[JS] Cap height and x height

> you do not need to enter a different character to determine the x-height or the cap height ... even the character 'x' at all. In fact, it doesn't matter what character you enter

That's correct.

Peter

Peter,

Thank you for your post. I was already using that approach and wanted to find out if I was going crazy or if there really was no alternative.

In case this helps anybody, however, it is worth noting that you do not need to enter a different character to determine the x-height or the cap height (the function doesn't actually do that) or even the character 'x' at all. In fact, it doesn't matter what character you enter, even a space band, as any character in the same font and size will return the same results.

Most importantly, thank you for taking the time to respond.

Thanks Martin. But I forgot to mention that this is in fact Teus de Jong's idea.

Peter

Hi Peter,

> function x_cap (ip)

Fantastic!

Thank you very much for this nice function.
In the past I did this measurement with the outline method.
But now I prefer your function.

Thanks
Martin

As jongware mentioned, you don't have much access to fonts. His idea of converting to outlines and measuring the height of the resulting frame is one possibilty. I've been using a different approach (which might in fact be slower than jongware's). The idea is to add a temporary text frame, enter "x", set the first baseline offset to capheight and measure the baseline: that's the capheight. Remove the X, enter x (lower case), set the first baseline offset to xheight, mease the baseline again: now you have the xheight.

Peter

// "ip" is an insertion point

function x_cap (ip)

   {

   var tf = app.activeDocument.textFrames.add (

      {

      geometricBounds: [0,0,40,40],

      textFramePreferences : {firstBaselineOffset: FirstBaseline.capHeight},

      contents: 'X'}

      );

   tf.parentStory.appliedFont = ip.appliedFont;

   tf.parentStory.pointSize = ip.parentStory.characters[ip.index-1].pointSize;

   var cap_height = tf.characters[0].baseline;

   tf.textFramePreferences.firstBaselineOffset = FirstBaseline.xHeight;

   x_height = tf.characters[0].baseline;

   tf.remove();

   return [cap_height, x_height]

   }

It's not a dumb question, but the answer is no, alas.<br /><br />-- <br />Shane Stanley <sstanley@myriad-com.com.au>

Scripting does not provide direct access to fonts. But you can find the values you need by taking a sample character and convert it to outlines. It has been mentioned before in this forum, perhaps a search will locate it.