There are 2 different ways in which you can use Xtags in the text actions resulting from the evaluation of a macro token (Xpress Tags are not available in InDesign):
•You want to display specific text whose attributes are specified by the Xtags text.
•You want to display the text of sRESULT, using the attributes specified by the Xtags text.
The procedure is almost the same for both cases.
| 1. | Type the desired text, with all its attributes, in QuarkXPress, so that it looks exactly as you wish, including paragraph attributes such as leading and rules above and below. |
| 2. | If you wish to use method B then there are additional considerations. First, the part of the text you are displaying and that should hold the result of the macro evaluation, should be sResult (this must be spelled exactly). Secondly, the text attributes (color, font, size, kern, ...) must be constant over the length of the text sResult. Note, finally, that you are allowed to have any additional text, formatted in any way, to the left or right of sResult. |
| 3. | Select the desired text and use the File|Save Text menu of QuarkXPress. In the dialog box that then appears, make sure that the Type is Xpress Tags (*.xtg) and that the option Selected Text is selected at the bottom. Click on the Save button. |
| 4. | Open the .xtg file that you have generated in a text editor, such as Windows' Notepad.exe (below is an example of what the contents of an XTG file look like). If you wish to use method B then you should verify that you did not make a mistake in step 2, above, and that the word "sResult" appears together, not broken up by character attributes. |
<v13.00><e9>
@Normal=<Ps100t0h100z12k0b0cKf"ArialMT">
@Normal=[S"","Normal","Normal"]<*L*h"Standard"*kn0*kt0*ra0*rb0*d0*p(0,0,0,0,0,0,g,"U.S. English")>
@$:<BIs87h75z6.55b3.25>sResult
| 5. | The first line in the XTG file refers to the version of the Xtags import engine used to generate the current file. We usually recommend that you always save your XTG files using the <v13.00> tag for maximum compatibility with all versions of QuarkXPress. |
| 6. | The lines that start with @Normal= refer to the default styles and should be removed to ensure that the Xtags text only modifies the attributes we want to change, within the context of where the macro token was located. The final text that should be entered in the Macros Actions dialog should then be: |
<v13.00><e9>
@$:<BIs87h75z6.55b3.25>sResult
This will set the attributes bold + italic + 87% shade + 75% horizontal scale + font size 6.55 + baseline shift 3.25 pts to whatever text is used to replace the current macro token. For more detailed information on Xtags, see the corresponding topic in the QuarkXPress glossary.
Topic 175285, last updated on 28-Mar-2024
