Couldn’t find this info in the archives or on the mailing list, so…
I need to get a list of text runs within a Quark XPress (version 4.1) document that have a particular character style sheet. Specifically, I’m creating an index, and some text runs have an “Index” style. I’d like to be able to list all the text runs with the style and the pages they appear on, but I can’t seem to get the syntax straight.
Ideally, I’d also be able to note the location of the text runs so I could replace 'em later if necessary.
I have a couple questions. Are these multiple page documents with linked text boxes or separate text boxes? Are we looking for character styles or paragraph style sheets.
I work in a prelim center so I don’t often create documents in fact much of my job involves NOT changing things in Quark. I thought Quark could create indexes using style sheets. As much as I enjoy Applescript, I don’t like reinventing the wheel. Is it possible to get Quark to do a bulk of this and tweak things with Applescript?
Mostly single-page documents, but some multipage spreads or jumps. In the case of multipage files, there will definitely be linked text boxes. Every page will be numbered using XPress sections, so the page numbering will be correct across jumps.
All character styles; I don’t think there’s any other way for indexing (but I’m open to suggestions…)
You can find a part of the answer in Quark 5 or 6. You can make lists of styled text (with or without pagenumber), whether it’s a paragraph or one word, as long as it has got a stylesheet.
Well, then you have to reinvent the wheel…
Why use Quark 4.1 On OS X, btw? Times are changin’ aren’t they?
Anyway: I found a script somewhere (can’t remember where) which compares a text file (with the index entries) with a Quark document.
It’s from Nyhthawk Productions (1995) try searching for this or on the quarksite. It’s not mine so I am not gonna post it here.
I tried it, but it seems not to work well on OS 10.3 and Quark 6.
Ok. I searched on the quark site and found the script over there.
Fortunately Quark is not very up to date.
You can even use it in Quar 3.x! You still have a copy of that version?
It seems the script isn’t quite what I’m looking for, though:
It uses a predetermined list of text strings that are then used in a search loop, but in my scenario such a list will not be available
It doesn’t care what character style is used on the text it finds, and in my solution the script would be stylesheet-specific.
I need something that will simply pull a list of text strings that have an “Index” character style applied. For example, running it on the text above, where the bold strings represent a character stylesheet, I’d get a list like this:
seems 1
looking for 1
predetermined list 1
character style 1
[the 1’s would be the page number(s) of the text strings, of course.]
We’re using 4.1 on Mac OS 9. They’re legacy systems we won’t be replacing until next year, so there’s no choice, I’m afraid; in the meantime I could use a solution that reinvents the wheel.
