How to create a line in the footer that looks like grows in InDesign?

[cor16940910]

I am looking to create a line in my footer that looks like the "grows" with each page of the document. So for example the first page it starts at a lenth of 1 and the second page it would be a 2 so on and so forth.

I have been able to create this by manually drawing the line and adjusting it with each page however I was wondering if anyone has ever done this with some level of automation? 

It would be ideal if I had a parent page set up and ID automatically adjusted the size of the line based on the total document length and the current page number. 

<Title renamed by moderator>

[Peter Kahrel]

Clever! Though the page marker is a marker that the font doesn't see as a number. You'd have to use a text frame and use a script to place the page number (or document offset) in there. Also, you need a conversion number: page 50 in a 100-page file and page 5 in a 10-page document should get the same length bar, but won't.

[Peter Kahrel]

I thought I should put my idea to the test. Here's a script, a sample document is attached.

There's one requirement: the footer lines should be named 'Progress line' on the Layers panel:

A nice enhancement would be to place a lighter-shade bar behind the progress bar so it's easier to see how much there's left to go.

(function () {
    
  var indd = app.documents[0];
  var pages = indd.pages.everyItem().getElements();
  var rule;
  var gb;
  var step;


  function stepValue () {
    var r = indd.masterSpreads.everyItem()
            .graphicLines.everyItem().getElements();
    for (var i = 0; i < r.length; i++) {
      if (r[i].name === 'Progress line') {
        var b = r[i].geometricBounds;
        return (b[3] - b[1]) / (indd.pages.length-1);
      }
    }
    return null;
  }

  //--------------------------------------
  // If there's a rule on the page, return it.
  // Otherwise, try to override one.
  
  function getRule (page) {
    var r = page.graphicLines.item ('Progress line');
    if (r.isValid) {
      return r;
    }
    var m = page.masterPageItems;
    for (var i = 0; i < m.length; i++) {
      if (m[i].name === 'Progress line') {
        return m[i].override (page);
      }
    }
    return null;
  }
        
  //==================================================
  
  step = stepValue();

  if (!stepValue) {
    alert ('The document lacks a rule named "Progress line"');
    exit();
  }

  for (var i = 0; i < pages.length; i++) {
    rule = getRule (pages[i]);
    if (rule) {
      gb = rule.geometricBounds;
      rule.geometricBounds = [gb[0], gb[1], gb[2], gb[1]+(i*step)];
    }
  }

}());