Publisher

[pcdlibrary]

Custom filler text placed in a shape converted to a text frame, is not visible.

Test filler text in a shape.afpub

[walt.farrell]

There doesn't seem to be any indication that you have filler text in that text frame. For one thing, if you right-click in the frame, you don't get an option to "Expand Field". That means that whatever text you have, it isn't Filler Text.

You're getting some weird effects happening because the text that you do have is all one "word", with no spaces. So, for example, none of the text in the rectangular text frame on the right can fit into the oval text frame.

So, here's what you have currently:

If you add a space between the first 5 and the 8 you get:

Add a space between the 8 and the 4, and you get:

 

[pcdlibrary]

2 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

There doesn't seem to be any indication that you have filler text in that text frame. For one thing, if you right-click in the frame, you don't get an option to "Expand Field". That means that whatever text you have, it isn't Filler Text.

You're getting some weird effects happening because the text that you do have is all one "word", with no spaces. So, for example, none of the text in the rectangular text frame on the right can fit into the oval text frame.

So, here's what you have currently:

If you add a space between the first 5 and the 8 you get:

Add a space between the 8 and the 4, and you get:

 

Thanks. This is not what I expected; but the results are satisfactory.

Self promo.afpub

[walt.farrell]

You're welcome.

[Pšenda]

10 hours ago, pcdlibrary said:

This is not what I expected

I would also expect that, as with the Frame Text Tool, the text will be displayed and reformatted into a frame, even though the text does not fit there and does not contain any spaces to allow it to wrap.

[walt.farrell]

12 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

I would also expect that, as with the Frame Text Tool, the text will be displayed and reformatted into a frame, even though the text does not fit there and does not contain any spaces to allow it to wrap.

Good point. However, inside a shape, the text is being wrapped such that complete words can fit on a line. Without spaces, nothing fits, and it all overflows into the linked rectangular frame.

The red linking triangle indicates that overflow has occurred.

If you started with empty text frames, you would find that the longest line you can get to show up in the oval is this:

Anything longer overflows into the rectangle.

Edit: Try it. Start typing and you'll see the line start near the top of the oval, but move downward as it can't fit, until it reaches the middle and then disappears into the normal text frame.

[Pšenda]

22 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

and then disappears into the normal text frame.

But if I don't have any frame attached, then the text has nowhere to overflow, and then I don't even have how to edit it appropriately, because it just disappears.

21 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

but move downward as it can't fit, until it reaches the middle...

Yes, I understand that text formatting into a shape is a much more complicated process.
However, if the inserted text does not allow display (the text cannot be properly formatted due to missing spaces), then I would simply fill in the shape with the text - as if the missing spaces were in the right places.

Just like it "stuffs" into a standard text frame.

[R C-R]

3 hours ago, Pšenda said:

But if I don't have any frame attached, then the text has nowhere to overflow, and then I don't even have how to edit it appropriately, because it just disappears.

Maybe I have misunderstood something about this but if it is about adding text to a shape ("Shape Text") in APUB, then once the text without spaces overflows, can't you just click the red slashed eye icon to see the text to edit it?

[pcdlibrary]

Created what I want using InDesign; then imported in Publisher.

Self promo.afpub PCD Logo.pdf PCD Logo.indd

[walt.farrell]

55 minutes ago, R C-R said:

Maybe I have misunderstood something about this but if it is about adding text to a shape ("Shape Text") in APUB, then once the text without spaces overflows, can't you just click the red slashed eye icon to see the text to edit it?

Yes.

[Pšenda]

3 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

Yes.

No. Any other object, text box with background, or image below the text shape will prevent the display of leaking text. In any case, editing and formatting the text directly on the spot would be useful.

[R C-R]

3 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

No. Any other object, text box with background, or image below the text shape will prevent the display of leaking text. In any case, editing and formatting the text directly on the spot would be useful.

Can you provide a small APUB file that shows this? On my iMac, as long as the "Shape Text" object is selected & the slashed red eye overflow (or whatever it is called) icon is visible, clicking it to remove the slash (open the eye?) reveals the text, making it possible to edit it.

[Pšenda]

36 minutes ago, R C-R said:

Can you provide a small APUB file that shows this? On my iMac, as long as the "Shape Text" object is selected & the slashed red eye overflow (or whatever it is called) icon is visible, clicking it to remove the slash (open the eye?) reveals the text, making it possible to edit it.

If this function (eye) should be used so that the hidden text is displayed, and can be edited and formatted as needed, then I would expect it to be displayed "always" - at least if the text frame/shape is active (it is selected in Layers panel).

[walt.farrell]

1 minute ago, Pšenda said:

If this function (eye) should be used so that the hidden text is displayed, and can be edited and formatted as needed, then I would expect it to be displayed "always" - at least if the text frame/shape is active (it is selected in Layers panel).

That's not related to this being Shape Text, though. The overflow text from a Text Frame is at the same level (z-order) as the Text Frame itself. If you have an object over the frame you wouldn't be able to see all of the frame, and similarly you can't see all of the overflow text.

