How to Define a Plug-in

Wikipedia defines a plugin as “a set of software components that adds specific capabilities to a larger software application”. Not a bad definition.

Most software applications have very specific ways of adding functionality to the application, and this definition pretty much covers it. In InDesign, things get much more confusing, because it’s probably one of the most extensible commercial software applications in existence!

In the beginning of time (a few years back when InDesign was created), there were “plugins” and “scripts” — two very well defined concepts.

Plugins

Plugins were written in C++ using the same SDK and APIs that InDesign itself was created with. In fact, at least 90% of InDesign itself and almost all its features are implemented as plug-ins. Plug-ins are tightly integrated into the program, very efficient, and can work dynamically in the background. Plug-ins can have user interfaces which look like integral parts of the program.

Scripts

Scripts are implemented in one of the three supported scripting languages: ExtendScript (Adobe’s version of Javascript), Applescript (on Macintosh), or Visual Basic Script (on Windows). Scripts were classically slow, each action showed up separately in the undo list, they must be manually invoked, and they were limited to clunky, static user interfaces.

Although InDesign had incredible scripting support (there’s almost no native functionality that can’t be accessed through scripting — and better), there were many clear use cases where a true plug-in was the clear (and only) choice.

On the other hand, scripts are much quicker and inexpensive to develop, as well as easier to debug. Additionally, a buggy script is much less likely to crash InDesign than a buggy plug-in.

Things Got Muddled

As InDesign matured, the scripting engine became more powerful and capable. Each version of InDesign brought a quicker, more efficient scripting engine. In recent versions, except for the most demanding procedures, you can hardly tell the difference between the performance of a “native” plug-in, and an optimized script. Of course the performance of the script will highly depend on how it was written, but a veteran script writer should know how to write scripts that run efficiently.

On top of that was the introduction of events, and Script UI. Events allowed for scripts to run dynamically in the background and Script UI allowed for user interfaces which reacted dynamically to user input and context.

The division between “plug-ins” and “scripts” became very blurred. The only clear differentiating point remained the language the add-on was written in. Plug-ins are written in C++, while scripts are written in one of the higher level scripting languages.

The only two use cases where “plug-ins” remained the clear winner, is where functionality was needed that didn’t exist at all in InDesign, or very high performance was critical.

Hybrid Plug-ins

These distinctions are further blurred by the fact that an add-on does not need to be 100% “script” or 100% “plug-in”. It’s quite possible to mix C++ code with scripting code to create a seamless product (and quite a few of these products exist!) The starting point of such code can be a “script” or the whole thing can be compiled into a single plug-in. It is entirely invisible to the user whether a specific feature is implemented as a “scripting feature” or as a “plug-in feature”. In fact the implementation can be split up into a custom implementation like was done with APID (which we utilize in our products).

Enter: “Extensions”

In CS5, Adobe introduced a new concept: “Extensions”. Extensions can be written using the CS SDK. They are programmed in Flex and ActionScript, and compiled as swf applications. These extensions are an entirely new class of “add-ons”. They have all the capabilities of AIR applications, and all the functionality of integrated scripts. Script Bay is one example of such an extension. Mini Bridge, CS Review, and Kuler are other examples.

Extensions have many of the UI advantages of plug-ins, and can be contained inside native panels. There are quite a few new events in CS5 which allow even tighter integration into the program. In addition, “extensions” can work across the different programs of the Creative Suite.

Conclusion

The basic fact remains. There’s many ways to extend InDesign, and there is no clear “right” way to do it. Sometimes it makes sense to implement a feature as a plug-in. Other times it makes sense to do it as a script, other times, a hybrid, or custom solution is required.

In many situations, it is even difficult to define whether a specific add-on is a “script” a “plug-in” or something else. That fact is, that to the user, it doesn’t really matter that much what the definition of the product is. The technology used to create add-on functionality is mostly a developing consideration. From a user perspective, it’s just important that it allows the user to do what they need!

If you are purchasing a commercial “add-on” don’t concern yourself too much with the technology used to create it.

If you need a custom solution created, things are a bit different. Make sure that whoever you hire is familiar with all these technologies, or you might end up paying extra money for a product which could be created cheaper using a different technology.

