Create a rectangle around object?

[martin_Cahill]

Can this be done in illustrator scripting??

http://coreldraw.com/forums/t/35280.aspx

creating a rectangle around selected object or objects and set margins...

Regards

Martin

[CarlosCanto]

yes, it can be done

[martin_Cahill]

Great news.

I have this script that does what I want, it draws the rectangle around the obect with a distance margin of 0.05cm then groups the objects togeather.

can you help me to convert this script to work in illustrator?

this works in coral draw its VBA

Sub makeRect()

    Dim s As Shape, sRect As Shape

    Dim x As Double, y#, h#, w#

    Dim dMarg#

    Dim sr As New ShapeRange

    dMarg = 0.05

    ActiveDocument.Unit = cdrCentimeter

    Set s = ActiveShape

    If s Is Nothing Then Exit Sub

    s.GetBoundingBox x, y, w, h

    Set sRect = ActiveLayer.CreateRectangle2(x - dMarg, y - dMarg, w + (dMarg * 2), h + (dMarg * 2))

    sRect.Outline.Width = 0.001

    sRect.CreateSelection

    sr.Add sRect

    sr.Add s

    sr.Group

End Sub

[pixxxelschubser · Accepted solution]

Hallo martin_Cahill,

My English is not the best, because of that in German.

Grundsätzlich sind sich VBA und Javascript sehr ähnlich. Versuche die folgende Funktion mit den VBA-Äquivalenten zu vergleichen. Learning by doing

function makeRect() {
if (selection.length == 0) {
    alert("Kein Objekt …");
    return;
}else{
    if (selection.length > 1) {
        alert("Zu viele Objekte …");
        return;
    }else{
        var myDoc = app.activeDocument;
        var Sel = myDoc.selection
        var SelVB = Sel[0].visibleBounds;
        var dMarg = 28.3464567;
        var Links = SelVB[0];
        var Oben = SelVB[1];
        var SelBreite = (SelVB[2] - SelVB[0]);
        var SelHoehe = (SelVB[1] - SelVB[3]);
        var newCMYK = new CMYKColor();
        newCMYK.cyan = 100;
        newCMYK.magenta = 0;
        newCMYK.yellow = 0;
        newCMYK.black = 0;
        var myGroup =myDoc.groupItems.add();
        Sel[0].move(myGroup, ElementPlacement.PLACEATBEGINNING);
        var MargBox = myDoc.pathItems.rectangle(Oben+dMarg, Links-dMarg, SelBreite+2*dMarg, SelHoehe+2*dMarg);
        MargBox.stroked = true;
        MargBox.strokeWidth = 10;
        //MargBox.filled = false;
        MargBox.fillColor = newCMYK;
        MargBox.move(myGroup, ElementPlacement.PLACEATEND);
        }
    }
}

Hilft dir das weiter?

Viel Spass noch.

[martin_Cahill]

Hallo Vielen Dank für die Hilfe

I have copied the code into a text file and saved it as .jsx in the preset folder of illustrator

I run the script no errors but nothing happens??

Martin

[Jongware]

Add this at as the very first line:

makeRect() ;

-- schubser defined a new function but forgot to call it

[martin_Cahill]

yes it works!

Only thing last thin I would  like no fill colour atall?

I have comented MargBox.fillColor = newCMYK; but didnt work

Regards

Martin

[martin_Cahill]

Ive fixed it now!

Thanks everyone for the help great forum!

thanks pixxxel schubser great job!!

Martin

[CarlosCanto]

please get into the habit of marking your posts as "Answered" if you get satisfactory answers.

thanks

[Fred-A&R]

Hey Martin, I had the same requirement as you.

can you post that finalised scrip here for us then?

Thank you, in advance,

Fred

[CarlosCanto]

function makeRect() { 
if (selection.length == 0) { 
    alert("Kein Objekt …"); 
    return; 
}else{ 
    if (selection.length > 1) { 
        alert("Zu viele Objekte …"); 
        return; 
    }else{ 
        var myDoc = app.activeDocument; 
        var Sel = myDoc.selection 
        var SelVB = Sel[0].visibleBounds; 
        var dMarg = 28.3464567; 
        var Links = SelVB[0]; 
        var Oben = SelVB[1]; 
        var SelBreite = (SelVB[2] - SelVB[0]); 
        var SelHoehe = (SelVB[1] - SelVB[3]); 
        var newCMYK = new CMYKColor(); 
        newCMYK.cyan = 100; 
        newCMYK.magenta = 0; 
        newCMYK.yellow = 0; 
        newCMYK.black = 0; 
        var myGroup =myDoc.groupItems.add(); 
        Sel[0].move(myGroup, ElementPlacement.PLACEATBEGINNING); 
        var MargBox = myDoc.pathItems.rectangle(Oben+dMarg, Links-dMarg, SelBreite+2*dMarg, SelHoehe+2*dMarg); 
        MargBox.stroked = true; 
        MargBox.strokeWidth = 10; 
        //MargBox.filled = false; 
        MargBox.fillColor = newCMYK; 
        MargBox.move(myGroup, ElementPlacement.PLACEATEND); 
        } 
    } 
}
makeRect();

[Fred-A&R]

Thank you for that almost instant reply!

