InDesign - list transparency settings applied to a parent text frame

Jeffkr · December 15, 2022, 5:24pm

Does anybody know of a quick method to list the transparency settings applied to a given text frame? Ideally, I want to make sure that no transparency settings are applied to a specific frame.

The following snippet is obvioulsy flawed, but it hopefully helps one understand what I am seeking to derrive at?

tell application id "com.adobe.InDesign"
	activate
	tell document 1
		set myProps to properties of transparency settings of text frame 1
		display dialog myProps
	end tell
end tell

Thank you all in advance!
-Jeff

vaccarolim · December 15, 2022, 8:48pm

Hi
is not so simple
you have 4 different groups of transparency preferences for the object

transparency settings --applied to the object
fill transparency settings --applied to the fill of the object
stroke transparency settings --applied to the stroke of the object
content transparency settings --applied to the content of the object (the text)

for every one you have a lot of subgroups

bevel and emboss settings
blending settings
directional feather settings
drop shadow settings
feather settings
gradient feather settings
inner glow settings
inner shadow settings
outer glow settings
satin settings

and every one has parameters

for example if you want to verify some object blending settings you can use something like this

tell application “Adobe InDesign 2023”
set myblendmode to blend mode of blending settings of transparency settings of text frame 1 of active document
set myopacity to opacity of blending settings of transparency settings of text frame 1 of active document
end tell

I hope this can help!

Jeffkr · December 15, 2022, 9:42pm

THANK YOU Vaccarolim, your response is very helpful and helps clarify/confirm a few things I was wondering about. For what it is worth, I would not mind creating a very large script that returns the values for all transparency properties for each of the four settings: (transparency settings), (fill transparency settings), (stroke transparency settings), and (content transparency settings).

BUT, I am still uncertain how to determine if certain transparency effects have been applied to an object.

For instance, assume the active document contains a single text frame with the word “Test”. Also assume that the end-user never applied a Drop Shadow. The following code (see below) will still return whatever value resides in the Drop Shadow’s Opacity field, e.g., “75”, even if the Drop Shadow’s checkbox is unchecked.

tell application id "com.adobe.InDesign"
	activate
	set mydropOpacity to opacity of drop shadow settings of transparency settings of text frame 1 of active document
	display dialog mydropOpacity
end tell

In other words, I am more concerned with knowing if an effect is either “on” or “off”, as opposed to knowing the specific values. In other words, I would rahter receive an error than receive a value for a setting that is not currently applied to an object.

Thanks,
-Jeff

estockly · December 15, 2022, 10:35pm

To find out what the current transparency setting are:

tell application "Adobe InDesign 2022"
	activate
	tell its document 1
		tell its page 1
			tell its text frame 1
								properties of transparency settings
				--{parent:text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬ 
				--object reference:transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬ 
				--blending settings:blending settings of transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬ 
				--drop shadow settings:drop shadow settings of transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬ 
				--feather settings:feather settings of transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬ 
				--inner shadow settings:inner shadow settings of transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬ 
				--outer glow settings:outer glow settings of transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬ 
				--inner glow settings:inner glow settings of transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬ 
				--bevel and emboss settings:bevel and emboss settings of transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬ 
				--satin settings:satin settings of transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬ 
				--directional feather settings:directional feather settings of transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬ 
				--gradient feather settings:gradient feather settings of transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1}

				properties of stroke transparency settings
				--{parent:text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--object reference:stroke transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--blending settings:blending settings of stroke transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--drop shadow settings:drop shadow settings of stroke transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--feather settings:feather settings of stroke transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--inner shadow settings:inner shadow settings of stroke transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--outer glow settings:outer glow settings of stroke transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--inner glow settings:inner glow settings of stroke transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--bevel and emboss settings:bevel and emboss settings of stroke transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--satin settings:satin settings of stroke transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--directional feather settings:directional feather settings of stroke transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--gradient feather settings:gradient feather settings of stroke transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1}
				