In that situation, either:

• hide the overlapping objects in the Layer panel; or
• enter isoloation mode for the text frame by Alt+Clicking on its layer thumbnail.

[Pšenda]

44 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

If you have an object over the frame you wouldn't be able to see all of the frame

But I don't have the text box/shape covered with anything. Objects/frames are contiguous and do not overlap anywhere. Because the function for displaying overflowing text (eye) is inappropriately designed, the text is displayed in such an inappropriate way that the frames collide, and the text is not displayed for "easy" editing.

 

44 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

In that situation, either:

Of course, I know how to display unnecessarily overlaid text, but it's laborious and confusing.

It would be sufficient to design the function of the eye so that it "always" serves its purpose. So it always displayed the overflowing text, and always allowed its editing and the required formatting. Thus, it would be sufficient for an editing box to be displayed after clicking on the eye (ie for the active/selected text frame), which will always be above all objects and will thus always be displayed and editable. After selecting another object (another layer), this editable box is hidden again, because it is no longer necessary to display it - it is not part of the graphic design, and only obscures it.

[walt.farrell]

2 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

But I don't have the text box/shape covered with anything. Objects/frames are contiguous and do not overlap anywhere. Because the function for displaying overflowing text (eye) is inappropriately designed, the text is displayed in such an inappropriate way that the frames collide, and the text is not displayed for "easy" editing.

So you're saying that the overflow text should ignore the z-order of its parent text frame and show on top of everything else. Yes, I suppose that's one way of handling it.

But the way it's been done makes sense to me, and Alt-Clicking on the layer thumbnail to enter isolation mode and hide everything else that may overlap it is easy, and not laborious. It's 1 click.

[pcdlibrary]

On 3/16/2021 at 7:58 AM, walt.farrell said:

Good point. However, inside a shape, the text is being wrapped such that complete words can fit on a line. Without spaces, nothing fits, and it all overflows into the linked rectangular frame.

The red linking triangle indicates that overflow has occurred.

If you started with empty text frames, you would find that the longest line you can get to show up in the oval is this:

Anything longer overflows into the rectangle.

Edit: Try it. Start typing and you'll see the line start near the top of the oval, but move downward as it can't fit, until it reaches the middle and then disappears into the normal text frame.

Here is pi "all one word" in a shape. Accomplished in InDesign.

PCD_pi_Logo.afpub PCD pi Logo.tiff PCD pi Logo.indd

[walt.farrell]

10 hours ago, pcdlibrary said:

Accomplished in InDesign.

Publisher is not InDesign, and Publisher wants to fill text shapes using space-separated text strings.

If I were trying that in Publisher I would use Find and Replace to put a zero-width space between each of the characters, which would allow complete filling of the shape with only one extra manual operation.

[pcdlibrary]

4 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

Publisher is not InDesign, and Publisher wants to fill text shapes using space-separated text strings.

If I were trying that in Publisher I would use Find and Replace to put a zero-width space between each of the characters, which would allow complete filling of the shape with only one extra manual operation.

There certainly are many workarounds. Too bad they are not more intuitive.

[pcdlibrary]

If the text has spaces, they can be found & replaced; otherwise, how do you put a zero-width space between each of the characters, except manually? Once again, this operation is possible in InDesign.

Filler text numbers.afpub

[loukash]

11 minutes ago, pcdlibrary said:

how do you put a zero-width space between each of the characters, except manually?

1. View > Studio > Find And Replace
2. Find > cog button > Regular Expression
3. Find: "(\w)" (without the quotes)
4. Replace with: "$1" (without the quotes), and popup menu > Special Characters > Zero Width Space (inserts a special symbol)
5. Replace All

Note that the Affinity find&replace always affects the whole document (not a bug, it's apparently "by design" for now). If you want to process just a part of the content, copy the text block to a new temporary document.

More on regular expressions here: regular-expressions.info
It's complex but worth checking out.

[pcdlibrary]

Thanks. Very interesting. It begs the question: "How can you learn this? Neophytes need a user manual; where is it?

[loukash]

8 hours ago, pcdlibrary said:

How can you learn this?

The same as you would learn any other foreign language.
Frankly, before I have posted the expression, I had to look up the correct syntax again as well, because at first it didn't work. (Forgot about the parentheses to group the search expression, so that "$1" knows what to keep intact, d'oh!) Luckily, after a few years of occasional use in InDesign, Terminal and other apps, it's not all just gibberish to me anymore when I see it.

8 hours ago, pcdlibrary said:

Neophytes need a user manual; where is it?

Start here, follow the links: affinity.help/publisher/English.lproj/pages/Text/find_and_replace.html

[walt.farrell]

8 hours ago, pcdlibrary said:

Neophytes need a user manual; where is it?

Or they need tutorials. Serif has a lot of tutorials, as do various YouTube users and Affinity users here in the Tutorials forum.

Or they can buy the Publisher Workbook.

But the official "manual" is the Help, which @loukash referenced above.

[pcdlibrary]

Though the Publisher Workbook can be helpful, it does not address the nitty-gritty details of technical questions such as we are discussing. The ID User Manual is a thick book & it provides comprehensive coverage of the nuts & bolts of the application.