IDML is it useful???????????

Report · Feb 23, 2009

Hi all

How much IDML is useful???

Report · Feb 23, 2009

As much as you can handle.

Report · Feb 23, 2009

I recently had an index with part numbers and UPC codes. Some of the UPC codes were incorrect so I had the client output the correct part numbers and UPC codes to a csv file. I saved the index to IDML and used grep in a text editor to find each part number and look up the correct UPC from the CSV file. After updating appropriate XML file from the IDML, I reopened it in InDesign and had my updated index.

I could have done this directly in the InDesign file with JavaScript, but I found it easier to do it on the XML file form the IDML file.

Rick Quatro

Report · Feb 23, 2009

Let's say I create a little document and type "Hello World" into it.

I export as IDML and the result is a zip file (with the .idml extension). So I unzip it, find the stories.xml file and change the content to "Hello Ducky".

Now, what do I use to reconstitute the zip file? Using Leopard's Create Archive does seem to work.

Dave

Report · Feb 24, 2009

Rename the .hdml file to .zip, then use any program that can create/change zip files (Stuffit. etc) and put the xml back into the zip file, then rename .zip back to .hdml.

Peter

Report · Feb 24, 2009

You could use the command line (Terminal.app)

Assuming you have a folder INX on your desktop, with a file test.idml

This will extract the IDML into a folder "test":
unzip /Users/dave/Desktop/INX/test.idml -d /Users/dave/Desktop/INX/test

In OSX terminal.app you can use drag&drop instead of typing file names.
The option "-d" specifies the output folder. If you omit that, all the archive files will end up in your home directory.

This will rebuild the IDML:

cd /Users/dave/Desktop/INX/test
zip -r ../test2.idml *

The cd into the folder is required because this way the files will have the correct relative paths.
The option "-r" means recursive - add also the files contained within folders.

If you have the oXygen XML editor, go to Preferences/Archive, there add an entry for the ".idml" extension. Then oXygen can open IDML without going thru the unzip/zip cycle.

Dirk

Report · Feb 24, 2009

Here's how to do it with scripting (my preferred method)...


function ExpandIDML(fromIDMLFile){//Expands an IDML file into folder format

  if(! fromIDMLFile){return null}

  var fullName = fromIDMLFile.fullName;

  fullName = fullName.replace(/\.idml/,"");

  var toFolder = new Folder( fullName );

  app.unpackageUCF( fromIDMLFile, toFolder );

  return toFolder;

  }









function CreateIDML(fromFolder){//Produces an IDML package from the contents of a directory:

  if(!fromFolder){return null}

  var fullName = fromFolder.fullName;

  var toIDMLFile = new File( fullName+".idml" );

  app.packageUCF( fromFolder, toIDMLFile );

  return toIDMLFile;

  }

Report · Feb 24, 2009

On 24/2/09 7:17 PM, "Dirk Becker" <member@adobeforums.com> wrote: > You could use the command line (Terminal.app) C'mon, this is supposed to be a scripting forum, not the place to do things the hard way ;-) Save this as a script app from Script Editor: on open filelist repeat with anitem in filelist set filePath to anitem as text set theSource to quoted form of POSIX path of filePath if (filePath ends with ".idml") then -- unzip set theDest to quoted form of POSIX path of ((text 1 thru -6 of filePath) & ":") do shell script ("ditto -x -k " & theSource & " " & theDest) else if filePath ends with ":" then -- zip up set theDest to quoted form of POSIX path of ((text 1 thru -2 of filePath) & "+.idml") do shell script ("ditto -c -k --norsrc --noextattr " & theSource & " " & theDest) end if end repeat end open Drag .idml files on to it and they'll be unzipped; drag folders, and they'll be converted to .idml (with a + before the extension to distinguish them from the originals). -- Shane Stanley <sstanley@myriad-com.com.au> AppleScript Pro Sessions <a href=http://scriptingmatters.com/aspro>

Report · Feb 24, 2009

Shane_Stanley@adobeforums.com wrote: > C'mon, this is supposed to be a scripting forum, not the place to do things > the hard way ;-) > Yeah, but it's an *InDesign* scripting forum, so we shouldn't be dragging and dropping at all... <VGB> -- Harbs http://www.in-tools.com

Report · Feb 24, 2009

Teaching an old dog new tricks ...

Thanks to Harbs for pointing out the packageUCF/unpackageUCF methods. They are missing from the ESTK object model, at least mine. I first thought you were using a plugin until I found them covered in the IDML cookbook ...

Also thanks to Shane for the droplet (I'm sometimes too quick with Terminal), besides I learned you could use "ditto" instead of zip/unzip.

Dirk

Report · Feb 24, 2009

Dirk_Becker@adobeforums.com wrote:
> Thanks to Harbs for pointing out the packageUCF/unpackageUCF methods. They are missing from the ESTK object model, at least mine.
>

Hmm. So they are! I never tried looking in the OMV for them. Would you
like to report that, or should I?

--
Harbs
http://www.in-tools.com

Report · Feb 24, 2009

I take that back. It *is* there in the OMV. Right after "open" and after
"undo"...

I'm not sure how I missed it before...

--
Harbs
http://www.in-tools.com

Report · Feb 25, 2010

Actually IDML is quite useful - especially if you want to do quality checks

or modify content outside of Indesign ... maybe over a basic web interface

for translations ...

We do have quite a lot of ideas and got a lot of requests concerning our

Java Library for IDML called IDMLlib.

Cheers,

Oliver

ohaeuser@fhcon.de

http://idmllib.com

Report · Feb 25, 2010

I'm making some tests with IDML but I have a doubt about it. Ok, I can export the IDML from my INDD and make some changes that I think intersting, but how can I import these changes made in IDML to the original INDD?

Thanks.

Report · Mar 26, 2010

Just open the IDML from InDesign, and you can see the modifications directly in the InDesign file.

Thanks,

ArcRaj

Report · Feb 24, 2009

Dave,

How 'bout making this thread sticky? This info is a bit difficult to
cull from the IDML docs...

--
Harbs
http://www.in-tools.com