InDesign Server 2020 returns "The property is not applicable in the current state" when export.jsx sets certain PDF options

[kylehodgson]

I'm using SimpleIDML with InDesign Server 2020 on MacOS, and when attempting to export my IDML file to PDF export.jsx InDesign Server rejects the job. Removing properties one by one I tracked it down to a few different properties that cause issues.

• colorBitmapQuality and grayscaleBitmapQuality cause Error: The property is not applicable in the current state. for my use case
• pageMarksOffset causes Error: Invalid value for set property 'pageMarksOffset'. Expected Unit (0 - 72 points), but received 144.0.
• pdfDestinationProfile causes Error: The property's value is locked and cannot be changed.

I have a PR incoming that wraps each of these properties in a try, such as were already found for ignoreSpreadOverrides on line 144 and simulateOverprint on line 211 of export.jsx. I also added an alert to the catch; for my instance of InDesign Server this causes the exception message to be logged, so that users will know which properties failed to be set.

[Starou]

Hi @kylehodgson and thanks for your contribution. Are you using the script within a SOAP call context? Are the alert logged into a file? Thanks.

[kylehodgson]

Yes, that's right, SOAP calls to InDesign Server. I start InDesign Server in a terminal window, and I see the alert messages in that terminal. I believe they would be sent to server logs in normal operation.

I experimented with console.log first which didn't work. I found InDesign Server users referring to alert for debugging.

I have not been able to try this technique with any other environments, only InDesign Server 2020 on macos.