				properties of content transparency settings
				--{parent:text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--object reference:content transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--blending settings:blending settings of content transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--drop shadow settings:drop shadow settings of content transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--feather settings:feather settings of content transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--inner shadow settings:inner shadow settings of content transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--outer glow settings:outer glow settings of content transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--inner glow settings:inner glow settings of content transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--bevel and emboss settings:bevel and emboss settings of content transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--satin settings:satin settings of content transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--directional feather settings:directional feather settings of content transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--gradient feather settings:gradient feather settings of content transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1}
				
				properties of fill transparency settings
				--{parent:text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--object reference:fill transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--blending settings:blending settings of fill transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--drop shadow settings:drop shadow settings of fill transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--feather settings:feather settings of fill transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--inner shadow settings:inner shadow settings of fill transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--outer glow settings:outer glow settings of fill transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--inner glow settings:inner glow settings of fill transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--bevel and emboss settings:bevel and emboss settings of fill transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--satin settings:satin settings of fill transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--directional feather settings:directional feather settings of fill transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬
				--gradient feather settings:gradient feather settings of fill transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1}															
				
				properties of transparency settings
				--{parent:text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬ 
				--object reference:transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬ 
				--blending settings:blending settings of transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬ 
				--drop shadow settings:drop shadow settings of transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬ 
				--feather settings:feather settings of transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬ 
				--inner shadow settings:inner shadow settings of transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬ 
				--outer glow settings:outer glow settings of transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬ 
				--inner glow settings:inner glow settings of transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬ 
				--bevel and emboss settings:bevel and emboss settings of transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬ 
				--satin settings:satin settings of transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬ 
				--directional feather settings:directional feather settings of transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1, ¬ 
				--gradient feather settings:gradient feather settings of transparency settings of text frame id 1033 of spread id 173 of document id 1}
			end tell
		end tell
	end tell
end tell

(Edited to add missing settings)

Also, if you have ScriptDebugger you can use the Explorer pane of the Dictionary Window to see al this and more.

Jeffkr · December 15, 2022, 11:00pm

Thank you - but I am still do not know what syntax is requied to determine if a Drop Shadow is applied/checked for given text frame.

Drilling down deeper and getting the drop shadow’s opacity value is not very useful if the Drop Shadow is unchecked. < — I am not sure if I am exlaining my delimma well?

estockly · December 15, 2022, 11:25pm

I think you want “mode” from the various drops shadow settings.

tell application "Adobe InDesign 2022"
	activate
	tell its document 1
		tell its page 1
			tell its text frame 1
				get mode of drop shadow settings of the transparency settings
				-- drop/none
				set mode of drop shadow settings of the transparency settings to drop
				
				get mode of drop shadow settings of the content transparency settings
				-- drop/none
				set mode of drop shadow settings of the content transparency settings to drop
				
				drop shadow settings of the transparency settings
				drop shadow settings of the content transparency settings
				drop shadow settings of the fill transparency settings
				drop shadow settings of the transparency settings
				drop shadow settings of the stroke transparency settings
			end tell
		end tell
	end tell
end tell

Jeffkr · December 15, 2022, 11:49pm

WOW!!! YES! That’s what I was looking for - THANK YOU VERY MUCH !

Where did you find that “mode” description in the library?

Reason I ask is because there must be equivalents to “mode” that can be used to detect the existence of other transparency effects, such as “outer glow settings”, “inner glow settings”, etc.

Unfortunately “mode” only seems to work for a a few of the transparncy setting properties, such as “drop shadow settings” and “feather settings”.

For example:

–these two lines will return a value
set myDrop to mode of drop shadow settings of transparency settings of text frame 1
set myFeather to mode of feather settings of transparency settings of text frame 1

–But this will return an error
set myOG to mode of outer glow settings of transparency settings of text frame 1

Error:
Adobe InDesign CC 2017 got an error: Can’t get mode of outer glow settings of transparency settings of text frame 1 of document 1.

estockly · December 16, 2022, 12:14am

Yes, in the library. I think it’s easier to find in the Script Debugger library display. See below for the drop shadow settings.