FiddleScript — Your tool to fiddle with scripts (without having to fiddle too much).

Download the script from here.

If you are using CS4 or later, you can download the Extension Manager installer instead from here.

Compatibility:

FiddleScript is compatible with InDesign CS3 and higher.

Manual Installation:

1. Download the zip file from here.
2. Unzip the file.
3. Place the resulting file (FiddleScript.jsxbin) in your Script Panel folder.

• There is a Scripts Panel folder in your application folder, as well as your user data folder either one will work. If you want the script to be accessible by all users, make sure to put it in the main application folder.
• For more information on how to locate your script folder, please read this help file here.

Extension Manager (CS4 or later) Installation:

1. Download the .mxp file from here.
2. Double-click on the file, and the Extension Manager will install the script into your main Scripts Panel folder.

• The mxp installer file is designed to work with Adobe Extension Manager Versions CS4 or later. If you have other versions of Creative Suite products installed there is a possibility that your operating system may associate mxp files with an earlier version of the Extension Manager and will try to use that when you double-click the file. If that happens you will see an error alert similar to the one pictured below:
  
  If you do, make sure you use the “open with..” option (by right clicking on the file), and open with the correct version of Extension Manager (i.e. Extension Manager CS4).
• Alternately, you can open the Extension Manager, and click Install as shown below.

Usage:

To run FiddleScript, double-click on the script in your Script Panel. This will bring up a dialog like the one shown:

1. Copy the script code from wherever you got it, and paste the code into the text area.
2. To see the results of the script, click Run Script. If you are using CS4, you will be able to undo the whole script in one step.
3. If you are happy with your script, just click Save Script, type in a name, and your script will be saved to the Scripts Panel.

Some Quick Pointers on Using FiddleScript

• You can click on Load Script to populate the text area with code from a saved script. This is great for making a quick edit on an existing script without ever leaving InDesign. When you are done editing, Just click on Save Script, and you can save it back to your Scripts Panel. You can use the same name to overwrite the original script, or choose a new one.
• After saving a new script to the Scripts Panel, you will need to refresh the Scripts Panel display for it to become visible. To refresh the Panel display you can either close it and re-open it, or switch away from InDesign to another program, and back again.
• The current script will be saved for subsequent runs of FiddleScript. This makes it easy to check the script (or run it numerous times), without having to paste the script into the dialog each time.
• You cannot type a return or tab character into the text in FiddleScript’s dialog. If you need to type a return or tab, use the buttons at the top of the dialog.
• FiddleScript can make your saved script undoable in one step in CS4 and later. To facilitate this, it can wrap your script in a function which can be run in CS4 and later as a single step. By default, the undo Name will be “Run Script”, but you can change it to whatever you want by replacing “Run Script” at the end of the wrapper to whatever you’d like it to be called.
  

  After Wrapped the Script in a Function

“Number Lines by Style” is a script which allows you to add line numbers to text of specific styles. I works by adding anchored text frames at the start of each line. The script will number lines on the current page only.

“Number Lines by Style” was written in its original form for Koren Publishers we thank them for their consent to share it!

Please download the script from here.

Usage

1. Place the script in your Scripts Panel folder
2. Make sure the correct page is active
3. Double click on the script in the Scripts Panel
4. Select the style or styles to number and click OK.

Examples of Use

Here we have a shopping list of the most important things that you could possibly need.

We want to number the list items, so we run the script, and select the Numbered Lines paragraph style:

Which numbers our items:

Of course the example is kind of silly, because we can just use paragraph numbers. The one situation similar to this, where you might want to use this script, is when you’d need the numbers outside the text frame.

A more classic example would be a sitaution where you’d need every line numbered, and the paragraphs are more than one line long:

In this case, you’d run the script and select all the styles used in the essay:

Presto! numbered lines:

• The script uses an object style for the anchored text frames, as well as a paragraph style for the numbers within the frame. You can adjust these styles to tweak the positioning and formatting of the numbers.

Have fun!

Quick Reference is a script created to simplify the process of creating cross references. Thanks to David Blatner on his helpful suggestions when we were creating this script. You can read more about Quick Reference on InDesign Secrets here.

Creating cross references in InDesign is a somewhat painful process. You need to find the destination, and create a destination anchor. You then need to select the source text and create the new cross reference. You can also use references to text without anchors, but that’s even more painful to create.

