Your Script Doctor

INLINE TEXT FRAMES

An interesting topic was brought to light recently in the script forum for Adobe InDesign. It had to do with inline text frames.

Inline text frames may also be referred to as anchored frames as they are not necessarily anchored “in line”.

No matter how they are referenced, inline frames can pose particular problems especially when it comes to styling the frame.

Consider the problem posed by the person in the script forum:
“Write an arbitrary number of textlines in a textframe. After the last textline, “embed” another inner textframe with border in the textframe and write another line of text in this textframe.”

This is simple enough, but should there need to be a specified amount of space between the text and the frame; or perhaps the frame needs to be a specified width and centered within its containing text, some difficulty can arise. In fact, the inquirer further states:
“I can’t find out how to get the positions for my inner textframe. My only idea was to use the move method…”

To do all of this manually would require a number of steps, including cutting and pasting the frame, and finally, setting properties. If there are to be a number of such frames to be created, a script can save some tedious steps.

INLINE TEXT FRAME PROPERTIES

First and foremost, an embedded text frame assumes the styling of its parent. Therefore, if an insertion point is used to create or place the frame, the styling in effect for the insertion point is inherited by the text frame. Some of the styling attributes to consider would be the following:

• justification: left align, centered, or right align
• indents and spacing: space before and space after, left or right indent

Since these are properties of a paragraph style, it is advisable to have a paragraph style established with these properties set. Even if placing the inline text frame manually, an empty paragraph set to the designated paragraph style eliminates some steps when placing.

With or without a predefined paragraph style, a script can provide a welcome solution.

SAMPLE SCRIPTS

The following sample scripts not only provide a solution to the inquiry posed above, but also establish spacing and justification attributes for the embedded text frame and its contents.

AppleScript

set frameDepth to 10
set frameWidth to 85
set leftInset to 2
set topInset to 2
set str to "some text in first line"
set str to str & "
" --new line character
set str to str & "some text in second line"
--last line of main string needs hard return
set str to str & return
set nContent to "This is content for inner frame"
tell application "Adobe InDesign CC 2015"
	set measurement unit of script preferences to millimeters	
	set pageRef to page 1 of document 1
	tell pageRef
		set tFrame to make text frame with properties {geometric bounds:{10, 10, 100, 100}, contents:str}
	end tell
	set insertRef to insertion point -1 of tFrame
	set y0 to baseline of insertRef
	set x0 to horizontal offset of insertRef
	tell insertRef
		set properties to {space before:topInset, left indent:leftInset}
		set eFrame to make text frame with properties {geometric bounds:{y0, x0, (y0 + frameDepth), (x0 + frameWidth)}, stroke weight:"2 pt", fill color:"None", text frame preferences:{vertical justification:center align}}
	end tell
	set eFrameInsert to insertion point 1 of eFrame
	set properties of eFrameInsert to {justification:center align, contents:nContent}
end tell

ExtendScript

var frameDepth = 10;
var frameWidth = 85;
var leftInset = 2;
var topInset = 2;
var str  = "some text in first line";
str += "\n";
str += "some text in second line";
//last line of main string needs hard return
str += "\r";
var nContent = "This is content for inner frame";
app.scriptPreferences.measurementUnit = MeasurementUnits.MILLIMETERS;
var pageRef = document.pages.item(0);
var tFrame = pageRef.textFrames.add();
tFrame.geometricBounds = [10, 10, 100, 100];
tFrame.contents = str;
var insertRef = tFrame.insertionPoints[-1];
insertRef.spaceBefore = topInset;In
insertRef.leftIndent = leftInset;
var eFrame = insertRef.textFrames.add();
y0=eFrame.geometricBounds[0]; 
x0 =(eFrame.geometricBounds[1] + leftInset);
eFrame.geometricBounds = [y0, x0, y0+frameDepth, x0+frameWidth], 
eFrame.strokeWeight = "2 pt";
eFrame.fillColor = "None";
eFrame.textFramePreferences.verticalJustification = VerticalJustification.CENTER_ALIGN;
eFrameInsert = eFrame.insertionPoints[0];
eFrameInsert.justification = Justification.CENTER_ALIGN;
eFrameInsert.contents = nContent;