Illustrator action to select & color items in different Artboards?

Question

I was hoping someone could help me figure out a solution to my current problem. I have 16 Artboards with the same shape in each. I need to give each shape in each of artboard a specific RGB Hex value/color per. I tried to record an action but it didn't seem to recognize that I was selecting all items in each different artboard, so it applied the actions in unison to the first artboard. Is this easily achievable somehow?

• Select all items in Artboard1, Apply Color RGB #E42313,
• Select all items in Artboard2, Apply Color RGB #F28C00,
• Select all items in Artboard3, Apply Color RGB #FAB72E,
• Select all items in Artboard4, Apply Color RGB #FFE700,
• Select all items in Artboard5, Apply Color RGB #C0D886,
• Select all items in Artboard6, Apply Color RGB #04A64B,
• Select all items in Artboard7, Apply Color RGB #3F6F60,
• Select all items in Artboard8, Apply Color RGB #008996,
• Select all items in Artboard9, Apply Color RGB #0070BA,
• Select all items in Artboard10, Apply Color RGB #002D59,
• Select all items in Artboard11, Apply Color RGB #990A2C,
• Select all items in Artboard12, Apply Color RGB #522583,
• Select all items in Artboard13, Apply Color RGB #D1467E,
• Select all items in Artboard14, Apply Color RGB #EDEDED,
• Select all items in Artboard15, Apply Color RGB #020100,
• Select all items in Artboard16, Apply Color RGB #935200

Answer 1

I'm assuming that you want this to work with another set of icons that you will run this action on.

What I did to make it was to create a new swatch group and make individual swatches for each color. Then while recording I clicked on each item and applied the corresponding swatch. Then I stopped recording. After that, I recorded select All on Active Artboard and then I used the select Next Object Above (might be below depending on your ordering) and then after doing this for all remaining 15 objects, I ordered the selection above the corresponding swatch application.

NOTE: This will not work unless the swatch group is present in the document and all the elements aren't on the same layer

Here is the link to the action.

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One of the key takeaways from this is you can't always do what you want to happen in one go. First I had to make the swatches, then I had to get the apply command for each, then I had to get the selections. Only after could I then rearrange all the elements to work as a final result.

Answer 2

These are all great ways to achieve my end goal and I can't thank you all enough. As I quickly lay these pieces out on the various dartboards as there is usually stock artwork that goes on each piece. Some colors require different imprint/art colors for contrast.

I was sent this script and it does exactly what I need once I setup my art. Thanks for all your suggestions, I can't say thank you enough!

(function () {  
var colorParams = ['E42313', 'F28C00', 'FAB72E', 'FFE700', 'C0D886', '04A64B', '3F6F60', '008996', '0070BA', '002D59', '990A2C', '522583', 'D1467E', 'EDEDED', '020100', '935200'],  
    rgbColors = [],  
    doc = app.activeDocument,  
    artBoards = doc.artboards,  
    i,  
    max;  

function getRGBColor(param) {  
    var result = param.match(/.{2}/g),  
        rgb = new RGBColor();  
    rgb.red = parseInt(result[0], 16);  
    rgb.green = parseInt(result[1], 16);  
    rgb.blue = parseInt(result[2], 16);  
    return rgb;  
}  

function fill(sel, color) {  
    var i,  
        max;  
    for (i = 0, max = sel.length; i < max; i += 1) {  
        sel[i].fillColor = color;  
    }  
}  

for (i = 0, max = colorParams.length; i < max; i += 1) {  
    rgbColors.push(getRGBColor(colorParams[i]));  
}  

for (i = 0, max = artBoards.length; i < max; i += 1) {  
    artBoards.setActiveArtboardIndex(i);  
    doc.selection = null;  
    doc.selectObjectsOnActiveArtboard();  
    fill(doc.selection, rgbColors[i]);  
}
}());

Thanks!