textOnCurvesAndShapes.js

Area: Geometry / Text

Creates one of each curve/shape-backed text node type on a new A4 landscape document: CurvePathTextNode (text on a wavy bezier), PolyCurveTextNode (text inside a blob), ShapePathTextNode (text on a heart outline), and ShapeTextNode (text inside a star). It uses StoryBuilder with applyGlyphDelta / applyParagraphDelta to style the text and Shape.create(ShapeType.Heart) / ShapeType.Star for the containers. The single best tour of the text-on-path family.

Source: textOnCurvesAndShapes.js

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textOnCurvesAndShapes.js

Download textOnCurvesAndShapes.js

textOnCurvesAndShapes.js

/*
BSD 3-Clause License

Copyright (c) 2026, Canva Pty Ltd.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this
list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

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this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation
and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

Neither the name of the copyright holder nor the names of its
contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from
this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS"
AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR
SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER
CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY,
OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE
OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
*/

'use strict';

// Creates one of each curve/shape-backed text node type on a new A4
// landscape document. Each node's text is just its type name (with spaces)
// laid against an actual curve or shape, with a small amount of formatting
// applied via StoryBuilder so the result is visibly styled.
//
// Layout (A4 landscape, roughly):
//   top-left      CurvePathTextNode  — text along a wavy bezier
//   top-right     PolyCurveTextNode  — text inside a rectangular polycurve container
//   bottom-left   ShapePathTextNode  — text along a heart outline
//   bottom-right  ShapeTextNode      — text inside a star

const { Document, DocumentPreset } = require('/document');
const { AddChildNodesCommandBuilder } = require('/commands');
const { StoryBuilder } = require('/storybuilder');
const { StoryDelta } = require('/storydelta');
const { GlyphAttDoubleType } = require('/glyphatts');
const { ParagraphAlignXType } = require('/paragraphatts');
const { FontWeight } = require('/fonts');
const { CurveBuilder, PolyCurve, Transform } = require('/geometry');
const { Shape, ShapeType } = require('/shapes');
const {
    CurvePathTextNodeDefinition,
    PolyCurveTextNodeDefinition,
    ShapePathTextNodeDefinition,
    ShapeTextNodeDefinition,
} = require('/nodes');

function newA4Landscape() {
    const a4 = DocumentPreset.all.filter(p => p.name.includes("A4"))[0];
    return Document.createFromPreset(a4, true);
}

function addNode(doc, def) {
    const builder = AddChildNodesCommandBuilder.create();
    builder.addNode(def);
    doc.executeCommand(builder.createCommand());
}

// A StoryBuilder seeded with frame-text defaults, body height, and a glyph
// fill colour applied as a delta so subsequent text picks it up.
function newBuilder(doc, heightPt) {
    const pxPerPt = doc.dpi / 72;
    const sb = StoryBuilder.create();
    sb.setToFrameTextDefaultStyle(doc.dpi, doc.rasterFormat);
    sb.applyGlyphDelta(StoryDelta.createGlyphDouble(GlyphAttDoubleType.Height, heightPt * pxPerPt));
    return sb;
}

// Builds: bold word, then italic word, then plain word — separated by spaces.
// e.g. parts = ["Curve", "Path", "Text", "Node"] →
//   "Curve" bold, " Path" italic, " Text Node" plain.
function addStyledWords(sb, parts) {
    sb.applyGlyphDelta(StoryDelta.createWeight(FontWeight.Bold));
    sb.addText(parts[0]);
    sb.applyGlyphDelta(StoryDelta.createWeight(FontWeight.Normal));

    sb.applyGlyphDelta(StoryDelta.createItalic(true));
    sb.addText(" " + parts[1]);
    sb.applyGlyphDelta(StoryDelta.createItalic(false));

