Adobe 65010248 Scripting Guide - Page 50

C

HAPTER

6: Scripting with VBScript

Accessing and referencing objects

50

In the script below, the variable

pageItemRef

will not necessarily refer to the same object as the above

script, since this script includes a reference to a layer:

Set documentRef = appRef.ActiveDocument

Set pageItemRef = documentRef.Layers(1).PageItems(1)

VBScript indexes start at 1 for object collections; however, VBScript allows you to specify whether array

indexes start at 1 or 0. For information on specifying the index start number for arrays, see any VBScript

textbook or tutorial.

Creating new objects

You can use a script to create new objects. To create objects that are available from collection objects, use

the collection object’s

Add

method:

Set myDoc = appRef.Documents.Add()

Set myLayer = myDoc.Layers.Add()

Some collection objects do not have an

Add

method. To create an object of this type, define a variable and

use the

CreateObject

method. For example, the following code creates a new

CMYKColor

object using

the variable name

newColor

:

Set newColor = CreateObject ("Illustrator.CMYKColor")

Working with selections

When the user makes a selection in a document, the selected objects are stored in the document’s

selection

property. To access all selected objects in the active document:

Set appRef = CreateObject ("Illustrator.Application")


selectedObjects = documentRef.Selection

Depending on what is selected, the

selection

property value can be an array of any type of art objects. To

get or manipulate the properties of the selected art items, you must retrieve the individual items in the

array. To find out an object’s type, use the

typename

property.

The following sample gets the first object in the array, then displays the object’s type:

Set appRef = CreateObject ("Illustrator.Application")


selectedObjects = documentRef.Selection

Set topObject = selectedObjects(0)

MsgBox(topObject.Typename)

The

MsgBox

method does not display a dialog when the script is run from the Illustrator Scripts menu

(File > Scripts).

The first object in a selection array is the selected object that was last

added

to the page, not the last object

selected.

Selecting artwork objects

To select an artwork object, use the object’s

Selected

property.

Section	Page
Introduction	6
What is scripting?	6
Why use scripting?	6
What about actions?	6
Script support in Adobe Illustrator CS4	7
ExtendScript features	7
ExtendScript tools	7
Script file extensions	7
Viewing sample scripts	8
Viewing the object model	8
Viewing the JavaScript object model	8
Viewing the AppleScript object model	8
Viewing the VBScript object model	9
Executing scripts	9
Installing scripts in the Scripts menu	10
Executing scripts from the Other Scripts menu item	10
Startup scripts (.jsx scripts only)	10
Application-specific startup scripts folder	10
General startup scripts folder	11
Changes since CS3	11
Known issues	16
The Illustrator Scripting Object Model	17
Object-naming conventions	18
Top-level (containing) objects	18
Application	18
Document	19
Layer	19
The artwork tree	19
Art styles	20
Color objects	21
Text objects	21
Text frames	21
Text geometry	22
Objects that represent text content	22
Text ranges	23
Text styles	23
Dynamic objects	24
Symbols	24
Transformations	24
Scripting Illustrator	25
Launching and quitting Illustrator from a script	25
Launching and activating Illustrator	25
AppleScript	25
JavaScript	25
VBScript	25
Quitting Illustrator	26
AppleScript	26
JavaScript	26
VBScript	26
Working with objects	26
Getting the frontmost document or layer	26
Creating new objects	26
Collection objects	27
AppleScript	27
JavaScript	27
VBScript	28
Selected objects	28
Selecting text	28
Selecting art items	28
Referring to selected art items	28
Notes on renaming objects stored in the application’s panels	28
Measurement units	29
Em space units	29
Page-item positioning and dimensions	29
Art item bounds	30
Paths and shapes	31
User-interaction levels	31
AppleScript	31
JavaScript	32
VBScript	32
Printing Illustrator documents	32
Scripting with AppleScript	33
For more information	33
Your first Illustrator script	33
Adding features to “Hello World”	34
Object references	34
Obtaining objects from documents and layers	35
Creating new objects	35
Working with selections	35
Selecting artwork objects	36
Working with text frames	36
Threaded frames	36
Threaded frames make one story object	37
Creating paths and shapes	37
Paths	37
Specifying a series of x-y coordinates	37
Using path point objects	37
Combining path point types	38
Shapes	38
Write-once access	39
Creating a rectangle	39
Creating a polygon	39
Scripting with JavaScript	40
For more information	40
Your first Illustrator script	40
Adding features to “Hello World”	41
Working with methods in JavaScript	41
Accessing and referencing objects	42
Referencing the application object	42
Accessing objects in collections	42
Creating new objects	43
Working with selections	44
Selecting artwork objects	44
Working with text frames	44
Threaded frames	44
Threaded frames make a single story object	45
Creating paths and shapes	45
Paths	45
Specifying a series of x-y coordinates	45
Using pathPoint objects	45
Combining path point types	46
Shapes	46
Creating a rectangle	47
Creating a polygon	47
Scripting with VBScript	48
For more information	48
Your first Illustrator script	48
Adding features to “Hello World”	49
Accessing and referencing objects	49
Obtaining objects from collections	49
Creating new objects	50
Working with selections	50
Selecting artwork objects	50
Working with text frames	51
Threaded frames	51
Threaded frames make a single story object	51
Creating paths and shapes	51
Paths	51
Specifying a series of x-y coordinates	52
Using path point objects	52
Combining path-point types	53
Shapes	53
Creating a rectangle	53
Creating a polygon	54
Working with enumeration values	54

Adobe 65010248 Scripting Guide - Page 50

Creating new objects, Working with selections, Selecting artwork objects

Page 50 highlights