collective specifier instead of grouping/ungrouping

[pchiorean]

Creating a collective specifier to manage multiple Spread objects. This trick only works with a set of page items that belong to the same spread or page. The goal is to manually create a true specifier to handle those objects collectively. Initially you have an Array of page items. The trick is to group these objects temporarily and to resolve group.pageItems.everyItem():

var page = app.activeDocument.pages[0],
    // an arbitrary array of page items:
    myItems = page.rectangles.everyItem().getElements().
        concat(page.ovals.everyItem().getElements()).
        concat(page.textFrames.everyItem().getElements());
 
// Groups the items ('myItems' is still an Array)
var tempGroup = page.groups.add(myItems);
 
// Converts 'myItems' into a collective specifier:
myItems = tempGroup.pageItems.everyItem();
 
// Resolves myItems
myItems.isValid;
 
// Remove the group
tempGroup.ungroup();
 
// NOW 'myItems' is a nice collective specifier:
myItems.fillColor = 'Black';
// etc.