Adobe InDesign CS6 Server Scripting Guide In Design

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ADOBE® INDESIGN® CS6

ADOBE INDESIGN CS6 SERVER

SCRIPTING GUIDE

 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Adobe® InDesign® CS6 Server Scripting Guide

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Document Update Status

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3

Contents

1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Intended audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

For more information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

2 Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

What you need for InDesign Server scripting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Using Scripts from this Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Other JavaScript development options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

InDesign and InDesign Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Your first InDesign Server script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Adding features to “Hello World” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

A simple script for running scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Converting an InDesign script to InDesign Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

3 Constructing a Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Setting up measurement units and master spread margins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Adding a baseline grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Adding master page items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Adding master text frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Overriding master page items and adding text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Adding and applying a paragraph style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Placing a text file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Placing a graphic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

4 Middle Eastern Scripting Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Setting up a document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Working with text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Setting paragraph attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Setting character attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Using styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Working with tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

4

1Introduction

Adobe® InDesign® Server is a powerful addition to your Adobe InDesign tool set. In addition to the high

quality typesetting, page-layout, color, and output features of InDesign, InDesign Server provides extra

capabilities for enterprise-wide document processing.

This document gives important background information for creating scripts for InDesign Server. It

provides simple examples of common scripting operations.

NOTE: We strongly recommend that you develop InDesign Server scripts using InDesign CS6.

Intended audience

This document is for software developers who want to extend the capabilities of Adobe InDesign by

writing plug-ins or by writing applications that integrate InDesign with a publication workflow. This

document assumes that:

You are a programmer with a working understanding of one of the supported scripting languages:

AppleScript, JavaScript, or Visual Basic.

You have a basic understanding of the InDesign scripting object model.

You have a basic understanding of TCP/IP-based, client-server environments.

You are familiar with SOAP and know how to use it.

You are familiar with your system’s and your network server’s port configurations and know how to

configure them.

You or your team are experienced at building and supporting customer solutions.

For more information

Getting Started with Adobe InDesign Server Development provides basic information about running

InDesign Server, including installation instructions and system requirements. It includes a simple

demonstration of InDesign Server’s capabilities.

To learn scripting terminology and to understand the InDesign object model, read "Scripting and the

InDesign object model" in the Adobe InDesign Scripting Tutorial.

Adobe InDesign Scripting Guide provides details on creating scripts for InDesign.

For details about AppleScript, VBScript, or JavaScript, see the documentation for those languages.

InDesign online scripting resources

For more information on InDesign Server scripting, see the following Web sites:

http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/scripting/index.html

CHAPTER Introduction For more information 5

http://forums.adobe.com/community/indesign/indesign_scripting— The InDesign scripting

user-to-user forum. In the forum, scripters can ask questions, post answers, and share their newest

scripts. The forum contains hundreds of sample scripts.

http://www.adobe.com/products/indesign/scripting/index.html

6

2Getting Started

This chapter introduces the languages used for scripting and the differences between scripting for

InDesign Server and for InDesign. It provides instructions for creating a simple script and for converting

InDesign scripts to InDesign Server scripts. And it provides a simple script for running scripts.

What you need for InDesign Server scripting

The language you use to write scripts depends on the scripting system of your platform: AppleScript for

Mac OS®, VBScript for Windows®, or JavaScript for either platform. Although the scripting languages differ,

the ways in which they work with InDesign are very similar.

Each sample script in this document is shown in all three scripting languages. Translating a script from one

language to another is fairly easy.

JavaScript

InDesign supports JavaScript for cross-platform scripting in both Mac OS and Windows. InDesign’s

JavaScript support is based on an Adobe implementation of JavaScript known as ExtendScript. The

ExtendScript interpreter conforms to the current, ECMA 262 standard for JavaScript. All language features

of JavaScript 1.5 are supported. Adobe Illustrator®, Adobe Photoshop®, and other Adobe Creative Suite®

products also use the ExtendScript JavaScript interpreter.

While you can write scripts using other versions of JavaScript, like Microsoft® JScript (on Windows) or Late

Night Software’s OSA JavaScript (on Mac OS), the terms you use in those languages are not the same as the

terms you use in ExtendScript. ExtendScript examples do not work in other JavaScript versions.

Because ExtendScript tools and features are used in several Adobe products, we consolidated all

ExtendScript documentation. To learn more about JavaScript utilities like the ScriptUI user-interface

module and the ExtendScript Toolkit (a JavaScript development environment and object-model

inspector), see JavaScript Tools Guide.

You can also create scripts for InDesign Server that interact with other Creative Suite 5 applications, using

ActionsScript and the Creative Suite extensibility model; see “Other JavaScript development options” on

page 7.

Windows

To use InDesign scripting in Windows, you can use JavaScript or some version of Microsoft Visual Basic, like

VBScript.

The Visual Basic tutorial scripts in this document are written in VBScript. We chose VBScript because no

added software is required to run or edit VBScripts.

Other versions of Visual Basic include Visual Basic 5 Control Creation Edition (CCE), Visual Basic 6, Visual

Basic .NET, and Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition. Versions of Visual Basic before Visual Basic .NET work well

with InDesign scripting. Visual Basic .NET and newer versions do not work as well, because they lack the

Variant data type, which is used extensively in InDesign scripting.

CHAPTER Getting Started Using Scripts from this Document 7

Many applications contain Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel,

Microsoft Visio, or AutoCAD. Although you can use VBA to create InDesign scripts, InDesign does not

include VBA.

To use VBScript or Visual Basic for InDesign scripting in Windows XP, you must install InDesign from a user

account that has Administrator privileges. After you complete the installation, any user can run InDesign

scripts, and any user can add scripts to the InDesign Scripts panel.

Mac OS

To use InDesign scripting on Mac OS, you can use AppleScript or JavaScript. To write AppleScripts, you

must have AppleScript version 1.6 or higher and an AppleScript script editor. AppleScript comes with all

Apple® systems, and it can be downloaded gratis from the Apple Web site. The Apple Script Editor is

included with the Mac OS. Third-party script editors also are available; for example, Script Debugger (from

Late Night Software, http://www.latenightsw.com).

Using Scripts from this Document

To use any script from this document:

1. Copy the script from this Adobe PDF document and paste it into your script editor, such as the Apple

Script Editor (for AppleScript examples), ExtendScript Toolkit (for JavaScript examples), or a text editor

like Notepad (for VBScript examples).

2. Save the script as a plain text file, using the appropriate file extension:

AppleScript: .applescript

JavaScript: .jsx

VBScript: .vbs

3. Run the script from your script editor, or send the script to InDesign Server using the sample client.

NOTE: If you are entering the JavaScript examples, it is very important to use the same capitalization shown

in the example. JavaScript is case-sensitive, and the scripts will fail if they do not use the capitalization

shown. The AppleScript and VBScript examples are not case-sensitive.

NOTE: If you are copying and pasting scripts from this document, be aware that line breaks caused by the

layout of the document can cause errors in your script. As it can be very difficult to find such errors, we

recommend that you use the scripts in the zip archive.

Other JavaScript development options

You can use the ExtendScript Toolkit to create JavaScript scripts explicitly for InDesign Server, or you can

use the Creative Suite Extension Builder (CS Extension Builder) to develop CS extensions in ActionScript. CS

extensions are Flash-based (SWF) and can potentially work in a variety of Creative Suite applications.

Creative Suite applications have an extensibility infrastructure that allows developers to extend the

capabilities of the applications; the infrastructure is based on Flash/Flex technology, and each CS

extension is delivered as a compiled Flash (SWF) file. Creative Suite includes the Extension Manager to

enable installation of CS extensions.

CHAPTER Getting Started InDesign and InDesign Server 8

An example of a Creative Suite extension that ships with the point products is Adobe Kuler. Kuler has a

consistent user interface across the different suite applications, but has different logic in each, adapted to

the host application.

The user interface for an extension is written in ActionScript, using the Flex framework. A CS extension is

typically accessed through its own menu item in the application’s Extensions menu. CS Extension Builder

allows you to design the user interface interactively using the Design view of FlashBuilder. It also allows

you to develop all of the application logic for your CS6 extension in ActionScript; you can develop and

debug your extension in the familiar FlashBuilder environment.

To develop your application logic, we recommend using the Creative Suite ActionScript Wrapper Library

(CSAWLib), which exposes the scripting DOM of each host application as an ActionScript library. This is

tightly integrated with the CS Extension Builder environment, which includes wizards to help you build

your extension’s basic structure, and run and debug your code against suite applications such as Adobe

InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator.

The methods, properties, and behavior of the scripting DOM is as described in the JavaScript Scripting

Reference for the host application. For details of how to use CS Extension Builder and the wrapper libraries,

see the Creative Suite SDK documentation, which is accessible from within the Flash Builder or Eclipse

Help system when you have installed CS Extension Builder.

InDesign and InDesign Server

This document presents scripts that show how to create simple documents using InDesign Server. The

bulk of the scripting documentation for InDesign Server, however, is in the documentation for the desktop

(that is, nonserver) version of InDesign.

We assume that you are developing your InDesign Server scripts using InDesign CS6, and that you have

read Adobe InDesign Scripting Tutorial and Adobe InDesign Scripting Guide for the scripting language you

want to use.

We also assume that you are familiar with the details of your InDesign Server installation. For the purposes

of this document, we present sample scripts that work with a copy of InDesign Server on the same system

as your scripting development environment.

InDesign is an essential tool for developing scripts for InDesign Server. We assume that you will develop

scripts using InDesign before using them with InDesign Server, because it is much easier to test and debug

scripts when you can see the objects being created. To see the result of your script in InDesign Server, you

would have to save the document and open it using InDesign, or export the document and view the

exported file in another program (like Acrobat® or Adobe Reader®). If you use InDesign to develop your

InDesign Server scripts, you can reduce your development time dramatically.

Though the two programs are very similar, their scripting object models differ slightly. The following

sections discuss objects, properties, and methods in InDesign that are not in InDesign Server. Keep these

in mind as you convert scripts from InDesign to InDesign Server.

Active document

Many InDesign scripts refer to the front-most document in the user interface using the active document

(AppleScript), activeDocument (JavaScript), or ActiveDocument (VBScript) property of the application

object. This property does not exist in InDesign Server. Instead, you can refer to documents by their index

or name.

CHAPTER Getting Started Your first InDesign Server script 9

Active script

Many InDesign scripts refer to the currently running script to locate other script files or resources. InDesign

Server does not have this property. Instead, locate the assets the script will need in specific locations on

your server or system, then refer to those locations using complete file paths.

Active windows and spreads

InDesign scripts often refer to the active window or the active spread of the active window. These

user-interface properties are not supported by InDesign server.

Selection

As you would expect, InDesign server does not have an object corresponding to the user selection. When

you convert scripts from InDesign, you must remove any reference to the selection and provide references

to objects based on other qualities (like the object id, index, or label).

Dialogs

InDesign can create modal dialog boxes using the dialog object and populate them with common

user-interface controls, like check boxes, text-entry fields, and radio buttons. InDesign server does not

support the dialog object or any user-interface controls.

Copy and paste

Because InDesign Server has no user interface, it also lacks the copy and paste features of InDesign.

Instead of using copy and paste, use duplicate and move. Both methods can create copies of objects, and

can move objects from one document to another.

Your first InDesign Server script

The traditional first project in any programming language is to display, or print, the message “Hello World!”

In this example, we create a new InDesign Server publication, add a frame containing this message, and

save the document. At that point, you can open and view the document using InDesign.

NOTE: These examples assume that you are entering and running the script on the system on which

InDesign Server is installed. For instructions on running scripts using the Test Client or SOAP commands,

see Introduction to Adobe InDesign Server Development.

AppleScript

To create an AppleScript script:

1. Locate and open the AppleScript Editor.

2. Enter the following script. The lines preceded by double dashes (--) are comments and are ignored by

the scripting system. They are included to describe the operation of the program. As you look through

the script, you will see how we create, then address, each object in turn. The AppleScript command

tell specifies which object will receive the next message we send.

