setAttributes does not apply foreground color, but bold and other formatting is retained - google-apps-script

Question

I want to replace a word "allowance" with "Some text", after running the code, It will remove word allowance and apply "Some text" with same formatting as that of "allowance" but foreground color property is not getting set as that of original.I want Some text also in red color as shown in the screenshot
function retainFormatting() {
var doc = DocumentApp.getActiveDocument();
var textToHighlight = 'allowance';
var highlightStyle;
var paras = doc.getParagraphs();
var textLocation = {};
var i;
for (i=0; i<paras.length; ++i) {
textLocation = paras[i].findText(textToHighlight);
if (textLocation != null && textLocation.getStartOffset() != -1) {
highlightStyle = textLocation.getElement().getAttributes(textLocation.getStartOffset());
textLocation.getElement().deleteText(textLocation.getStartOffset(),textLocation.getEndOffsetInclusive());
textLocation.getElement().insertText(textLocation.getStartOffset(),"Some text");
textLocation.getElement().setAttributes(textLocation.getStartOffset(),textLocation.getEndOffsetInclusive(), highlightStyle);
}
}
}
before setting attribute at offset
after setting attribute it turns out to be

Answer 1

getForegroundColor(offset)
Retrieves the foreground color at the specified character offset.
And
setForegroundColor(startOffset, endOffsetInclusive, color)
Sets the foreground color for the specified character range.
Here is a sample code :
Getting Color from text
highlightColor = textLocation.getElement().getForegroundColor(textLocation.getStartOffset());
Applying color to text
textLocation.getElement().setForegroundColor(textLocation.getStartOffset(),textLocation.getEndOffsetInclusive(), highlightStyle);
I hope it helps. Goodluck :)

Answer 2

Try
textLocation.getElement().editAsText().deleteText(textLocation.getStartOffset(),textLocation.getEndOffsetInclusive());
textLocation.getElement().editAsText().insertText(textLocation.getStartOffset(),"Some text");
The .editAsText() puts you into editing the contents of the rich text leaving the existing attributes as a 'wrapper'
Alternatively, try replacing the text rather than deleting and inserting
paras[i].replaceText("allowance", "some text") // the first attribute is a regular expression as string

Answer 3

I have just tested this and it seems that setting LINK_URL alongside other attributes interferes with FOREGROUND_COLOR.
The following results in a black text color:
var attrs = {
"FOREGROUND_COLOR": "#ff0000", // should be red
"LINK_URL": null
};
text.setAttributes(start, end, attrs);
The following results in a red text color:
var attrs = {
"FOREGROUND_COLOR": "#ff0000" // should be red
};
text.setAttributes(start, end, attrs);
In effect, if you don't need to set the link, remove the LINK_URL from the list of formatting options.

Answer 4

#JSDBroughton Gave me an idea, which worked.
Try setting the attributes of the rich text object you get when calling editAsText. So instead of:
highlightStyle = textLocation.getElement().getAttributes(textLocation.getStartOffset());
textLocation.getElement().setAttributes(textLocation.getStartOffset(),textLocation.getEndOffsetInclusive(), highlightStyle);
Do:
// Make sure you replace `asParagraph` with what you actually need
highlightStyle = textLocation.getElement().asParagraph().editAsText().getAttributes(textLocation.getStartOffset());
textLocation.getElement().asParagraph().editAsText().setAttributes(textLocation.getStartOffset(),textLocation.getEndOffsetInclusive(), highlightStyle);
Edit: after playing around with this, seems like this only sometimes works. I still haven't figured out the pattern for when it does work and when it doesn't.