hello all you smart guys.
I get a big complex files from another designers every month for further processing. Among other not-so-good habits, they usually do not use layers.
To make layout a bit more organized, I move text to its own layer - simple task, have script for it. But it does the job straightforward - exactly 'as advertised' (Jongware's expression - I like it so 
)
Unfortunately, those designers didn't bother much with 'frame content' option. They can draw a frame with a text tool, fill it with color and use it as a background for some artwork or whatever...
my script 'text frames to separate layer' creates a mess on such pages, and locate it - not always is an easy task. Document usually has over 200 pages...
So, I'm dreaming about some magic script, which is able to "prepare" text for moving, I mean, to find and process:
case1: empty text frame with no fill/outline - remove (delete)
case2: empty text frame with any fill/outline - convert to 'unassigned'
case3: text frame with the same color applied to text and the frame itself (yes, it happens!) - well, maybe just 'select and stop'? I'm afraid it's too complicated to remove text from such a frame and then treat the frame as 'case2'?
any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...
1 Correct answer
@winterm:
You can try this using script menu actions. This will only work, if the certain menu action is available.
It is not available if there is contents in the text frame (e.g. a blank character) or (much more important from a scripters point of view) if a threaded text frame is empty because it's contents cannot fit inside it and it's contents is an empty string.
Following code will single out empty text frames, select them and invoke a script menu action to set them to "Unassigned":
...var _d = a
41
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@Colly – I know I'm a little late for commenting your answer #26, but my answer is lengthy 😉
Your "condensed" version* of the script will do nothing (or at least not much), because:
//EDIT: After re-reading the whole thread, I can see that this last snippet you posted in answer #26 is not your's. Sorry. However, I did the following test with that snippet.
1. It does not work with the text container(s) of a particular story, but only with text frames that sit inside the text of the stories (anchored or inline text frames).
I ran your script (slightly altered: instead of removing I did a fill with "Magenta") on the following situation:
After running the script:
(the Magenta filled ones would be removed)
2. And even if this script would remove the two text frames hosting the anchored ones:
Text frames with tables that span several threaded text frames are considered empty but the one text frame that contains the start of the table.
Let's test #2 on a small example with the following code that is running on a selection of text frames:
//Some threaded text frames selected.
//They contain a table that spans several text containers.
var sel = app.selection;
//EASY TEST on emptyness with contents property:
//Running the loop backwards in case we want to remove something
//and so mixing up the length of the
for(var n=sel.length-1;n>=0;n--){
if(sel
.contents == ""){sel .fillColor = "Magenta"}; };
Example screen shots:
Before
After running the above snippet:
The Magenta filled text frames are considered empty (as far as this script's logic is going)!
To tackle problems #1 and also #2 we could:
1. Work with the textContainers array of a story object.
That means we are working of an array of arrays, if the document contains more than one story.
2. Duplicate all text frames or the parent of a text path (= a graphic line, a text frame, a spline item …) and check for emptyness of the duplicate and/or its text path.
Background: if you duplicate a text frame containing one part of a table that is otherwise occupying a number of text frames and its contents property is suggesting it's empty, you'll get always that portion of the table, that is shown in the original text frame.
Below a more elaborate code for detecting empty* text frames and removing them.
However, there is one flaw in this code:
If it occurs, that a button object contains a state with empty text containers only, the whole button will or can be removed!
Depends on the number of states and if the removed object sits in an active state.
Explanation: The Story object of the document is a deep-level object and the collection of all story objects will summerize every text frame or every text path in the document. Even in nested objects like groups, MSOs, etc. and well, also buttons.
And there is another flaw (a tiny one), which I camouflaged with a "try/catch -> continue" scenario. Some objects might not exist anymore in the moment I want to remove them. I did not implement a optimization routine on double ID numbers of the array, that is responsible for removing the text containers or in case of text paths their parent objects.
Warning: The script could create situations where text overflows like shown in answer #9 here.
