How to shrink a text to fit in a given rectangle in Illustrator via javascript?

Question

I create an areaText via javascript in Illustrator and want to fit text in the given box at the maximum possible size. How to do that?

Answer 1

You can create an overflow area linked to the initial areaText and shrink the size down until there is no more text in that area.

Example:

var docRef = documents.add(null,1080,1080);
var piRef = activeDocument.pathItems;
var textRefs = activeDocument.textFrames;

var pathRef = piRef.add();

// target text area
var textArea = piRef.rectangle(940, 140, 800, 600);
var text = textRefs.areaText(textArea);

// maximum Font size, use something big to shrink down from
var maxFontSize = 200

text.textRange.characterAttributes.size = maxFontSize;

// create an overflow box
var overflowArea = piRef.rectangle(940, 140, 800, 600);
var overflowText = textRefs.areaText(overflowArea, TextOrientation.HORIZONTAL, text);

text.contents = "This text should fit in the box.";

// shrink text size until the overflow box is empty.
var fontSize = maxFontSize;
while (overflowText.words.length > 0 && fontSize > 0)
{
    text.textRange.characterAttributes.size = --fontSize;
    overflowText.textRange.characterAttributes.size = --fontSize;
}