CHAPTER Getting Started Your first InDesign Server script 10

--HelloWorld.applescript

tell application "InDesignServer"

--Create a new document.

set myDocument to make document

--Get a reference to the first page.

tell myDocument

--Create a new text frame on the first page.

tell page 1

set myTextFrame to make text frame

--Change the size of the text frame.

set geometric bounds of myTextFrame to {"6p", "6p", "18p", "18p"}

--Enter text in the text frame.

set contents of myTextFrame to "Hello World!"

end tell

--Save the file (fill in a valid file path).

save to "Macintosh HD:HelloWorld.indd"

end tell

--Close the document.

close document 1

end tell

3. Save the script as a text file with the file extension .applescript.

4. To run the script from the Script Editor, click the Run button.

5. Open and view the document with InDesign.

JavaScript

To create a JavaScript:

1. Using the ExtendScript Toolkit, enter the following script:

//HelloWorld.jsx

//Create a new document.

var myDocument = app.documents.add();

//Get a reference to the first page.

var myPage = myDocument.pages.item(0);

//Create a text frame.

var myTextFrame = myPage.textFrames.add();

//Specify the size and shape of the text frame.

myTextFrame.geometricBounds = ["6p0", "6p0", "18p0", "18p0"];

//Enter text in the text frame.

myTextFrame.contents = "Hello World!";

//Save the document (fill in a valid file path).

myDocument.save(new File("/c/HelloWorld.indd"));

//Close the document.

app.documents.item(0).close();

2. Save the text as a plain text file with the file extension .jsx.

3. Choose InDesign Server from the target drop-down menu.

4. Click Run.

5. Open and view the document with InDesign.

CHAPTER Getting Started Adding features to “Hello World” 11

VBScript

To create a VBScript:

1. Using any text editor (such as Notepad), enter the following script:

Rem HelloWorld.vbs

Set myInDesignServer = CreateObject("InDesignServer.Application")

Rem Create a new document.

Set myDocument = myInDesignServer.Documents.Add

Rem Get a reference to the first page.

Set myPage = myDocument.Pages.Item(1)

Rem Create a text frame.

Set myTextFrame = myPage.TextFrames.Add

Rem Specify the size and shape of the text frame.

myTextFrame.GeometricBounds = Array("6p0", "6p0", "18p0", "18p0")

Rem Enter text in the text frame.

myTextFrame.Contents = "Hello World!"

Rem Save the document (fill in a valid file path).

myDocument.Save "c:\HelloWorld.indd"

Rem Close the document.

myInDesignServer.Documents.Item(1).Close

2. Save the file as text with the file extension .vbs.

3. Use the InDesign Server sample client to run the script.

4. Open and view the document with InDesign.

Adding features to “Hello World”

Next, we create a script that creates another “Hello World” document. Our second script will do the

following:

Use a function (or handler in AppleScript) to get the page dimensions and page margins of a

document.

Resize a text frame.

Change the formatting of the text in the text frame.

Export as PDF.

AppleScript

To create the script:

1. Choose File > New in the Script Editor and enter the following script:

CHAPTER Getting Started Adding features to “Hello World” 12

--ImprovedHelloWorld.applescript

tell application "InDesignServer"

set myDocument to make document

set myPage to page 1 of myDocument

tell myPage

set myTextFrame to make text frame

end tell

set contents of myTextFrame to "Hello World!"

--Get page width and page height using the function "myGetBounds".

set myBounds to my myGetBounds(myDocument, myPage)

--Resize the text frame to match the publication margins.

set geometric bounds of myTextFrame to myBounds

set myParagraph to object reference of paragraph 1 of myTextFrame

--Change the font, size, and alignment.

--Enter the name of a font on your system, if necessary.

try

set myFont to font "Arial" of application "InDesignServer"

set applied font of myParagraph to myFont

end try

--Change the size of the text.

set point size of myParagraph to 48

--Set the justification of the paragraph to center align.

set justification of myParagraph to center align

--Set the first baseline offset of the text frame to ascent.

set first baseline offset of text frame preferences of myTextFrame

to ascent offset

--Set the vertical justification of the text frame to center.

set vertical justification of text frame preferences of

myTextFrame to center align

--Export the document as PDF (fill in a valid file path).

tell myDocument

--You'll need to fill in a valid file path on your system.

export format PDF type to "Macintosh HD:ImprovedHelloWorld.pdf"

end tell

--Close the document.

close document 1 saving no

end tell

on myGetBounds(myDocument, myPage)

tell application "InDesignServer"

set myPageHeight to page height of document preferences of myDocument

set myPageWidth to page width of document preferences of myDocument

tell margin preferences of myPage

if side of myPage is left hand then

set myX2 to left

set myX1 to right

else

set myX1 to left

set myX2 to right

end if

set myY1 to top

set myY2 to bottom

end tell

set myX2 to myPageWidth - myX2

set myY2 to myPageHeight - myY2

return {myY1, myX1, myY2, myX2}

end tell

end myGetBounds

2. Save the script as a text file with the file extension .applescript.

CHAPTER Getting Started Adding features to “Hello World” 13

3. To run the script, click the Run button in the Script Editor.

4. Open and view the exported PDF with Acrobat or Adobe Reader.

JavaScript

To create the script:

1. Using the ExtendScript Toolkit, enter the following script:

//ImprovedHelloWorld.jsx

var myDocument = app.documents.add();

var myPage = myDocument.pages.item(0);

var myTextFrame = myPage.textFrames.add();

myTextFrame.contents = "Hello World!";

//Get page width and page height using the function "myGetBounds".

myBounds = myGetBounds(myDocument, myPage);

//Resize the text frame to match the publication margins.

myTextFrame.geometricBounds = myBounds;

var myParagraph = myTextFrame.paragraphs.item(0);

//Change the font, size, and alignment.

//Enter the name of a font on your system, if necessary.

try {

var myFont = app.fonts.item("Arial");

myParagraph.appliedFont = myFont;

}

catch (e){}

//Change the size of the text.

myParagraph.pointSize = 48;

//Set the justification of the paragraph to center align.

myParagraph.justification = Justification.centerAlign

//Set the first baseline offset of the text frame to ascent.

myTextFrame.textFramePreferences.firstBaselineOffset = FirstBaseline.ascentOffset;

//Set the vertical justification of the text frame to center.

myTextFrame.textFramePreferences.verticalJustification =

VerticalJustification.centerAlign;

//Export the document as PDF (fill in a valid file path).

myDocument.exportFile(ExportFormat.pdfType, new

File("/c/ImprovedHelloWorld.pdf"));

//Close the document.

app.documents.item(0).close();

function myGetBounds(myDocument, myPage){

var myPageWidth = myDocument.documentPreferences.pageWidth;

var myPageHeight = myDocument.documentPreferences.pageHeight

if(myPage.side == PageSideOptions.leftHand){

var myX2 = myPage.marginPreferences.left;

var myX1 = myPage.marginPreferences.right;

}

else{

var myX1 = myPage.marginPreferences.left;

var myX2 = myPage.marginPreferences.right;

}

var myY1 = myPage.marginPreferences.top;

var myX2 = myPageWidth - myX2;

var myY2 = myPageHeight - myPage.marginPreferences.bottom;

return [myY1, myX1, myY2, myX2];

}

CHAPTER Getting Started Adding features to “Hello World” 14

2. Save the text as a plain text file with the file extension .jsx.

3. Choose InDesign Server from the target drop-down menu.

4. Click the Run button.

5. Open and view the exported PDF with Acrobat or Adobe Reader.

VBScript

To create the script:

1. Start any text editor (such as Notepad) and enter the following script:

Rem ImprovedHelloWorld.vbs

Set myInDesignServer = CreateObject("InDesignServer.Application")

Set myDocument = myInDesignServer.Documents.Add

Set myPage = myDocument.Pages.Item(1)

Set myTextFrame = myPage.TextFrames.Add

myTextFrame.Contents = "Hello World!"

Rem Get page width and page height using the function "myGetBounds".

myBounds = myGetBounds(myDocument, myPage)

Rem Resize the text frame to match the publication margins.

myTextFrame.GeometricBounds = myBounds

Set myParagraph = myTextFrame.Paragraphs.Item(1)

Rem Change the font, size, and alignment.

Rem Enter the name of a font on your system, if necessary.

If TypeName(myInDesignServer.Fonts.Item("Arial"))<>"Nothing" Then

Set myFont = myInDesignServer.Fonts.Item("Arial")

myParagraph.AppliedFont = myFont

End If

myParagraph.PointSize = 48

Rem If you are running the script using the Application.DoScript

Rem method, you can use the full name of the justification enumeration:

Rem myParagraph.Justification = idJustification.idCenterAlign

Rem If you are running the script from Windows Explorer, use

Rem the decimal version of the enumeration:

myParagraph.Justification = 1667591796

Rem Set the first baseline offset of the text frame to ascent.

Rem If you are running the script using the Application.DoScript

Rem method, you can use the full name of the justification enumeration:

Rem myTextFrame.TextFramePreferences.FirstBaselineOffset =

idFirstBaseline.idAscentOffset

Rem If you are running the script from Windows Explorer, use

Rem the decimal version of the enumeration:

myTextFrame.TextFramePreferences.FirstBaselineOffset = 1296135023

Rem Set the vertical justification of the text frame to center.

Rem If you are running the script using the Application.DoScript

Rem method, you can use the full name of the justification enumeration:

Rem myTextFrame.TextFramePreferences.VerticalJustification =

idVerticalJustification.idCenterAlign

Rem If you are running the script from Windows Explorer, use

Rem the decimal version of the enumeration:

myTextFrame.TextFramePreferences.VerticalJustification = 1667591796

Rem Export the document as PDF (fill in a valid file path).

Rem myDocument.Export idExportFormat.idPDFType "c:\ImprovedHelloWorld.indd"

myDocument.Export 1952403524, "c:\ImprovedHelloWorld.pdf"

Rem Close the document.

CHAPTER Getting Started A simple script for running scripts 15

myInDesignServer.Documents.Item(1).Close

Function myGetBounds(myDocument, myPage)

myPageWidth = myDocument.documentPreferences.pageWidth

myPageHeight = myDocument.documentPreferences.pageHeight

If myPage.Side = idPageSideOptions.idLeftHand Then

myX2 = myPage.marginPreferences.Left

myX1 = myPage.marginPreferences.Right

Else

myX1 = myPage.marginPreferences.Left

myX2 = myPage.marginPreferences.Right

End If

myX2 = myPageWidth - myX2

myY1 = myPage.marginPreferences.Top

myY2 = myPageHeight - myPage.marginPreferences.bottom

myGetBounds = Array(myY1, myX1, myY2, myX2)

End Function

2. Save the text as a plain text file with the file extension .vbs.

3. Use the InDesign Server sample client to run the script.

4. Open and view the exported PDF with Acrobat or Adobe Reader.

A simple script for running scripts

Another way to run a script in InDesign Server is to take advantage of the do script (in AppleScript;

doScript in JavaScript; or DoScript in VBScript) method to send a script to the application. This gives you

a way to send JavaScripts directly to the application, rather than running them from the ExtendScript

Toolkit. In this section, we provide AppleScript and VBScript examples that you can run from the Finder (on

Mac OS) or Explorer (on Windows). For more information about working with the do script method, see

Adobe InDesign Scripting Guide.

This script is something like a miniature sample client for use on your local system.

