Illustrator CS6 - Adding dimensional information to a drawing

Question

How can I add actual dimensions to an object.  I'ver created the drawing, but now want to add the dimension informaiton of a few objects into the drawing, without having to manually add the line and arrow and text.

Answer 1

save the text below to a .jsx file, and run that as a script.
Dimensioning - Nick Blakey 2007
This will add measurement marks and dimensions to any selected item.
This script requires that a swatch already exist for the colour "Cutter" (or "cutter")
var myDocument = app.activeDocument;
var selectedObject = myDocument.selection;
var activeLayer = app.activeDocument.activeLayer;
var layerName = activeLayer.name;
activeLayer.name = "Source4Measure";
// Get position of selection bounds
var myBounds = selectedObject[0].geometricBounds;
// Set up X and Y co-ordinates
var x1 = myBounds[0];
var x2 = myBounds[2];
var y1 = myBounds[1];
var y2 = myBounds[3];
// Set up data for the Measurements
var ptWidth = myBounds[2] - myBounds[0];
var ptHeight = myBounds[1] - myBounds[3];
var tmpWidth = Math.round(ptWidth / 0.02834645);
var tmpHeight = Math.round(ptHeight / 0.02834645);
var finalWidth = tmpWidth / 100;
var finalHeight = tmpHeight / 100;
//Find Centre of Object
var xCentre = x1 + (ptWidth / 2);
var yCentre = y1 - (ptHeight / 2);
// Find Cutter swatch position
var origSwatches = myDocument.swatches;
var swatchesLength = origSwatches.length;
for (i=0;i<swatchesLength;i++) {
  if (origSwatches[i].name == "cutter" || origSwatches[i].name == "Cutter") {
  var cutterSwatch = origSwatches[i];
// Check if Cutter swatch is defined
if (cutterSwatch == undefined) {
  alert("Please create a cutter swatch");
else {
  makeDimensions();
  releaseLayer();
function makeDimensions() {
// Lock the active layer to prevent colour change
activeLayer.locked = true;
// Create Measurements Layer
//Now moved to separate function
/*var mLayer = myDocument.layers.add();
//mLayer.name = "Measurements";*/
mLayerCreate();
// Set Document colors to Cutter
myDocument.defaultFillColor = cutterSwatch.color;
myDocument.defaultStrokeColor = cutterSwatch.color;
// Create White Color Object for Measurement Boxes
newWhite = new CMYKColor();
newWhite.black = 0;
newWhite.cyan = 0;
newWhite.magenta = 0;
newWhite.yellow = 0;
// Create groups for measurements
var yMeasure = mLayer.groupItems.add();
yMeasure.name = "Height";
var xMeasure = mLayer.groupItems.add();
xMeasure.name = "Width";
// X Measurement Line and Endpoints
var xLine1 = xMeasure.pathItems.add();
xLine1.stroked = true;
xLine1.setEntirePath ([[x1,y1+36],[xCentre - 30,y1+36]]);
var xLine2 = xMeasure.pathItems.add();
xLine2.stroked = true;
xLine2.setEntirePath ([[xCentre + 30,y1+36],[x2,y1+36]]);
var xLineEnd1 = xMeasure.pathItems.add();
xLineEnd1.stroked = true;
xLineEnd1.setEntirePath ([[x1,y1+40],[x1,y1+32]]);
var xLineEnd2 = xMeasure.pathItems.add();
xLineEnd2.stroked = true;
xLineEnd2.setEntirePath ([[x2,y1+40],[x2,y1+32]]);
// Y Measurement Line and Endpoints
var yLine1 = yMeasure.pathItems.add();
yLine1.stroked = true;
yLine1.setEntirePath ([[x2+36,y1],[x2+36,yCentre + 30]]);
var yLine2 = yMeasure.pathItems.add();
yLine2.stroked = true;
yLine2.setEntirePath ([[x2+36,yCentre - 30],[x2+36,y2]]);
var yLineEnd1 = yMeasure.pathItems.add();
yLineEnd1.stroked = true;
yLineEnd1.setEntirePath ([[x2+32,y1],[x2+40,y1]]);
var yLineEnd2 = yMeasure.pathItems.add();
yLineEnd2.stroked = true;
yLineEnd2.setEntirePath ([[x2+32,y2],[x2+40,y2]]);
/* Create Box for X Measurement text
Deprecated by use of two lines in measurement line
var xBox = xMeasure.pathItems.rectangle (y1 + 46, xCentre - 30, 60, 20);
xBox.filled = true;
xBox.fillColor = newWhite;
xBox.fillOverprint = false;
xBox.stroked = false;*/
// Create Text for X Measurement
var xText = xMeasure.textFrames.add();
xText.contents = finalWidth + "mm";
xText.top = y1 + 42;
xText.left = xCentre;
xText.paragraphs[0].paragraphAttributes.justification = Justification.CENTER;
for (i=0;i<xText.textRange.characters.length;i++) {
  xText.characters[i].characterAttributes.fillColor = cutterSwatch.color;
/* Create Box for Y Measurement Text
Deprecated by use of two lines in measurement line
var yBox = yMeasure.pathItems.rectangle (yCentre + 30, x2 + 26, 20, 60);
yBox.filled = true;
yBox.fillColor = newWhite;
yBox.fillOverprint = false;
yBox.stroked = false;*/
// Create Text for Y Measurement
var yText = yMeasure.textFrames.add();
yText.contents = finalHeight + "mm";
yText.rotate (-90); //, true, false, false, false, Transformation.CENTER);
yText.top = yCentre;
yText.left = x2 + 30;
yText.paragraphs[0].paragraphAttributes.justification = Justification.CENTER;
for (i=0;i<yText.textRange.characters.length;i++) {
  yText.characters[i].characterAttributes.fillColor = cutterSwatch.color;
function mLayerCreate() {
  var mLayerNotExists = true;
// Check if measurements layer exists
for(i = 0; i < activeDocument.layers.length; i++){
  if(activeDocument.layers[i].name == "Measurements"){
  mLayer = activeDocument.activeLayer = activeDocument.layers[i]; // not using var to declare makes it global
  mLayerNotExists = false;
// Create Measurements Layer
if(mLayerNotExists){
mLayer = myDocument.layers.add();// not using var to declare makes it global
mLayer.name = "Measurements";
function releaseLayer(){
  for(i = 0; i < activeDocument.layers.length; i++) {
  if(activeDocument.layers[i].name == "Source4Measure") {
  activeDocument.layers[i].name = layerName;
  activeDocument.layers[i].locked = false;
  activeDocument.activeLayer = activeDocument.layers[i];
  // Set Document colors back to Default
  black = new CMYKColor();
  black.black = 100;
  myDocument.defaultFillColor = newWhite;
  myDocument.defaultStrokeColor = black;