Best,

Fred

[KyuLegend]

Sorry to repost, but I wanted to make this with no fill and margin of 0.375 inches all around (so +0.75 inches top/bottom and +0.75 inches left/right). I tried to change the dMarg variable but I don't quite get the ratio. New to scripting. Any help will be appreciated.

[femkeblanco]

---

I wanted to make this with no fill

---

Change these two lines

//MargBox.filled = false;
MargBox.fillColor = newCMYK;

to

MargBox.filled = false;
// MargBox.fillColor = newCMYK;

---

... and margin of 0.375 inches all around ...

---

Units are in points. So change dMarg to

var dMarg = 0.375 * 72;

[KyuLegend]

it got me closer, but for some reason it's still off... it's adding 0.7917 instead of 0.75.

I looked up the unit conversion and the 0.375*72 part should be correct... but I don't know where the extra area is coming from... My attached photo is a 1 inch x 1 inch square.

[KyuLegend]

nevermind... I figured it out... the initially selected object path can't have a stroke. Thank You!

[renél80416020]

Avec un contour, utilisez

var SelVB = Sel[0].geometricBounds;
var dMarg = 0.375 * 72;

[robbo78]

Hi, this is a very useful script! Could I ask if it's possible to make the stroke colour a named spot colour instead?

This is what I have -

function makeRect() { 

if (selection.length == 0) { 

    alert("Kein Objekt …"); 

    return; 

}else{ 

    if (selection.length > 1) { 

        alert("Zu viele Objekte …"); 

        return; 

    }else{ 

        var myDoc = app.activeDocument; 

        var Sel = myDoc.selection 

        var SelVB = Sel[0].visibleBounds; 

        var dMarg = 5.5; 

        var Links = SelVB[0]; 

        var Oben = SelVB[1]; 

        var SelBreite = (SelVB[2] - SelVB[0]); 

        var SelHoehe = (SelVB[1] - SelVB[3]); 

        var newCMYK = new CMYKColor(); 

        newCMYK.cyan = 0; 

        newCMYK.magenta = 0; 

        newCMYK.yellow = 0; 

        newCMYK.black = 69; 

        var myGroup =myDoc.groupItems.add(); 

        Sel[0].move(myGroup, ElementPlacement.PLACEATBEGINNING); 

        var MargBox = myDoc.pathItems.rectangle(Oben+dMarg, Links-dMarg, SelBreite+2*dMarg, SelHoehe+2*dMarg); 

        MargBox.stroked = true; 

        MargBox.strokeWidth = 0.25; 

        MargBox.strokeColor = newCMYK; << ADD A SPOT COLOUR INSTEAD?

        MargBox.filled = false; 

        // MargBox.fillColor = newCMYK; 

        MargBox.move(myGroup, ElementPlacement.PLACEATEND); 

        } 

    } 

}

makeRect();

[renél80416020]

Hi!

MargBox.strokeColor = activeDocument.spots["toto"].color;

[robbo78]

Excellent thanks for your help!

[robbo78]

Sorry I thought it had worked. It seems to be just adding the colour as a normal colour and not a spot. Any ideas?

This is the code -

function makeRect() { 
if (selection.length == 0) { 
    alert("Kein Objekt …"); 
    return; 
}else{ 
    if (selection.length > 1) { 
        alert("Zu viele Objekte …"); 
        return; 
    }else{ 
        var myDoc = app.activeDocument; 
        var Sel = myDoc.selection 
        var SelVB = Sel[0].visibleBounds; 
        var dMarg = 5.5; 
        var Links = SelVB[0]; 
        var Oben = SelVB[1]; 
        var SelBreite = (SelVB[2] - SelVB[0]); 
        var SelHoehe = (SelVB[1] - SelVB[3]); 
        var newCMYK = new CMYKColor(); 
        newCMYK.cyan = 0; 
        newCMYK.magenta = 0; 
        newCMYK.yellow = 0; 
        newCMYK.black = 69; 
        var myGroup =myDoc.groupItems.add(); 
        Sel[0].move(myGroup, ElementPlacement.PLACEATBEGINNING); 
        var MargBox = myDoc.pathItems.rectangle(Oben+dMarg, Links-dMarg, SelBreite+2*dMarg, SelHoehe+2*dMarg); 
        MargBox.stroked = true; 
        MargBox.strokeWidth = 0.25; 
	MargBox.strokeColor = activeDocument.spots["PerfCutContour"].color; 
        MargBox.filled = false; 
        // MargBox.fillColor = newCMYK; 
        MargBox.move(myGroup, ElementPlacement.PLACEATEND); 
        } 
    } 
}
makeRect();

[renél80416020]

Pour moi j'ai compris celà ?

[robbo78]

Unfortunetely I'm not getting that. It's applying the correct spot colour but it's not a spot colour with a name. Without the name my plotter wont read the strokes as cut lines. 

Thanks for helping. 

[renél80416020]

Hi robbo78!

Pouvez vous en dire plus sur le fonctionnement de votre traceur?

Si le tracé doit porter ce nom, alors ajoutez,
MargBox.name = "PerfCutContour";

elleere

[robbo78]

Hi, could I ask what you mean by "tracker"? Sorry I'm a bit of a newbie to scripting.

I will try adding that and see how it goes 🙂