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Phil 815
Phil 815
Inspiring
April 19, 2023
Answered

How to get coordinates of table column or cell

  • April 19, 2023
  • 4 replies
  • 4665 views

Hi, I've been searching for a way to get the coordinates of a table column or cell. The reason I need this data is that I want to place another object inline with a specific column/cell. I've seen some forums discussing the idea of using createOutlines() to tempoarily create an outline that I can use for it's geometricBounds property, but that doesn't seem to work (The exception I get is "NoPathCreated"). Any idea on how I could get this data would be appreciated!

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer m1b

    Hi @Phil 815, I've written a script that includes a function getCellBounds. See this thread for the script. To get the bounds of a column (assuming that bounds of a cell wouldn't be adequate), you could calculate it similarly to the way getTableBounds function works. Let me know how you go.

    - Mark

    4 replies

    L
    Laubender
    Community Expert
    June 9, 2023

    @Marc Autret said: "[Of course there is no hope that Adobe cares about this bug and tries to fix it. They focus on serious things: renaming masterpage to parentpage, etc]"

     

    Hi Marc,

    just voted to fix the bug at InDesign UserVoice:

     

    Moving Anchoring Text to Anchored Object Crashes InDesign
    Marc Autret, June 08, 2023
    https://indesign.uservoice.com/forums/913162-adobe-indesign-sdk-scripting-bugs-and-features/suggestions/46753123-moving-anchoring-text-to-anchored-object-crashes-i

     

    Posted code there:

     

    Code:
// Tested in ID CS6 and CC
// (see animation)
const BEG = LocationOptions.AT_BEGINNING;
var TFS = app.activeDocument.textFrames;

source = TFS.itemByName('source').texts[0]; // Text: contains the anchor

host = TFS.itemByName('host'); // TextFrame: 'host' frame
dest = host.textFrames.itemByName('dest'); // TextFrame: 'dest' frame

source.move(BEG,dest); // --> ID crash
//source.move(BEG,host); // WOULD BE OK
//source.duplicate(BEG,dest); // WOULD BE OK

     

     

    Thanks Marc for reporting the bug.

     

    PS: Attached the InDesign test document with the named text frames.

     

    Regards,
    Uwe Laubender
    ( Adobe Community Expert )

      Robert at ID-Tasker
      Robert at ID-Tasker
      Brainiac
      April 20, 2023

      What exactly do you mean by "inline"?

       

      L
      Laubender
      Community Expert
      April 20, 2023

      Hi @Phil 815 ,

      also look into the TableCellBox.jsx script by Marc Autret:

      https://github.com/indiscripts/IdGoodies/blob/master/snip/TableCellBox.jsx

       

      The Magic Parent Bounding Box
      Marc Autret, August 04, 2022

      https://www.indiscripts.com/post/2022/08/magic-parent-bounding-box

       

      And a discussion in German that inspired Marc Autret at hilfdirselbst.ch:

      https://www.hilfdirselbst.ch/foren/Koordinaten_einer_Tabellenzelle_P583998.html

       

      Regards,
      Uwe Laubender
      ( Adobe Community Expert )

        C
        C330 S
        Inspiring
        June 6, 2023

        The script is really amazing, but I managed to crash InDesign multiple times using it.

        Im pretty sure the crash is caused by a table, that is inside an anchored text frame:

        TextFrame → anchored TextFrame → Table     crashes every time
TextFrame → Table                          works reliably

         

        Marc Autret
        Marc Autret
        Brainiac
        June 7, 2023

        Thanks @C330 S  for the bug report. I get a crash when the cell/table belongs to an anchored frame and itself owns an anchored object.

         

        Here are the three “simple” cases I've tested so far:

        1. target cell IS anchored (OK)
        2. target cell HAS an anchored object (OK)
        3. target cell IS and HAS… (KO)

         

         

         

        I'll try to fix case #3 asap…

        Can you share an IDML so I can investigate your own example?

         

        Best,

        Marc

          m1b
          m1bCorrect answer
          Community Expert
          April 20, 2023

          Hi @Phil 815, I've written a script that includes a function getCellBounds. See this thread for the script. To get the bounds of a column (assuming that bounds of a cell wouldn't be adequate), you could calculate it similarly to the way getTableBounds function works. Let me know how you go.

          - Mark

            Phil 815
            Phil 815Author
            Inspiring
            April 25, 2023

            These answers were extremely helpful and got me to a solution. Thank you!

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