AppleScript

set myScript file to choose file with prompt "Select a script file:"

tell application "Finder"

set myFileExtension to name extension of myScriptFile

end tell

tell application "Adobe InDesign Server CS6"

if myFileExtension is "jsx" then

do script myScriptFile language javascript

else

do script myScriptFile language applescript language

end if

end tell

CHAPTER Getting Started Converting an InDesign script to InDesign Server 16

VBScript

Set myDialog = CreateObject("UserAccounts.CommonDialog")

myDialog.Filter = "JavaScript Files|*.jsx|VBScript Files|*.vbs|"

myDialog.FilterIndex = 1

myDialog.InitialDir = "C:\"

myResult = myDialog.ShowOpen

If myResult = True Then

myScriptFile = myDialog.FileName

Set myFileSystemObject = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

myFileExtension = myFileSystemObject.GetExtensionName(myScriptFile)

If myFileExtension = "jsx" Or myFileExtension = "vbs" Then

Set myInDesign = CreateObject("InDesign.Application")

Rem Use the decimal form of the enumerations, since this script

Rem will be run from Explorer.

If myFileExtension = "jsx" Then

Rem idScriptLanguage.idJavaScript = 1246973031

myInDesign.DoScript myScriptFile, 1246973031

Else

Rem idScriptLanguage.idVisualBasic = 1447185511

myInDesign.DoScript myScriptFile, 1447185511

End If

End If

End If

Converting an InDesign script to InDesign Server

InDesign comes with a variety of sample scripts, some of which might be useful in an InDesign Server

production environment. The FindChangeByList script is a good example; it performs a series of

find/change operations defined by a tab-delimited text file. The functions in this script could be very

useful if your use of InDesign server involves many find/change operations.

The following steps show how to convert FindChangeByList to an InDesign Server script (see

FindChangeByList for the complete script).

AppleScript

1. Replace the main handler with the following:

on main()

tell application "InDesign Server"

if (count documents) is greater than 0 then

--Provide a story object or a document object

my myFindChangeByList(document 1, false)

end if

end tell

end main

2. Delete the myDisplayDialog handler.

3. Change the line:

set myFindChangeFile to my myFindFile("FindChangeSupport:FindChangeList.txt")

to (you will have to fill in a valid file path for your system):

CHAPTER Getting Started Converting an InDesign script to InDesign Server 17

set myFindChangeFile to "yukino:FindChangeSupport:FindChangeList.txt"

Delete the "myFindChangeFile" handler

4. Delete the myGetScriptPath handler.

JavaScript

1. Replace the main function with the following:

function main(){

if(app.documents.length > 0){

//Provide a story object or a document object.

myFindChangeByList(app.documents.item(0), false);

}

}

2. Delete the myDisplayDialog function.

3. Change the line:

var myFindChangeFile = "/c/FindChangeSupport/FindChangeList.txt";

to (you will have to fill in a valid file path for your system):

set myFindChangeFile to "yukino:FindChangeSupport:FindChangeList.txt"

4. Delete the myFindChangeFile function.

5. Delete the myGetScriptPath function.

VBScript

1. Replace the main function with the following:

Function main()

Set myInDesign = CreateObject("InDesignServer.Application")

If myInDesign.Documents.Count > 0 then

Rem Provide a story object or a document object.

myFindChangeByList myInDesign.Documents.Item(1), False

End If

End Function

Delete the "myDisplayDialog" handler.

2. Change the line:

myFindChangeFile = "\FindChangeSupport\FindChangeList.txt"

to (you will have to fill in a valid file path for your system):

myFindChangeFile = "c:\FindChangeSupport\FindChangeList.txt"

3. Delete the myFindChangeFile function.

4. Delete the myGetScriptPath function.

18

3Constructing a Document

Obviously, our “Hello World!” script is not very useful in your daily work. While you can use an InDesign

script at any point in your production process, we start by creating scripts that start at the same point you

do—creating new documents, setting page margins, and creating and applying master pages.

Overview

In this chapter, we create one long script by adding short blocks of scripting code. Each block

demonstrates a specific area or task in InDesign Server scripting. As you enter each block, you can run the

script to see what happens. If you are using AppleScript, you will need to add the text end tell to the end

of the script before you run it, then remove the text before continuing.

The following figure shows the objects with which we will work in this chapter.

.

NOTE: The preceding figure uses the JavaScript version of the scripting terms. For AppleScript, you would

add spaces between words (view preferences, rather than viewPreferences). For VBScript, you would

use an item index starting at 1, rather than 0 (masterSpreads.item(1), rather than

masterSpreads.item(0)).

document

viewPreferences

horizontalMeasurementUnits

masterSpreads.item(0)

pages.item(0)

verticalMeasurementUnits

rulerOrigin

marginPreferences

top

left

bottom

right

columnCount

columnGutter

CHAPTER Constructing a Document Setting up measurement units and master spread margins 19

Setting up measurement units and master spread margins

The following script shows how to create a new document and set the margins of the first master spread.

In this section, we show how to build a complex script using simple building blocks of scripting code. Start

your script editor and enter the following lines in the scripting language of your choice.

AppleScript

Enter the following code in the Script Editor, or open the DocumentConstruction.applescript tutorial

script:

tell application "Adobe InDesign Server CS6"

--Create a new document.

set myDocument to make document

--Set the measurement units and ruler origin.

set horizontal measurement units of view preferences to points

set vertical measurement units of view preferences to points

set ruler origin of view preferences to page origin

--Get a reference to the first master spread.

set myMasterSpread to master spread 1 of myDocument

--Get a reference to the margin preferences of

--the first page in the master spread.

set myMarginPreferences to margin preferences of page 1 of myMasterSpread

--Now set up the page margins and columns.

set left of myMarginPreferences to 84

set top of myMarginPreferences to 70

set right of myMarginPreferences to 70

set bottom of myMarginPreferences to 78

set column count of myMarginPreferences to 3

set column gutter of myMarginPreferences to 14

--Page margins and columns for the right-hand page.

set myMarginPreferences to margin preferences of page 2 of myMasterSpread

set left of myMarginPreferences to 84

set top of myMarginPreferences to 70

set right of myMarginPreferences to 70

set bottom of myMarginPreferences to 78

set column count of myMarginPreferences to 3

set column gutter of myMarginPreferences to 14

CHAPTER Constructing a Document Setting up measurement units and master spread margins 20

JavaScript

Enter the following code in the ExtendScript Toolkit, or open the DocumentConstruction.jsx tutorial

script:

//Create a new document.

var myDocument = app.documents.add();

//Set the measurement units and ruler origin.

myDocument.viewPreferences.horizontalMeasurementUnits = MeasurementUnits.points;

myDocument.viewPreferences.verticalMeasurementUnits = MeasurementUnits.points;

myDocument.viewPreferences.rulerOrigin = RulerOrigin.pageOrigin;

//Get a reference to the first master spread.

var myMasterSpread = myDocument.masterSpreads.item(0);

//Get a reference to the margin preferences of the first page in the master spread.

var myMarginPreferences = myMasterSpread.pages.item(0).marginPreferences;

//Now set up the page margins and columns.

myMarginPreferences.left = 84;

myMarginPreferences.top = 70;

myMarginPreferences.right = 70;

myMarginPreferences.bottom = 78;

myMarginPreferences.columnCount = 3;

myMarginPreferences.columnGutter = 14;

//Page margins and columns for the right-hand page.

var myMarginPreferences = myMasterSpread.pages.item(1).marginPreferences;

myMarginPreferences.left = 84;

myMarginPreferences.top = 70;

myMarginPreferences.right = 70;

myMarginPreferences.bottom = 78;

myMarginPreferences.columnCount = 3;

myMarginPreferences.columnGutter = 14;

CHAPTER Constructing a Document Adding a baseline grid 21

VBScript

Enter the following code in your script or text editor, or open the DocumentConstruction.vbs tutorial

script.

Set myInDesign = CreateObject("InDesign.Application")

Rem Create a new document.

Set myDocument = myInDesign.Documents.Add()

Rem Set the measurement units and ruler origin.

myDocument.ViewPreferences.HorizontalMeasurementUnits =

idMeasurementUnits.idPoints

myDocument.ViewPreferences.VerticalMeasurementUnits = idMeasurementUnits.idPoints

myDocument.ViewPreferences.RulerOrigin = idRulerOrigin.idPageOrigin

Rem Get a reference to the first master spread.

Set myMasterSpread = myDocument.MasterSpreads.Item(1)

Rem Get a reference to the margin preferences of the first page in the master spread.

Set myMarginPreferences = myMasterSpread.Pages.Item(1).MarginPreferences

Rem Now set up the page margins and columns.

myMarginPreferences.Left = 84

myMarginPreferences.Top = 70

myMarginPreferences.Right = 70

myMarginPreferences.Bottom = 78

myMarginPreferences.ColumnCount = 3

myMarginPreferences.ColumnGutter = 14

Rem Page margins and columns for the right-hand page.

Set myMarginPreferences = myMasterSpread.Pages.Item(2).MarginPreferences

myMarginPreferences.Left = 84

myMarginPreferences.Top = 70

myMarginPreferences.Right = 70

myMarginPreferences.Bottom = 78

myMarginPreferences.ColumnCount = 3

myMarginPreferences.ColumnGutter = 14

Adding a baseline grid

Now that we have a master spread set up, we add a baseline grid. Add the following script lines (from the

appropriate language) to the end of the script you created earlier. Here is a diagram (with the scripting

terms shown in their JavaScript form):

:

AppleScript

set myGridPreferences to grid preferences

set baseline division of myGridPreferences to 14

set baseline start of myGridPreferences to 70

set baseline grid shown of myGridPreferences to true

document

gridPreferences

baselineDivision

baselineStart

baselineGridShown

CHAPTER Constructing a Document Adding master page items 22

JavaScript

var myGridPreferences = myDocument.gridPreferences;

myGridPreferences.baselineDivision = 14;

myGridPreferences.baselineStart = 70;

myGridPreferences.baselineGridShown = true;

VBScript

Set myGridPreferences = myDocument.GridPreferences

myGridPreferences.BaselineDivision = 14

myGridPreferences.BaselineStart = 70

myGridPreferences.BaselineGridShown = True

Adding master page items

Next, we add two text frames to the master pages. These frames will contain the auto-page-number

special character and be positioned at the bottom of the page.

In the “Hello World” example, we created a text frame and specified its position and size using the

geometric bounds property—an array containing the top, left, bottom, and right coordinates for the

frame. The coordinates correspond to the corners of the frame, just as they would appear in the Control

panel. The geometric bounds are as follows: top = 728, left = 70, bottom = 742, and right = 528, as shown

in the following two figures (which show what it would look like in InDesign):

CHAPTER Constructing a Document Adding master page items 23

AppleScript

set myLeftPage to page 1 of myMasterSpread

set myRightPage to page 2 of myMasterSpread

tell myLeftPage

set myLeftFooter to make text frame

set geometric bounds of myLeftFooter to {728, 70, 742, 528}

set first baseline offset of text frame preferences of myLeftFooter to leading

offset

set contents of myLeftFooter to auto page number

set point size of character 1 of parent story of myLeftFooter to 11

set leading of character 1 of myLeftFooter to 14

end tell

tell myRightPage

set myRightFooter to make text frame

set geometric bounds of myRightFooter to {728, 84, 742, 542}

set first baseline offset of text frame preferences of myRightFooter to leading

offset

set contents of myRightFooter to auto page number

set point size of character 1 of parent story of myRightFooter to 11

set leading of character 1 of myRightFooter to 14

set justification of character 1 of myRightFooter to right align

end tell

JavaScript

var myMasterSpread = myDocument.masterSpreads.item(0);

var myLeftPage = myMasterSpread.pages.item(0);

var myRightPage = myMasterSpread.pages.item(1);

var myLeftFooter = myLeftPage.textFrames.add();

myLeftFooter.geometricBounds = [728, 70, 742, 528];

myLeftFooter.textFramePreferences.firstBaselineOffset = FirstBaseline.leadingOffset;

myLeftFooter.contents = SpecialCharacters.autoPageNumber;

myLeftFooter.parentStory.characters.item(0).pointSize = 11;

myLeftFooter.parentStory.characters.item(0).leading = 14;

var myRightFooter = myRightPage.textFrames.add();

myRightFooter.geometricBounds = [728, 84, 742, 542];

myRightFooter.textFramePreferences.firstBaselineOffset = FirstBaseline.leadingOffset;

myRightFooter.contents = SpecialCharacters.autoPageNumber;

myRightFooter.parentStory.characters.item(0).pointSize = 11;

myRightFooter.parentStory.characters.item(0).leading = 14;

myRightFooter.parentStory.characters.item(0).justification =

Justification.rightAlign;

