Scripts for use with QuarkXPress

Scripts for QuarkXPress

Make a Color for the Current Box - (33K) This script uses the "choose color" dialog from the Jon's Commands osax to let the user interactively create and adjust a color for the selected text box, picture box, or line. Good example of repeating dialogs with checks and sub-routines. A link to Jon's page to download Jon's Commands

Convert To/From XPress tags - (17K) This script will convert the story in the selected text box to XPress Tags and replace the story with the XPress Tags text. Run it again and you can convert from the XPress Tags back to formatted text. Pretty nifty!

Link Me!/Open Me! - (50K) An interesting set of scripts! "Link Me!" will allow you to place a link button to another QuarkXPress document on the current document's layout. When run, the script will prompt you for the document to "link to" and then create a picture box containing an icon on the top left of the current page. It will also place a text box containing the name of the "link to" file next to the picture box. Select both boxes (group them if you like) and move them to the pasteboard or wherever you desire. The text box containing the "link to" doc name is created for your convienince and may be deleted if you want since the picture box contains the link!

To open "link to" documents, select the link icon boxes representing the files to open (don't worry if they're grouped since the script will find "see" them anyway), and run the "Open Me!" script--it will open all "link to" documents. If a "link to" document has been moved to another location, the script will offer to find every matching file and open them. The "Open Me!" script requires the scriptable Finder that ships with system 7.5 or higher.

TIP: You can create link buttons and place them in a QuarkXPress library and drag them onto a QuarkXPress layout. Link buttons may also be copied and pasted between documents!

FPO Tool Set - (50K) A set of scripts for placing "FPO" boxes over images in your document. The first script, PPrep - Make FPO Overlays, makes FPO overlay text boxes over every selected picture box. The second script, PPrep - FPO TBox - Print, sets the overlay boxes so that they will print the "FPO" text. The third script, PPrep - FPO TBox - No Print, disables printing for all the overlay text boxes. The last script, PPrep - FPO TBox - Delete, will delete every FPO overlay box.

Page Background - (17K) This script will create a background picture box for the current page after prompting the user for color and shade to use.

Full Zoom Window - (17K) This script will zoom the frontmost document's window to full screen. NOTE: This script uses the scriptable Finder that comes with System 7.5 or higher. Make sure that the Finder Scripting Extension is activated!!!

Set Measurement System - (17K) This script will allow you to set the measurement sytem without having to dig through dialogs and pop-ups!

Image Cataloger - (33K) For those that have read my article in X-Ray Magazine about the image cataloging script, here's a version with a template. For the rest of you, it's a script that will create an image catalog of images found in a indicated folder. Run the script--you'll see what I mean!

Image Name Overlays - (17K) This script will create a text box over every picture box containing an image and place the name of the image in the textbox. The name overlay text box is set to be non-printing but can be changed easily by modifying the script.

StyleSheet Collection - 10 scripts dealing with various stylesheet issues.

SSheet · Set Font of 1st Char - This script will set the font of the first character of a paragraph, styled with an indicated stylesheet, to a chosen font. This especially useful for paragraphs containing a drop cap.

SSheet · Find Change w/Check - This script will search for occurences of an indicated stylesheet and replace each occurence with another stylesheet. The user has the option to search and replace either in the current story or throughout the document.

SSheet · Make Run-in Heads - This script will apply text styling to the run-in head of every paragraph styled with the indicated stylesheet. To make this script have no user interaction, set the styleToSearchFor to the requested stylesheet name, and the terminationCharacter to the requested character ending the run-in heads.

SSheet · Add/Style ParaEndChars - This script will add indicated characters to the end of every paragraph of a story that is styled with an indicated stylesheet.

SSheet · Re-Apply Certain Style - This script will set the stylesheet of every paragraph of a story or selection, styled with an indicated stylesheet, to "no style" and then re-apply the original stylesheet of the paragraph. This process removes any added character level formatting in the found paragraphs.

To shorten the time required on long documents, a list of object references
of the paragraphs containing the stylesheet is found first and used in a
repeat loop. This eliminates the need to test each paragraph of the story or selection.

SSheet · Copy Run-in Heads - This script will apply the text styling of the current text selection to the run-in head of every paragraph of the current story who is styled with the indicated stylesheet.

To use:
1) Style some text in the current story in the manner you want to use for the run-in heads.
2) Place the cursor in this text whose style you wish to copy
3) Run the script and indicate the stylesheet to search for.

Recto/Verso Stylesheet Replace - This script will check for every occurance of a chosen style sheet in a text flow. If the occurence is on a specified type of page (either recto or verso), it will be changed to a second indicated style sheet.

This script was designed to address the need to have paragraph headers appear on the proper side of the layout. It should be run after most of the layout is completed.

