Getting an Element's Definition Name

When working with elements, it can be important to know an element's definition name. If you start with an element, you need to:

1. Get the associated element definition.
2. Get the definition name.

NOTE: A FrameMaker flow's element tree includes text nodes that do not have associated definitions and therefore have no name.

The following script displays the definition name of the highest level element in the main flow.

NOTE: The name returned is that in the EDD rather than in your DTD or schema.

function getElementName(elem) {
    var elemDef, name = null;

    elemDef = elem.ElementDef;
    if (elemDef.ObjectValid()) {
        name = elemDef.Name;
    }
    return name;
}

var doc, flow, root, name;

doc = app.ActiveDoc;
flow = doc.MainFlowInDoc;
root = flow.HighestLevelElement;

if (root.ObjectValid()) {
    name = getElementName(root);
    if (name !== null) {
        Alert(name, Constants.FF_ALERT_CONTINUE_NOTE);
    } else {
        Alert("Text node", Constants.FF_ALERT_CONTINUE_NOTE);
    }
}