CHAPTER Constructing a Document Adding master text frames 24

VBScript

Set myMasterSpread = myDocument.MasterSpreads.Item(1)

Set myLeftPage = myMasterSpread.Pages.Item(1)

Set myRightPage = myMasterSpread.Pages.Item(2)

Set myLeftFooter = myLeftPage.TextFrames.Add

myLeftFooter.GeometricBounds = Array(728, 70, 742, 528)

myLeftFooter.TextFramePreferences.FirstBaselineOffset =

idFirstBaseline.idLeadingOffset

myLeftFooter.Contents = idSpecialCharacters.idAutoPageNumber

myLeftFooter.ParentStory.Characters.Item(1).PointSize = 11

myLeftFooter.ParentStory.Characters.Item(1).Leading = 14

Set myRightFooter = myRightPage.TextFrames.Add()

myRightFooter.GeometricBounds = Array(728, 84, 742, 542)

myRightFooter.TextFramePreferences.FirstBaselineOffset =

idFirstBaseline.idLeadingOffset

myRightFooter.Contents = idSpecialCharacters.idAutoPageNumber

myRightFooter.ParentStory.Characters.Item(1).PointSize = 11

myRightFooter.ParentStory.Characters.Item(1).Leading = 14

myRightFooter.ParentStory.Characters.Item(1).Justification =

idJustification.idRightAlign

Adding master text frames

Next, we add master text frames. The following block diagram shows the objects and properties with

which we will work (the diagram uses the JavaScript form of the scripting terms):

document

masterSpreads.item(0)

pages.item(0)

textFrames.item(0)

textFramePreferences

firstBaselineOffset

textColumnCount

textColumnGutter

geometricBounds

label

nextTextFrame

CHAPTER Constructing a Document Adding master text frames 25

AppleScript

tell myLeftPage

set myLeftTextFrame to make text frame

set geometric bounds of myLeftTextFrame to {70, 70, 714, 528}

set first baseline offset of text frame preferences of myLeftTextFrame to leading

offset

set text column count of text frame preferences of myLeftTextFrame to 3

set text column gutter of text frame preferences of myLeftTextFrame to 14

--Add a label to make the frame easier to find later on.

set label of myLeftTextFrame to "BodyTextFrame"

end tell

tell myRightPage

set myRightTextFrame to make text frame

set geometric bounds of myRightTextFrame to {70, 84, 714, 542}

set first baseline offset of text frame preferences of myRightTextFrame to leading

offset

set text column count of text frame preferences of myRightTextFrame to 3

set text column gutter of text frame preferences of myRightTextFrame to 14

--Add a label to make the frame easier to find later on.

set label of myRightTextFrame to "BodyTextFrame"

end tell

--Link the two frames using the next text frame property.

set next text frame of myLeftTextFrame to myRightTextFrame

JavaScript

var myLeftPage = myMasterSpread.pages.item(0);

var myRightPage = myMasterSpread.pages.item(1);

var myLeftTextFrame = myLeftPage.textFrames.add();

myLeftTextFrame.geometricBounds = [70, 70, 714, 528];

myLeftTextFrame.textFramePreferences.firstBaselineOffset =

FirstBaseline.leadingOffset;

myLeftTextFrame.textFramePreferences.textColumnCount = 3;

myLeftTextFrame.textFramePreferences.textColumnGutter = 14;

//Add a label to make the frame easier to find later on.

myLeftTextFrame.label = "BodyTextFrame";

var myRightTextFrame = myRightPage.textFrames.add();

myRightTextFrame.geometricBounds = [70, 84, 714, 542];

myRightTextFrame.textFramePreferences.firstBaselineOffset =

FirstBaseline.leadingOffset;

myRightTextFrame.textFramePreferences.textColumnCount = 3;

myRightTextFrame.textFramePreferences.textColumnGutter = 14;

//Add a label to make the frame easier to find later on.

myRightTextFrame.label = "BodyTextFrame";

//Link the two frames using the nextTextFrame property.

myLeftTextFrame.nextTextFrame = myRightTextFrame;

CHAPTER Constructing a Document Overriding master page items and adding text 26

VBScript

Set myLeftTextFrame = myLeftPage.TextFrames.Add

myLeftTextFrame.GeometricBounds = Array(70, 70, 714, 528)

myLeftTextFrame.TextFramePreferences.FirstBaselineOffset =

idFirstBaseline.idLeadingOffset

myLeftTextFrame.TextFramePreferences.TextColumnCount = 3

myLeftTextFrame.TextFramePreferences.TextColumnGutter = 14

Rem Add a label to make the frame easier to find later on.

myLeftTextFrame.Label = "BodyTextFrame"

Set myRightTextFrame = myRightPage.TextFrames.Add

myRightTextFrame.GeometricBounds = Array(70, 84, 714, 542)

myRightTextFrame.TextFramePreferences.FirstBaselineOffset =

idFirstBaseline.idLeadingOffset

myRightTextFrame.TextFramePreferences.TextColumnCount = 3

myRightTextFrame.TextFramePreferences.TextColumnGutter = 14

Rem Add a label to make the frame easier to find later on.

myRightTextFrame.Label = "BodyTextFrame"

Rem Link the two frames using the nextTextFrame property.

myLeftTextFrame.NextTextFrame = myRightTextFrame

Overriding master page items and adding text

Next, we override one of the master text frames we created and add text to it. Again, add this script to the

end of the script we have been working on.

AppleScript

tell text frame 1 of page 2 of master spread 1 of myDocument

set myTextFrame to override destination page page 1 of myDocument

end tell

--Add text by setting the contents of an insertion point to a string.

--In AppleScript, "return" is a return character.

set contents of insertion point 1 of myTextFrame to "Headline!" & return

JavaScript

var myTextFrame =

myDocument.masterSpreads.item(0).pages.item(1).textFrames.item(0).override(myDocument

.pages.item(0));

//Add text by setting the contents of an insertion point to a string.

//In JavaScript, "\r" is a return character.

myTextFrame.insertionPoints.item(0).contents = "Headline!\r";

VBScript

Set myTextFrame =

myDocument.MasterSpreads.Item(1).Pages.Item(2).TextFrames.Item(1).Override(myDocument

.Pages.Item(1))

Rem Add text by setting the contents of an insertion point to a string.

Rem In VBScript, vbCr is a return character.

myTextFrame.InsertionPoints.Item(1).Contents = "Headline!" & vbCr

CHAPTER Constructing a Document Adding and applying a paragraph style 27

Adding and applying a paragraph style

Our headline looks plain, so we format it using a paragraph style. First, we must create the paragraph style.

The following diagram shows the objects and properties we will work with (again, the text in this diagram

uses the JavaScript form of the scripting terms):

AppleScript

--First, check to see if the paragraph style already exists.

try

set myParagraphStyle to paragraph style "Heading 1" of myDocument

on error

--The paragraph style did not exist, so create it.

tell myDocument

set myParagraphStyle to make paragraph style with properties {name:"Heading 1"}

end tell

end try

--We'll need to create a color. Check to see if the color already exists.

try

set myColor to color "Red"

on error

--The color did not exist, so create it.

set myColor to make color with properties {name:"Red", model:process, color

value:{0, 100, 100, 0}}

end try

--Now set the formatting of the paragraph style.

set applied font of myParagraphStyle to "Arial"

set font style of myParagraphStyle to "Bold"

set point size of myParagraphStyle to 24

set space after of myParagraphStyle to 24

set space before of myParagraphStyle to 24

set fill color of myParagraphStyle to color "Red" of myDocument

--Apply the style to the paragraph.

tell paragraph 1 of myTextFrame to apply paragraph style using myParagraphStyle with

clearing overrides

--You could also use:

--set applied paragraph style of paragraph 1 of myTextFrame to myParagraphStyle

appliedFont

pointSize

spaceBefore

spaceAfter

fillColor

document

paragraphStyle

paragraphStyles

fontStyle

CHAPTER Constructing a Document Adding and applying a paragraph style 28

JavaScript

var myParagraphStyle = myDocument.paragraphStyles.item("Heading 1");

try {

var myName = myParagraphStyle.name;

}

catch (myError){

//The paragraph style did not exist, so create it.

myParagraphStyle = myDocument.paragraphStyles.add({name:"Heading 1"});

}

//We'll need to create a color. Check to see if the color already exists.

var myColor = myDocument.colors.item("Red");

try {

myName = myColor.name;

}

catch (myError){

//The color did not exist, so create it.

myColor = myDocument.colors.add({name:"Red", model:ColorModel.process,

colorValue:[0,100,100,0]});

}

//Now set the formatting of the paragraph style.

myParagraphStyle.appliedFont = "Arial";

myParagraphStyle.fontStyle = "Bold";

myParagraphStyle.pointSize = 24;

myParagraphStyle.spaceAfter = 24;

myParagraphStyle.spaceBefore = 24;

myParagraphStyle.fillColor = myDocument.colors.item("Red");

//Apply the style to the paragraph.

myDocument.pages.item(0).textFrames.item(0).paragraphs.item(0).applyParagraphStyle(

myParagraphStyle, true);

//You could also use:

//myDocument.pages.item(0).textFrames.item(0).paragraphs.item(0).appliedParagraphStyl

e = myParagraphStyle;

VBScript

Rem First, check to see if the paragraph style already exists.

Rem to do this, we disable error checking:

On Error Resume Next

Set myParagraphStyle = myDocument.ParagraphStyles.Item("Heading 1")

Rem if an error occurred on the previous line, then the paragraph

Rem style did not exist.

If Error.Number <> 0 Then

Set myParagraphStyle = myDocument.ParagraphStyles.Add

myParagraphStyle.Name = "Heading 1"

Error.Clear

End If

Rem We'll need to create a color. Check to see if the color already exists.

Set myColor = myDocument.Colors.Item("Red")

If Error.Number <> 0 Then

Set myColor = myDocument.Colors.Add

myColor.Name = "Red"

myColor.Model = idColorModel.idProcess

myColor.colorValue = Array(0, 100, 100, 0)

Error.Clear

End If

Rem Resume normal error handling.

On Error GoTo 0

CHAPTER Constructing a Document Placing a text file 29

Rem Now set the formatting of the paragraph style.

myParagraphStyle.AppliedFont = "Arial"

myParagraphStyle.FontStyle = "Bold"

myParagraphStyle.PointSize = 24

myParagraphStyle.SpaceAfter = 24

myParagraphStyle.SpaceBefore = 24

myParagraphStyle.FillColor = myDocument.Colors.Item("Red")

Rem Apply the style to the paragraph.

myDocument.Pages.Item(1).TextFrames.Item(1).Paragraphs.Item(1).ApplyParagraphStyle

myParagraphStyle, True

Rem You could also use:

Rem

myDocument.pages.item(1).textFrames.item(1).paragraphs.item(1).appliedParagraphStyle

= myParagraphStyle

Placing a text file

Next, we import a text file. We add the text after the headline in the first text frame on the first page. The

script displays a dialog box you can use to select the text file you want to import. Again, add this script to

the end of the script we have been working on.

AppleScript

--Display a standard open file dialog box to select a text file.

set myTextFile to choose file ("Choose a text file")

--If a text file was selected, and if you didn't press Cancel,

--place the text file at the first insertion point after the headline.

if myTextFile is not "" then

tell insertion point -1 of myTextFrame to place myTextFile

end if

JavaScript

//Display a standard open file dialog box to select a text file.

var myTextFile = File.openDialog("Choose a text file");

//If a text file was selected, and if you didn't press Cancel,

//place the text file at the first insertion point after the headline.

if((myTextFile != "")&&(myTextFile != null)){

myTextFrame.insertionPoints.item(-1).place(myTextFile);

}

CHAPTER Constructing a Document Placing a graphic 30

VBScript

Rem Display a standard open file dialog box to select a text file.

