draw rectangle arround a textRange or textSelection?

Hello, also another way(working with multiline & hyphenation). Code based on Carlos

function main() {
    var idoc = app.activeDocument;
    var sel = idoc.selection;
    if (sel.typename == "TextRange") {
        var iframe = sel.parent.textFrames[0];
        var dup = iframe.duplicate();
        dup.selected = false;
        var range = sel;
        
        // log color
        var col = range.characterAttributes.fillColor;
        //set fill color to blank
        range.story.textRange.characterAttributes.fillColor = new NoColor();
        //set fill color again 
        range.characterAttributes.fillColor = col;
        //apply outline effect
        var effectStr = '<LiveEffect name="Adobe Outline Type">' + '<Dict data=""/>' + '</LiveEffect>';
        iframe.applyEffect(effectStr);
        iframe.selected = true;
        //expand appearance
        app.executeMenuCommand('expandStyle');
        var igroup = app.selection[0];
        var margins = 1.5;
        var ipath = idoc.pathItems.rectangle(igroup.top + margins, igroup.left - margins, igroup.width + margins * 2, igroup.height + margins * 2);
        ipath.filled = false;
        ipath.stroked = true;
        ipath.move(dup, ElementPlacement.PLACEBEFORE);
        // remove duplicates  
        igroup.remove();
    } else {
        alert('Select a Text Range and try again');
    }
}
main();

As another way - the code is written according to the algorithm, which I quoted earlier:

/**
 * ai.jsx (c)MaratShagiev m_js@bk.ru 08.11.2016
 * makes frame around TextRange.textSelection
 * */
//@target illustrator
(function addRectByTxtSel () {
  var d        = activeDocument,
      fr       = d.textFrames[0],
      re       = /\s/gmi,
      marg     = 2,
      col      = new CMYKColor (),
      selStart = fr.textSelection[0].characterOffset - 1, // first selected char
      selLen   = fr.textSelection[0].length, // text selection lenght
      selEnd   = selLen + selStart - 1, // last selected char
      fixSelLen, selSpaces,
      past, fixPastLen, pastSpaces,
      frCurv, gr, rect,
      selItems = [];
  col.magenta = 100;
  col.yellow  = 100;
  fixSelLen = selLen;
  selSpaces = fr.textSelection[0].contents.match (re);
  if (selSpaces) {
    fixSelLen = selLen - selSpaces.length;
  }
  past        = fr.textRange.characters[selEnd + 1];
  past.length = fr.contents.length - selEnd - 1;
  fixPastLen = past.length;
  pastSpaces = past.contents.match (re);
  if (pastSpaces) {
    fixPastLen = past.length - pastSpaces.length;
  }
  frCurv          = (fr.duplicate ()).createOutline ();
  for (var i = fixPastLen; i < fixPastLen + fixSelLen; i++) {
    var obj1 = frCurv.pageItems;
    selItems.push (obj1);
  }
  gr = d.activeLayer.groupItems.add ();
  for (var j = 0; j < selItems.length; j++) {
    var obj2 = selItems;
    obj2.move (gr, ElementPlacement.INSIDE);
  }
  rect = d.activeLayer.pathItems.rectangle (
    gr.position[1] + marg, gr.position[0] - marg, gr.width + marg * 2, gr.height + marg * 2);
  rect.filled      = false;
  rect.strokeColor = col;
  gr.remove ();
  frCurv.remove ();
} ());

If hyphenation  in Illustrator palette is enabled, it is not working correctly (cause the hyphens are not taken in the calculation). But I think it can be fix.

Hello, levi23​!

You want to get this bounds?

Most likely you're right – through script no possible...