script to put artboard names in text boxes

If you need do something more with script, I added some more parametrization for it 😛 

You welcome!

// This script generates artboard names captions below each artboard.
// it take artboard name and generates TextArea under artboard aligned
// center in white color / font size 12pt.

// ------------------------------------------------------------------ Some i params

var labelsWidth = 100; // width in % of the parent artboard width
                       // if there will be left/right margins added,
                       // this will be adjusted to the width left after adding margins

var labelFontSize = 12;
var labelHeight = labelFontSize * 2 + labelFontSize/3; // fixed height of the label

var labelsMargin = {
    top: 5,    // top label margin in pt (user when labels are below artboards)
    left: 0,   // left label margin in pt
    right: 0,  // right label margin in pt
    bottom: 5  // top label margin in pt (user when labels are above artboards)
};

var labelsBelowArtboard = false; // if false labels will be above artboards

var labelTextColor = '#FFFFFF';
var labelBackgroundColor = null; // null for transparent
var textAlignment = Justification.CENTER; // possibilities LEFT, RIGHT, CENTER, FULLJUSTIFY...and more

// --------------------------------------------------------------------

function hexToRgb(hex) {
    var result = /^#?([a-f\d]{2})([a-f\d]{2})([a-f\d]{2})$/i.exec(hex.toLowerCase());
    return result ? {
        r: parseInt(result[1], 16),
        g: parseInt(result[2], 16),
        b: parseInt(result[3], 16)
    } : null;
}

function doJob() {
    var myDocument = app.activeDocument;
    for (var i = 0; i < myDocument.artboards.length; i++) {

        var artboard = app.activeDocument.artboards[i];
        var leftA = artboard.artboardRect[0];
        var topA = artboard.artboardRect[1];
        var rightA = artboard.artboardRect[2];
        var bottomA = artboard.artboardRect[3];
        var widthA = Math.abs(rightA - leftA);

        // consider margins

        // For each artboard, add a new text area of sizes and position below
        var l = leftA + labelsMargin.left;
        var w = (widthA - labelsMargin.right - labelsMargin.left) * labelsWidth / 100.0; // use percentage width of artboard
        var h = labelHeight;

        // center label between margins - make it look nicer
        l += (widthA - labelsMargin.right - labelsMargin.left - w) / 2;

        if (labelsBelowArtboard) {
            var t = bottomA - labelsMargin.top;
        } else {
            var t = topA + labelsMargin.bottom + h;
        }

        // background color
        if (labelBackgroundColor != null) {
            var bkgRectRef = myDocument.pathItems.rectangle(t, l, w, h); // rectangle of background
            var backgroundColor = new RGBColor();
            var rgbColor = hexToRgb(labelBackgroundColor);
            backgroundColor.red = rgbColor.r;
            backgroundColor.green = rgbColor.g;
            backgroundColor.blue = rgbColor.b;
            bkgRectRef.filled = true;
            bkgRectRef.fillColor = backgroundColor;
        }

        var rectRef = myDocument.pathItems.rectangle(t, l, w, h); // rectangle which will become text area
        var myLabel = myDocument.textFrames.areaText(rectRef);

        // text color
        var textColor = new RGBColor();
        var rgbColorOfText = hexToRgb(labelTextColor);
        textColor.red = rgbColorOfText.r;
        textColor.green = rgbColorOfText.g;
        textColor.blue = rgbColorOfText.b;

        // fill it with the artboard name
        myLabel.contents = artboard.name;

        // this line controls the font size
        myLabel.textRange.characterAttributes.size = labelFontSize;

        if (myLabel.textRange.length > 0) {
            var current_paragraphs = myLabel.textRange.paragraphs;
            for (j = 0; j < current_paragraphs.length; j++) {
                if (current_paragraphs[j].characters.length > 0) {
                    current_paragraphs[j].fillColor = textColor;
                    current_paragraphs[j].hyphenation = false;
                    current_paragraphs[j].justification = textAlignment;
                }
            }
        }

    }
}

// RUN IT !
doJob();

Petros

The scripting guides for Adobe Illustrator (http://www.adobe.com/devnet/illustrator/scripting.html) as well as other Adobe application's scripting guides are very clear on explaining properties and methods we can use with JavaSscript, Apple Script and VB Script.

The scripting supposes you already know the programming language, so it's very useful and easy to understand the explanations and descriptions.

Best Regards

Gustavo.