Automatically adjust font to fit in box when using Data Merge

[Ken33374056yipc]

I am using Adobe Illustrator to merge data to an AI template and I have a text variable that ranges in length. I want to change the font size for the variables automatically so the text variable will fit inside of the text box.

I see there is a script that will allow you to change the font based on the length of the variable. (https://github.com/Silly-V/Adobe-Illustrator/blob/master/Dataset%20Processing/DealWithOversetText_Si...), but since it is from an older post I was hoping there was an easier way. Are there any built-in functions in Illustrator that will adjust the size of the font when using variables to fit inside of a text box?

Thanks!

[RobOctopus]

as far as I know, there are no ways to dynamically change font size via native illustrator tools.

this can be done via a script though. looking at the link provided, it should have what you would need, just need to loop through all the text and check if they are overset, then decrease the font size until they are no longer overset.

  function shrinkFont(textBox) {
    var totalCharCount = textBox.characters.length;
    var lineCount = textBox.lines.length;
    if (textBox.lines.length > 0) {
      var firstLineCharCount = textBox.lines[0].characters.length;
      if (isOverset(textBox, lineCount)) {
        var inc = defaultIncrement;
        while (isOverset(textBox, lineCount)) {
          textBox.textRange.characterAttributes.size -= inc;
        }
      }
    } else if (textBox.characters.length > 0) {
      var inc = defaultIncrement;
      while (isOverset(textBox, lineCount)) {
        textBox.textRange.characterAttributes.size -= inc;
      }
    }
  };

unsure of what you are trying to do via illustrator, but you can dynamically change font size using InDesign and some GREP styled paragraph styles. if you're looking for a code free or code-lite (you'll need to semi understand GREP) method for this, inDesign might be an avenue

[Ken33374056yipc]

Thanks! 
I am merging a couple of thousand records into an AI Template. One of the variables is the person's name which can vary in length. 

One way to do this would be to segment the list by the length of the name, and creating two templates or artboards, but I was hoping there was an easier way. 

I have not worked with scripts in AI before and hoping to avoid going there!

Ken