To use:
1) create a duplicate style sheet of the one used for the headers, only have the paragraph
alignment for the duplicate style sheet on the side you desire
2) place the cursor anywhere in the text flow. It can be in any text box on any page as long
as that text box is part of the text flow you which to change
3) run the script
4) indicate the style sheet to look for (the name must be entered in the dialog exactly
as it appears in the style sheet list)
5) indicate the style sheet to replace with (the new duplicate)
6) the script will beep 3 times at the end of the script
If text is shifted and reflowed and headers end up on the wrong pages, use a script to change
the style sheet of the errant headers back to the original, then run this script again.

NOTE: You might have to cause a redraw to show the changes, sometimes they get stuck!

Link · New Page @ Style - (NOTE: save this script as an applet)
This script is used to move any paragraphs, that are styled with a particular style sheet, to the start of a new page. The document must have multiple linked boxes per page linked to autoflow.

Select a text flow and run the script. Starting with the second paragraph of the story, the script will scan each paragraph and when it encounters a paragraph styled with a particular style sheet, will count the number of linked boxes to the next page and add that number of new box characters (ASCII 11) before the paragraph, thereby generating a new page. It will continue through the text flow until all occurences of the indicated style sheet have been found and the text flow adjusted. The script will beep twice when finished.

SSheet · Re-Apply All - This script will set the stylesheet of every paragraph of a story to "no style" and then re-apply the original stylesheet of the paragraph. This process removes any added character level formatting in the paragraph.

SSheet · Read/Apply Next Style - This script will, starting with the first paragraph, read the next style property of the style sheet of each paragraph and apply that next style to the following paragraph in the text flow.

It is an example of:
1) querying the user for information used to direct the script
2) using a repeat loop to process every paragraph in the selected story

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Coming soon! The QXP HTML Importer Script. I'm finishing the first beta of a script that will convert any HTML 2.0 text file to a QuarkXPress file! It currently supports: definition lists, unordered lists, ordered lists, special characters, headline styles, horizontal rules, and placed images. It does not support tables "yet" but will extract the table HTML and place it in a box on the pasteboard. I'm working on a companion script that will convert the table HTML to a Tableworks table using the Tableworks XTension. Yummy! I'll be posting it here for all to test soon.

Scripts for the Tableworks Plus XTension

Sal's Tableworks Snippets - (500+K) I was going to release these as a commercial product but changed my mind! Over 50 very powerful scripts dealing with all aspects of using the Tableworks Plus XTension. Sample scripts and documents for auto-table building, formating, and linking to databases. The entire collection can be downloaded here.

Scripts for the BeyondPress XTension

BeyondPress 2.0.1 Utility Scripts. Here are three editable scripts:

1) Find Text/Link to URL. This script will search a selected story for the text you indicate and create a link for each occurence of the found text.

2) Make Image/Master Element. This script will render an anti-aliased image from any selected text or picture boxes. It will also create a new Master Element based on the newly created image. You have a choice of creating either a GIF or a JPEG. IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have multiple items selected, they must be grouped for the script to function properly.

3) Path to a Linked File. This script will deduce the path to a linked file in relative position to it's HTML page. If you have the Jon's Commands OSAX installed, it will copy the relative path to the clipboard for you.

The QuickTime Linker Script. (264K) This script will allow you to preview a QuickTime movie and then place a link to it into your QuarkXPress document as a BeyondPress master element. It requires having QuickTime 2.1 installed on your Mac and the Apple QuickTime plug-in for use with NetScape 3.0. Also note that in order for a QuickTime movie to be viewable with the Apple plug-in, it must first be processed with the Apple Internet Movie Tool which can also be downloaded from the Apple QuickTime Plug-in page. To use, launch the script and then click the question mark icon on the top right of the floating palette to open the Instructions window. Read them carefully--please! There are some small bugs with this version, but nothing that I've found causes crashes or serious problems.

Scripts for Quark CopyDesk Special Edition

Quark is releasing a hobbled version of their CopyDesk program which is part of the QPS System. It will sell for $195 and is basically a "QuarkXPress Word Processor." It has the special ability to view the layout of the QXP document containing the story to be edited without actually opening the XPress file.

In the QPS version you can open a story from a QuarkXPress layout, edit it, and send it back to the QXP layout. The Special Edition Version is NOT SCRIPTABLE (an example of Quark's commitment to AppleScript) and we must rely on other means to achieve connectivity. KeyQuencer (from Binary Software) is a perfect tool for controlling programs not supporting Apple Events. You'll find it on AOL or on the internet. I suggest downloading it and sending in the shareware fee (it's only $10!).

I have written three scripts (66K in a combined archive), two of which use the KeyQuencer system extension to achieve connectivity. Select a text box containing the story you wish to edit and run the first script Open Story in CopyDesk. It will open the selected text chain into CopyDesk. When you are done, run the second script Replace Story in QXP. It will replace the text chain in the QuarkXPress document. Both scripts work by naming the story for editing. I've included a third script, Story Namer 1.1, as a convient way to check or re-name a story. These three scripts are applets, put them into the Apple Menu Items folder and run them from there.