XML DOCUMENT WITH TABLE
XML TABLES For Adobe InDesign you already know that tables can be imported from Excel and can be created from text that is formatted as tab- or comma-delimited text. When working with XML, the table format of choice is CALS Tables. You have probably noticed the XML import option Import CALS tables as InDesign tables when you […]
XML CREATE TEMPLATE FROM DOCUMENT
CREATING AN XML TEMPLATE FROM AN EXISTING DOCUMENT In the last two posts we created an InDesign template for importing XML files. In the first, a script created the template from scratch, in the second, we started with a document and used the script to add and map the XML tags. Chances are you may […]
XML_CREATING TEMPLATES FOR XML
XML TEMPLATES In our last post we developed an XML solution starting from ‘scratch” using a template specifically for just importing paragraph and object styles. On the other side of the spectrum, a template can provide all of the elements required for an automated XML workflow. This is paeticularly useful for documents that have a […]
XML_ONE STEP FURTHER
FROM ONE In our previous post we saw how taking advantage of an XML document structure can automate the process of placing elements into a page. We saw that an XML file that has only one main element can be placed into a document using the place statement while defining the place point. More commonly, […]
BEGINNING XML
XML BASICS There is nothing mysterious about working with XML. The hard part of working with XML is getting contents and structure to work together. This is done using a tagging system similar to working with HTML. XML elements are defined by tags enclosed in angle brackets as in: <headline>This is a headline </headline> Because […]
TAKING TIME FOR TIME
TIME TO LOOK AT TIME The big reason why people write and use scripts is to save time. Sure, it takes time to write a sript but over the long haul the time saved should reap big rewards. What often amazes me is just how quickly the computer can process a page or many pages […]
BUTTONS FROM CENTER
BUTTONS FROM CENTER Working from a center point proves useful for a number of reasons when it comes to automation. In our previous blog we went so far as to use a random number generator to place an object at random locations within a page. With this post we will step back and use the […]
CREATING PAGE ITEMS FROM CENTER
DRAWING FROM CENTER When using a script to create an object, one technique is to define the center point of the object and calculate geometric bounds from this point. The advantage is that the object can then be “drawn” anywhere on the page simply by changing the geometric coordinates for the center point. In this […]
DOCUMENT FROM TEMPLATE WITH ADJUSTMENTS
CREATE DOCUMENT FROM TEMPLATE One of my most used utility scripts is one that creates a document from a template. Templates are saved in a folder named “Templates” (what else?) inside InDesign’s applicatiom folder. The script is used so often that it is assigned a keyboard shortcut (Option + Shift + N). Document From Template […]
AUTOMATE IMAGE PLACEMENT
AUTOMATING IMAGE PLACEMENT Our previous blog demonstrated how a primary text frame (on the Master-A spread) could be used to import a text file that automatically flows to all pages one paragraph per page. In this post we will finish the project with a script to import the images for the document pages. WHAT YOU […]