Requires InDesign or QuarkXPress 2016-2023.
Q++Studio Paragraph Formatting is made-up of a string of comma-delimited attributes settings of attributes from the list below, and apart from being used internally by Q++Studio to communicate with QuarkXPress and InDesign, can be used as the sFormat variable of the macro function FormatText (yes, FormatText, which accepts text, paragraph and box attributes).
Each specifier is separated from the next by a comma (no space). Any value which can be specified in decimal form must use a period as decimal separator, regardless of the workstation's Windows settings. Sample formatting may look as follows (the additional non-highlighted text is part of the formatted text replacement sent by Q++Studio to QuarkXPress and InDesign which can be inspected by viewing p-code):
{[1d]}={PLEFTINDENT 1.1,PRIGHTINDENT 2.2,PRULEBELOW 1|28}
Formatting will fail if the text formatting string contains the same attributes repeated with a different values or with inherently conflicting attributes.
Formats
Keyword |
Example use |
Attribute Description |
PLEFTINDENT |
PLEFTINDENT 0.5 |
Paragraph left indent (decimal mm) |
PFIRSTINDENT |
PFIRSTINDENT 0.5 |
Indent of first line of paragraph (decimal mm) |
PRIGHTINDENT |
PRIGHTINDENT 0.5 |
Paragraph right indent (decimal mm) |
PLEADING |
PLEADING 9.25 |
Paragraph leading (decimal 2 to 100).
Leading is a text attribute in InDesign, as compared to QuarkXPress, where it is a paragraph attribute. To apply leading in InDesign, use text leading. |
PSPCBEFORE |
PSPCBEFORE 0.5 |
|
PSPCAFTER |
PSPCAFTER 0.5 |
Space after (decimal mm) |
PJUST |
PJUST 1 |
Paragraph horizontal text alignment |
PCHARALIGN |
PCHARALIGN 2 |
East Asian character alignment |
PKEEPWITHNEXT |
PKEEPWITHNEXT 0 |
Set/remove keep with next attribute (boolean 0=remove, 1=add) |
PDROPCAPCHARS |
PDROPCAPCHARS 0 |
Number of characters to be dropped (0 means no dropped cap) |
PDROPCAPLINES |
PDROPCAPLINES 0 |
Number of lines for dropped caps (0 means no dropped cap) |
PKEEPTOGETHER |
PKEEPTOGETHER 0 |
Keep lines of paragraph together (boolean 0=false, 1=true) |
PKEEPALL |
PKEEPALL 0 |
Keep all the lines of paragraph together (boolean 0=false, 1=true, has no effect if PKEEPALL is false) |
PKEEPTGTHRSTART |
PKEEPTGTHRSTART 1 |
Keep the lines of paragraph together starting at this line number (integer starting at 1) |
PKEEPTGTHREND |
PKEEPTGTHREND 2 |
Keep the lines of paragraph together ending at this line number (integer starting at 2) |
PGRIDLOCK |
PGRIDLOCK 0 |
Lock to grid (boolean 0=false, 1=true) |
PGRIDTYPE |
PGRIDTYPE 3 |
Grid type (has no effect if PGRIDLOCK is false) (0=topline, 1=bottomline, 2=centerline, 3=baseline) |
PGRIDLEVEL |
PGRIDLEVEL 0 |
Grid level (has no effect if PGRIDLOCK is false) (0=page grid, 1=textbox grid) |
Tabulations |
|
Keyword |
TABS |
Sample usage |
TABS(3,928858,1,0,0,0,1857716,2,0,0,0,2786574,0,0,0,0) |
Description |
Creates a set of tabulations for the paragraph of the current text.
Referring to the above example, the first number (3) means that there are 3 tab positions, each one being described by 5 numbers.