There is no steady control of overflow during the script's action.
Code:
//REMOVE_EmptyTextContainers_DuplicateMethod_STORIES-TEXTCONTAINERS_v2.jsx
//Uwe Laubender
/**
* @@@BUILDINFO@@@ REMOVE_EmptyTextContainers_DuplicateMethod_STORIES-TEXTCONTAINERS_v2.jsx !Version! Sat Jan 04 2014 20:24:54 GMT+0100
*/
//THERE IS NO TEST ON EFFECTS !!
//Effects on otherwise empty objects are not visible. They need at least a stroke weight or a fill color to get in effect.
//If I'm wrong here, empty objects with visible effects are removed as well.
//Foreseeable issues:
//BUTTONS COULD BE REMOVED,
//if one of the states contain empty text frames only OR empty text paths on otherwise empty parent objects only!
//MSOs WILL BE REMOVED (A MESSAGE WILL POP UP),
//if the MSO's empty text frames are removed
//and only one state would be left over
//however, all text frames with contents will survive!
//WHAT IS NOT CONSIDERED EMPTY:
//1. Frames with a fillColor.name other than "None"
//2. Frames with a strokeWeight other than "0"
//3. Graphic lines with a text path with a strokeWeight other than "0"
//4. Text frames and text paths with a contents other than "".
//ALL TEXTFRAMES OR TEXTPATHS ARE EXAMINED AS NOT THREADED.
app.scriptPreferences.userInteractionLevel = UserInteractionLevels.interactWithAll;
app.doScript(_RemoveEmptyTextContainers, ScriptLanguage.JAVASCRIPT, [], UndoModes.ENTIRE_SCRIPT, "Remove empty text containers");
function _RemoveEmptyTextContainers(){
var d=app.documents[0];
var counterOne = 0;
var counterTwo = 0;
var IDsOfallTextContainers = new Array();
var IDsOfTextContainersToRemove = new Array();
var arrayOfArraysOfTextContainers = d.stories.everyItem().textContainers;
for(var n=0;n<arrayOfArraysOfTextContainers.length;n++){
var arrayOfTextContainers = arrayOfArraysOfTextContainers
; for(c=0;c<arrayOfTextContainers.length;c++){
IDsOfallTextContainers[counterOne] = arrayOfTextContainers
.getElements()[0].id; ++counterOne;
};
};
for(var n=0;n<IDsOfallTextContainers.length;n++){
var myOriginal = d.pageItems.itemByID(IDsOfallTextContainers
).getElements()[0]; $.writeln(myOriginal);
//Here is more testing on "emptyness" needed:
//Whitespace in contents
//. . . ???
//Column breaks, page breaks in contents
//Overset text possible !!!
//Case 1: myOriginal is textFrame
if(myOriginal.constructor.name === "TextFrame"){
var myDup = myOriginal.duplicate();
if(
myDup.contents === ""
&& myDup.fillColor.name === "None"
&& myDup.strokeWeight === 0
&& myDup.textWrapPreferences.textWrapMode === TextWrapModes.NONE
){
IDsOfTextContainersToRemove[counterTwo] = myOriginal.id;
};
++counterTwo;
myDup.remove();
};
//Case 2: myOriginal is textPath
if(myOriginal.constructor.name === "TextPath"){
var myDup = myOriginal.parent.duplicate();
if(
myDup.textPaths[0].contents === ""
&& myDup.constructor.name === "GraphicLine"
&& myDup.strokeWeight === 0
&& myDup.textWrapPreferences.textWrapMode === TextWrapModes.NONE
){
IDsOfTextContainersToRemove[counterTwo] = myOriginal.id;
++counterTwo;
};
if(
myDup.textPaths[0].contents === ""
&& myDup.constructor.name != "GraphicLine"
&& myDup.strokeWeight === 0
&& myDup.fillColor.name === "None"
&& myDup.textWrapPreferences.textWrapMode === TextWrapModes.NONE
){
IDsOfTextContainersToRemove[counterTwo] = myOriginal.id;
++counterTwo;
};
myDup.remove();
};
};
//Array could be optimized for removing doubles in ID numbers:
for(var n=0;n<IDsOfTextContainersToRemove.length;n++){
try{
d.pageItems.itemByID(IDsOfTextContainersToRemove
).remove(); }catch(e){
//~ $.writeln(e.message);
continue;
};
};
}; //END of function _RemoveEmptyTextContainers()
Uwe
Message was edited by: Laubender
An annotation to post #27 – the first situation where an empty text frame is anchored to an otherwise empty text frame.