We created Quick Reference to make this process less painful. To use Quick Reference, you just select the source text, and Quick Reference will give you a list of potential destinations. You just select the correct one, and hit enter. Quick Reference will do the rest of the work for you.

Installation:

We are including two different files for download: a zip file of the script, and an Extension Manager “mxp” file. You can use either one to install the script. Please download one (or both) of the files from here: Extension Manager File or Zip File

Installation using Extension Manager:

Installation should be as simple as a double click on the “MXP” file.

If you have CS3 installed, you might get an error when trying to open the file such as the one shown:

This is because Extension Manager (CS3) is trying to open the package and does not recognize CS4. If you get this error, you will need to install manually or to change the default application which opens the mxp file to Extension Manager CS4.

To install manually, open Extension Manager CS4 and click on the install button shown:

Once Extension Manager installs the script, you can enable and disable the script in Extension Manager:

If using Extension Manager is too much trouble, you can install the script manually.

To do this, download the zip file and decompress it.

You’ll need to place the whole folder as-is in you main scripts folder:

Usage:

Using Quick Reference is easy.

1. Select Source Text:
   

   Select Source Text

2. Select Create Quick Reference:
   
3. Select the destination in the dialog:
4. When you have the correct destination selected, hit Create, and you’re done!

A few tips on the use of Quick Reference:

• You must select the correct Cross Reference Format to use for your cross reference. (You can create or change them in the cross reference panel.) The selection should be the last format used in your document
• Quick Reference will either replace the current selection with a cross reference, or append the cross reference to the end of your selection. You should select the correct radio button.
• Quick Reference ignores trailing punctuation and spaces. If you want punctuation and/or space between the selected text and the cross reference make sure you select the trailing punctuation and/or trailing space.
• The listing of destinations will usually be in order within the text, so the correct destination will usually be the top one on the page.
• If the document is part o a book and the book document is open. Quick Reference will find destinations in the entire book. When this is the case, the name of the destination document will appear in the list of destinations.

Before we go on, make sure you download the scripts from here.

Situation #1

You have a headline which must fit to the margin widths. It may even be a two line heading. What to do?

“Fit Text To Frame” to the rescue!

Before

After

There’s two scripts which are used in this situation: FitTextPrefs, and FitTextToFrame.

FitTextPrefs allows you to set some simple preferences for the Fit Text to Frame script. When you run FitTextPrefs, you get presented with a dialog with four options:

The first two options will expand the text frame down to the bottom baseline or descender respectively only if necessary.

The last two options will move the frame bottom either up or down to fit the frame bottom ensuring that the frame bottom always fits the text.

Once we set the preferences, a simple double-click on the FitTextToFrame script will fit the text of the current frame.

Some quick pointers on using Fit Text to Frame:

• Fit Text to Frame will attempt to bring any overset text back into the text frame. This might result in more than one line.
• If there are multiple lines in the text frame, the text of the longest line will be fit to the frame. All other text will be scaled proportionally.
• Text of different sizes will all be scaled proportionally.
• If all the text cannot be fit, Fit Text to Frame will abort.
• Fit Text to Frame does not adjust leading. If there are multiple lines, it usually works best if the leading is set to “Auto”.

Situation #2

You have the unlucky job of fitting a story into a predefined space. You tried to explain to the client that to properly fit text takes a lot of finesse and very often copy-editing, but they won’t hear of it. You will need to fit the text exactly to the text frame precisely 30 seconds before it goes to press.

Fill Text Frame to the rescue!

Before Fill

After Fill

Fill Text Frame is really very basic. It will scale all the text currently in the frame to the maximum size that will fit in the frame without spilling out of the frame.

• Fill Text Frame will not bring back any text which is overset.
• Fill Text Frame scales all the text proportionally.
• Fill Text Frame does not adjust leading. It usually works best if the leading is set to “Auto”.

The script can be downloaded from here, and it supports InDesign CS3 and CS4.

