EDOBE XDOM TPC Technical Information download pdf (Page 38)

CHAPTER 4: Scripting with AppleScript Creating paths and shapes 38

Threaded frames make one story object

Threaded frames make a single story object. To observe this, run the following AppleScript after running

the script in “

Threaded frames” on page 37.

display dialog ("There are " & (count(text frames of current document)) & " text frames.")

display dialog("There are " & (count(stories of current document)) & " stories.")

Creating paths and shapes

This section explains how to create items that contain paths.

Paths

To create line or a freeform path, specify a series of path points, as a series of x-y coordinates or path point

objects.

Using x-y coordinates limits the path to straight segments. To created a curved path, you must create

path point objects. A path can comprise a combination of page coordinates and path point objects.

Specifying a series of x-y coordinates

To specify a path using page-coordinate pairs, use the entire path property of the path items object.

The following script specifies three pairs of x-y coordinates, to create a path with three points:

tell application "Adobe Illustrator"

set docRef to make new document

-- set stroked to true so we can see the path

set lineRef to make new path item in docRef with properties {stroked:true}

set entire path of lineRef to {{220, 475},{200, 300},{375, 300}}

end tell

Using path point objects

To create a path point object, you must define three values for the point.

X A fixed anchor point, which is the point on the path.

X A pair of direction points—left direction and right direction—which allow you to control the

path segment’s curve.

You define each property as an array of page coordinates in the format [x, y]:

X If all three properties of a path point object have the same coordinates, and the properties of the next

path point in the line are equal to each other, you create a straight-line segment.

X If two or more properties in a path point object have different values, the segment connected to the

point is curved.

To create a path or add points to an existing path using

path point objects, create a path item object,

then add the path points as child objects in the

path item:

tell application "Adobe Illustrator"

set docRef to make new document

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EDOBE XDOM TPC Technical Information Page 38