Halfling Caravan Games

Looks like it worked, even though it really isn't obvious that it is selecting them across multiple pages (e.g. if you use the page-up-down buttons under the Page Ribbon).

Only on any one page.

The two examples above show the ones without text. Examples with text, and the layer setup.

I would probably end up having to rebuild the frames, because I am pretty sure they're all named rather than 'unnamed'.

They are totally empty. The only 'character' in them is the 'section' character, and nothing else. So even with it there, the paragraph style will still force the empty text box to adjust the mask. (Screen grab below)

I'm working on a game project, and am data merge generating cards. I'm looking to see if there is a way for find-replace to find empty text frames so I can then delete the frames or hide them. I would love it to be fully automated, but I doubt that is possible. Example: To get the text box effect there to work as I want, I'm using a text layer with a background fill decoration containing datamerge fields acting as a mask (e.g. as the text lengthens, the paragraph lengthens, which causes the mask to extend up and reveal more of the gradient rectangle underneath). However, a good number of these cards have empty fields, and rather than putting nothing in the field, it creates an empty line which then extends up the box. If you have one line of text, you get the same mask height. What I am hoping is that I can find all of these empty text frames, and then delete them or hide them as a bulk action.

So I have a concept that is simple enough to express but getting it to work in practice seems like it could have a wild amount of 'follow up fiddling' I am hoping to avoid. The Plan: Take a graphic item that I plan to use as a background to some text (as shown in Picture 1) Input *data merge sourced text* into the text box which has a layer style with a background colour decoration (as shown in Picture 1) Then have that text box act as a mask for the background graphic with a duplicate of the data merge source text overlaid (thus ensuring that the background is only as long as the text needs) (Picture 2) Picture 1: Picture 2:

Yeah, I had the feeling that I would need to do that through some kind of 'manual' process. Would the internal scripting of AffPub be able to search through and do that or is that just asking for a world of headaches and manually cleaning up later?

I've sent you a version that I have partly populated from the Data Merge. Don't worry if you get broken font things, they will be game relevant icons.

I've got a little bit of a tricky problem to sort out. Mostly as a game design and card game layout exercise I'm bashing away with a game with a long history which has a TON of information to pack into a US-Poker sized card (2.5" by 3.5" dimensions with a roughly 1/8" margin on each side). The problem I have is this: Below on the cards below you see "Prince (2) Nairobi" (on Alice Chen) and "Bishop (1)" on Alfred Benezri inside a sort of cartouche. I want that Cartouche to float up and down depending on game text (as you can see with Alfred). To make this happen that cartouche is a floating element of the text box which creates brings in the text you see on Alfred. Technically the text box fills from the bottom, and this element is pinned to a spot before the very top-left-most character. When a card would not have text (like Alice) but also need the Cartouche (like Alice), I would like to be able to hide that white background which is needed for Alfred. That background is a combination of a) a text decoration so that it automatically expands upwards with the text length, b) a pinned top edge effect (a cropped paint-smear image). Problem: I can't hide the text box without hiding the Cartouche. Since this could be a project with a LOT of situations like this appearing, I want to have a way to make the Cartouche automatically rise up the card with text length in that white text area... AND... if I hide that white text area, the cartouche remains visible while the background vanishes.

Adjusting the height of that box (as you can see has been manually done in the second example) is the big headache I can't bypass with something like Copy-Paste and Find w/ REGEX.

I'm looking at a data merge from a CSV where one of the elements will be a Inner Bevel Rectangle with text populated from the CSV in front. I've been looking at ways to implement that but can't seem to find something which will work. Its for a number of cards so I would like to be able to automate this as much as possible. The less "going through card by card to adjust" the better. Consider the file attached as an example output I would like to get procedurally (the symbols across this card are already mostly done by font) Edit: The two images below should help highlight what I'm trying to change automatically about the area where text appears. I can REGEX/GREP in the icons, and the bold text comparatively easily because it would remain the same across many cards. The only way to make much of that faster is if Affinity Publisher allowed for Find-Replace to be able to paste from clipboard as an option. The things I am looking to be able to do are (any one): Create a Text Frame inside a rectangle shape, apply the bevel to the shape, have the new Text Shape adjust its height so that it doesn't overflow without manually adjusting the 'Text Shape' Create a Text Frame and as an Inline Graphic insert the bevel rectangle and define its height relative to the text frame

Yeah, I hadn't seen the nuts and bolts to make that one happen. My Regex-Fu wasn't very good at the time. I would still love to be able to do Request 1, even if it was just to "Paste from Clipboard" (which would also sort out other similar things because you could change it once manually, copy and then paste from clipboard)

One of the things I am using Publisher for is card and board game layout and card designs. This presents some bits and pieces I suspect that Affinity Publisher wasn't quite expecting to have to deal with... What I want to do, since I don't think Affinity can even come close to reading inbound data from a data merge and do this automatically within the Data Merge process (oh that would be gorgeous!) is... 1) Find some kind of standard phrase used to denote where an icon or graph would go in a block of text. As an example "Choose any home region and reinforce it with 2 [infantry]." In this example [infantry] would be my standard phrase which I can find using the REGEX options in the Find function. 2) In the Replace command, I want to be able to: "Replace with Graphic > infantry.gif > Inline > (set some parameters such as height)". This would search through the various cards, find [infantry] and then replace it with the infantry.gif inline and with any other parameters I put on infantry.gif. I realise this might be a manual process for now, but I would really love if it could be automated with a Find-Replace. Edited: Request two... Since another method I am sure to be using will be REGEX to automate things like finding text which will have its Character Style changed, it would be FANTASTIC if I could use the same REGEX to modify the underlying text as well. Example: Find: (REGEX Expression to find all text between two front slashes) Replace: Make Character Style Strong and Delete first+last front slash in string. Convert /Attack/ to Attack through the Find-Replace interface.

I replicated it in another one. The process is kind of simple to recreate the bug. 1) Set up two text boxes with Heading 1 and have the text flow between them on the same page. 2) Set earlier than them in the document a ToC. Breaking Units and Taking Turns are on splash pages with the above method. Fields_of_Blood_Shortbow_Edition.afpub