Paragraph to textFrame or Rectangle text

Question

Please help, I am really stuck. I have a bunch of classified ads (each is a Paragraph) in three columns (each is a textFrame). I have no control over the foregoing. For each paragraph starting with "##", I need to remove the "##" (this part is easy) and cause the background color of an imaginary rectangle behind the paragraph to be yellow. I get stuck because I do not know how to get the position and height of the paragraph so that I could create a rectangle or a textFrame. An additional requirement is that the Editor (working in InDesign) be able to move the paragraph around along with its yellow background as a single object. Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Hi,
Exam this code:
// BEFORE start ==> place cursor inside target textFrame or select this textFrame
var
  mDoc = app.activeDocument,
  mStory = app.selection[0].parentStory,
  paraStyleToTable = mDoc.paragraphStyles.item(0),     //     basicPara for now or modify
  mStrokeColor = mDoc.swatches.item(3),     //     3 - is an index, name of swatch can be used as well
  mFillColor = mDoc.swatches.item(6);
  app.findGrepPreferences = app.changeGrepPreferences = null;
  app.findGrepPreferences.findWhat = "^##";
var
  mFound = mStory.findGrep(),
  len = mFound.length,
  currPara, currTable;
while (len-->0) {
  currPara = mFound[len].paragraphs[0].characters.itemByRange(0,-2).texts[0];
  currTable = currPara.convertToTable()[0];
  currTable.cells[0].contents = currTable.cells[0].contents.replace(/^##/,"");
  currTable.storyOffset.appliedParagraphStyle = paraStyleToTable;
  mFormat(currTable);
app.findGrepPreferences = app.changeGrepPreferences = null;
// modify existing properties or add a new one to specify
function mFormat (thisTable) {
  with (thisTable.cells[0]) {
  bottomEdgeStrokeColor = mStrokeColor;
  leftEdgeStrokeColor = mStrokeColor;
  topEdgeStrokeColor = mStrokeColor;
  rightEdgeStrokeColor = mStrokeColor;
  bottomEdgeStrokeWeight = 0.5;     //    cell's strokeWeight to modify
  leftEdgeStrokeWeight = 0.5;
  topEdgeStrokeWeight = 0.5;
  rightEdgeStrokeWeight = 0.5;
  bottomInset = 2;
  leftInset += 0;    //    cell's left/right inset inherited from parent para
  topInset = 2;
  rightInset += 0;
  fillColor = mFillColor;
  fillTint = 30;     // tint to modify
Jarek