Rem VBScript does not have the ability to do this, so we'll use

Rem a JavaScript to get a file name. We'll run the JavaScript using

Rem InDesign's DoScript feature.

Rem Disable normal error handling.

On Error Resume Next

Rem Create a JavaScript as a string.

myJavaScriptString = "var myTextFile = File.openDialog(""Choose a text

file"");myTextFile.fsName;"

Rem Run the JavaScript using DoScript.

myFileName = myInDesign.DoScript(myJavaScriptString, idScriptLanguage.idJavascript)

If Error.Number = 0 Then

Rem Place the text file at the end of the text frame.

myTextFrame.InsertionPoints.Item(-1).Place myFileName

Error.Clear

End If

Rem Restore normal error handling.

On Error GoTo 0

Placing a graphic

Placing a graphic is like importing a text file. Again, the script displays a dialog box you can use to select

the graphic you want to place. When we place the graphic, InDesign Server returns a reference to the

graphic itself, rather than to the frame containing the graphic. To get a reference to the frame, use the

parent property of the graphic. Once we have that reference, we can apply an object style to the frame.

Again, add this script to the end of the script we have been working on.

AppleScript

--Display a standard open file dialog box to select a graphic file.

set myGraphicFile to choose file "Choose graphic file."

--If a graphic file was selected, and if you didn't press Cancel,

--place the graphic file on the page.

if myGraphicFile is not "" then

set myGraphic to place myGraphicFile on page 1 of myDocument

--Since you can place multiple graphics at once, the place method

--returns an array. To get the graphic you placed, get the first

--item in the array.

set myGraphic to item 1 of myGraphic

--Create an object style to apply to the graphic frame.

try

set myObjectStyle to object style "GraphicFrame" of myDocument on error

--The object style did not exist, so create it.

tell myDocument

set myObjectStyle to make object style with properties

{name:"GraphicFrame"}

end tell

end try

set enable stroke of myObjectStyle to true

set stroke weight of myObjectStyle to 3

set stroke type of myObjectStyle to stroke style "Solid" of myDocument

set stroke color of myObjectStyle to color "Red" of myDocument

CHAPTER Constructing a Document Placing a graphic 31

--The frame containing the graphic is the parent of the graphic.

set myFrame to parent of myGraphic

tell myFrame to apply object style using myObjectStyle

--Resize the frame to a specific size.

set geometric bounds of myFrame to {0, 0, 144, 144}

--Fit the graphic to the frame proportionally.

fit myFrame given proportionally

--Next, fit frame to the resized graphic.

fit myFrame given frame to content

set myBounds to geometric bounds of myFrame

set myGraphicWidth to (item 4 of myBounds) - (item 2 of myBounds)

--Move the graphic frame.

set myPageWidth to page width of document preferences of myDocument

set myMarginPreferences to margin preferences of page 1 of myDocument

set myTopMargin to top of myMarginPreferences

move myFrame to {myPageWidth - myGraphicWidth, myTopMargin}

--Apply a text wrap to the graphic frame.

set text wrap type of text wrap preferences

of myFrame to bounding box text wrap

set text wrap offset of text wrap preferences of myFrame to {24, 12, 24, 12}

end if

end tell

JavaScript

//Display a standard open file dialog box to select a graphic file.

var myGraphicFile = File.openDialog("Choose a graphic file");

//If a graphic file was selected, and if you didn't press Cancel,

//place the graphic file on the page.

if((myGraphicFile != "")&&(myGraphicFile != null)){

var myGraphic = myDocument.pages.item(0).place(myGraphicFile);

//Since you can place multiple graphics at once, the place method

//returns an array. To get the graphic you placed, get the first

//item in the array (JavaScript arrays start with item 0).

myGraphic = myGraphic[0];

//Create an object style to apply to the graphic frame.

var myObjectStyle = myDocument.objectStyles.item("GraphicFrame");

try {

var myName = myObjectStyle.name;

}

catch (myError){

//The object style did not exist, so create it.

myObjectStyle = myDocument.objectStyles.add({name:"GraphicFrame"});

}

myObjectStyle.enableStroke = true;

myObjectStyle.strokeWeight = 3;

myObjectStyle.strokeType = myDocument.strokeStyles.item("Solid");

myObjectStyle.strokeColor = myDocument.colors.item("Red");

//The frame containing the graphic is the parent of the graphic.

var myFrame = myGraphic.parent;

myFrame.applyObjectStyle(myObjectStyle, true);

//Resize the frame to a specific size.

myFrame.geometricBounds = [0,0,144,144];

//Fit the graphic to the frame proportionally.

myFrame.fit(FitOptions.proportionally);

//Next, fit frame to the resized graphic.

myFrame.fit(FitOptions.frameToContent);

var myBounds = myFrame.geometricBounds;

var myGraphicWidth = myBounds[3]-myBounds[1];

CHAPTER Constructing a Document Placing a graphic 32

//Move the graphic frame.

var myPageWidth = myDocument.documentPreferences.pageWidth;

var myTopMargin = myDocument.pages.item(0).marginPreferences.top;

myFrame.move([myPageWidth-myGraphicWidth, myTopMargin]);

//Apply a text wrap to the graphic frame.

myFrame.textWrapPreferences.textWrapType = TextWrapTypes.boundingBoxTextWrap;

myFrame.textWrapPreferences.textWrapOffset = [24, 12, 24, 12];

}

VBScript

Rem create an object style

On Error Resume Next

Set myObjectStyle = myDocument.ObjectStyles.Item("GraphicFrame")

If Error.Number <> 0 Then

Set myObjectStyle = myDocument.ObjectStyles.Add

myObjectStyle.Name = "GraphicFrame"

Error.Clear

End If

On Error GoTo 0

myObjectStyle.EnableStroke = True

myObjectStyle.StrokeWeight = 3

myObjectStyle.StrokeType = myDocument.StrokeStyles.Item("Solid")

myObjectStyle.StrokeColor = myDocument.Colors.Item("Red")

Rem Again, we'll use a JavaScript to get a file name.

Rem Disable normal error handling.

On Error Resume Next

Rem Create a JavaScript as a string.

myJavaScriptString = "var myTextFile = File.openDialog(""Choose a graphic

file"");myTextFile.fsName;"

Rem Run the JavaScript using DoScript.

myGraphicFileName = myInDesign.DoScript(myJavaScriptString,

idScriptLanguage.idJavascript)

If Error.Number = 0 Then

On Error GoTo 0

Set myGraphic = myDocument.Pages.Item(1).Place(myGraphicFileName)

Rem Since you can place multiple graphics at once, the place method

Rem returns an object collection. To get the graphic you placed, get the first

Rem item in the collection.

Set myGraphic = myGraphic.Item(1)

Rem Create an object style to apply to the graphic frame.

Rem The frame containing the graphic is the parent of the graphic.

Set myFrame = myGraphic.Parent

myFrame.ApplyObjectStyle myObjectStyle, True

Rem Resize the frame to a specific size.

myFrame.GeometricBounds = Array(0, 0, 144, 144)

Rem Fit the graphic to the frame proportionally.

myFrame.Fit idFitOptions.idProportionally

Rem Next, fit frame to the resized graphic.

myFrame.Fit idFitOptions.idFrameToContent

myBounds = myFrame.GeometricBounds

myGraphicWidth = myBounds(3) - myBounds(1)

Rem Move the graphic frame.

myPageWidth = myDocument.DocumentPreferences.PageWidth

myTopMargin = myDocument.Pages.Item(1).MarginPreferences.Top

myFrame.Move Array(myPageWidth - myGraphicWidth, myTopMargin)

CHAPTER Constructing a Document Placing a graphic 33

Rem Apply a text wrap to the graphic frame.

myFrame.TextWrapPreferences.TextWrapType = idTextWrapTypes.idBoundingBoxTextWrap

myFrame.TextWrapPreferences.TextWrapOffset = Array(24, 12, 24, 12)

End If

34

4Middle Eastern Scripting Guide

The Middle Eastern feature of InDesign Server provides support for designing and publishing documents

in Middle Eastern languages. This gives you unprecedented capability to build multilingual publications,

mixing Roman and Middle Eastern scripts with ease and flexibility in your layouts.

This chapter shows how to use Middle Eastern features with scripting. This chapter assumes that you are

familiar with Middle Eastern features in InDesign.

Setting up a document

Setting page binding

In a Roman publication, the binding of documents is always on the left. Conversely, in an Arabic or Hebrew

publication, binding is on the right. With InDesign Server, you can create a document in which the pages

are bound on the left edge or on the right edge. From InDesign Scripting, you can control this using the

pageBinding property. This property is part of the DocumentPreferences object and can get one value

from the PageBindingOptions enumeration (default, leftToRight or rightToLeft).

The following sample script creates a new document, and then sets or gets the page binding for the

created document (for the complete script, see PageBinding).

AppleScript

set myDocument to make document

tell document preferences of myDocument

set page binding to right to left

end tell

JavaScript

var myDocument = app.documents.add();

with(myDocument){

//set number of pages

documentPreferences.pagesPerDocument = 4;

documentPreferences.pageBinding = PageBindingOptions.rightToLeft;

}

VBScript

Set myDocument = myInDesign.Documents.Add

with myDocument

Rem set number of pages

.DocumentPreferences.PagesPerDocument = 4

.DocumentPreferences.PageBinding = idPageBindingOptions.idRightToLeft

End With

CHAPTER 4: Middle Eastern Scripting Guide Setting up a document 35

Numbering

InDesign Server comes with special styles for page, paragraph, and footnote numbering. You can choose

to apply standard, Arabic (Arabic Abjad and Arabic Alif Ba Tah) or Hebrew (Hebrew Biblical Standard and

Hebrew Non-Standard Decimal) styles. With InDesign scripting, you can access these settings with the

PageNumberStyle and FootnoteNumberingStyle properties.

Settings for page numbering

The following script shows how to set these settings for pages (for the complete script, see

NumberingME).

AppleScript

set page number style of item 1 of sections of myDocument to arabic alif ba tah

set page number style of item 2 of sections of myDocument to arabic abjad

JavaScript

myDocument.sections.item(0).pageNumberStyle = PageNumberStyle.arabicAlifBaTah;

myDocument.sections.item(1).pageNumberStyle = PageNumberStyle.arabicAbjad;

VBScript

myDocument.Sections.Item(1).PageNumberStyle = idPageNumberStyle.idArabicAlifBaTah

myDocument.Sections.Item(2).PageNumberStyle = idPageNumberStyle.idArabicAbjad

Settings for footnote numbering

The following script shows how to set ME numbering settings for footnotes (for the complete script, see

NumberingME):

AppleScript

set (footnote numbering style of footnote options of myDocument) to arabic abjad

JavaScript

myDocument.footnoteOptions.footnoteNumberingStyle =

FootnoteNumberingStyle.hebrewBiblical;

VBScript

myDocument.FootnoteOptions.FootnoteNumberingStyle =

idFootnoteNumberingStyle.idHebrewBiblical

Setting composer

The composer that is used to create text frames in a Roman publication is different from the ME Composer.

InDesign Server comes with a document method changeComposer that can be used in a Roman

publication to changes the composer for all text frames to the Adobe World-Ready Composer. Adobe

Paragraph Composer is changed to Adobe World-Ready Paragraph Composer; Adobe Single-line

Composer is changed to Adobe World-Ready Single-line Composer.

