Scripting shape creation

[Stefan12345678]

Could anyone direct me as to how to get started on and go about writing a script to have InDesign generate a file that would have one solid-line, non-filled rectangle drawn for a user-entered Finished size of a graphic (e.g., 24" x 36"), and one dashed line, non-filled rectangle drawn for a 1" Bleed border (e.g., 25" x 37")?

Thanks!!!

[Steve Werner]

Moving to InDesign Scripting forum

[Mike Bro]

Hello Stefan,

Try the code below for you needs.

Thanks to Shonkyin for creating the dialog on this post Create a new document from a dialog.

var UIresult = myDisplayDialog();

var myDocument = app.documents.add();

with(myDocument.documentPreferences){

pageWidth = UIresult[0] + "inches";

pageHeight = UIresult[1] + "inches";

//~ pageOrientation = PageOrientation.landscape;

pagesPerDocument = 1;

}

    var doc = app.documents[0];

    doc.properties = {

    viewPreferences:{

        horizontalMeasurementUnits: +MeasurementUnits.INCHES,

        verticalMeasurementUnits: +MeasurementUnits.INCHES,

        },

        documentPreferences: {

            documentBleedBottomOffset: ".5 in",

            documentBleedTopOffset: ".5 in",

            documentBleedInsideOrLeftOffset: ".5 in",

            documentBleedOutsideOrRightOffset: ".5 in",

            }

        }

       var page = doc.pages.item(0); 

        page.marginPreferences.properties = {

        top : 0,

        left: 0,

        right: 0,

        bottom: 0

   }

        frame = doc.rectangles.add ({geometricBounds:["-0.5in","-0.5in", UIresult[1] + ".5in", UIresult[0] + ".5in"], contentType:ContentType.GRAPHIC_TYPE});

           frame.fillColor  = "None";

              frame.strokeWeight = "2.5pt";

                 frame.strokeType = "Dashed";

                    frame.strokeColor = "Black";

        frame = doc.rectangles.add ({geometricBounds:[".0in",".0in", UIresult[1] + "in", UIresult[0] + "in"], contentType:ContentType.GRAPHIC_TYPE});

           frame.fillColor  = "None";

              frame.strokeWeight = "2.5pt";

                 frame.strokeType = "Solid";

                    frame.strokeColor = "Black";

function myDisplayDialog()

   {

        var myDialog = new Window ('dialog', 'Create New Document');

        myDialog.alignChildren = "left";

        var rg0 = myDialog.add ('group');

        rg0.add('statictext',[-95, 0, 45, 25], 'Enter Document Width:');

        var docuWidth = rg0.add('edittext',[-10, 0, 45, 25], '');

        rg0.add('statictext',undefined, 'inches');

        var rg1 = myDialog.add ('group');

        rg1.add('statictext',undefined, 'Enter Document Height:');

        var docuHeight = rg1.add('edittext',[-10, 0, 45, 25], '');

        rg1.add('statictext',undefined, 'inches');

        var rg2 = myDialog.add ('group');

        rg2.alignment = "right";

        rg2.add('button', undefined, 'Cancel', {name: 'cancel'});

        rg2.add('button', undefined, 'OK', {name: 'ok'});

var myResult = myDialog.show();

if (myResult == 1)

{

     return [docuWidth.text, docuHeight.text];

}

if (myResult == 2)

{

     exit();

}

}

Regards,

Mike

[Stefan12345678]

Great thanks Mike. I'll give this a try.

[S Hopkins]

One thing you need to know is that all shapes in InDesign are based on what is known as geometric bounds. Bounds is a list that measurs from top left in the order of topY, leftX, bottomY, rightX. The following is a simple script written in AppleScript. It assumes that there is a document open with page size larger than the rectangles to be created. The geometric bounds of the rectangles are calculated from the center of the page. You will want to experiment with the weights of the strokes.  A dashed stroke in InDesign can be either "Dashed", "Dashed (3 and 2)", or "Dashed (4 and 4)".

--measurements are in inches

set rectWid to 36

set rectHgt to 24

set bleedWid to 37

set bleedHgt to 25

set sWgt1 to 0.12 --stroke weight for inside rectangle

set sWgt2 to 0.06 --stroke weight for bleed

set sColor to "Black" --stroke color

set sType1 to "Solid" --stroke type for inside rectangle

set sType2 to "Dashed (4 and 4)" --stroke type for bleed

set sFill to "None"

--assumes page is larger than largest rectangle

set insideRect to rectFromCenter(rectWid, rectHgt, sWgt1, sColor, sType1, sFill)

set outsideRec to rectFromCenter(bleedWid, bleedHgt, sWgt2, sColor, sType2, sFill)

(*Creates rectangle from center given width, height, stroke and fill parameters*)

on rectFromCenter(wid, hgt, sWgt, sColor, sType, sFill)

  tell application "Adobe InDesign CC 2019"

  set pageRef to page 1 of document 1

  set pageBounds to bounds of pageRef

  copy pageBounds to {y0, x0, y1, x1}

  set cx to x0 + ((x1 - x0) / 2)

  set cy to y0 + ((y1 - y0) / 2)

  set gBounds to {cy - (hgt / 2), cx - (wid / 2), cy + (hgt / 2), cx + (wid / 2)}

  set measurement unit of script preferences to inches

  tell page 1 of document 1

  set myRect to make rectangle with properties {geometric bounds:gBounds, fill color:sFill, stroke color:sColor, stroke weight:sWgt, stroke type:sType}

  end tell

  end tell

  return myRect

end rectFromCenter

[Stefan12345678]

Hi S Hopkins,

Where do I actually paste this Apple script?

Thanks!