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JavaScript Variable Manipulation Examples

This page contains JavaScript snippets for working with variables in Publisher.

Get all properties of a variable

const variableNameOrID = "myVar";
await publisher.getObject(`document.variables[${variableNameOrID}]`);

const variableNameOrID = "myVar";
editorObject.GetObject(`document.variables[${variableNameOrID}]`);

Set the value of a variable

This will work to set the value of most variables in Publisher. Variables such as the list variable or button bar don't have a "single" value so this does not apply to them. Please see their speicfic page for more informaiton.

const variableNameOrID = "myVar";
await publisher.setProperty(`document.variables[${variableNameOrID}]`, "value", "New Value");

const variableNameOrID = "myVar";
editorObject.SetProperty(`document.variables[${variableNameOrID}]`, "value", "New Value");

Create a new variable

This function will create a new variable within the document and return the ID of the variable. Please see the list below for the available type parameter options.

/**
@param name - The name for the new variable
@param type - The dataType for the variable
**/
async function createVariable(name, type) {
  const newVarID = (await publisher.executeFunction("document.variables", "Add")).id;
  await publisher.setProperty(`document.variables[${newVarID}]`, "name", name);
  await publisher.setProperty(`document.variables[${newVarID}]`, "dataType", type);
  return newVarID;
}

/**
@param name - The name for the new variable
@param type - The dataType for the variable
**/
function createVariable(name, type) {
  const newVarID = editorObject.ExecuteFunction("document.variables", "Add").id;
  editorObject.SetProperty(`document.variables[${newVarID}]`, "name", name);
  editorObject.SetProperty(`document.variables[${newVarID}]`, "dataType", type);
  return newVarID;
}

Variable Types

Variable Type Name dataType
Short Text "string"
Long Text "longtext"
Formatted Text "formattedtext"
Structured Text "structuredtext"
Calculated Field "calculated"
Image "image"
Number "number"
Checkbox "checkbox"
Date "date"
List "list"
Table "table"
Color "color"
Paragraph Style "paragraphstyle"
Character Style "characterstyle"
Font "font"
Coordinate "coordinate"
Divider "divider"
Button Bar "buttonbar"

Get all variables in document

async function getVariables() {
  const varCount = (await publisher.getObject("document.variables.length")) - 1;
  let variables = [];
  for (let i = 0; i < varCount; i++) {
    /* Modify varData to extract whatever property you need*/
    const varData = await publisher.getObject(`document.variables[${i}]`)
    variables.push(varData);
  }
  return variables;
}

function getVariables() {
  const varCount = editorObject.GetObject("document.variables.length") - 1;
  let variables = [];
  for (let i = 0; i < varCount; i++) {
    /* Modify varData to extract whatever property you need*/
    const varData = editorObject.GetObject(`document.variables[${i}]`)
    variables.push(varData);
  }
  return variables;
}

Force variables in a frame to re-render

const frameTagOrID = "myFrame";
await publisher.setProperty(`document.allFrames[${frameTagOrID}]`, "variablesUpdatedOnce", false);

const frameTagOrID = "myFrame";
editorObject.SetProperty(`document.allFrames[${frameTagOrID}]`, "variablesUpdatedOnce", false);

Save document if all variables have values

async function validateAndSave() {
  let valid = true;
  const varCount = (await publisher.getObject('document.variables.count'))-1;

  for (let i = varCount; i >= 0; i--) {
    const variable = await publisher.getObject(`document.variables[${i}]`);
    if (variable.value == "")
      valid = false;
  }

  if (valid) {
    await publisher.executeFunction("document", "Save");
  } else {
    await publisher.alert("Please make sure that all require variables have a value.", "Save Failed");
  }
}

function validateAndSave() {
  let valid = true;
  const varCount = editorObject.GetObject('document.variables.count')-1;

  for (let i = varCount; i >= 0; i--) {
    const variable = editorObject.GetObject(`document.variables[${i}]`);
    if (variable.value == "")
      valid = false;
  }

  if (valid) {
    editorObject.ExecuteFunction("document", "Save");
  } else {
    editorObject.Alert("Please make sure that all require variables have a value.", "Save Failed");
  }
}