How to construct a Rectangle element

[Big_RA]

I would like to use the Rectangle object described in the help to ExtendScript CS5:

>  Rectangle
>  Adobe Illustrator CS5 Type Library
>  Describes a rectangle. This class is also a four-element collection.

It has nine properties and methods.

This is not the same as PathItems.rectangle().

How can I construct a var of type Rectangle?

                var rect = new Rectangle

results in the error, "Rectangle does not have a constructor"

How can I create a var of type Rectangle and then set the values?  I would like to store it in an Array.

[Ten A]

Hi, try below

var myRectangle = app.activeDocument.pathItems.rectangle(-100,100,150,150);

You can add rectangles use pathItems rectangle method.

PathItem PathItems.rectangle (top: number, left: number, width: number, height: number[, reversed: bool=false])

Ten.

[Big_RA]

I am looking for a Rectangle that I can store in an array, not one in a document.  Maybe such a thing doesn't exist.  Specifically, I am trying to center text labels in circles when they are already in a circle.  I can get the geometricBounds or visibleBounds of each, but I don't know how to get that in an array.  Placing a Rectangle in the array would satisfy the need.  It would be nice to get the functionality of width, height, relative to top, bottom, left, right, that a Rectangle offers.  Oddly enough, text objects have different parameters of these available than do circles.  I would like a class Rectangle that tracks all these when I set them and ask for them.

[Ten A]

Here is a sample code store rectangles in an Array.

var myRectangle = new Array();

for (i=0;i<10;i++){
    myRectangle = app.activeDocument.pathItems.rectangle(-100,i*15+30,10,10);
    }

var c = new CMYKColor;
c.cyan= 100;
c.magenta = 0;
c.yellow = 0;
c.black = 0;

myRectangle[4].fillColor = c;

Ten

[Jongware]

Despite your insistence, RA isn't referring to physically drawn rectangles *at all*.

Theoretically, a "rectangle class" would allow one to construct a rectangle in several ways -- origin, size, top left and bottom right points, etc. It seems the built-in "Rect" class is just a thin wrapper around a basic array, so that's not going to work.

Perhaps you could build your own. Javascript allows one to create a new class from scratch and define all of the methods and properties you might need.

[Jongware]

I can get the geometricBounds or visibleBounds of each, but I don't know how to get that in an array.

... Maybe you want to expand on that. Both *are* returned as a simple 4-element array.

[Big_RA]

True, I could store the geometricBounds or visibleBounds, but these don't have the methods for top, bottom, right, left, width, height.  I tried to make a class, but ExtendScript tells me I'm making "illegal use of reserved word 'class,'"  so I haven't pursued that further yet.

I would like to write a generic "align" routine that would align two objects, but some items have top and height while others have top and bottom, so the procedure to align depends on which kind of object is passed.  Putting a class wrapper around geometricBounds would do it since they all seem to have geometricBounds, but I haven't figured out how to do that either.  I could also use "geometricBounds[0]" etc, but that makes the code big and obscure.

As you can tell, I'm new to javascript and this is my learning process.  Extendscript seems to differ somewhat from conventional javascript, making the effort a bit more difficult.

[chris_gebab]

hi,

you cant use class, try something like that and search for javascript prototyping.

function Point(x,y){

this.x=x;

this.y=y

}

function MyRect(bounds){

this.width= bounds[?]-bounds[?];

and so on

dont forget:

this.center = new Point(a,b);

}

MyRect.prototype.doubleWidth=function(){

return this.width * 2

}

var rect= new MyRect( Item.someBounds);

happy scripting

chris

[Jongware]

Ah yes -- I didn't remember where I saw this before and had to ask Marc Autret first

Check this page of his: http://www.indiscripts.com/post/2010/05/operator-overloading-with-extendscript

[Big_RA]

Thanks.  I guess I'll have to try something like that.

[gpicher]

You can just create a new Point like this: "var newPoint = Point(leftValue, topValue);" . I could not find a way to create a rect (like for artboard resizing), but you can duplicate the existing artboard's artboardRect into your own variable, change its values, and then set it back to the artboardRect without needing to create your own rect.

[gpicher]

(You can create totally unrelated rects if that matters to a solution you are crafting by creating an artboard, getting its rect, and deleting the new artboard.)