script to put artboard names in text boxes

[Petros_]

Hi there. I have an Illustrator document with ~100 artboards, each artboard named by me. Each artboard has one textbox in it. Is there a way to take whatever name I assign to the artboard and print it into the text box inside that artboard? So in the end I would be able to see the name associated with each artboard on the artboard itself. Ideally I could run the script once (i.e. "turn it on"), have it populate all the text boxes with the artboard names, and then have it dynamically update the textboxes when I change an artboard name regardless of whether the file has been closed and opened since I originally ran the script.

Maybe this is more of a plugin? Either way I don't have any idea how to approach the problem, nor much scripting experience (I've tried several times, but never succeeded! ).

Petros_

[CarlosCanto]

Suppose I could feature request it, but what are the chances...

...based on history, I wouldn't hold my breath.

[CarlosCanto]

Suppose I could feature request it, but what are the chances...

...you'll have better chances adding a feature request here

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1013711

I don't promise it'll be quick, but it is coming...

[BrightShadow]

I created script which is working as expected:

// 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.

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);  

	// For each artboard, add a new text area of sizes and position below
	var l = leftA;
	var t = bottomA >= 0 ? bottomA + 5 : bottomA - 5; // 5pt from the bottom edge of Artboard
	var w = widthA
	var h = 30;
	
	var rectRef = myDocument.pathItems.rectangle(t, l, w, h); // rectangle which will become text area
	var myLabel = myDocument.textFrames.areaText(rectRef);  

	var color = new RGBColor();
	color.red = 255;
	color.green = 255;
	color.blue = 255;

	// make it be area type instead of point type

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


	// this line controls the font size

	myLabel.textRange.characterAttributes.size = 12;

	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 = color;
				current_paragraphs[j].hyphenation = false;
				current_paragraphs[j].justification = Justification.CENTER;
			}
		}
	}  

}

[minusplus]

This is great, is there anyway to change the position of the text and add a background behind it?

[BrightShadow]

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();

[BrightShadow]

The script I added has one lack, I couldn't find a way to align text vertically. Normally it is available from UI, but I couldn't make it work. I wanted to have bottom aligned text when label is above artboard.

[minusplus]

Sorry one other request, would it be possible to have vertical align centrally to the text box (As in the area type box options)?

[BrightShadow]

That is the problem I described above in my comment. I couldn't find a way to mak it work. There are options for it, but simple don't work. I guess there must be some conditions met before I can vertically align the text area. Sorry, for now, you can seelct all labels and click this alignment by hand 😕