Getting Images from URLs

How to download images from the web and add it afterwards to a document. By Benedikt Groß

Obviously you have to download a resources first, before you can you can make use of it in an indesign document.

For the download part basil.js provides a "b.download()" function. Depending where you want to save the file you have to set the second parameter (optional) eg.:

#includepath "~/Documents/;%USERPROFILE%Documents";
#include "basiljs/bundle/basil.js";

function draw() {
  var url = "https://raw.github.com/basiljs/basil.js/master/lib/basil.png";

  // download the url to a default location, filename according to url:
  // -> "the project folder" + data/download/basil.png
  b.download(url);

  // download url to a specific location in the project folder:
  // -> "the project folder" + data/download_images_files/basil_logo.png
  b.download(url, "download_images_files/basil_logo.png");

  // download url to a specific location e.g. to your desktop
  // -> ~/Desktop/basil_logo.png
  var newFile = new File("~/Desktop/basil_logo.png");
  b.download(url, newFile);
}

b.go();

If you want to add afterwards the image to a document, you simply have to know where you've saved the file earlier. You can use for instance b.image() to add an image to the current page.

#includepath "~/Documents/;%USERPROFILE%Documents";
#include "basiljs/bundle/basil.js";

function draw() {
  b.download("https://raw.github.com/basiljs/basil.js/master/lib/basil.png",
             "download/basil.png");

  b.image("download/basil.png",0,0);
}

b.go();