Extendscript: Dynamically create dropdown lists and onChange functions for them

Question

Here's a challenging one. I'm relatively new to scripting but have an idea I want to get working.

I have a script that is dynamically generating drop-down lists based on an array: each item in that array creates a dropdownlist.

function getDropDownLists(inputArray, grp) { //input an array and the UI Group we're adding these DDLs to
          try {
            eval(grp + "Array = [];"); //Creates an array to store the DDLs we're about to create
            var listName; //Create variable to store name of DDL we're creating as we iterate through inputArray
            for (var i = 0; i < inputArray.length; i++) {
              listName = grp + "SrcLevel_" + i.toString(); //Get the name for the DDL we're about to create
              eval('var ' + listName + ' = ' + grp + '.add("dropdownlist",[0,0,150,25])'); //add a DDL for the current array item
              eval(listName + '.add("item","' + listName + '")'); //This line creates an item in each dropdown to tell me its name
              eval(grp + "Array[" + i + "] = " + listName + ";"); //Adds newly created DDL to the storage array
            }
          } catch (e) {
            alert("Error on line " + e.line + ":\n" + e.message);
          }
        }

When I call this function (it may not work perfectly here as I've cleaned it up a bit for display purposes) it correctly creates all my dropdownlists. However, I want to create onChange events for each of these to reference the previous one in the created storage array and change its contents. I know how to make the onChange events work if these were known dropdownlists, but every project I'll be working on is different and I'd like to get this to work without having to retool every time the project requirements change.

For example, when I call getDropDownLists(['mom','dad','baby'],family), I would get three dropdownlists: familySrcLevel_0,familySrcLevel_1,familySrcLevel_2. How would I then create onClick events for each of these dropdownlists, knowing that I won't always know how many there are? Is such a thing possible? It has to be done in Extendscript.

I should add that I will need familySrcLevel_1 to reference the selection of familySrcLevel_0, on up the list. — Joshua Badger
– Joshua Badger, Commented Jun 17, 2016 at 23:38
Sounds complicated. Could you break your problem down in smaller pieces? Also your code example does not show anything you tried with the onChange functions. Last I would suggest getting rid of the try catch block and also the eval makes your code harder to debug — fabianmoronzirfas
– fabianmoronzirfas, Commented Jun 19, 2016 at 8:17
Why get rid of the try catch block? Isn't its purpose for debugging? I have to leave the eval statements in; they're what allow me to create dropdownlists on the fly with unique variable names so I can reference them earlier. — Joshua Badger
– Joshua Badger, Commented Jun 21, 2016 at 5:40
Well if you think so. I always found using try catch kind of dirty. You could go for some resource strings (Adobe JS Tools guide page 79 link) to generate your UI without using eval. But I think you cant create functions with them. — fabianmoronzirfas
– fabianmoronzirfas, Commented Jun 21, 2016 at 6:04
If I knew what the UI were always going to be, I wouldn't need to use eval. But because depending on different projects, the input array could change, I don't always know how many dropdownlists I'll need. So I'm dynamically creating the UI based on that array so that I don't need to rewrite the script every time that changes. It allows me to reference those dropdownlists by giving them uniquely generated names as well, so children dropdownlists can change their content based on parent dropdownlists. — Joshua Badger
– Joshua Badger, Commented Jun 22, 2016 at 4:45

Joshua Badger · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-21 05:43:38Z

1

The solution was to create another eval statement that contained the onChange function in it at the end of the function above.

answered Jun 21, 2016 at 5:43

Joshua Badger

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