How can I get the text to which a Nested Style is applied in InDesign

Question

I am trying to write a script that will convert all characters to lowercase if a particular nested style is applied. I can't seem to figure out the correct syntax to get the text.

I originally tried the following, which worked to an extend, but lowercased the entire paragraph rather than only the text that has the character style applied:

function lowerCaseNest(myPStyle, myCStyle){

var myDocument = app.documents.item(0);
//Clear the find/change preferences.
app.findTextPreferences = NothingEnum.nothing;
app.changeTextPreferences = NothingEnum.nothing;
//Set the find options.
app.findChangeTextOptions.caseSensitive = false;
app.findChangeTextOptions.includeFootnotes = false;
app.findChangeTextOptions.includeHiddenLayers = false;
app.findChangeTextOptions.includeLockedLayersForFind = false;
app.findChangeTextOptions.includeLockedStoriesForFind = false;
app.findChangeTextOptions.includeMasterPages = false;
app.findChangeTextOptions.wholeWord = false;

app.findTextPreferences.appliedParagraphStyle = myPStyle;

var missingFind = app.activeDocument.findText();
var myDoc = app.documents[0];

for ( var listIndex = 0 ; listIndex < missingFind.length; listIndex++ ) {

            for (i = missingFind[listIndex].nestedStyles.length-1;i>=0; i--) { 

                    for (j = missingFind[listIndex].nestedStyles[i].parent.characters.length-1;j>=0; j--) {

                        if (missingFind[listIndex].nestedStyles[i].parent.characters[j].contents.appliedCharacterStyle(myCStyle)) {
                                var myString = missingFind[listIndex].nestedStyles[i].parent.characters[j].contents;                                

                                if (typeof(myString) == "string"){
                                        var myNewString = myString.toLowerCase();
                                        missingFind[listIndex].nestedStyles[i].parent.characters[j].contents = myNewString;
                                    }
                             }

                     }

    }

app.findTextPreferences = NothingEnum.nothing;
app.changeTextPreferences = NothingEnum.nothing;    

}

I then tried playing around with appliedNestedStyles, but can't seem to figure out how to retrieve the text that the nested style is applied to.

Could anyone help with this?

Thanks! John

Answer 1

Unless I am wrong the appliedNestedStyle can be looked after in the F/C dialog by targeting the applied characterStyle:

GREP
Find : .+
Format : character style => myCharStyle

then

var found = doc.findGrep();

…

Answer 2

I actually took a different tack, and figured out something that works:

function lowerCaseNest(myPStyle, myCStyle){

for (var i = 0; i < app.activeDocument.stories.length; i++){
                for (var j = 0; j < app.activeDocument.stories[i].paragraphs.length; j++){
                        var myP = app.activeDocument.stories[i].paragraphs[j];
                        if (myP.appliedParagraphStyle.name==myPStyle) {
                                for (k=0; k<myP.characters.length; k++) {                                      
                                       if(typeof(myP.characters[k].appliedNestedStyles[0]) != 'undefined'){
                                            if(myP.characters[k].appliedNestedStyles[0].name == myCStyle) {
                                                    var myC = myP.characters[k].contents;
                                                    if (typeof(myC)=='string'){
                                                        var myNewString = myC.toLowerCase();
                                                        myP.characters[k].contents = myNewString;
                                                    } 
                                            }
                                    }
                            }
                    }                   
            }     
     }
}

Still would be interested in knowing if there's an easier way to handle this, as I'm afraid this may take longer to run on long documents, since it's dealing with every paragraph individually.