Question

Update Solution Found See Bottom of post if interested Seems simple enough and for the majority of the list it works, but at some point it messes up royally. The data for the list is coming from an asset in InDesign, but that is my end result and can be substituted for the sake of testing for a list defined within AS.

tell application "Adobe InDesign CS5.5"
 set myagents to (name of properties of every asset of library "Agents.indl" as list)
end tell

set agentlist to ""
repeat with currentagent in myagents
 set agentlist to agentlist & currentagent & ","
end repeat

set x to count agentlist
set agentlist to characters 1 thru (x - 1) of agentlist as string
my write_agents(agentlist)


on write_agents(this_list)
set the agent_log to ("/Volumes/Agents/agents.txt" as POSIX file)
try
    set eof of agent_log to 0
    open for access file the agent_log with write permission
    write (this_list) to file the agent_log starting at eof

    --set read_data to (read the_file as list) as text
    close access file the agent_log
on error
    try
        close access file the agent_log
    end try
end try
end write_agents

Instead of the Indesign tell at the top for testing we can use, the result is the same

set myagents to {"Lois Chase Johnson", "Tammy Newton", "Team Schmidt", "Tanya Kerr", "Terry Peterson", "Brenda Clark", "Deb Kahle", "Carol Dana", "Sheryl Burley & Cathy Reed", "Linda Ulin", "Dianna Erickson", "Dave Sharman", "Lori Tracey & Chuck Murphy", "Carolyn & Robert Dodds", "Jean Ryker", "Bryan Diehl", "Lois Scheck", "Nancy Rathke", "Patrick French", "Laura Halady", "Jennifer Felton", "Clarice Arakawa", "Holly Coburn", "Quint Boe", "Michaelle Barnard", "Paul Beck", "Kelly Johnson", "Doc Reiss", "Helga Filler", "Harriet Reyenga", "Thelma Durham", "Brooke Nelson", "Dick Pilling", "David Ramey", "Rebecca Jackson", "Tim Riley", "Pili Meyer", "Marc Thomsen", "Kathy Brown", "Jean Irvine", "Kathy Love", "Kimi Robertson", "Ed Sumpter", "Jo Cummins", "Kim Bower", "Mike Fuller", "Cathy Reed", "Joyce Underwood", "Daphne Eshom", "Kathy Brown", "Dave Ramey", "Mark DeRousie", "Tom Blore", "Paul Beck", "Kelly Johnson", "Alan Burwell", "Sheryl Burley", "Vivian Landvik", "Mark HcHugh", "Jim Newton", "Chuck Turner"}

What is in the text file?

