Set variables on imported comp?

Question

Using After Effects CS6, I'd like to import one project (ProjA) into another project (ProjB). Let's say that ProjA has some text that I want to customize from ProjB. I'd like to be able to import ProjA into ProjB and then set some property "this is ProjB" on the imported project/comp and have the text in ProjA render that text dynamically. Is there a global properties/variables collection I can use to do this inside of a comp?

The way I see this working is I would add a variable called myText to the comp in ProjA. Then I would add a text layer and set its Source Text to an expression which would grab myText from the comp's properties/variables: thisComp.properties("myText")

This would allow me to import ProjA over and over into many videos and have unique text for each instance.

Answer 1

A normal 'pick-whipped' expression:

thisComp.layer("Solid 1").transform.position

An expression referencing another composition within your project:

comp("Second Comp Name").layer("Solid 1").transform.position

As long as the composition name in Project A is consistent, you could just reference it and include a fallback in case it hasn't been imported like this:

try { comp("PROJECT A COMP NAME").layer("YOUR LAYER NAME").text.sourceText; }
catch(err) { text.sourceText }

Reference: https://gist.github.com/animoplex/b426933ae6c896c79ea98a50855ff62e

I figured I'd give this a quick response since it's been a while and there haven't been any answers. Send me a comment if you have questions.

Hope this helps :)