C
HAPTER
6: Scripting with VBScript
Working with text frames
51
Working with text frames
To create a text frame of a specific type in VBScript, use the
TextFrames
method that corresponds to the
type of frame you want to create:
Set rectRef = docRef.PathItems.Rectangle(700, 50, 100, 100)
' Use the AreaText method to create the text frame
Set areaTextRef = docRef.TextFrames.AreaText(rectRef)
Threaded frames
As in the Illustrator application, you can thread area path frames or path text frames.
To thread existing text frames, use the
NextFrame
or
PreviousFrame
property of the
TextFrames
object.
When copying the following script to a script or text editor, place the value of the
Contents
property on
one line. The long-line continuation character (
_
) is not valid when enclosed in a string.
Set appRef = CreateObject("Illustrator.Application")
Set myDoc = appRef.Documents.Add
Set myPathItem1 = myDoc.PathItems.Rectangle(244, 64, 82, 76)
Set myTextFrame1 = myDoc.TextFrames.AreaText(myPathItem1)
myTextFrame1.Contents = "This is two text frames linked together as one story, with
text flowing from the first to the last."
Set myPathItem2 = myDoc.PathItems.Rectangle(144, 144, 42, 116)
Set myTextFrame2 = myDoc.TextFrames.AreaText(myPathItem2)
'Use the NextFrame property to thread the frames
myTextFrame1.NextFrame = myTextFrame2
appRef.Redraw()
Threaded frames make a single story object
Threaded frames make a single
story
object. To observe this, run the following VBScript after running the
script in
“Threaded frames” on page 51
.
Set myDoc = appRef.ActiveDocument
myMsg = "alert(""There are " & CStr(myDoc.TextFrames.Count) & " text frames. "")"
appRef.DoJavaScript myMsg
myMsg = "alert(""There are " & CStr(myDoc.Stories.Count) & " storiess. "")"
appRef.DoJavaScript myMsg
Creating paths and shapes
This section explains how to create items that contain paths.
Paths
To create a freeform path, specify a series of path points, as a series of either x-y coordinates or
PathPoint
objects.