Looking at the first set of 5 numbers (928858,1,0,0,0): •The first number (928858) represents 5 mm, expressed in the internal fixed units, the smallest unit of size, used by both QuarkXPress and InDesign, one fixed unit being defined as 1/65536 of a point. This means that an inch is 4718592 fixed units, and a millimeter is approximately 185771 fixed units. •The second number (1) represents the tab alignment, where 0=left, 1=center, 2=right. •The third, fourth and fifth numbers (0,0,0) should always be set to zero for the time being. |
Rules Above
Keyword |
Example use |
Attribute Description |
PRULEABOVE |
PRULEABOVE 0 |
Set/remove rule above attribute (Boolean 0=remove, 1=add) |
PRABOVETEXTLEN |
PRABOVETEXTLEN 0 |
Rule above text length (0=indents is not available in InDesign and will be replaced with 2=column) |
PRABOVELEFTINDENT |
PRABOVELEFTINDENT 1.25 |
Rule above left indent (decimal mm) |
PRABOVERIGHTINDENT |
PRABOVERIGHTINDENT 1.25 |
Rule above right indent (decimal mm) |
PRABOVECOLOR |
PRABOVECOLOR(Pantone 231U) |
Rule above color name as specified in QuarkXPress or InDesign. |
PRABOVEREL |
PRABOVEREL 0 |
Offset type (1=percentage, 0=mm) (percentage offset is not available in InDesign) |
PRABOVEPOS |
PRABOVEPOS -1.25 |
Offset value (decimal in mm or percent, depending on the value of PRABOVEREL) |
PRABOVESTYLE |
PRABOVESTYLE 0 |
Dashes and stripes style ID (refer to the list of dashes and stripes from the scanned template). |
PRABOVEWIDTH |
PRABOVEWIDTH 7.55 |
Width (thickness) of the rule (decimal in points) |
PRABOVESHADE |
PRABOVESHADE 35.0 |
Text shade (decimal percentage from 0 to 100) |
PRABOVEOPACITY |
PRABOVEOPACITY 100.0 |
Text opacity (decimal percentage from 0 to 100) (not available in InDesign) |
PRABOVEOVERPRINT |
PRABOVEOVERPRINT 1 |
Overprint type (1=overprint, 0=knock-out) (not available in QuarkXPress) |
Rules Below
Keyword |
Example use |
Attribute Description |
PRULEBELOW |
PRULEBELOW 0 |
Set/remove rule below attribute (Boolean 0=remove, 1=add) |
PRBELOWTEXTLEN |
PRBELOWTEXTLEN 0 |
Rule below text length (0=indents is not available in InDesign and will be replaced with 2=column) |
PRBELOWLEFTINDENT |
PRBELOWLEFTINDENT 1.25 |
Rule below left indent (decimal mm) |
PRBELOWRIGHTINDENT |
PRBELOWRIGHTINDENT 1.25 |
Rule below right indent (decimal mm) |
PRBELOWCOLOR |
PRBELOWCOLOR(Pantone 231U) |
Rule below color name (spelled exactly as obtained from scanning). |
PRBELOWREL |
PRBELOWREL 0 |
Offset type (1=percentage, 0=mm) (percentage offset is not available in InDesign) |
PRBELOWPOS |
PRBELOWPOS -1.25 |
Offset value (decimal in mm or percent, depending on the value of PRBELOWREL) |
PRBELOWSTYLE |
PRBELOWSTYLE 0 |
Dashes and stripes style ID (refer to the list of dashes and stripes from the scanned template). |
PRBELOWWIDTH |
PRBELOWWIDTH 7.55 |
Width (thickness) of the rule (decimal in points) |
PRBELOWSHADE |
PRBELOWSHADE 35.0 |
Text shade (decimal percentage from 0 to 100) |
PRBELOWOPACITY |
PRBELOWOPACITY 100.0 |
Text opacity (decimal percentage from 0 to 100) (not available in InDesign) |
PRBELOWOVERPRINT |
PRBELOWOVERPRINT 1 |
Overprint type (1=overprint, 0=knock-out) (not available in QuarkXPress) |
Paragraph Shading
Paragraph Shading attributes below require InDesign (they exist as a text attribute in QuarkXPress 2017-2023) |
||
PBKCOLOR |
BKCOLOR(Pantone 231U) |
Paragraph Background color name (spelled exactly as obtained from scanning). |
PBKSH |
BKSH 35.5 |
Paragraph Background Shade (decimal 0 to 100) |
PBKOP |
BKOP 80.5 |
Paragraph Background Opacity (decimal 0 to 100) |
PBKTOP |
BKTOP 3.55 |
Paragraph Background Extent Top (decimal -2 to 99) |
PBKBOTTOM |
BKBOTTOM 3.55 |
Paragraph Background Extent Bottom (decimal -2 to 99) |
PBKLEFT |
BKLEFT 3.55 |
Paragraph Background Extent Left (decimal -2 to 99) |
PBKRIGHT |
BKRIGHT 3.55 |
Paragraph Background Extent Right (decimal -2 to 99) |
Paragraph Border
Paragraph Border attributes below require InDesign (they exist as a text attribute in QuarkXPress 2017-2023) |
||
PFRCOLOR |
FRCOLOR(Pantone 231U) |
Paragraph Frame color name (spelled exactly as obtained from scanning). |
PFRSH |
FRSH 35.5 |
Paragraph Frame Shade (decimal 0 to 100) |
PFROP |
FROP 80.5 |
Paragraph Frame Opacity (decimal 0 to 100) |
PFRWID |
FRWID 0.25 |
Paragraph Frame Thickness (decimal 0.1 to 44) |
PFRTT |
FRTT 0 |
Paragraph Frame Top Present (0 or 1=present) |
PFRBB |
FRBB 0 |
Paragraph Frame Bottom Present (0 or 1=present) |
PFRLL |
FRLL 1 |
Paragraph Frame Left Present (0 or 1=present) |
PFRRR |
FRRR 1 |
Paragraph Frame Right Present (0 or 1=present) |
PFRTOP |
FRTOP 0.0 |
Paragraph Frame Extent Top (decimal -2 to 99) |
PFRBOTTOM |
FRBOTTOM 0.0 |
Paragraph Frame Extent Bottom (decimal -2 to 99) |
PFRLEFT |
FRLEFT 1.5 |
Paragraph Frame Extent Left (decimal -2 to 99) |
PFRRIGHT |
FRRIGHT 1.5 |
Paragraph Frame Extent Right (decimal -2 to 99) |
Keyword |
Example use |
Attribute Description |
STYPARA |
STYPARA(aParaStyleName) |
Applies the paragraph style or style sheet of aParaStyleName to the current paragraph. |
See also: native text formatting, native paragraph formatting, xpress tags formatting and the macro function FormatText.
Topic 183090, last updated on 27-Jun-2023
