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A
Anonymous
December 15, 2023
Answered

Unable to set spread property to a text by script

  • December 15, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 367 views

Hi everyone,

 

Using Framemaker 17 with some javascript, I don't understand why the following code won't change the spread property of the text selection :

 

var myDoc = app.ActiveDoc;

var myProp = new PropVal();

    myProp.propIdent.num = Constants.FP_Spread ;

    myProp.propVal.valType = Constants.FT_Metric ;

    myProp.propVal.ival = 655 ;

var myTR = myDoc.TextSelection ;

myDoc.SetTextPropVal(myTR, myProp) ;


alert(myDoc.GetTextPropVal(myTR.beg, Constants.FP_Spread).propVal.ival)

 No error raised, but the alert message sadly gives '0' every time...

 

Some insight  please ?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer frameexpert

    Workaround: create a Character Format with the desired properties and apply that to the text.

    #target framemaker

main ();

function main () {

    var doc;
    
    doc = app.ActiveDoc;
    if (doc.ObjectValid () === 1) {
        processDoc (doc);
    }
}

function processDoc (doc) {
    
    var textRange, charFmt;
    
    // Get the selected text.
    textRange = doc.TextSelection;
    
    // Get the custom spread character format.
    charFmt = getSpreadCharFmt (doc);

    // Apply the character format to the selected text.
    doc.SetTextProps (textRange, charFmt.GetProps ());
}

function getSpreadCharFmt (doc) {
    
    var charFmt, PT = 65536;
    
    // See if the character format exists.
    charFmt = doc.GetNamedCharFmt ("custom-spread");
    if (charFmt.ObjectValid () === 0) {
        // Create the character format.
        charFmt = doc.NewNamedCharFmt ("custom-spread");
    }
    
    // Set the desired properties.
    charFmt.UseSpread = 1;
    charFmt.Spread = .5 * PT;
    
    return charFmt;
}

     

    2 replies

    frameexpert
    Community Expert
    frameexpertCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    December 15, 2023

    I haven't had any success setting text properties using PropVals with ExtendScript. I think I have a workaround that I will post shortly.

    frameexpert
    Community Expert
    frameexpertCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    December 15, 2023

    Workaround: create a Character Format with the desired properties and apply that to the text.

    #target framemaker

main ();

function main () {

    var doc;
    
    doc = app.ActiveDoc;
    if (doc.ObjectValid () === 1) {
        processDoc (doc);
    }
}

function processDoc (doc) {
    
    var textRange, charFmt;
    
    // Get the selected text.
    textRange = doc.TextSelection;
    
    // Get the custom spread character format.
    charFmt = getSpreadCharFmt (doc);

    // Apply the character format to the selected text.
    doc.SetTextProps (textRange, charFmt.GetProps ());
}

function getSpreadCharFmt (doc) {
    
    var charFmt, PT = 65536;
    
    // See if the character format exists.
    charFmt = doc.GetNamedCharFmt ("custom-spread");
    if (charFmt.ObjectValid () === 0) {
        // Create the character format.
        charFmt = doc.NewNamedCharFmt ("custom-spread");
    }
    
    // Set the desired properties.
    charFmt.UseSpread = 1;
    charFmt.Spread = .5 * PT;
    
    return charFmt;
}

     

    A
    Anonymous
    December 18, 2023

    Yes, this way it works, thank you ! I think PT should be 655 and not 65536 since we usualy enter a percentage.

    It's a bit frustrating, since I'm writing a script applying different spreads a testing the resulting paragraph, but I'll deal with it like you.

     

    Have a nice day

    frameexpert
    Community Expert
    frameexpertCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    December 15, 2023

    What Spread value are you trying to set if you were using the interface?

    A
    Anonymous
    December 15, 2023

    I am talking about the value increasing the space between characters (not between words), also called "tracking" I think. In the interface, we set a percentage, but when displaying it from a script it is given as a metric (65536 for a 0% value).

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