The following script shows how to use this method (for the complete script, see ChangeComposer):

CHAPTER 4: Middle Eastern Scripting Guide Working with text 36

AppleScript

tell application "InDesignServer"

set myDocument to make document

tell myDocument

change composer

end tell

end tell

JavaScript

myDocument.changeComposer();

VBScript

myDocument.ChangeComposer()

Working with text

Inserting special ME character

Using enumerations, InDesign Server gives you the ability to insert three Hebrew characters (Geresh,

Gershayim, Maqaf) and four Arabic ones (Kashida, Arabic comma, Arabic Semicolon, and Arabic Question

mark), as well as a right-to-left marker or left-to-right marker. The following script shows how to insert

special Middle Eastern characters (for the complete script, see SpecialCharactersME).

CHAPTER 4: Middle Eastern Scripting Guide Working with text 37

AppleScript

set contents of insertion point -1 to "Hebrew Maqaf: "

set contents of insertion point -1 to hebrew maqaf

set contents of insertion point -1 to return

set contents of insertion point -1 to "Hebrew Geresh: "

set contents of insertion point -1 to hebrew geresh

set contents of insertion point -1 to return

set contents of insertion point -1 to "Hebrew Gershayim: "

set contents of insertion point -1 to hebrew gershayim

set contents of insertion point -1 to return

set contents of insertion point -1 to "Arabic Kashida: "

set contents of insertion point -1 to arabic kashida

set contents of insertion point -1 to return

set contents of insertion point -1 to "Arabic Comma: "

set contents of insertion point -1 to arabic comma

set contents of insertion point -1 to return

set contents of insertion point -1 to "Arabic Semicolon: "

set contents of insertion point -1 to arabic semicolon

set contents of insertion point -1 to return

set contents of insertion point -1 to "Arabic Question Mark: "

set contents of insertion point -1 to arabic question mark

set contents of insertion point -1 to return

set contents of insertion point -1 to "Right To Left Mark: "

set contents of insertion point -1 to right to left mark

set contents of insertion point -1 to return

set contents of insertion point -1 to "Left To Right Mark: "

set contents of insertion point -1 to left to right mark

set contents of insertion point -1 to return

JavaScript

//Entering InDesign special ME characters by their enumerations:

myTextFrame.parentStory.insertionPoints.item(-1).contents = "Hebrew Maqaf: ";

myTextFrame.parentStory.insertionPoints.item(-1).contents =

SpecialCharacters.hebrewMaqaf;

myTextFrame.parentStory.insertionPoints.item(-1).contents = "\r";

myTextFrame.parentStory.insertionPoints.item(-1).contents = "Hebrew Geresh: ";

myTextFrame.parentStory.insertionPoints.item(-1).contents =

SpecialCharacters.hebrewGeresh;

myTextFrame.parentStory.insertionPoints.item(-1).contents = "\r";

myTextFrame.parentStory.insertionPoints.item(-1).contents = "Hebrew Gershayim: ";

myTextFrame.parentStory.insertionPoints.item(-1).contents =

SpecialCharacters.hebrewGershayim;

myTextFrame.parentStory.insertionPoints.item(-1).contents = "\r";

myTextFrame.parentStory.insertionPoints.item(-1).contents = "Arabic Kashida: ";

myTextFrame.parentStory.insertionPoints.item(-1).contents =

SpecialCharacters.arabicKashida;

myTextFrame.parentStory.insertionPoints.item(-1).contents = "\r";

myTextFrame.parentStory.insertionPoints.item(-1).contents = "Arabic Comma: ";

myTextFrame.parentStory.insertionPoints.item(-1).contents =

SpecialCharacters.arabicComma;

myTextFrame.parentStory.insertionPoints.item(-1).contents = "\r";

myTextFrame.parentStory.insertionPoints.item(-1).contents = "Arabic Semicolon: ";

myTextFrame.parentStory.insertionPoints.item(-1).contents =

CHAPTER 4: Middle Eastern Scripting Guide Working with text 38

SpecialCharacters.arabicSemicolon;

myTextFrame.parentStory.insertionPoints.item(-1).contents = "\r";

myTextFrame.parentStory.insertionPoints.item(-1).contents =

"Arabic Question Mark: ";

myTextFrame.parentStory.insertionPoints.item(-1).contents =

SpecialCharacters.arabicQuestionMark;

myTextFrame.parentStory.insertionPoints.item(-1).contents = "\r";

myTextFrame.parentStory.insertionPoints.item(-1).contents = "Right To Left Mark: ";

myTextFrame.parentStory.insertionPoints.item(-1).contents =

SpecialCharacters.rightToLeftMark;

myTextFrame.parentStory.insertionPoints.item(-1).contents = "\r";

myTextFrame.parentStory.insertionPoints.item(-1).contents = "Left To Right Mark: ";

myTextFrame.parentStory.insertionPoints.item(-1).contents =

SpecialCharacters.leftToRightMark;

myTextFrame.parentStory.insertionPoints.item(-1).contents = "\r";

VBScript

Rem Entering InDesign special ME characters by their enumerations:

myTextFrame.ParentStory.InsertionPoints.Item(-1).contents = "Hebrew Maqaf: "

myTextFrame.ParentStory.InsertionPoints.Item(-1).contents =

idSpecialCharacters.idHebrewMaqaf

myTextFrame.ParentStory.InsertionPoints.Item(-1).contents = vbCr

myTextFrame.ParentStory.InsertionPoints.Item(-1).contents = "Hebrew Geresh: "

myTextFrame.ParentStory.InsertionPoints.Item(-1).contents =

idSpecialCharacters.idHebrewGeresh

myTextFrame.ParentStory.InsertionPoints.Item(-1).contents = vbCr

myTextFrame.ParentStory.InsertionPoints.Item(-1).contents = "Hebrew Gershayim: "

myTextFrame.ParentStory.InsertionPoints.Item(-1).contents =

idSpecialCharacters.idHebrewGershayim

myTextFrame.ParentStory.InsertionPoints.Item(-1).contents = vbCr

myTextFrame.ParentStory.InsertionPoints.Item(-1).contents = "Arabic Kashida: "

myTextFrame.ParentStory.InsertionPoints.Item(-1).contents =

idSpecialCharacters.idArabicKashida

myTextFrame.ParentStory.InsertionPoints.Item(-1).contents = vbCr

myTextFrame.ParentStory.InsertionPoints.Item(-1).contents = "Arabic Comma: "

myTextFrame.ParentStory.InsertionPoints.Item(-1).contents =

idSpecialCharacters.idArabicComma

myTextFrame.ParentStory.InsertionPoints.Item(-1).contents = vbCr

myTextFrame.ParentStory.InsertionPoints.Item(-1).contents = "Arabic Semicolon: "

myTextFrame.ParentStory.InsertionPoints.Item(-1).contents =

idSpecialCharacters.idArabicSemicolon

myTextFrame.ParentStory.InsertionPoints.Item(-1).contents = vbCr

myTextFrame.ParentStory.InsertionPoints.Item(-1).contents =

"Arabic Question Mark: "

myTextFrame.ParentStory.InsertionPoints.Item(-1).contents =

idSpecialCharacters.idArabicQuestionMark

myTextFrame.ParentStory.InsertionPoints.Item(-1).contents = vbCr

myTextFrame.ParentStory.InsertionPoints.Item(-1).contents = "Right To Left Mark: "

myTextFrame.ParentStory.InsertionPoints.Item(-1).contents =

idSpecialCharacters.idRightToLeftMark

myTextFrame.ParentStory.InsertionPoints.Item(-1).contents = vbCr

myTextFrame.ParentStory.InsertionPoints.Item(-1).contents = "Left To Right Mark: "

myTextFrame.ParentStory.InsertionPoints.Item(-1).contents =

idSpecialCharacters.idLeftToRightMark

myTextFrame.ParentStory.InsertionPoints.Item(-1).contents = vbCr

CHAPTER 4: Middle Eastern Scripting Guide Working with text 39

Finding and replacing ME text

With InDesign scripting, you can find and replace Middle Eastern text. The following sample script shows

how to find and replace words in the Middle Eastern text (for the complete script, see

MENAFindAndReplaceText).

AppleScript

--Clear the find/change text preferences.

set find text preferences to nothing

set change text preferences to nothing

--Search the document for the string "Adobe".

set find what of find text preferences to ""

--Set the find options.

set case sensitive of find change text options to false

set include footnotes of find change text options to false

set include hidden layers of find change text options to false

set include locked layers for find of find change text options to false

set include locked stories for find of find change text options to false

set include master pages of find change text options to false

set whole word of find change text options to false

tell myDocument

set myFoundItems to find text

display dialog ("Found " & (count myFoundItems) & " instances of the search

string.")

end tell

--Replace the text in myString

repeat with i from 1 to count myFoundItems

set contents of item i of myFoundItems to "Adobe"

end repeat

CHAPTER 4: Middle Eastern Scripting Guide Working with text 40

JavaScript

var myDocument = app.activeDocument;

//Clear the find/change text preferences.

app.findTextPreferences = NothingEnum.nothing;

app.changeTextPreferences = NothingEnum.nothing;

//Search the document for the string "Adobe".

app.findTextPreferences.findWhat = "";

//Set the find options.

app.findChangeTextOptions.caseSensitive = false;

app.findChangeTextOptions.includeFootnotes = false;

app.findChangeTextOptions.includeHiddenLayers = false;

app.findChangeTextOptions.includeLockedLayersForFind = false;

app.findChangeTextOptions.includeLockedStoriesForFind = false;

app.findChangeTextOptions.includeMasterPages = false;

app.findChangeTextOptions.wholeWord = false;

var myFoundItems = myDocument.findText();

alert("Found " + myFoundItems.length + " instances of the search arabic string.");

app.findTextPreferences = NothingEnum.nothing;

app.changeTextPreferences = NothingEnum.nothing;

//Replace the text in myString

for(var i = 0; i < myFoundItems.length; i++)

{

myFoundItems[i].contents = "Adobe";

}

VBScript

Rem Clear the find/change text preferences.

myInDesign.FindTextPreferences = idNothingEnum.idNothing

myInDesign.ChangeTextPreferences = idNothingEnum.idNothing

REM Search the document for the string "Adobe".

myInDesign.FindTextPreferences.FindWhat = ""

REM Set the find options.

myInDesign.FindChangeTextOptions.CaseSensitive = False

myInDesign.FindChangeTextOptions.IncludeFootnotes = False

myInDesign.FindChangeTextOptions.IncludeHiddenLayers = False

myInDesign.FindChangeTextOptions.IncludeLockedLayersForFind = False

myInDesign.FindChangeTextOptions.IncludeLockedStoriesForFind = False

myInDesign.FindChangeTextOptions.IncludeMasterPages = False

myInDesign.FindChangeTextOptions.WholeWord = False

Set myFoundItems = myInDesign.Documents.Item(1).FindText

MsgBox ("Found " & CStr(myFoundItems.Count) & " instances of the search string.")

Rem Clear the find/change text preferences after the search.

myInDesign.FindTextPreferences = idNothingEnum.idNothing

myInDesign.ChangeTextPreferences = idNothingEnum.idNothing

REM Replace the text in myString

For i = 1 To myFoundItems.Count

myFoundItems(i).contents = "Adobe"

Next

CHAPTER 4: Middle Eastern Scripting Guide Working with text 41

Setting story direction property

The concept of story direction becomes clearer in a multicolumn text frame. A

right-to-left story begins to fill columns from the right edge of the text frame and a

left-to-right story begins to fill columns from the left edge of the text frame.

With InDesign Scripting, if you need to change the main direction of an existing text

story, even after typing or placing some text inside, use the storyDirection

property. This property is part of the StoryPreferences object and can get one

value from the StoryDirectionOptions enumeration (leftToRightDirection and

rightToLeftDirection). The following sample script creates a two-column text

frame, then sets the story direction (for the complete script, see StoryDirection).

