# Darty Tags

Darty tags are user-provided names which facilitate virtual associations of Illustrator art objects to the variable datasheet.

There are several ways to tag an Illustrator object with the Darty tag using the extension's Tags tab.

Primarily, the Tags tab allows the user to tag currently-selected items in a document. Another, more automated way to tag art objects is to give them names in the Layers panel and use the "Tag by Names" button of the UI.

# Tags Usage Description

Darty tags are used to tag art objects in Illustrator for operating on them.
The following applies to the process of placing and using Darty tags:

• Any selectable object can be tagged.
• Darty tags are saved with the file, and non-Darty users can edit the file without having Darty installed. However, they cannot manipulate the document's Darty tags.
• Darty tags not only stay with the document, they also stay with the artwork. This means art which was tagged with a Darty tag could be pasted among documents and will still retain the tag.
• Currently, Opacity Mask objects cannot be affected by Darty, so tagging art inside of an Opacity Mask will have no effect.
• Currently, the content tagged in an Envelope can only be affected by Darty if the document has been saved with the subject item's envelope mode set to "Edit Contents".

# Naming Rules

1. Tags names are case insensitive.
2. They must not contain any of these characters: []{}()&|^.*$~<>!,
3. Any art object that can be selected, can be tagged.
4. Layers cannot be tagged with Darty tags; to manipulate layers use the Darty Layers method.

# Tag-Search Rules

# Simple Searches

Cat finds items tagged cat (tags are case insensitive)
!cat finds items NOT tagged cat
cat | dog finds items tagged either cat or dog
cat & tabby finds items tagged both cat and tabby
cat & !tabby finds items tagged cat but not tabby
!cat & !dog finds items that are not tagged cat and not tagged dog
(cat | dog) & !dangerous finds items tagged cat or dog but not dangerous
^ca finds items tagged with a tag that starts with the letters ca
og$ finds items tagged with a tag that ends with the letters og

# Relative Search

These searches consider the item's position relative to other items in the Layers Panel.

animals > cat finds items tagged cat in a group tagged animals
First GROUP animals then > then ITEM cat

animals < cat finds groups tagged animals containing an item tagged cat
First GROUP animals then < then ITEM cat

cat ~ chicken finds items tagged cat that are siblings of items tagged chicken
SIBLINGS are items on the same nested level in the Layers Panel
The two groups tagged cat in the animals group are siblings.

# Power-User Searches

These searches are designed for power users who are familiar with advanced CSS specifications.
Less than 1% of users are expected to use them.

nthChild(animals, 3) finds the third item of groups tagged animals
A child refers to a first-level member of a group.

Example: A group animals contains a group cat, which contains a group eyes.
cat is a CHILD of the group animals.
eyes is a CHILD of the group cat.
eyes is a DESCENDANT of the group animals.

nthChild(animals, 2n) finds every second item of groups tagged animals, i.e., items 2, 4, 6, etc. (even numbers).

nthChild(animals, 3n) finds every third item of groups tagged animals, i.e., items 3, 6, 9, etc.

nthChild(animals, 2n + 1) finds every second item, starting from the first item, of groups tagged animals, i.e., items 1, 3, 5, etc. (odd numbers)
First GROUP animals, then FREQUENCY 2n, then START FROM +1.
If no START FROM is provided, it will start from the FREQUENCY number, 2.

nthChild(animals, 2n + 3) finds every second item, starting from the third item, of groups tagged animals, i.e., items 3, 5, 7, etc.

nthOfType(cat, 2n + 1) finds every second SIBLING item starting from the first item +1, tagged cat
SIBLINGS are items on the same nested level in the Layers Panel.

Example: The cats in the animals group are SIBLINGS to each other.
Cats in the cats group are SIBLINGS to each other.
Cats in the animals group are not SIBLINGS with cats in the cats group.

firstOfType(cat) finds the first item tagged cat on the same nested layer or group level.

lastOfType(cat) finds the last item tagged cat on the same nested layer or group level.

globalNthOfType(cat, 3) finds the third item in the document tagged cat
Unlike nthOfType(cat, 3), which finds the third item tagged cat in each group/collection,
globalNthOfType(cat, 3) considers the whole document as a single collection and finds only the third instance of an item tagged cat in the entire document.

globalNthOfType(cat, 2n + 1) finds every second item in the document tagged cat, starting from the first instance, regardless of whether or not the items are in groups.

globalFirstOfType(cat) finds the first item in the document tagged cat.

globalLastOfType(cat) finds the last item in the document tagged cat.

siblingBefore(tabby & cat) finds the SIBLING item below items tagged both tabby and cat.

siblingAfter(tabby & cat) finds the SIBLING item above items tagged both tabby and cat.

parent(cat) finds group items that are the PARENT of items tagged cat A PARENT of a CHILD is a group containing the child item that is not nested in another group.

children(animals) finds items that are the children of a group tagged animals CHILDREN are members of a group that are not nested in another group.

firstChild(animals) finds the first child (non-nested) item of the group tagged animals.

lastChild(animals) finds the last child (non-nested) item of the group tagged animals.

ancestors(cat) finds items that are in any group that is an ancestor of items tagged cat

Example: cat and mouse are grouped together, dog and chicken are grouped together in another group.
The two groups are grouped together, so all items in the uppermost ANCESTOR group of the item tagged cat will be found, i.e., the cat, mouse, their containing group, and the dog, chicken, and their containing group.

descendants(animals) finds group/item tagged animals and all its DESCENDANTS,
i.e., all items in the group no matter how nested those items are in nested groups.