Script for shrinking overset text?

Question

I use data merge to create labels for guests attending functions. Usually this is around 500-1000 labels at one time. I usually set my text frame on the template page for a large point and then shrink it horizontally (I do this to minimize the number of pages I have to manually edit for overset text). I still get some names where they are long hyphenated names that create overset text.
Is there a script available where it will recognize there is overset text and then shrink the text down either by decreasing the point size or adjusting the horizontal spread of the text (maybe making it 100% to 80%)?

Answer 1

Hi,
You could try this:
#target indesign
myDoc = app.activeDocument;
var textArr = new Array(), mRes, myPit, count, done;
mFramesToMove = new Array();
myPit = myDoc.allPageItems;    // array with doc pageItems (masterpages and groups included)
for (var k = 0; k < myPit.length; k++)
    if (myPit[k].constructor.name == "TextFrame" && myPit[k].overflows )
    textArr.push(myPit[k]);    // array with overset textFrames
count = textArr.length;
if (count) mRes = mDialog (count);
else {alert ("No overset texts found"); exit (); }
for (var i = 0; i < textArr.length; i++) {
    done = mShrink (textArr[i], mRes);
    if (!done[0] ) {
        alert (done[1] + "\rFill a dialog field with a number");
        exit; }
    if (mFramesToMove.length) {
        if (myDoc.layers.item("Overset frames").isValid)
            mLayer = myDoc.layers.item("Overset frames");
        else
            mLayer = myDoc.layers.add({LocationOptions: LocationOptions.AT_BEGINNING, name: "Overset frames"});
        for (var i = 0; i < mFramesToMove.length; i++)
        mFramesToMove[i].itemLayer = mLayer;
        alert ("Some frames (" + mFramesToMove.length + ") stay overset\rTake a look at layer 'Overset Frames' ");
    else alert (count + " frames overset fixed");
function mDialog (number) {// "What to do" dialog
    var w = new Window("dialog","What to do?", undefined, {closeButton: false});
    w.add ("statictext", undefined, "Number of overset texts found:  " + number.toString() );
    var myTop = w.add ("panel");
    myTop.alignment = "left";
    myTop.orientation = "row";
    var myCheckBx = myTop.add ("group");
    myCheckBx.orientation = "column";
    myCheckBx.alignChildren = "left";
    var Ch1 = myCheckBx.add("checkbox", undefined, "point size limit: ");
    var Ch2 = myCheckBx.add("checkbox", undefined, "hori scale limit: ");
    var myEditBx = myTop.add ("group");
    myEditBx.orientation = "column";
    var Ed1 = myEditBx.add("edittext", undefined, undefined);
    Ed1.enabled = false; Ed1.characters = 4;
    var Ed2 = myEditBx.add("edittext", undefined, undefined);
    Ed2.enabled = false; Ed2.characters = 4;
    Ch1.onClick = function () {
        if (Ch1.value) Ed1.enabled = true;
        else Ed1.enabled = false;}
    Ch2.onClick = function () {
        if (Ch2.value) Ed2.enabled = true;
        else Ed2.enabled = false;}
    var myStatBx = myTop.add ("group");
    myStatBx.orientation = "column";
    myStatBx.add("statictext", undefined, " pt");
    myStatBx.add("statictext", undefined, " %");
    var b = w.add ("group");
        b.add ("button", undefined, "OK", {name: "ok"});
        b.add ("button", undefined, "Anuluj", {name: "cancel"});
    if (w.show() == 1)
        return [Ch1.value, Ed1.text, Ch2.value, Ed2.text];
    else exit();
function mShrink (textFr, ToDoArr) {    // input textFrame and array with mDialog result
    var pSizeLimAc, pSizeLim, pSizeCurr, pSizeDiff, pSizeStepN, pSizeStep,
        hScaleAc, hScaleLim, hScaleCurr, hScaleDiff, hScaleStepN, hScaleStep,
        ToDo;
    pSizeLimAc = ToDoArr[0];
    hScaleAc = ToDoArr[2];
    pSizeLim = ToDoArr[1];
    if (pSizeLimAc) {
        if (isNaN (parseFloat(pSizeLim) ) ) return [false, "point size is not a number"];
        else pSizeLim = parseFloat(pSizeLim);
        pSizeCurr = textFr.parentStory.pointSize;
        pSizeDiff = pSizeCurr - pSizeLim;
        pSizeStepN = pSizeDiff / 0.1;
        pSizeStep = 0.1;
    hScaleLim = ToDoArr[3];
    if (hScaleAc) {
        if (isNaN (parseFloat(hScaleLim) ) ) return [false, "hori scale is not a number"];
        else hScaleLim = parseFloat(hScaleLim);
        hScaleCurr = textFr.parentStory.horizontalScale;
        hScaleDiff = hScaleCurr - hScaleLim;
        if (pSizeLimAc) hScaleStepN = pSizeStepN;
        else hScaleStepN = hScaleDiff;
        hScaleStep = Math.round(hScaleDiff/hScaleStepN*10)/10;
    if (!(hScaleDiff > 0) ) hScaleAc = false;
    if (!(pSizeDiff > 0) ) pSizeLimAc = false;
    if (pSizeLimAc && hScaleAc) ToDo = 3;
    else if (pSizeLimAc) ToDo = 1;
        else if (hScaleAc) ToDo = 2;
            else ToDo = 0;
    switch (ToDo) {
        case 1: {
            while (pSizeStepN-- && textFr.overflows)
                textFr.parentStory.pointSize -= pSizeStep;
                break; }
        case 2: {
            while (hScaleStepN-- && textFr.overflows)
                textFr.parentStory.horizontalScale -= hScaleStep;
                break; }
        case 3: {
            while (hScaleStepN-- && textFr.overflows)
                textFr.parentStory.pointSize -= pSizeStep;
                textFr.parentStory.horizontalScale -= hScaleStep;
                break; }
        default: break;
    if (textFr.overflows) mFramesToMove.push(textFr);
    return [true];
User will be asked for pointSize and horizontalScale lower limit.
rgds