The options are pretty straight-forward:

1. Scaling: You can select the horizontal and vertical scale, that you would like to make the images.
   • Next to the horizontal and vertical scaling fields, there is a check-mark labeled “Relative”. If this check-mark is checked, the images will be scaled to a percentage of their current size. If the check-mark is not checked, the scaling will be done to absolute values.
2. Image Offset: You can set an offset for the images. Please note: The images will be offset — not the graphic frame which contains them. This might change the way an image is cropped.
3. Location: Images can be scaled/moved on the current page, spread, or the entire document.
4. Relative Location: The graphics can first be centered before they are scaled. If “Centered” is selected, the graphics will be centered within their frames.
5. Fitting: There are 6 fitting options, which besides for “None” correspond to the fitting options available in the Object menu.
6. Limit to Images: If this check-mark is checked, only raster images will be scaled or moved.

You can download the script from here.

Warning: Bad Typography ahead!

Although it’s always the best practice to let InDesign do its thing and give you the best typographic results that it can, there are times when you might want to “freeze” the composition of text. Here’s a few examples:

1. You are moving a document between different versions of InDesign where they have improved the text engine and you get different line breaks.
2. You have an obstinate client who insists that lines need to break “just so” and not move.
3. You are replicating an existing work, and the line breaks must match.

I’m sure there are more horrible scenarios, but these three come to mind… ;0

To deal with these (bad) situations we crated this small script which freezes the composition of the selected text by using the no-break attribute and soft returns. It also allows for scaling of the glyphs (ugh!) in case you add additional text to the line. (I can’t believe I’m writing this!)

You can download the script from here. (But please use carefully, and don’t blame us for the results!)

Preferences Manger is a free CS4/CS5 only script we developed to solve the problem of saving and loading preferences. It offers the ability to save preference sets which can be loaded at any time. You can save different preference sets with settings that you might use under different circumstances as well as save  preference sets which can be deployed across different computers.

INSTALLATION:

Preference Manager is a start-up script, which means that it is installed in the scripts folder and loads itself when InDesign starts up. The functions of the script are accessed by a menu item which the script creates.

To install the script, simply download the script from here, and unzip the file. It will unzip to a folder structure with the top level being called “PreferenceManager”. Move the entire folder into your main Scripts folder as shown in this screen shot.

Next, just restart InDesign and a new menu item will appear.

USAGE:

Once the script is installed and InDesign is restarted, the following menu item will appear at the bottom of your preference list:

Selecting this menu item will bring up the following dialog:

• To save your current preferences, simply click on “New” and a prompt will show up to allow you to name your preference set, and the script will save your preferences to a file. Once the preference set is saved, it will appear in the list in the dialog.
• If you would like to open the file and change values, you can select a preference set and click “Edit. This will open the file in the default xml editor on your computer.
• To delete a preference set file, you can simply click “Delete”.
• To load a preference set, select the set which you want to load and click “Load Prefs”. If no document is open, the default preferences will be changed. If there are open documents, the preferences for the front-most document will be changed.

Preference Set Locations:

There are two places that Preferences Manager looks for preference sets:

1. In the PreferenceManager folder, there is a sub-folder named “Default Sets”. Any preference set files placed in this folder will appear in the list for all users. The script comes with two sets which can be used: “International Defaults” and “US Defaults”. You can use these default preferences, change them, or delete them as you wish.
   
2. The default location where Preferences Manager saves the preference sets is in the user application data folder. A folder named In-Tools will be created, and a sub-folder named Preference Sets will be created inside the In-Tools folder. All preference set files will be stored there, and be available to the current user.
   If you would like your sets to be available to all users, you will need to move the files to the Default Set folder location.

Known Issues:

• Preferences Manager should save and load just about all preferences. Some preferences can effect the appearance of your documents (such as “Skip by Leading”, “Text Wrap Affects Text Below”, “Justify Text Next to Objects”, and many others). You must be very careful when you load preferences on existing documents that you don’t adversely change the appearance of your documents!
• The current version of Preferences Manager only saves and loads preferences. It will not save or load any presets (such as printer presets, pdf export presets, transparency, etc.). Nor will it save or load any styles or swatches.

We just thought it’s a great opportunity to post a useful little script we have lying around since January ‘07. It pops up a little dialog which allows you to select guides on the current spread. Of course there’s the shortcut (Command/Control Option G) which will select all the guides on a spread, but this script also allows you to select just vertical or horizontal guides. You can get the script from here.