AppleScript

set myTextFrame to make text frame with properties {geometric bounds:{70, 200, 300,

500}}

tell myTextFrame

set text column count of text frame preferences to 2

set contents to "  "

set justification of parent story to right justified

set (story direction of story preferences of parent story) to (right to left

direction)

end tell

JavaScript

with(myTextFrame){

//Set the bounds of the text frame.

geometricBounds = [70, 200, 300, 500];

//Fill the text frame with placeholder text in 2 column.

textFramePreferences.textColumnCount = 2;

contents = "     1  "

parentStory.justification = Justification.rightJustified;

//Now set the story direction left to right

parentStory.storyPreferences.storyDirection =

StoryDirectionOptions.leftToRightDirection;

}

CHAPTER 4: Middle Eastern Scripting Guide Setting paragraph attributes 42

VBScript

with myTextFrame

Rem Set the bounds of the text frame.

.geometricBounds = Array(70, 200, 300, 500)

Rem Fill the text frame with placeholder text in 2 column.

.TextFramePreferences.TextColumnCount = 2

.contents = "     1  "

.ParentStory.Justification = idJustification.idRightJustified

Rem Now set the story direction left to right

.ParentStory.StoryPreferences.StoryDirection =

idStoryDirectionOptions.idLeftToRightDirection

End With

Setting paragraph attributes

InDesign Server comes with special paragraph settings, such as Paragraph Direction and Justification, for

laying out Arabic/Hebrew text.

ParagraphDirection

Paragraph direction controls the order of multidirectional text inside the paragraph. By default, the

paragraph direction is Left To Right.

With InDesign scripting, if you need to change the main direction of an existing paragraph, use the

paragraphDirection property. This property is part of the Text objects and can get one value from the

ParagraphDirectionOptions enumeration (leftToRightDirection and rightToLeftDirection). The

following sample script shows how to set this property (for the complete script, see

MEParagraphAttributes).

AppleScript

tell myTextFrame

set paragraph direction of item 1 of paragraphs to left to right direction

end tell

JavaScript

with(myTextFrame){

//Set ME paragraph attributes.

paragraphs.item(0).paragraphDirection =

ParagraphDirectionOptions.leftToRightDirection;

}

VBScript

with myTextFrame

Rem Set ME paragraph attributes.

.Paragraphs.Item(1).ParagraphDirection =

idParagraphDirectionOptions.idLeftToRightDirection

End With

CHAPTER 4: Middle Eastern Scripting Guide Setting paragraph attributes 43

Paragraph direction for application and document

You can also use this property to set text defaults both for the application and for each document:

AppleScript

set paragraph direction of text defaults of myDocument to right to left direction

JavaScript

myDocument.textDefaults.paragraphDirection =

ParagraphDirectionOptions.rightToLeftDirection;

VBScript

myDocument.TextDefaults.ParagraphDirection =

idParagraphDirectionOptions.idRightToLeftDirection

Justification

With InDesign scripting, you can change the default or the existing attribute of a paragraph with the

ParagraphJustification property. This property is part of the Text objects and can get one value from

the ParagraphJustificationOptions enumeration (defaultJustification, arabicJustification,

and naskhJustification). The following sample script shows how to set this property (for the complete

script, see MEParagraphAttributes).

Justification for an existing paragraph

AppleScript

tell myTextFrame

set paragraph justification of item 2 of paragraphs to naskh justification

end tell

JavaScript

with(myTextFrame){

//Set ME paragraph attributes.

paragraphs.item(1).paragraphJustification =

ParagraphJustificationOptions.naskhJustification;

}

VBScript

with myTextFrame

Rem Set ME paragraph attributes.

.Paragraphs.Item(2).ParagraphJustification =

idParagraphJustificationOptions.idNaskhJustification

End With

CHAPTER 4: Middle Eastern Scripting Guide Setting character attributes 44

Justification for text defaults

AppleScript

set paragraph justification of text defaults of myDocument to arabic justification

JavaScript

myDocument.textDefaults.paragraphJustification =

ParagraphJustificationOptions.arabicJustification;

sVBScript

myDocument.TextDefaults.ParagraphJustification =

idParagraphJustificationOptions.idArabicJustification

Setting character attributes

InDesign Server comes with special character settings for laying out Arabic/Hebrew text. These settings

allow you to finely tune your Arabic/Hebrew text. With InDesign scripting, these settings correspond to a

number of properties that can be applied to a Text object. The MECharactersAttributes tutorial script

shows how to set every Middle Eastern property of a text object.

Digits

You can choose the language in which you want your numeric digits to be displayed. The Default setting

means that the numbers will be in the same language as that of the previous character. Otherwise, you can

choose between Arabic, Hindi, and Farsi numbers. The corresponding text object property is DigitsType.

AppleScript

set contents of myTextFrame to "Farsi Digits: 1234567890"

set digits type of item 1 of paragraphs of myTextFrame to farsi digits

JavaScript

myTextFrame.contents = "Farsi Digits: 1234567890";

myTextFrame.paragraphs.item(0).digitsType = DigitsTypeOptions.farsiDigits;

VBScript

myTextFrame.contents = "Farsi Digits: 1234567890"

myTextFrame.Paragraphs.Item(1).DigitsType = idDigitsTypeOptions.idFarsiDigits

Kashidas

The Arabic and Naskh justification algorithms insert kashidas and spaces. If you don’t want Kashidas to be

inserted in the Arabic text, with InDesign scripting, you can change the Kashidas property to set it to

kashidasOff; otherwise, set it to defaultKashidas.

CHAPTER 4: Middle Eastern Scripting Guide Setting character attributes 45

AppleScript

set contents of myTextFrame to "

َ

بِتُك Kashidas Off"

set kashidas of item 1 of paragraphs of myTextFrame to kashidas off

set justification of item 1 of paragraphs of myTextFrame to fully justified

set paragraph justification of item 1 of paragraphs of myTextFrame to

naskh justification

JavaScript

myTextFrame.contents = "

َ

بِتُك Kashidas Off";

myTextFrame.paragraphs.item(0).kashidas = KashidasOptions.kashidasOff;

myTextFrame.paragraphs.item(0).justification = Justification.fullyJustified;

myTextFrame.paragraphs.item(0).paragraphJustification =

ParagraphJustificationOptions.naskhJustification;

VBScript

myTextFrame.contents = "

َ

بِتُك Kashidas Off"

myTextFrame.Paragraphs.Item(1).Kashidas = idKashidasOptions.idKashidasOff

myTextFrame.Paragraphs.Item(1).Justification = idJustification.idFullyJustified

myTextFrame.Paragraphs.Item(1).ParagraphJustification =

idParagraphJustificationOptions.idNaskhJustification

Characters direction

To correctly handle bidirectional text, InDesign Server stores character direction information. With

scripting, this information can be changed using the CharacterDirection property which can get one

value from the CharacterDirectionOptions enumeration (defaultDirection,

leftToRightDirection and rightToLeftDirection).

AppleScript

set contents of myTextFrame to "

 OpenType"

set diacritic position of item 1 of paragraphs of myTextFrame to opentype position

set contents of myTextFrame to "

 Loose"

set diacritic position of item 1 of paragraphs of myTextFrame to loose position

JavaScript

myTextFrame.contents = "Farsi + L dir: 1234567890";

for (i=15 ; i < 25 ; i++) {

myTextFrame.parentStory.characters.item(i).characterDirection =

CharacterDirectionOptions.leftToRightDirection;

}

CHAPTER 4: Middle Eastern Scripting Guide Setting character attributes 46

VBScript

myTextFrame.contents = "Farsi + L dir: 1234567890"

For i = 16 To 25

myTextFrame.ParentStory.Characters.Item(i).CharacterDirection =

idCharacterDirectionOptions.idLeftToRightDirection

Next

Diacritic positioning

Short Arabic vowels are floating diacritics, written either over or under the consonants. Therefore, it is

important that the diacritics be properly placed over the consonants, both horizontally and vertically.

Diacritic Positioning can be accessed with scripting using the DiacriticPosition to choose from five

predefined positions (defaultPosition, loosePosition, mediumPosition, tightPosition, and

opentypePosition) or a custom position using the XOffsetDiacritic for horizontal adjustment and

YOffsetDiacritic for vertical adjustment.

AppleScript

set contents of myTextFrame to "

 OpenType"

set diacritic position of item 1 of paragraphs of myTextFrame to opentype position

set contents of myTextFrame to "

 Loose"

set diacritic position of item 1 of paragraphs of myTextFrame to loose position

JavaScript

myTextFrame.contents = "

 Loose";

myTextFrame.paragraphs.item(0).diacriticPosition =

DiacriticPositionOptions.loosePosition;

myTextFrame.contents = "

 Custom";

myTextFrame.parentStory.characters.item(1).xOffsetDiacritic = 150;

myTextFrame.parentStory.characters.item(1).yOffsetDiacritic = -150;

VBScript

myTextFrame.contents = "

 Loose"

myTextFrame.Paragraphs.Item(1).DiacriticPosition =

idDiacriticPositionOptions.idLoosePosition

myTextFrame.contents = "

 Custom"

myTextFrame.ParentStory.Characters.Item(2).XOffsetDiacritic = 150

myTextFrame.ParentStory.Characters.Item(2).YOffsetDiacritic = -150

Open Type features

If you are using an Open Type Font in your layout, then you have access to special Open Type features.

These features can be accessed with scripting using the OtfOverlapSwash, OtfStylisticAlternate,

OtfJustificationAlternate, or OtfStretchedAlternate properties.

CHAPTER 4: Middle Eastern Scripting Guide Using styles 47

AppleScript

set OTF stylistic alternate of item 1 of paragraphs of myTextFrame to true

set OTF justification alternate of item 1 of paragraphs of myTextFrame to true

set OTF stretched alternate of item 1 of paragraphs of myTextFrame to true

JavaScript

myTextFrame.paragraphs.item(0).otfOverlapSwash = true;

myTextFrame.paragraphs.item(0).otfStylisticAlternate = true;

myTextFrame.paragraphs.item(0).otfJustificationAlternate = true;

myTextFrame.paragraphs.item(0).otfStretchedAlternate = true;

VBScript

myTextFrame.Paragraphs.Item(1).OtfOverlapSwash = true

myTextFrame.Paragraphs.Item(1).OtfStylisticAlternate = true

myTextFrame.Paragraphs.Item(1).OtfJustificationAlternate = true

myTextFrame.Paragraphs.Item(1).OtfStretchedAlternate = true

Using styles

Paragraph and character styles are the keys to text formatting productivity and should be a central part of

any script that applies text formatting. While creating a Character or Paragraph style, you will access all the

preceding explained Character and Paragraph attribute properties on the CharacterStyles and

ParagraphStyles Objects.

The following example script fragment shows how to create paragraph and character styles with Middle

Eastern attributes (for the complete script, see CreateStyles).

