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Hey up everyone - I'm hoping someone may be able to shed some light on a couple of problems I've run into...
1. I"m trying to develop a macro that will correctly format a batch of illustrations. So far everything's going to plan, but what I thought would be the easiest bit is proving the hardest. I want to use the 'fit to page' function, but I can't record it (the function is greyed out) and I can't find any reference in the help manual to script it either. Anyone done this before? After some digging it looks like this may only be a function available in 7.3 - I have 7.2, can anyone confirm?
2. I'm also trying to select any text which is less than 7pt. I have 2 different sizes on the illustration so I can't use the 'font_size is not' function.
I've been trying to develop a macro to select the smaller sized text and then lock it using the box.top and box.bottom parameters, but it fails to select the smaller size text, just the last piece of text on the illustration. It goes like this:
Macro Select text size
# recorded with Arbortext IsoDraw 7.2
DEFINE myElem AS Element
Select IF Type is equal to "Text"
myElem = activeDoc.firstSelectedElement
IF (myElem.box.top - myElem.box.bottom is smaller than 3) THEN
myElem.locked = 1
myElem = myElem.nextSelectedElement
END IF
End Macro
Anyone have any ideas why this doesn't work? In theory it should take the top box parameter and subtract the bottom box parameter of the first selected text element and if it's less than 3 (mm I'm guessing) it should lock it and move on to the next text element. All I get is that last text element locked (after a fashion) no matter what size it is.
Thanks for any ideas you may have.
Cheers
Rob
Solved! Go to Solution.
Sorted it - after much wailing and nashing of teeth:
Select IF Type is equal to "Text"
el = activeDoc.firstSelectedElement
WHILE (Exists (el) = true)
a = el.box.top - el.box.bottom
IF (a < 6 - true) THEN
el.fill = color_black
END IF
el = el.nextSelectedElement
END WHILE
Select none
This routine fills the smaller text with a predefined colour (color_black) which I can then use as a selection criteria in future comands.
Thanks for your keen interest Trevor
Hi Rob
I've a macro that we use to scale the drawing up to fill the page. I think the original came from Trevor Hendricks (so thanks) and I changed it to suit what we needed.
submacro Resize_to_Frame_Specify_Border NOT_IN_MENU
Define Height as Float
Define Width as Float
Define ScalePercentage as Float
Define BorderSize as Float
BorderSize = 10
#SELECT THE WHOLE DRAWING
select all
#Determines height and width of grouped art.
Height = gl_TopCoord - gl_BottomCoord
Width = gl_RightCoord - gl_LeftCoord
#Determines height and width of the Active Document Window and ratio between page size and geometry size so it knows how to work out scale percentage
define page_height as float
define page_width as float
define page_ratio as float
define geometry_ratio as float
page_height = ActiveDoc.window.pageY
page_width = ActiveDoc.window.pageX
page_ratio = page_height / page_width
geometry_ratio = height / width
if (page_ratio < geometry_ratio)
ScalePercentage = (ActiveDoc.window.pageY - bordersize) /(Height)
else
ScalePercentage = (ActiveDoc.window.pageX - bordersize) /(Width)
end if
Zoom Page
#NEXT MOVE THE DRAWING GEOMETRY TO THE CENTRE OF THE PAGE PRIOR TO SCALING IT
define geometry_centre_x as float
define geometry_centre_y as float
define page_centre_x as float
define page_centre_y as float
geometry_centre_x = (gl_leftCoord + ((gl_rightCoord - gl_leftCoord) / 2))
geometry_centre_y = (gl_BottomCoord + ((gl_TopCoord - gl_BottomCoord) / 2))
page_centre_x = (page_width / 2)
page_centre_y = (page_height / 2)
define MoveDistX as float
define MoveDistY as float
MoveDistX = (page_centre_x - geometry_centre_x)
MoveDistY = (page_centre_y - geometry_centre_y)
select all
move selection MoveDistX MoveDistY
#Scales the grouped art to proper size.
Scale Selection page_centre_x page_centre_y ScalePercentage ScalePercentage
Zoom Page
# CLEARS SELECTION
Select None
End submacro
---------------------------------------
The text bit, I just use subselect for text, or does that not do what you need?
select all
Subselect if Type is equal to 'text'
Subselect if Font_size is equal to 8
Hope this helps and I've not totally missed the point.
Tim,
Thanks for your help. I'll give the sizing macro a try. Seems a shame to go to so much code when all we really need is for 7.2 to support the 'fit elements' function as 7.3 does.
As for the text part - the problem I have is that the small text I'm trying to select does not conform to an exact size (eg. 8pt), and it is not always the same size. I have text that varies from 11.708 to 11.891. Hence I could do with a function that lets me select if text is less than 12pt, but life is not so easy. That's why I'm tring to use the element box height as a measure of the text size instead.
Thanks for trying.
Cheers
Rob
Oh yes I'm sorry I assumed there was a greater/less than option in subselect, but there isn't is there!
Could you attach a sample file (dumb it down if needed)?
