EDOBE XDOM TPC Technical Information download pdf (Page 6)

Introduction

This guide describes the scripting interface to Adobe® Illustrator® CS5.

If you are new to scripting or want basic information about scripting and how to use the different scripting

languages, see Adobe Introduction to Scripting.

What is scripting?

A script is a series of commands that tells Illustrator to perform one or more tasks. These tasks can be

simple, affecting only one object in the current document, or complex, affecting objects in all your

Illustrator documents. The tasks might even involve other applications, like word processors, spreadsheets,

and database management programs.

For the most part, the building blocks of scripting correspond to the Illustrator tools, menus, panels, and

dialog boxes with which you are already an expert. If you know what you want Illustrator to do, you can

write a script to do it.

Why use scripting?

Graphic design is a field characterized by creativity, but aspects of the work are anything but creative. In

fact, you probably notice that the time you spend placing and replacing images, correcting errors in text,

and preparing files for printing at an image-setting service provider often reduces the time you have

available for doing creative work.

With a small investment of time and effort, you can learn to write short, simple scripts that perform

repetitive tasks for you. As your scripting skills grow, you can move on to more complex scripts.

Scripting also can enhance your creativity, by quickly performing tasks you might not have time to try. For

example, you could write a script to systematically create a series of objects, modifying the new objects’

position, stroke, and fill properties along the way. You also could write a script that accesses built-in

transformation matrix functions to stretch, scale, and distort a series of objects. Without scripting, you

would likely miss out on the creative potential of such labor-intensive techniques.

What about actions?

Both actions and scripts are ways of automating repetitive tasks, but they work very differently:

X Actions use a program’s user interface to do their work. As an action runs, menu choices are executed,

objects are selected, and recorded paths are created. Scripts do not use a program’s user interface to

perform tasks, and scripts can execute faster than actions.

X Actions have very limited facilities for getting and responding to information. You cannot add

conditional logic to an action; therefore, actions cannot make decisions based on the current

situation, like changing the stroke type of rectangles but not ellipses. Scripts can get information and

make decisions and calculations based on the information they receive from Illustrator.

X A script can execute an action, but actions cannot execute scripts.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 ... 67 68

No comments

EDOBE XDOM TPC Technical Information Page 6