    Lois Chase Johnson,Tammy Newton,Team Schmidt,Tanya Kerr,Terry Peterson,Brenda Clark,Deb Kahle,Carol Dana,Sheryl Burley & Cathy Reed,Linda Ulin,Dianna Erickson,Dave Sharman,Lori Tracey & Chuck Murphy,Carolyn & Robert Dodds,Jean Ryker,Bryan Diehl,Lois Scheck,Nancy Rathke,Patrick French,Laura Halady,Jennifer Felton,Clarice Arakawa,Holly Coburn,Quint Boe,Michaelle Barnard,Paul Beck,Kelly Johnson,Doc Reiss,Helga Filler,Harriet Reyenga,Thelma Durham,Brooke Nelson,Dick Pilling,David Ramey,Rebecca Jackson,Tim Riley,Pili Meyer,Marc Thomsen,Kathy Brown,Jean Irvine,Kathy Love,Kimi Robertson,Ed Sumpter,Jo Cummins,Kim Bower,Mike Fuller,Cathy Reed,Joyce Underwood,Daphne Eshom,Kathy Brown,Dave Ramey,Mark DeRousie,Tom Blore,Paul Beck,Kelly Johnson,Alan Burwell,Sheryl Burley,Vivian Landvik,Mark HcHugh,Jim Newton,Chuck Turner �C�o�b�u�r�nutxt����Q�u�i�n�t� �B�o�eutxt���"�M�i�c�h�a�e�l�l�e� �B�a�r�n�a�r�dutxt����P�a�u�l� �B�e�c�kutxt����K�e�l�l�y� �J�o�h�n�s�o�nutxt����D�o�c� �R�e�i�s�sutxt����H�e�l�g�a� �F�i�l�l�e�rutxt����H�a�r�r�i�e�t� �R�e�y�e�n�g�autxt����T�h�e�l�m�a� �D�u�r�h�a�mutxt����B�r�o�o�k�e� �N�e�l�s�o�nutxt����D�i�c�k� �P�i�l�l�i�n�gutxt����D�a�v�i�d� �R�a�m�e�yutxt����R�e�b�e�c�c�a� �J�a�c�k�s�o�nutxt����T�i�m� �R�i�l�e�yutxt����P�i�l�i� �M�e�y�e�rutxt����M�a�r�c� �T�h�o�m�s�e�nutxt����K�a�t�h�y� �B�r�o�w�nutxt����J�e�a�n� �I�r�v�i�n�eutxt����K�a�t�h�y� �L�o�v�eutxt����K�i�m�i� �R�o�b�e�r�t�s�o�nutxt����E�d� �S�u�m�p�t�e�rutxt����J�o� �C�u�m�m�i�n�sutxt����K�i�m� �B�o�w�e�rutxt����M�i�k�e� �F�u�l�l�e�rutxt����C�a�t�h�y� �R�e�e�dutxt����J�o�y�c�e� �U�n�d�e�r�w�o�o�dutxt����D�a�p�h�n�e� �E�s�h�o�mutxt����K�a�t�h�y� �B�r�o�w�nutxt����D�a�v�e� �R�a�m�e�yutxt����M�a�r�k� �D�e�R�o�u�s�i�eutxt����T�o�m� �B�l�o�r�eutxt����P�a�u�l� �B�e�c�kutxt����K�e�l�l�y� �J�o�h�n�s�o�nutxt����A�l�a�n� �B�u�r�w�e�l�lutxt����S�h�e�r�y�l� �B�u�r�l�e�yutxt����V�i�v�i�a�n� �L�a�n�d�v�i�kutxt����M�a�r�k� �H�c�H�u�g�hutxt����J�i�m� �N�e�w�t�o�nutxt����C�h�u�c�k� �T�u�r�n�e�rutxt����

So it goes well for a while but at the end there are no commas but instead gobblygook which is unusable. Where have I gone wrong?

Answer 1

Not sure what exactly I changed, but it now works…..

tell application "Adobe InDesign CS5.5"
set myagents to (name of properties of every asset of library "Agents.indl" as list)
end tell

set agentlist to ""
set myagents to my simple_sort(myagents)
repeat with currentagent in myagents
set agentlist to agentlist & (currentagent) & ","
end repeat
set x to count agentlist
set agentlist to characters 1 thru (x - 1) of agentlist as string
my write_agents(agentlist)


on write_agents(this_list)
    set the agent_log to ("/Volumes/RealEstate/agents.txt" as POSIX file)
    try
        set eof of agent_log to 0
        open for access file the agent_log with write permission
    write (this_list) to file the agent_log starting at eof
    close access file the agent_log
on error
    try
        close access file the agent_log
    end try
end try
end write_agents


on simple_sort(my_list)
    set the index_list to {}
set the sorted_list to {}
repeat (the number of items in my_list) times
    set the low_item to ""
    repeat with i from 1 to (number of items in my_list)
        if i is not in the index_list then
            set this_item to item i of my_list as text
            if the low_item is "" then
                set the low_item to this_item
                set the low_item_index to i
            else if this_item comes before the low_item then
                set the low_item to this_item
                set the low_item_index to i
            end if
        end if
    end repeat
    set the end of sorted_list to the low_item
    set the end of the index_list to the low_item_index
end repeat
return the sorted_list
end simple_sort