Insert Glyph

Method to insert additional special characters

A client has been asking me for create an extension of Adobe InCopy and Adobe InDesign's Insert Special Character submenus. This blog already has code posted to create menu items with keyboard shortcuts. The code below actually inserts a glyph at the current insertion point. This code takes a slightly different approach than the Insert Special Characters in that it will not replace as selection, it only works when there is an insertion point.

What is interesting is that it is driven by the same Unicode text that the Info Panel displays when the desired glyph is selected in a story. So to insert a 1/4 fraction glyph you would use:

insertGlyph ('0xBC') ;

That unicode number is internally converted to a different encoding by replacing the 0x with a %u and adding any necessary leading zeros before being unencoded and forced to be a string. There is far more error checking than actual code.

//

function insertGlyph (charCodeOfGlyphToInsert) {

//-------------------------------------------------------------------------

//-- I N S E R T G L Y P H

//-------------------------------------------------------------------------

//-- Generic: Yes for Adobe InDesign and Adobe InCopy CS3 and newer

//-------------------------------------------------------------------------

//-- Purpose: To take a code for a glyph as listed by the Info panel and

//-- insert the the glyph at the insertion point if there is an insertion

//-- point.

//-------------------------------------------------------------------------

//-- Arguments:

//-- charCodeOfGlyphToInsert: a String appearing as 0xEB pr 0x2014

//-------------------------------------------------------------------------

//-- Calls: Nothing.

//-------------------------------------------------------------------------

//-- Returns: nothing truely useful. Does return true if successful, false

//-- if the arguments or the selection is invalid.

//-------------------------------------------------------------------------

//-- Sample Use:

//~ insertGlyph ('0xBC') ; // 1/4 fraction

//~ insertGlyph ('0x401') ; // Capital E with umlaut

//~ insertGlyph ('0x2020') ; // Dagger

//-------------------------------------------------------------------------

//-- Notes: Use the Info Panel with a single character selected to learn

//-- the glyph number. These are unicode numbers or in very simple cases

//-- they are ascii number. But they are Hexidicmal based. However, they

//-- may be large 4 digit numbers or smaller 2 digit numbers based upon

//-- the specific glyph.

//-------------------------------------------------------------------------

//-- Written: 2010.04.25 by Jon S. Winters of electronic publishing support

//-- eps@electronicpublishingsupport.com

//-------------------------------------------------------------------------

//-- Verify that what we were passed was a valid glyph number with the 0x

var len = charCodeOfGlyphToInsert.length ;

if (((len != 4) && (len != 5) && (len != 6)) || (charCodeOfGlyphToInsert.substr (0, 2) != '0x')) {

return false ;

}

//-- Verify that the selection is an insertion point, but check docs first

if (1 > app.documents.length) {

return false ;

}

var curSel = app.selection ;

if ((curSel.length != 1) || (curSel[0].constructor.name != 'InsertionPoint')) {

return false ;

}

//-- create the glyph. Not really necessary to make it a spearate variable,

//-- but this makes it easier to debug.

var glyph = String (unescape ('%u' + ('00').substr (0, 6 - len) + charCodeOfGlyphToInsert.substr (2))) ;

//-- insert the glyph

curSel[0].insertionPoints[0].contents = glyph ;

return true ;

}

//