1 Correct answer
I had a look into this just now, @budatlitho, and it isn't as easy as it should be. Even using a script to set the color after merging is difficult. I think the most practical way is to use this masking technique to apply the color. It seems complicated, but once you understand what it's doing you can work with it fairly easily in most cases. I've made a demo .indd and a .csv which I've attached to this post if you want to see how I set it up. I used an Object Style for each component of the tec
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Replies
I had a look into this just now, @budatlitho, and it isn't as easy as it should be. Even using a script to set the color after merging is difficult. I think the most practical way is to use this masking technique to apply the color. It seems complicated, but once you understand what it's doing you can work with it fairly easily in most cases. I've made a demo .indd and a .csv which I've attached to this post if you want to see how I set it up. I used an Object Style for each component of the technique. Have a look at this graphic—it shows the object styles I made and which page item they apply to, before and after merging. I've made an anchored in text version as well as a normal version just for the demo. Note that you can only see the result when viewing the document in High Quality Display mode.
- Mark
Hi @budatlitho, I had another idea! I've written a script that converts the "datamerge" qr-codes into linked .eps files (sorry they have to be .eps for technical reasons) saved into the same folder as the document. I have no idea how well this will do with 25,000 qr-codes though—it might be very slow—but the resulting document might ultimately be neater than doing it the masking way. Not sure. Also the script can re-color the linked qr-codes, even after they've been colored once. If you use it, et me know how it goes, and report any bugs back here. 🙂
- Mark
/**
* Convert QR Codes to Linked EPS files.
* and sets the CMYK color breakdown.
* Will save into folder 'QR Codes' in same folder
* as document.
* @author m1b
* @discussion https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/apply-color-other-than-black-to-qr-code-from-datamerge/m-p/13967947
*/
function main() {
var settings = {
colorValue: [100, 0, 0, 0],
qrCodeFolderName: 'QR Codes',
},
doc = app.activeDocument,
graphics = doc.allGraphics,
colorValue = prompt('Enter CMYK color values for QR Codes:', settings.colorValue.join(','));
if (colorValue == null)
return;
else
colorValue = colorValue.split(',');
if (colorValue && colorValue.length !== 4)
colorValue = undefined;
for (var i = 0; i < graphics.length; i++)
graphics[i] = convertQRCodeToEPSFile(doc, graphics[i], settings.qrCodeFolderName, colorValue);
};
app.doScript(main, ScriptLanguage.JAVASCRIPT, undefined, UndoModes.ENTIRE_SCRIPT, 'Convert QR Codes to Linked EPS');
/**
* Converts an embedded QR Code into a linked
* EPS file, with optional CMYK Color change.
* @author m1b
* @version 2023-07-28
* @param {Document} doc - an Indesign Document.
* @param {EPS} graphic - an Indesign EPS graphic.
* @param {Array<Number>} [colorValue] - array of CMYK values.
* @returns {EPS} - this should replace the old graphic
*/
function convertQRCodeToEPSFile(doc, graphic, folderName, colorValue) {
app.scriptPreferences.measurementUnit = MeasurementUnits.POINTS;
if (
typeof graphic.exportFile !== 'function'
|| !/QR Code[^\/:]+/.test(graphic.itemLink.filePath)
)
// not a qr-code
return;
var b = graphic.geometricBounds,
frame = graphic.parent,
exported = false,
// temporary document with just the qr code
tmp = app.documents.add(
{
documentPreferences:
{
createPrimaryTextFrame: false,
facingPages: false,
intent: DocumentIntentOptions.PRINT_INTENT,
pageOrientation: PageOrientation.PORTRAIT,
pagesPerDocument: 1,
pageHeight: b[2] - b[0],
pageWidth: b[3] - b[1],
startPageNumber: 1,
},
}
);
app.activeWindow.viewDisplaySetting = ViewDisplaySettings.OPTIMIZED;
var g = graphic.duplicate(tmp.layers[0]);
g.move([0, 0]);
// where to export
var exportPath = doc.filePath + '/' + folderName + '/';
// create the folder if necessary
if (!Folder(exportPath).exists)
Folder(exportPath).create();
app.epsExportPreferences.properties = {
dataFormat: DataFormat.ASCII,
epsColor: EPSColorSpace.CMYK,
epsSpreads: false,
fontEmbedding: FontEmbedding.NONE,
pageRange: PageRange.SELECTED_ITEMS,
preview: PreviewTypes.NONE,
};
exportPath += graphic.itemLink.name.replace(/\.eps$/, '') + '.eps';
var f = File(exportPath);
try {
if (!f.exists) {
exported = true;
// export as eps
g.exportFile(ExportFormat.EPS_TYPE, f);
}
if (!f.exists)
throw Error('export failed');
if (colorValue !== undefined) {
// get the color as needed for eps formatting
var c = [
Number(colorValue[0]) / 100,
Number(colorValue[1]) / 100,
Number(colorValue[2]) / 100,
Number(colorValue[3]) / 100,
];
// edit the exported file and
// change the color values
f.open("r");
var content = f.read();
f.close();
f.open("w");
content = content.replace(/\n([\d\.]+\s){4}cmyk\n/, '\n' + c.join(' ') + ' cmyk\n');
f.write(content);
f.close();
}
// link to the new qr code eps
graphic.itemLink.relink(f);
// need new reference
graphic = frame.graphics[0];
// update graphic
if (graphic.itemLink.status == LinkStatus.LINK_OUT_OF_DATE)
graphic.itemLink.update();
} catch (error) {
alert('Error exporting qr code to "' + exportPath + '". (' + error.message + ')');
}
finally {
// clean up
tmp.close(SaveOptions.NO);
}
return graphic;
};
As James and Robert suggested at the beginning, simply:
• define a '_FRIdNGE' color,
• define a '_FRIdNGE' object style applied to the frame that will receive the QR-Code,
• make the data merging importing QR-Code text as plain text,
… and finally, play these 2 code lines:
var myItems = app.activeDocument.allPageItems;
for (var i = 0; i < myItems.length; i++) if (myItems[i].appliedObjectStyle.name == "_FRIdNGE") myItems[i].createPlainTextQRCode(myItems[i].contents, "_FRIdNGE");
(^/)
It looks like .... it can be done ... directly from an ObjectStyle ...
Have not tested on DataMerge - just created QR code from some text and applied ObjectStyle ...
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