AppleScript

--Create a character style named "myCharacterStyleME" if

--no style by that name already exists.

try

set myCharacterStyleME to character style "myCharacterStyleME"

--If the style does not exist, trying to get its name will generate an error.

set myName to name of myCharacterStyleME

on error

--The style did not exist, so create it

set myCharacterStyleME to make character style

end try

tell myCharacterStyleME

set name to "myCharacterStyleME"

set applied font to "Adobe Arabic"

set digits type to farsi digits

set character direction to left to right direction

end tell

--Create a paragraph style named "myParagraphStyle" if

--no style by that name already exists

try

set myParagraphStyleME to paragraph style "myParagraphStyleME"

--If the paragraph style does not exist, trying to get its name will generate an

CHAPTER 4: Middle Eastern Scripting Guide Using styles 48

error.

set myName to name of myParagraphStyleME

on error

--The paragraph style did not exist, so create it

set myParagraphStyleME to make paragraph style

end try

tell myParagraphStyleME

set justification to fully justified

set paragraph direction to right to left direction

set paragraph justification to naskh justification

set point size to 12

set kashidas to default kashidas

set digits type to hindi digits

set applied font to "Adobe Arabic"

set OTF justification alternate to true

end tell

JavaScript

//Create a character style named "myCharacterStyleME" if

//no style by that name already exists.

try{

myCharacterStyleME = myDocument.characterStyles.item("myCharacterStyleME");

//If the style does not exist, trying to get its name will generate an error.

myName = myCharacterStyleME.name;

}

catch (myError){

//The style did not exist, so create it.

myCharacterStyleME =

myDocument.characterStyles.add({name:"myCharacterStyleME"});

}

with(myCharacterStyleME){

appliedFont = app.fonts.item("Adobe Arabic");

digitsType = DigitsTypeOptions.farsiDigits;

characterDirection = CharacterDirectionOptions.leftToRightDirection;

}

//Create a paragraph style named "myParagraphStyle" if

//no style by that name already exists.

try{

myParagraphStyleME = myDocument.paragraphStyles.item("myParagraphStyleME");

}

catch (myError){

//The paragraph style did not exist, so create it.

myParagraphStyleME =

myDocument.paragraphStyles.add({name:"myParagraphStyleME"});

}

with(myParagraphStyleME){

justification = Justification.fullyJustified;

paragraphDirection = ParagraphDirectionOptions.rightToLeftDirection;

paragraphJustification = ParagraphJustificationOptions.naskhJustification;

pointSize = 12;

kashidas = KashidasOptions.defaultKashidas;

digitsType = DigitsTypeOptions.hindiDigits;

appliedFont = app.fonts.item("Adobe Arabic");

otfJustificationAlternate = true;

}

CHAPTER 4: Middle Eastern Scripting Guide Working with tables 49

VBScript

Rem Create a character style named "myCharacterStyleME" if

Rem no style by that name already exists.

Set myCharacterStyleME = myAddStyle(myDocument, "myCharacterStyleME", 1)

with myCharacterStyleME

.AppliedFont = myInDesign.Fonts.Item("Adobe Arabic")

.DigitsType = idDigitsTypeOptions.idFarsiDigits

.CharacterDirection = idCharacterDirectionOptions.idLeftToRightDirection

End With

Rem Create a paragraph style named "myParagraphStyleME" if

Rem no style by that name already exists.

Set myParagraphStyleMe = myAddStyle(myDocument, "myParagraphStyleME", 2)

with myParagraphStyleME

.Justification = idJustification.idFullyJustified

.ParagraphDirection = idParagraphDirectionOptions.idRightToLeftDirection

.ParagraphJustification = idParagraphJustificationOptions.idNaskhJustification

.PointSize = 12

.Kashidas = idKashidasOptions.idDefaultKashidas

.DigitsType = idDigitsTypeOptions.idHindiDigits

.AppliedFont = myInDesign.Fonts.Item("Adobe Arabic")

.OtfJustificationAlternate = true

End With

Working with tables

Creating a table and setting its direction

With InDesign scripting, when you insert a table in a text frame, the direction of the table and text cell

alignment is the same as the paragraph direction and alignment. You can use the TableDirection

property to change the direction of the table. This property also affects the text cell alignment. The

following script shows how to set table direction (for the complete script, see TableDirection).

AppleScript

--Fill the text frame with text

set myString to "Table 1 LTR (paragraph direction LTR)" & return

set myString to myString & "Column 1,Column 2,Column 3;1a,1b,1c;2a,2b,2c;3a,3b,3c" &

return

set myString to myString & "Table 2 RTL, right Align (paragraph direction LTR)" & return

set myString to myString & "Column 1,Column 2,Column 3;1a,1b,1c;2a,2b,2c;3a,3b,3c" &

return

set myString to myString & "Table 3 RTL, left align (paragraph direction RTL)" & return

set myString to myString & "Column 1,Column 2,Column 3;1a,1b,1c;2a,2b,2c;3a,3b,3c" &

return

set myString to myString & "Table 4 LTR (paragraph direction RTL)" & return

set myString to myString & "Column 1,Column 2,Column 3;1a,1b,1c;2a,2b,2c;3a,3b,3c" &

return

set contents of myTextFrame to myString

set myStory to story 1 of myDocument

set myParagraph to object reference of paragraph 2 of myStory

set paragraph direction of myParagraph to left to right direction

set myStartCharacter to index of character 1 of myParagraph

set myEndCharacter to index of character -2 of myParagraph

CHAPTER 4: Middle Eastern Scripting Guide Working with tables 50

set myText to object reference of text from character myStartCharacter to character

myEndCharacter of myStory

tell myText

set myTable to (convert to table column separator "," row separator ";")

end tell

set myParagraph to object reference of paragraph 4 of myStory

set paragraph direction of myParagraph to left to right direction

set myStartCharacter to index of character 1 of myParagraph

set myEndCharacter to index of character -2 of myParagraph

set myText to object reference of text from character myStartCharacter to character

myEndCharacter of myStory

tell myText

set myTable to (convert to table column separator "," row separator ";")

end tell

--Change Table direction (paragraph direction is LTR, the converted table is LTR

--use table direction property to have table RTL), this change also the align

set table direction of table 2 of myStory to right to left direction

set myParagraph to object reference of paragraph 6 of myStory

set paragraph direction of myParagraph to right to left direction

set myStartCharacter to index of character 1 of myParagraph

set myEndCharacter to index of character -2 of myParagraph

set myText to object reference of text from character myStartCharacter to character

myEndCharacter of myStory

tell myText

set myTable to (convert to table column separator "," row separator ";")

end tell

set myParagraph to object reference of paragraph 8 of myStory

set paragraph direction of myParagraph to right to left direction

set myStartCharacter to index of character 1 of myParagraph

set myEndCharacter to index of character -2 of myParagraph

set myText to object reference of text from character myStartCharacter to character

myEndCharacter of myStory

tell myText

set myTable to (convert to table column separator "," row separator ";")

end tell

--Change Table direction (paragraph direction is RTL, the converted table is RTL

--use table direction property to have table LTR)

set table direction of table 4 of myStory to left to right direction

JavaScript

//Fill the text frame with placeholder text.

var myString = "Table 1 LTR (pargraph direction LTR)\r";

myString += "Column 1,Column 2,Column 3;1a,1b,1c;2a,2b,2c;3a,3b,3c\r";

myString += "Table 2 RTL, right Align (pargraph direction LTR)\r";

myString += "Column 1,Column 2,Column 3;1a,1b,1c;2a,2b,2c;3a,3b,3c\r";

myString += "Table 3 RTL, left align (pargraph direction RTL)\r";

myString += "Column 1,Column 2,Column 3;1a,1b,1c;2a,2b,2c;3a,3b,3c\r";

myString += "Table 4 LTR(pargraph direction RTL)\r";

myString += "Column 1,Column 2,Column 3;1a,1b,1c;2a,2b,2c;3a,3b,3c\r";

myTextFrame.contents = myString;

var myStory = myDocument.stories.item(0);

var myPargraph = myStory.paragraphs.item(1);

myPargraph.paragraphDirection = ParagraphDirectionOptions.leftToRightDirection;

var myStartCharacter = myPargraph.characters.item(0);

var myEndCharacter = myPargraph.characters.item(-2);

CHAPTER 4: Middle Eastern Scripting Guide Working with tables 51

var myText = myStory.texts.itemByRange(myStartCharacter, myEndCharacter);

var myTable = myText.convertToTable(",",";");

var myPargraph = myStory.paragraphs.item(3);

myPargraph.paragraphDirection = ParagraphDirectionOptions.leftToRightDirection;

var myStartCharacter = myPargraph.characters.item(0);

var myEndCharacter = myPargraph.characters.item(-2);

var myText = myStory.texts.itemByRange(myStartCharacter, myEndCharacter);

var myTable = myText.convertToTable(",",";");

//Change Table direction (paragraph direction is LTR, the converted table is LTR

//use table direction property to have table RTL), this change also the align

myStory.tables.item(1).tableDirection = TableDirectionOptions.rightToLeftDirection;

var myPargraph = myStory.paragraphs.item(5);

myPargraph.paragraphDirection = ParagraphDirectionOptions.rightToLeftDirection;

var myStartCharacter = myPargraph.characters.item(0);

var myEndCharacter = myPargraph.characters.item(-2);

var myText = myStory.texts.itemByRange(myStartCharacter, myEndCharacter);

var myTable = myText.convertToTable(",",";");

var myPargraph = myStory.paragraphs.item(7);

myPargraph.paragraphDirection = ParagraphDirectionOptions.rightToLeftDirection;

var myStartCharacter = myPargraph.characters.item(0);

var myEndCharacter = myPargraph.characters.item(-2);

var myText = myStory.texts.itemByRange(myStartCharacter, myEndCharacter);

var myTable = myText.convertToTable(",",";");

//Change Table direction (paragraph direction is RTL, the converted table is RTL

//use table direction property to have table LTR)

myStory.tables.item(3).tableDirection = TableDirectionOptions.leftToRightDirection;

VBScript

Rem Fill the text frame with placeholder text.

myString = "Table 1 LTR (pargraph direction LTR)" & vbCr

myString = myString &

"Column 1,Column 2,Column 3;1a,1b,1c;2a,2b,2c;3a,3b,3c" & vbCr

myString = myString & "Table 2 RTL, right Align (pargraph direction LTR)" & vbCr

myString = myString &

"Column 1,Column 2,Column 3;1a,1b,1c;2a,2b,2c;3a,3b,3c" & vbCr

myString = myString & "Table 3 RTL, left align (pargraph direction RTL)" & vbCr

myString = myString &

"Column 1,Column 2,Column 3;1a,1b,1c;2a,2b,2c;3a,3b,3c" & vbCr

myString = myString & "Table 4 LTR(pargraph direction RTL)" & vbCr

myString = myString &

"Column 1,Column 2,Column 3;1a,1b,1c;2a,2b,2c;3a,3b,3c" & vbCr

myTextFrame.Contents = myString

Set myStory = myDocument.Stories.Item(1)

Set myPargraph = myStory.paragraphs.item(2)

myPargraph.ParagraphDirection = idParagraphDirectionOptions.idLeftToRightDirection

Set myStartCharacter = myPargraph.Characters.Item(1)

Set myEndCharacter = myPargraph.Characters.Item(-2)

Set myText = myStory.Texts.ItemByRange(myStartCharacter, myEndCharacter).Item(1)

Set myTable = myText.ConvertToTable(",", ";")

Set myPargraph = myStory.paragraphs.item(4)

myPargraph.ParagraphDirection = idParagraphDirectionOptions.idLeftToRightDirection

Set myStartCharacter = myPargraph.Characters.Item(1)

Set myEndCharacter = myPargraph.Characters.Item(-2)

Set myText = myStory.Texts.ItemByRange(myStartCharacter, myEndCharacter).Item(1)

Set myTable = myText.ConvertToTable(",", ";")

Rem Change Table direction (paragraph direction is LTR, the converted table is LTR

Rem use table direction property to have table RTL), this change also the align

myStory.Tables.item(2).TableDirection =

CHAPTER 4: Middle Eastern Scripting Guide Working with tables 52

idTableDirectionOptions.idRightToLeftDirection

Set myPargraph = myStory.paragraphs.item(6)

myPargraph.ParagraphDirection = idParagraphDirectionOptions.idRightToLeftDirection

Set myStartCharacter = myPargraph.Characters.Item(1)

Set myEndCharacter = myPargraph.Characters.Item(-2)

Set myText = myStory.Texts.ItemByRange(myStartCharacter, myEndCharacter).Item(1)

Set myTable = myText.ConvertToTable(",", ";")

Set myPargraph = myStory.paragraphs.item(8)

myPargraph.ParagraphDirection = idParagraphDirectionOptions.idRightToLeftDirection

Set myStartCharacter = myPargraph.Characters.Item(1)

Set myEndCharacter = myPargraph.Characters.Item(-2)

Set myText = myStory.Texts.ItemByRange(myStartCharacter, myEndCharacter).Item(1)

Set myTable = myText.ConvertToTable(",", ";")

Rem Change Table direction (paragraph direction is RTL, the converted table is RTL

Rem use table direction property to have table LTR)

myStory.Tables.item(4).TableDirection =

idTableDirectionOptions.idLeftToRightDirection