Index from XML tags

[tombax]

Hi there,

I've been Googling this like crazy but surprised to not find anything that pertains to it.

Is there a way to use XML tagged content to create an index automatically?

To be specific: I have a massive catalogue I'm designing. I use XML to import all the content, and that works a treat. However I now need to create an index (it's for a book publisher so title and author are the two pieces of info that need indexing). Now it seems to me that there should be a way of finding everything in the "title" tags and everything in the "author" tags and creating an index from it.

Any help much appreciated.

Thanks

Tom

[Eric Dumas]

Hi,

Can you confirm the version of InDesign and Operating System you are using?

As far as I know, looking at the properties of the 'index feature' of InDesign, it works in a different way than what you are hoping to achieve. For the index, you need to build the list, no automation as far as I can remember.

It is a great feature t suggest in the Wish List, please add this point to the suggested features.

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

Admitting that it's been 5-6 years since we took XML into InDesign for automated layout. We switched to IDTT (InDesign Tagged Text, yes, a legacy method) specifically because we could not get an index to generate from XML tags/data.

But it worked like a charm with  IDTT. Trouble-free.

This particular project didn't need the power of XML; once brought into InDesign for layout, we were not round-tripping the content back into the database via XML. So any method of tagging and sequencing the content would work. And the index was for medical science, so it was extremely complex and detailed that couldn't be easily scripted.

The workflow was:

1. SQL the data out of the database into an IDTT tagged text file, with index markers/tags embedded into the text.
2. Import the IDTT tagged text file into the InDesign template, map styles, etc.
3. Generate the Index from the layout's embedded index markers.
4. Go on with life.

But do look for a 3rd party script that might do the trick for you. I know of indexing scripts, but none specifically for grabbing XML tagged data. However that could have changed since I last looked. Try these scripting websites:

• https://redokun.com/blog/indesign-scripts
• https://indesignsecrets.com/resources/plug-ins-and-scripts​
• Free InDesign scripts | Peter Kahrel
• InDesign Scripts by Keith Gilbert
• Indiscripts - InDesign Scripting Playground
• https://www.marspremedia.com/software/indesign/

If none of these scripts do the trick for you, consider either writing your own script or hiring one of the excellent InDesign scripters above to write you one.

[gazetteer1]

hi Eric,

would be interested to know what you ended up doing - i'm in a similar situation, surprised it's not already a feature and wondering if there's a way round it!

thanks.