It's more tricky, than I first thought 😉
If the anchored text frame is removed, the host is considered empty, but might not be removed. It depends on the order of detecting empty frames and the order of removing them.
So in a situation like this:
It might be better to do a search from a deeper level of nesting to not nested.
A lot of effort.
Or the user (or the script) is running the script more than once. Perhaps with in a while loop until no empty frame is found.
Uwe
Message was edited by: Laubender
And we should think about: is it desirable to remove empty inline text frames at all?
Text composition will be changed, if we do so.
Uwe
//EDIT: the previous version did not show inline text frames but inline rectangles
Message was edited by: Laubender
Thank you for your test file Uwe. I have run my cobbled together script on the file and am satisfied with the results. Buttons and MSOs were left alone; grouped objects were not touched; empty inlines within other empty inlines were deleted, and threaded text was ONLY deleted if (within the entire threaded story) there is no text... otherwise the threaded frames remain... but I can live with that. Whether it fulfils the requirements of anyone else is subjective, but for my purposes it does what it needs to do... until further texting reveals more bugs 
Colin
Despite a year of having the script and looking like it was working flawlessly, I have discovered two problems with it:
1) If there are no text boxes in the document at all, the script throws up this error when run
That particular piece of code has to deal with the handling of inline graphics. I think I know the cause, and that is there is no else statement in the function to say "if there is no text frames at all, then do nothing". The code currently looks like this:
var inlines = myDocument.stories.everyItem().pageItems.everyItem().getElements();
while(fr=inlines.pop()){
if(fr instanceof Group){continue}
if(fr instanceof TextFrame){
if(fr.contents == "" && fr.strokeWeight == "0" && fr.fillColor.name == "None" && fr.textWrapPreferences.textWrapMode === TextWrapModes.NONE && fr.textPaths.length == 0){fr.remove()}
continue;
}
if(fr.graphics.length==0 && fr.strokeWeight == "0" && fr.fillColor.name == "None" && fr.textWrapPreferences.textWrapMode === TextWrapModes.NONE && fr.textPaths.length == 0){fr.remove()}
}
How would I add that else statement to this function?
2) The script will remove frames that have frames within them. Let me demonstrate. In this screen capture, there are typically three kinds of frames in InDesign - unassigned, graphic and text.
However, when I paste a triangle drawn in indesign into a rectangle using "paste into", or a picture inside a frame into a frame (again using paste into), it doesn't seem to fall into any of these categories.
So this is fouling up a part of my script that searches for all rectangles, ovals and polygons looking for no stroke/fill/text on paths/text wrap. The function is written three times, once for rectangles, once for ovals, once for polygons. Here is the sample for rectangles:
var myGraphicFrames = app.activeDocument.rectangles;
for (i=myGraphicFrames.length-1; i>=0; i--) {
var stroke = myGraphicFrames.strokeWeight;
var color = myGraphicFrames.fillColor.name;
var tpath = myGraphicFrames.textPaths.length;
var wrap = myGraphicFrames.textWrapPreferences.textWrapMode;
if (myGraphicFrames.graphics.length < 1 && stroke == "0" && color == "None" && wrap === TextWrapModes.NONE && tpath == 0)
myGraphicFrames.remove();
}
What am I missing that would be able to identify these frames as having content and leave them alone?
Colin
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