Indesign data merge and QR code URL format

[maxim.maximov]

Hello

I have a problem...

Manual:

Add QR code

You can integrate a QR code in the merged document. Following are the different types of QR code fields that can be added via a Data Merge workflow:

• Plain Text
• Web Hyperlink
• Text Message
• Email
• Business Card

To generate the QR codes the data entries in the .txt or .csv files, which are used as Data Sources, are in the following format with a # sign on their column name:

• Plain Text: In the QR code Column enter the text as it is.
• Web Hyperlink: URL:<url> (For example “URL:http://www.google.com”)
  
  
  

If I do exactly as described

Name;#code
123;URL:http://www.google.com

I get the following:

If I remove the URL prefix in database, I get (plain text)

How to enter the website address in the database so that when creating QR-code in indesign, the type is Web Link?

[James Gifford—NitroPress · Accepted solution]

You are muddling up a couple of different concepts, but to be fair, I think the "Manual" you're quoting is wrong.

InDesign will "fix up" URLs entered in various ways. Mainly, it will add 'http://' if you don't specifiy an access prefix.

If you want a QR code to deliver a URL, simply enter the URL using the URL form option. If you enter anything but a fully formed URL, InDesign will preface it with 'http://' — so if you want 'https://' you need to enter it specifically. That is —

[I tried to obfuscate these to avoid creating links but the interface here is quite insistent]

• 'google.com' will encode as 'http://google.com'
• 'www.google.com' will encode as http://www.google.com'
• 'https://www.google.com' will encode as written, with the secure prefix. (You can also enter nonsense here, such as 'wrong://google.com' and ID will leave it alone. But if you enter no prefix, ID will add the 'http://' autonmatically.

...and so forth.

If you enter URLs using the Plain Text mode, they will not be changed in any way but will work exactly the same as long as they are a valid formation. It's important to understand thar QR codes work in three or four "stages" and what a particular reader does with a code string is up to it and its settings. There are downstream steps the creator/designer has no control over.

You only need to include the 'URL;type="<type>" prefix if the address is part of a vCard (or other "business card") array. You don't need it for a simple web address meant to be accessed directly. ETA: If you are trying to create a vCard entry, you MUST follow its structure and syntax precisely; you can't just dump in name and URL fields.

You can view the raw encoding by hovering over the placed QR code.

http://www.nitrosyncretic.com/DPR/dpr_qrcodes.php

[maxim.maximov]

Thanks for answer.

If I enter a link manually through the form - there are no questions, I can select the type and insert the link according to it. But if I create a document win QRcodes via Data Merge, then the only available option is just the link text without the URL prefix. In this case, the QRcode is created correctly, but the indesign itself recognizes it as url in plain text, not as web hyperlink.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Is the generated QR code properly functional? Unless I misunderstand, you want it to carry this simple URL... does scanning it with a device read and take you to that URL?

If so, I think everything else is irrelevant. InDesign definitely has some quirks in both data merge and QR generation; if they don't affect a final outcome, they can be safely ignored. QR codes completely stand on their own once generated.

[maxim.maximov]

Yes, generated code (without URL prefix) is properly functional.
And QR code with "plain text url" is the same as "web hyperlink url".
Thanks

[maxim.maximov]

And I also think the manual is wrong in terms of URL prefix in web links.