“mode” would only apply to whether the settings are on or off. For reason they chose “drop” and “none” rather than true or false.

The other properties (in bold) use/return other values.

drop shadow setting

drop shadow setting (noun)Drop shadow settings.

PROPERTIES

angle get/set real The angle at which the shadow is thrown. Can return: fixed (-180 - 180).

blend mode get/set blend mode The blending mode for the drop shadow effect.

class get type class The class descriptor type.

distance get/set number or text The distance between the item and its shadow. Can return: number or string (0 - 1000 points).

effect color get/set swatch The color applied to the drop shadow, specified as a swatch (color, gradient, tint, or mixed ink), or as an array of color values. The color mode dictates the array values: for RGB, specify three values, each in the range 0 to 255, in the format [R,G,B]; for CMYK, specify four values, each as a percentage and each in the range 0 to 100, in the format [C,M,Y,K]; for LAB, specify three values in the format [L,A,B], with L in the range 0 to 100 and A and B in the range -128 to 127.

honor other effects get/set boolean If true, the drop shadow will take into account other non-shadow effects.

knocked out get/set boolean If true, the layer will knock out the drop shadow.

mode get/set mode2 The shadow mode.

noise get/set real The amount (as a percentage) of noise applied to the shadow. (Range: 0 to 100). Can return: fixed (0 - 100).

object reference get drop shadow setting An object reference for the object.

opacity get/set real The opacity of the drop shadow (as a percentage). (Range: 0 to 100). Can return: fixed (0 - 100).

parent get reference The parent of the drop shadow setting (a transparency setting, stroke transparency setting, fill transparency setting or content transparency setting). Can return: transparency setting, stroke transparency setting, fill transparency setting or content transparency setting.

properties get/set record A property that allows setting of several properties at the same time.

size get/set number or text The radius (in pixels) of the blur applied to the drop shadow. (Range depends on the unit type. For points: 0 to 144; for picas: 0p0 to 12p0; for inches: 0 to 2; for mm: 0 to 50.08; for cm: 0 to 5.08; for ciceros: 0c0 to 11c3.128.). Can return: number or string (0 - 144 points).

spread get/set real The amount (as a percentage of the blur width) to spread the footprint of the drop shadow and reduce the radius of the blur. (Range: 0 to 100). Can return: fixed (0 - 100).

use global light get/set boolean If true, uses the global light angle.

x offset get/set number or text The horizontal offset of the drop shadow. Range depends on the unit type. For points: -1000 to 1000; for picas: -83p4 to 83p4; for inches: -13.8889 to 13.8889; for mm: -352.778 to 352.778; for cm: -35.277 to 35.277; for ciceros: -78c2.389 to 78c2.389. Can return: number or string (-1000 - 1000 points).

y offset get/set number or text The vertical offset of the drop shadow. (Range depends on the unit type. For points: -1000 to 1000; for picas: -83p4 to 83p4; for inches: -13.8889 to 13.8889; for mm: -352.778 to 352.778; for cm: -35.277 to 35.277; for ciceros: -78c2.389 to 78c2.389). Can return: number or string (-1000 - 1000 points).

Jeffkr · December 16, 2022, 2:23am

Once again I am so grateful for your very thorough/detailed response. It all makes perfect sense (finally). I can now detemine if other effects are on/off by looking at each specific transparency property and then use the applicable property that designates it being on/off.

For example,
Outer glow settings will return true/false via the use of the property “applied”, whereas “mode” is used in conjunction with drop shadow settings to return “drop” or “none” .

Examples:
set myOG to applied of outer glow settings of transparency settings of text frame 1
display dialog myOG
–returns true/false

set myDrop to mode of drop shadow settings of transparency settings of text frame 1
display dialog myDrop
–returns drop/none

Once again, many thanks - I greatly appreciate the help!
-Jeff