Attaching XML tags to paragraphs (CS2/VB)

Question

Hi everybody,
I need to build an Indesign document from several Word documents, attach XML tags to those document parts and also to retain Word's paragraph styles.
I use temporary textframes and copy & paste to put the Word stuff together into one large textframe. Works fine so far. Paragraph styles remain intact:
InDesign.XMLElement xch = root.XMLElements.Add("XML_" + Convert.ToString(cnt), "");
InDesign.InsertionPoint ip = (InDesign.InsertionPoint)txt.InsertionPoints.LastItem();
ip.Select(InDesign.idSelectionOptions.idReplaceWith);
id4.app.Paste();
But as soon as I call Markup() to add the XML tag to this part of the document, all paragraph style information gets lost:
ip.Markup(xch);
This is most certainly some kind of RTFM error, but since there's no really detailed documentation for scripting (at least I couldn't find one yet - hints are welcome), I'm stuck.
Thanks a lot.
Hans

Answer 1

Hi Hans,
The InDesign CS2 Scripting Guide and Scripting Reference PDFs are on your InDesign CS2 installation CDs.
Many things in scripting did not change between CS2 and CS3--and there are more XML examples in the CS3 version of the Guide (though you should note that CS2 does not have the XML rules feature at all). You can find the InDesign CS3 Scripting Guide: VBScript at:
http://www.adobe.com/products/indesign/xml_scripting.html
(you'll need to click the Scripting Resources tab to get to the relevant page)
The Markup.vbs example script (a fragment is shown on page 119 of the Guide; you can find the full script in the associated Zip archive of scripts) shows you the general approach to marking up page items or text. The basic form is:
Rem Where "myXMLElement" is a reference to an XML element
Rem and "myText" is a reference to a text object...
myXMLElement.markup myText
Here's a more complete script (VBScript form):
Rem MarkupText.vbs
Rem An InDesign CS2/CS3 VBScript
Rem
main
Function main()
Rem Use "InDesign.Application.CS2" to target CS2
Set myInDesign = CreateObject("InDesign.Application.CS3")
mySetup myInDesign
mySnippet myInDesign
End Function
Rem mySetup function creates an example document.
Function mySetup(myInDesign)
Set myDocument = myInDesign.Documents.Add
Rem Create some paragraph styles.
Set myBodyText = myDocument.ParagraphStyles.Add
myBodyText.Name = "BodyText"
Set myHeading = myDocument.ParagraphStyles.Add
myHeading.Name = "Heading"
myHeading.PointSize = 24
Rem Add XML elements
Set myRootXMLElement = myDocument.XMLElements.Item(1)
Set myXMLTag = myDocument.XMLTags.Add("xml_element")
Set myXMLElementA = myRootXMLElement.XMLElements.Add(myXMLTag)
Rem Create a text frame
Set myTextFrame = myDocument.Pages.Item(1).TextFrames.Add
myTextFrame.GeometricBounds = myGetBounds(myDocument,myDocument.Pages.Item(1))
myString = "This is the first paragraph in a text frame." & vbCr
myString = myString & "This is the second paragraph in a text frame." & vbCr
  myString = myString & "This is the third paragraph in a text frame." & vbCr
  myString = myString & "This is the fourth paragraph in a text frame." & vbCr
myTextFrame.Contents = myString
Rem Use ApplyParagraphStyle in CS3.
myTextFrame.Texts.Item(1).ApplyStyle myBodyText
myTextFrame.Paragraphs.Item(1).ApplyStyle myHeading
End Function
Rem mySnippet shows how to use the XMLElement.Markup method.
Function mySnippet(myInDesign)
Set myDocument = myInDesign.Documents.Item(1)
Rem Have to associate the Root XML element with the story
Rem before associating child elements.
myDocument.XMLElements.Item(1).Markup myDocument.Pages.Item(1).TextFrames.Item(1)
Rem Now we can associate XML elements with individual paragraphs.
Set myXMLElement = myDocument.XMLElements.Item(1).XMLElements.Item(1)
Set myText = myDocument.Pages.Item(1).TextFrames.Item(1).Paragraphs.Item(1)
myXMLElement.Markup myText
End Function
Rem Utility function for getting the bounds of the "live" area
Rem (the area inside the page margins) of a page.
Function myGetBounds(myDocument, myPage)
myPageWidth = myDocument.DocumentPreferences.PageWidth
myPageHeight = myDocument.DocumentPreferences.PageHeight
Rem Page.Side is a CS3 property. In CS2, use:
Rem If myPage.DocumentOffset Mod 2 = 0 Then
If myPage.Side = idPageSideOptions.idLeftHand Then
  myX2 = myPage.MarginPreferences.Left
  myX1 = myPage.MarginPreferences.Right
Else
  myX1 = myPage.MarginPreferences.Left
  myX2 = myPage.MarginPreferences.Right
End If
myY1 = myPage.MarginPreferences.Top
myX2 = myPageWidth - myX2
myY2 = myPageHeight - myPage.MarginPreferences.Bottom
myGetBounds = Array(myY1, myX1, myY2, myX2)
End Function
As to style information getting lost--it probably has to do with your Tag to Style/Style to Tag mapping. The above script demonstrates that it is possible to mark up text without losing the style.
You might also consider using tag to style or style to tag mapping after pasting the text from Word.
Hope this helps!
Thanks,
Ole