Hi,
I used the same macro in 7.1, but it shows an error message as "Invalid command Height = gl_TopCoord - gl_BottomCoord
Does this command does not work in 7.1?
I believe I wrote that code while using 7.1 (we're now on 7.3). The problem appears to be that gl_TopCoord and gl_Bottom_Coord variables are not defined. Believe these need to be set as global if memory serves me correctly.
need to be set as global? what is that?
Can you tell me one example?
I think you need to set the variable as global. Such a call would look like the following.
Global myVariable as String
As a side note, make sure to look over the macro help found under the help menu. There's a lot of good stuff in there. One thing that PTC is really good about is their documentation.
I am trying to make object that is created to be made under a separate layer when generated. If the layer exist, then create is the prompt I am having issues with. Keep getting "if(exists(active layer 'ARROW'.name)=false) then" Error in expression syntax.
# recorded with Arbortext IsoDraw 7.2
define el as Element
define el2 as element
define spx as float
define spy as float
define epx as float
define epy as float
define ang as float
define ang2 as float
define xdef as float
define ydef as float
define div as float
define pt_end as point
define k as ColorSpec
define lyrNm as string
define me as MouseEvent
define ptx1 as Point # x value of user selected point
define pty1 as Point # y value of user selected point
define ptx2 as Point # x value of user selected point
define pty2 as Point # y value of user selected point
if(exists(active layer 'ARROW'.name) = false) then
add layer 'ARROW' .0
activeDoc.Pens["LW_Medium"].name = "LW_Medium"
end if
me = Wait MouseClick
if (me.click = 0 || me.click = 1) then
# left mouse pressed
ptx1 = me.ptMM
pty1 = me.ptMM
end if
me = Wait MouseClick
if (me.click = 0 || me.click = 1) then
ptx2 = me.ptMM
pty2 = me.ptMM
end if
Create line ptx1.x pty1.y ptx2.x pty2.y
k.type = "colorRef"
k.color = "$ISO_BLACK"
k.tone = 1.00
define myFill as fill
myFill.type = "color"
myFill.colSpec=k
define id_blue as ColorSpec
id_blue.type = "rgbValues"
id_blue.rgb.red = 128
id_blue.rgb.green = 128
id_blue.rgb.blue = 255
if(exists(activedoc.pens["LW_Medium"].name) = false)then
add pen "LW_Medium" .1
activeDoc.Pens["LW_Medium"].screenColor = id_blue
activeDoc.Pens["LW_Medium"].name = "LW_Medium"
activeDoc.pens["LW_Medium"].switchPen = "LW_Medium"
end if
el = activeDoc.firstSelectedElement
lyrNm = el.layer.name
el.line.segments[1].pen = "LW_Medium"
el.line.segments[1].halo = "Autom. Long"
spx = el.line.startPoint.x
spy = el.line.startPoint.y
epx = el.line.segments[1].endPoint.x
epy = el.line.segments[1].endPoint.y
pt_end.x = epx
pt_end.y = epy
xdef = epx - spx
ydef = epy - spy
if(abs(ydef)<0.001)then
ydef=0.01
end if
div = xdef / ydef
ang = arctan(div)
ang2 = 90 - ang
if(ydef < 0)then
ang2 = ang2 + 180
end if
activate layer lyrNm
el2 = create line spx spy (spx + 2.55) (spy + .45)
el2.line.segments[1].pen = "LW_Medium"
append line segment (spx + 2.5) spy
el2.line.segments[2].pen = "LW_Medium"
append line segment (spx + 2.55) (spy - .45)
el2.line.segments[3].pen = "LW_Medium"
append line segment spx spy
el2.line.segments[4].pen = "LW_Medium"
rotate selection spx spy ang2
el2.fill = myFill
SELECT NONE
# Set active pen "LW_Medium"
Activate Layer "New Raster"
# Zoom extent
# Zoom page
# Set active pen "LW_Medium"
# SELECT NONE
End Macro
Sorted it - after much wailing and nashing of teeth:
Select IF Type is equal to "Text"
el = activeDoc.firstSelectedElement
WHILE (Exists (el) = true)
a = el.box.top - el.box.bottom
IF (a < 6 - true) THEN
el.fill = color_black
END IF
el = el.nextSelectedElement
END WHILE
Select none
This routine fills the smaller text with a predefined colour (color_black) which I can then use as a selection criteria in future comands.
Thanks for your keen interest Trevor
Just a late follow up, but something to think about. I personally try to avoid visual modifications as there may be a failure or something missed. Another approach versus the color would be to apply some object info metadata. Something to keep in mind for next time. The code below is an UNTESTED modification of the accepted code.
Select IF Type is equal to "Text"
el = activeDoc.firstSelectedElement
WHILE (Exists (el) = true)
a = el.box.top - el.box.bottom
IF (a < 6 - true) THEN
Create object_info el
el.Info.Name = "here I am"
END IF
el = el.nextSelectedElement
END WHILE
Select none
Trevor,
A late follow up to your late follow up...
That makes absolute sence, don't know why I didn't think of it myself. Thanks for taking the time to give it some thought.
Cheers
Rob