Illustrator Automatic Copy/duplicate - adobe-illustrator

Question

I have a simple question, but i can not find the answer. For my job i have to make print sheets of 150x200 cm. Within these sheets a number of copies that are set border to border to fill out the sheet. Then we will print it.
Now i always start with one copy on the artboard, set my cut lines, group them up and to get the number of copies i want, i manually copy them with ctrl+shift+Alt (and CTRL+D ) to fill the artboard in width and length.
Now i was wondering if there is a tool or script where i can tell illustrator that i want 100 copies border to border and it automatically fills my artboard with the copies.
Any ideas?

Answer 1

AI has a rich object model. The object model allows to do everything you can do manually, and much more. Object model guides can be downloaded from the Adobe official web site.
The object model can be accessed from any programming or script language that supports automation. Examples include any modern C language IDEs, VBA, JavaScript and many others.
The thing you are looking for is the Duplicate method. The Duplicate method works times faster than Copy/Paste. The Duplicate method can be applied to many AI objects such as paths, group items, raster images, text frames etc.
The VBA code below draws a pattern and then fills the sheet with this pattern. You can use this code a basic tutorial for accessing the AI object model. Just open the VBA editor from any MS Office app, paste and run the code.
Good luck!
Option Explicit
Const CM2PT As Double = 28.3465
Const DOC_W As Double = 15# ' Document width (cm)
Const DOC_H As Double = 20# ' Document height (cm)
' NB: The combination of PATTERN_W, PATTERN_H, PAD_W, PAD_H should
' conform the Netherlands flag proportions 3:2
Const PATTERN_W As Double = 3# ' Pattern width (cm)
Const PATTERN_H As Double = 2# ' Pattern height (cm)
Const PAD_W As Double = 3# ' Flag pad width (pt)
Const PAD_H As Double = 2# ' Flag pad height (pt)
Sub Test()
Dim aiApp As Object ' Illustrator.Application
Dim aiDoc As Object ' Illustrator.Document
Dim aiPath As Object ' Illustrator.PathItem
Dim srcGroup As Object ' Illustrator.GroupItem
Dim dstGroup As Object ' Illustrator.GroupItem
Dim StripeColor_1 As Object ' Illustrator.RGBColor
Dim StripeColor_2 As Object ' Illustrator.RGBColor
Dim StripeColor_3 As Object ' Illustrator.RGBColor
Dim FrameColor As Object ' Illustrator.RGBColor
Dim Stripe_L As Double ' Left of a flag stripe (pt)
Dim Stripe_T As Double ' Top of a flag stripe (pt)
Dim Stripe_H As Double ' Height of a flag stripe (pt)
Dim Stripe_W As Double ' Width of a flag stripe (pt)
Dim i As Long
Dim j As Long
'*******************************************************************************
' Init
'*******************************************************************************
On Error Resume Next
Set aiApp = CreateObject("Illustrator.Application") ' Late binding
' Set aiApp = New Illustrator.Application ' Early binding
If (Err <> 0) Then Exit Sub
Set aiDoc = aiApp.Documents.Add(1, CM2PT * DOC_W, CM2PT * DOC_H) ' 1 = AiDocumentColorSpace.aiDocumentRGBColor
If (Err <> 0) Then Exit Sub
Set StripeColor_1 = CreateObject("Illustrator.RGBColor")
Set StripeColor_2 = CreateObject("Illustrator.RGBColor")
Set StripeColor_3 = CreateObject("Illustrator.RGBColor")
Set FrameColor = CreateObject("Illustrator.RGBColor")
Set srcGroup = aiDoc.GroupItems.Add
On Error GoTo 0
'*******************************************************************************
' Draw the flag of Netherlands
'*******************************************************************************
Stripe_L = PAD_W
Stripe_T = aiDoc.Height - PAD_H
Stripe_H = (CM2PT * PATTERN_H - 2 * PAD_H) / 3
Stripe_W = CM2PT * PATTERN_W - 2 * PAD_W
' Top stripe = Bright Vermilion RGB(174, 28, 40)
StripeColor_1.Red = 174
StripeColor_1.Green = 28
StripeColor_1.Blue = 40
' Center stripe = White RGB(255, 255, 255)
StripeColor_2.Red = 255
StripeColor_2.Green = 255
StripeColor_2.Blue = 255
' Bottom stripe = Cobalt Blue RGB(33, 70, 139)
StripeColor_3.Red = 33
StripeColor_3.Green = 70
StripeColor_3.Blue = 139
' Frame color = Black
FrameColor.Red = 0
FrameColor.Green = 0
FrameColor.Blue = 0
' Top stripe
Set aiPath = aiDoc.PathItems.Rectangle(Stripe_T, Stripe_L, Stripe_W, Stripe_H)
aiPath.Filled = True
aiPath.FillColor = StripeColor_1
aiPath.Stroked = False
Call aiPath.Move(srcGroup, 1) ' 1 = AiElementPlacement.aiPlaceAtBeginning
' Center stripe
Set aiPath = aiDoc.PathItems.Rectangle(Stripe_T - Stripe_H, Stripe_L, Stripe_W, Stripe_H)
aiPath.Filled = True
aiPath.FillColor = StripeColor_2
aiPath.Stroked = False
Call aiPath.Move(srcGroup, 1) ' 1 = AiElementPlacement.aiPlaceAtBeginning
' Bottom stripe
Set aiPath = aiDoc.PathItems.Rectangle(Stripe_T - 2 * Stripe_H, Stripe_L, Stripe_W, Stripe_H)
aiPath.Filled = True
aiPath.FillColor = StripeColor_3
aiPath.Stroked = False
Call aiPath.Move(srcGroup, 1) ' 1 = AiElementPlacement.aiPlaceAtBeginning
' The cover
Set aiPath = aiDoc.PathItems.Rectangle(aiDoc.Height, 0, CM2PT * PATTERN_W, CM2PT * PATTERN_H)
aiPath.Filled = True
aiPath.FillColor = StripeColor_2
aiPath.Opacity = 50#
aiPath.Stroked = True
aiPath.StrokeColor = FrameColor
aiPath.StrokeWidth = 0.25
Call aiPath.Move(srcGroup, 1) ' 1 = AiElementPlacement.aiPlaceAtBeginning
'*******************************************************************************
' Duplicate
'*******************************************************************************
For i = 1 To DOC_H / PATTERN_H
For j = 1 To DOC_W / PATTERN_W
Set dstGroup = srcGroup.Duplicate
dstGroup.Left = PATTERN_W * CM2PT * (j - 1)
dstGroup.Top = aiDoc.Height - PATTERN_H * CM2PT * (i - 1)
Next
Next
Call srcGroup.Delete
'*******************************************************************************
' Finish
'*******************************************************************************
FINISH:
Set StripeColor_1 = Nothing
Set StripeColor_2 = Nothing
Set StripeColor_3 = Nothing
Set FrameColor = Nothing
Set aiDoc = Nothing
Set aiApp = Nothing
End Sub