Adobe Illustrator Scripting with Visual Basic and AppleScript

Ethan Wilde bought his first computer, an Apple II, in 1979 after taking a programming class at San Francisco's Exploratorium science museum. The experience changed his life, and Apple computers have been close to Ethan ever since. Now a principal in Mediatrope, an award-winning multimedia company, Ethan has a whole family of Macs to script and care for, when he is not writing books and giving workshops on AppleScripting. He is the author of AppleScript for Applications: Visual QuickStart Guide.

1. Introduction.


What You Need to Use This Book. Using This Book with Mac OS. Using This Book with Windows.



2. Choosing to Script.


Deciding If You Need a Script. Creating Documents for Use as Templates. Using Actions with Illustrator. Using the Variables Palette and XML-Based Data Sets. Creating Scripts for Illustrator.



3. Scripting Basics.


Using AppleScript and Script Editor on the Mac. Using Visual Basic and the VB6 Integrated Development. Environment (IDE) in Windows. Scripting and the Object Model. Writing Comments in Your Scripts. Numbers, Text, and More: Using Values. Variables: Places to Save Values. Expressions and Operators. Commands or Methods. Conditional Statements and Comparisons. Control Structures. Interacting with Users. Functions and Subroutines. Testing and Troubleshooting Your Scripts. How to Handle Errors in Your Scripts. Ways to Save Your Scripts. Scripting Illustrator's Object Model. Writing a Script for Illustrator. Using Measurement Units and Coordinates in Scripts. Using References to Illustrator Objects. Working with Objects in Documents and Layers. Working with Selected Objects. Working with Paths and Points. Working with Color. Working with Fonts. Working with Text Art Objects. Using the Power of Transformation Matrices. Launching and Quitting Illustrator.



4. Script Recipes for Illustrator.


A Modular Approach to Scripting: Using a Cupboard Full of Scriptlets. Script 4.1: Batch Processor of Files in Nested Folders. Script 4.2: Batch Processor of Open Documents in Illustrator. Script 4.3: Batch Processor of All Objects in the Current Document. Script 4.4: Batch Processor of All Objects in the Current Selection. Script 4.5: Creator of New Document with Default Settings. Script 4.6: Exporter of Current Document. Script 4.7: Remove Unused Swatches, Symbols, and Styles to Reduce File Size. Script 4.8: Make Duplicates of a Selection with Step-and-Repeat. Script 4.9: Collect Files for Prepress Output and Generate Font Report. Script 4.10: Autocomplete a Title Block with File and User Information. Script 4.11: Create and Export Animations Based on Math and Physics. Script 4.12: Convert Multipage PDFs to Multiple Illustrator Files. Script 4.13: Resize and Embed All Raster Art for a Specific Resolution. Script 4.14: Create and Work with Parametric Shapes in Documents. Script 4.15: Use Tags to Attach Searchable Data to Objects. Script 4.16: Use a Web Service to Translate Text in a Document. Script 4.17: Slice by Guides and Export for Web Use. Script 4.18: Create a Two-up Booklet Imposition. Script 4.19: Merge Database Text with Template. Script 4.20: Import Database Data into a Document as Datasets.



5. AppleScript Reference.


AppleScript Language Reference.



6. Visual Basic Reference.


Visual Basic Language Reference.



7. Learning More.


Books. Magazine. Web Sites.



Index.