    sb.addText(" " + parts.slice(2).join(" "));
}

// ── CurvePathTextNode: text flows along a wavy bezier curve ──────────────
function makeCurvePathNode(doc, originX, originY) {
    const curve = new CurveBuilder()
        .beginXY(0, 0)
        .addBezierXY(80, -120, 240, 120, 320, 0)
        .addBezierXY(400, -120, 560, 120, 640, 0)
        .createCurve();
    const polyCurve = PolyCurve.create();
    polyCurve.addCurve(curve);
    polyCurve.transform(Transform.createTranslate(originX, originY));

    const sb = newBuilder(doc, 28);
    addStyledWords(sb, ["Curve", "Path", "Text", "Node"]);
    return CurvePathTextNodeDefinition.createFromStoryBuilder(polyCurve, sb);
}

// ── PolyCurveTextNode: text flows inside an irregular blob ───────────────
// Mixes line segments with bezier sides so it's visibly not a frame
// rectangle: jagged top, curved right side, slanted bottom, bulging left.
function makePolyCurveNode(doc, x, y, w, h) {
    const blob = new CurveBuilder()
        .beginXY(x, y + h * 0.15)
        .lineToXY(x + w * 0.25, y)
        .lineToXY(x + w * 0.55, y + h * 0.10)
        .lineToXY(x + w * 0.85, y)
        .addBezierXY(x + w * 1.05, y + h * 0.35,
                     x + w * 0.95, y + h * 0.70,
                     x + w * 0.80, y + h)
        .lineToXY(x + w * 0.20, y + h * 0.85)
        .addBezierXY(x - w * 0.05, y + h * 0.75,
                     x - w * 0.05, y + h * 0.35,
                     x, y + h * 0.15)
        .close()
        .createCurve();
    const polyCurve = PolyCurve.create();
    polyCurve.addCurve(blob);

    const sb = newBuilder(doc, 22);
    sb.applyParagraphDelta(StoryDelta.createAlignX(ParagraphAlignXType.Centre));
    addStyledWords(sb, ["Poly", "Curve", "Text", "Node"]);
    return PolyCurveTextNodeDefinition.createFromStoryBuilder(polyCurve, sb);
}

// ── ShapePathTextNode: text flows along the outline of a heart shape ─────
function makeShapePathNode(doc, x, y, size) {
    const heart = Shape.create(ShapeType.Heart);
    const bounds = { x: x, y: y, width: size, height: size };

    const sb = newBuilder(doc, 22);
    addStyledWords(sb, ["Shape", "Path", "Text", "Node"]);
    return ShapePathTextNodeDefinition.createFromStoryBuilder(heart, bounds, sb);
}

// ── ShapeTextNode: text flows inside a star shape ────────────────────────
function makeShapeNode(doc, x, y, size) {
    const star = Shape.create(ShapeType.Star);
    const bounds = { x: x, y: y, width: size, height: size };

    const sb = newBuilder(doc, 18);
    sb.applyParagraphDelta(StoryDelta.createAlignX(ParagraphAlignXType.Centre));
    addStyledWords(sb, ["Shape", "Text", "Node"]);
    return ShapeTextNodeDefinition.createFromStoryBuilder(star, bounds, sb);
}

function main() {
    const doc = newA4Landscape();
    const w = doc.widthPixels;
    const h = doc.heightPixels;
    const margin = 40;

    // Top-left: curve path
    addNode(doc, makeCurvePathNode(doc, margin, h / 4));

    // Top-right: polycurve rectangle
    addNode(doc, makePolyCurveNode(doc, w / 2 + margin, margin, w / 2 - 2 * margin, h / 2 - 2 * margin));

    // Bottom-left: heart outline
    const shapeSize = Math.min(w / 2 - 2 * margin, h / 2 - 2 * margin);
    addNode(doc, makeShapePathNode(doc, margin, h / 2 + margin, shapeSize));

    // Bottom-right: star
    addNode(doc, makeShapeNode(doc, w / 2 + margin, h / 2 + margin, shapeSize));
}

module.exports.main = main;