How can I automate this? Dynamic text and images to import into a template.

Report · Jul 18, 2012

Hi - totally new to inDesign scripting and a little confused with half of the general lingo revolving around inDesign.

My background : Web Developer, proficient in javascript, all thumbs with most things design centric.

My problem: We have a database that stores the text and location of images that we want to use to populate an InDesign file/template with so it can be saved to PDF - verified - then sent to another branch of the company that deals with the print publishing.

I have written - for another project - a service that allows users to retrieve data based on an identifier and populate HTML templates used for email. I'd like to think that since I already have a service that returns a series of information in JSON that half the battle is done. Where I'm stuck is HOW to get this into InDesign - the InDesign template is relatively simple and once finalized is not likely to change. It's essentially a grid for photos and text - but I need to be able to progamatically dictate which photos and text are pushed into the template.

The information I retrieve is the copy we want to use, and a path to the image (relative to our webserver, but if necessary I can pull a network path). I guess the main sticking point is how do I get this data into InDesign. Can I use something like XHR to make a call to the service for data? I'm working closely with the designer(s) but these sort of questions are outside their knowledge.

Any pointers to a good starting point in achieving this would be amazing - I currently have InDesign 5 available to me, but could move to another version if neccessary.

Totally appreciative in advance - trying to wrap my head around this.

Report · Jul 20, 2012

Don't know if this will help you much since I work in OS X and Applescript, but I normally use local text and image files to populate templates. The text files are output from a database as InDesign Tagged Text files so that when placed they are fully typographically styled. The image files are also available on the local hard drive in order to avoid any potential network file corruption problems (historic). The database record knows which text and graphics it needs, and the path to them, and can then trigger Applescripts (or javascripts) to place them in the template and export as PDF. As a practical matter, the database usually steps thru each record outputting the necessary tagged text files to the Temporary Items folder, immediately places them, places the graphics

Another option for you might be creating IDML files from scratch and using those to get to PDF, which I haven't done but understand is possible.

Report · Jul 20, 2012

Have a look at a XML based workflow.

Maby this will give you a start:

http://www.loicaigon.com/blog/?p=1014