January 25, 2021 at 10:22 am

Hi Filip,

Thank you so much – all if your suggestions worked.

And yes, compWidth and compHeight are globals within the larger script.

Cheers,

Ronan

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ExtendsScript – dynamic variable names function loop – Help