PageMaker Scripting Language: functions

Dr. Vladimir Samarskiy

Adobe Systems Corporation

[Artigo original]

• Quote, Str, List
• UnQuote, Val, UnList
• Trunc
• Empty
• Not
• Exist
• ToUpper, ToLower
• SubStr
• Path
• Len
• LenLen, ListLens
• SpecialCharacter, ^
• Rand
• ASCII
• Abs
• Max,Min
• IsNumber
• Sin, Cos
• Arctan
• Exp
• Log
• Sqrt

All names of functions are not case sensitive.

Argument of the function shall not be empty i.e. f( ) causes syntax error. However expression in brakets may be evaluated as empty. For example

arg =
A=Quote(arg)
// A = "" now

Some of the functions have different names ( aliases). Consider first one as a most recommended.

For most of the functions listed here see Hans’s Scripting Book for more info and more examples. ( pp 82-92)

Quote, Str, List

These three different names mean the same function. In a nutshell, function QUOTE returns argument embraced into straight quotes. For example

Quote(53) = "53"
Quote(hahaha) = "hahaha"

If argument already contains straight quotes, every ” is replaced with \”

Quote("53") = "\"53\""
Quote(abc"d"ef) = "abc\"d\"ef"

Alternative names of the function:

Str – to be consistent with VB

List- Because it is possible to use this function to encapsulate list of tokens into one token.

Example:

List("Red","Green","Blue") = "\"Red\",\"Green\",\"Blue\""

Now you can pass this single token into subroutine or return it from subroutine.

If you are trying to pass just these 3 colors “\”Red\”,\”Green\”,\”Blue\”” is not better then “Red”,”Green”,”Blue”. However if some other information should be concatenated, and the length of the color list is not known in advance, then “\”Red\”,\”Green\”,\”Blue\”” is much better.

It is possible to parse correctly

“\”Red\”,\”Green\”,\”Blue\””,”TRUE”

but not

“Red”,”Green”,”Blue”,”TRUE”.

UnQuote, Val, UnList

These three different names mean the same function. This function removes straight quotes from the begin and end of the argument. If first or last char is not a quote error condition is set. If there is escape sequence(s) \”, then ‘\’ before the each quote is removed.

UnQuote("abc\"d\"ef")=abc"d"ef
Val("53") = 53
UnList("\"Red\",\"Green\",\"Blue\"") = "Red","Green","Blue"

Trunc

Truncates everything following the last ‘.’ in the string.

For example

Trunc(3.14) = 3
Trunc(-7.8) = -7
Trunc(first.second.third) = first.second

Warning: Do not apply function trunc to a quoted string.

For example

Trunc("a.b") = "a

This halfquoted string will cause error condition not at the script line containing function TRUNC, but when result will be used in any calculations.

Zstrip

removes trailing zeroes. Argument can be just a number or list of numbers.

Example:

Zstrip(12.300,3.4050,-10) = 12.3,3.405,-10

Empty

Returns 1 if argument is empty string and 0 otherwise

Not

Returns 1 if argument is ‘0’ and 0 otherwise.

Exist

This function takes as an argument full path and file name. ( No filenames relative to the current script directory )

Returns 1 if such a file exists, 0 otherwise

For example:

Exist("c:\autoexec.bat") = 1
Exist("c:\bogus\bogus.txt") = 0 ( unless this file really exists on some bogus computer)

In curently shipped version of the Script Engine the function EXIST does not work with long file names.

ToUpper, ToLower

Converts all lower case chars in the argument into upper case and vice versa.

SubStr

This function requires as an argument 3 parameters separated with commas. First one should be a quoted string. Second should be an integer, indicating beginning of the substring. Note that opening quote does not count and the first char after the quote is char #1. Third parameter also shall be an integer indicating the length of the substring.

Function returns substring as defined by the second and third parameters. Returned string is embraced in quotes.

Example

SubStr("123456",2,2) = "23"

Path

Argument of this function should be a quoted string.

Function Path does its best to convert Windows path to Macintosh and vice versa. Result of the function depends on the platform you are using.

For example, when scripting on Windows,

Path("Plugins:Scripts:MyScript.spt")= "Plugins\Scripts\MyScript.spt"
Path("c::temp:Scripts:MyScript.spt")= "c:\temp\Scripts\MyScript.spt"
Path(":::Plugins:Scripts:MyScript.spt")= "..\..\Plugins\Scripts\MyScript.spt"

If some computations including path and file name are due, one might consider performing them with ‘:’ instead of ‘\’ to avoid \” – confusion at the end of the quoted expression. After all computations are done, use function Path to convert he result into what Windows expects.

Len

Function returns number of tokens in a list

Example

LEN("Red","Green","Blue") = 3
LEN("\"Red\",\"Green\",\"Blue\"") = 1

LenLen, ListLens

Function returns number(s) of chars in every token. Quotes count.

Example

LenLen("Red","Green","Blue") = 5,7,6
LenLen("\"Red\",\"Green\",\"Blue\"") = 28 ( \ before " also counts )

SpecialCharacter, ^

See Hans’s book on p 97. Arguments may use both upper and lower case. Return value is always quoted. Note that ^(DblQt) = “\””.

[Editor’s note: digging the pmscript.exe file in hexadecimal viewer, I found this special characters:]

Tab   : tabulation
CR    : carriage return
NewLn : new line
NBSl  : non breaking ... (?)
NBHy  : non breaking Hyphen (?)
PgN   : page number
EmSp  : em space
EnSp  : en space
ThSp  : thin space
DisHy : discretionary hyphen
DblQt : double quote
SngQt : single quote
Blt   : bullet
EnDh  : en dash
EmDh  : em dash
NBSp  : non breaking space
eof   : not shure if it is special character

Rand

When supplied with 2 parameters returns random value equidistributed in the segment defined by parameters. If supplied with just one parameter, function considers 0 as a beginning of the segment.

There is no seed value, sequences of a random numbers are repeatable when reentering the script. See examle in the Hans’s book ( p.91) on how to introduce beter stochastic.

gettime >> ...,...,...,...,...,...,...,T,...
loop t=1,T%100
  x = rand(100)
endloop

ASCII

Returns chars by their ascii number.

Example:

ASCII(65)=A
ASCII(65,66)=AB

Do not try to obtain comma (,) by ASCII function because such a value shall cause error condition when trying to use it in computations.

It useful to know that ascii number of the straight quote is 92.

Thus expression “c:\temp\”+”test.p65″ will cause an error because \” confusion. At the same time “c:\temp”+quote(ascii(92))+”test.p65” works fine.

Abs

Removes `-‘ at the beginning of the of the parameter string.

Abs(-42) = 42
Abs(-abc) = abc

Max,Min

Accept as an argument list of numbers of any length. Returns one of them – maximal or minimal. Behaviour of the functions is not efined for the case of empty argument.

IsNumber

Returns 1 if argument of the argument is a number, 0 oherwise. If string is quoted, then it is not a number.

Examples:

IsNumber(76) = 1
IsNumber(haha) = 0
Isumber("76")=0

Sin, Cos

Trigonomeric functions. Accept argument in degrees.

Arctan

Argument should not exceed pi/2 by absolute value. Returns value in degrees

Exp

Natural exponential function; base = e = 2.7182818…. Argument should not exceed 230.

Log

Natural logarithm, base e = 2.7182818…, positive number expected as an argument.

Sqrt

Square root, non negative number expected as an argument.