quick start
Transcript of quick start
65bit Software Ltd
EasyCatalogFor Adobe® IndeSIgn®
QUICK STArT gUIde
Revision History
Version date notes
2.0.0 18 July 2005 First draft for InDesign CS2 modifications.
2.1.0 19 April 2006 Updated for release of version 2.1 of EasyCatalog
2.1.1 18 March 2008 Removed reference to missing images folder.
© Copyright 2005-2007 65bit Software Limited. All Rights reserved. Reproduction or copying prohibited.
Adobe and InDesign are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.
All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners.
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign QU
ICK
STA
rT
gU
Ide
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
3
About this guide
This QuickStart Guide is intended to get you up-and-running with EasyCatalog as quickly as possible – further information on the features of EasyCatalog can be found in the User Manual.
Several data and InDesign files accompany this tutorial, and are required to follow the steps outlined below. By following these actions, you should be able to quickly configure EasyCatalog and gain an insight into the options available for working with your data.
You need not complete every section in this tutorial – only the first, ‘First Steps’, is required.
Package Contents
This tutorial package contains the following files:
Quick Start.pdf This document
Tutorial Files stock.csv Example data file Tutorial7a.indl Simple flow-based pagination example Tutorial7b.indl Grouped data pagination example Pagination.indd Pagination template containing paragraph styles required for grouped data pagination
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign QU
ICK
STA
rT
gU
Ide
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
4
First Steps
Introduction
In this chapter, you’ll learn how to configure EasyCatalog so that you can import your data, and how to import your data into an EasyCatalog panel.
Configuring EasyCatalog
EasyCatalog uses a ‘Workspace’ folder to store a snapshot of each data source when it is acquired – this workspace folder, in addition to a local cache of data, stores configuration information for each ‘Project’. A project is considered to be one or more connections to a single data source.
➀ Choose a folder where
EasyCatalog can store its
data cache
To configure the workspace folder, select Edit→Preferences→EasyCatalog. ➀ Specify the folder on your local machine where EasyCatalog can store its data cache – create a new folder and direct EasyCatalog to that.
Importing Your data
For this tutorial, we will be importing data from a comma-separated values (CSV) file - data can also be obtained directly from any odbC-compliant database with the use of an additional plug-in, the ‘odbC data Provider’.
EasyCatalog adds a new sub-menu to the standard InDesign File→New menu - ‘New EasyCatalog Panel’. Listed on this sub-menu are all of the available data provider plug-ins, along with any existing data sources. If you have previously configured a data source, they will be listed on this menu and new panels can be created.
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign QU
ICK
STA
rT
gU
Ide
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
5
➀ Import your data using the ‘New File Data
Source’ menu option
➀ Select the ‘New File Data Source...’ menu option - a file-picker dialog will open. Navigate to the ‘stock.csv’ file included with this tutorial and hit the ‘OK’ button. EasyCatalog will now examine the structure of the file and present the configuration dialog - many of the values shown will have been determined by EasyCatalog to be the most appropriate for the file. For example, EasyCatalog will attempt to determine whether fields are alphanumeric or purely numeric fields, and whether they are currency fields.
➀ Click in any of the fields in a column to select the column
Specify the characters that are used to
separate fields and records in the file
here.
➁ Configuration options for the field
selected in the ‘Sample’ are shown
here
The ‘Sample’ gives a preview of how the
data will be imported and formatted in
the EasyCatalog panel
The dialog is split into three main areas:
The overall file configuration options, including the characters used in the files to separate fields and records;
A preview of the data - this preview will be updated when any of the configuration options in the dialog are changed. This preview is an accurate reflection of how your EasyCatalog panel will appear.
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign QU
ICK
STA
rT
gU
Ide
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
6
Field configuration options - options that determine how each field should appear on the document can be configured here. Options such as field type (alphanumeric/numeric), currency formats and image paths can all be defined. To edit the options for a field, click in any field in the column you wish to configure and hit the ‘‘Options...” button.
number Formats
We need to ensure that the currency fields are correctly configured (‘Inc. VAT’ and ‘Ex VAT’). Scroll the preview table to the right using the horizontal scroll-bar, and select the ‘Inc VAT’ field. Click the ‘Options’ button to show the field configuration dialog.
➀ Select the options to configure in this list
As the ‘Field Format’ configuration
options are changed, the example will
update to show how a positive and
negative field value will appear.
➁ Select the type of field here
➂ A number of pre-defined currency
options will be shown here,
depending on the field type selected
above.
The field configuration dialog behaves in a similar manner to the InDesign preferences dialog - a list of available properties is shown on the left, and the configuration options are shown on the right.
➀ Ensuring that ‘Field Format’ is selected in the left-hand list, ➁ select ‘Currency’ from the field type popup. A number of pre-defined currency formats will be presented in the ‘Format’ popup - ➂ select ‘Dollar’.
Click ‘OK’ to confirm the changes to this field - repeat the above process for the ‘Ex VAT’ field.
Images
Images can also be imported by EasyCatalog - each of the fields can be configured to define where the picture content files reside.
How are Images located?
EasyCatalog will use the content of a field as the filename for an image - for example, if your pictures are stored using a stock code as a filename, you would tag your image frame as ‘Stock Code’.
The field content used to identify the images may contain:
• A full path to the image field - for example, your field may contain ‘Macintosh HD:Pictures:12345.jpg’. In this instance, the file will be imported from this location and the ‘Content Location’ specified in the Field Configuration dialog will be ignored, as will the ‘Extension’.
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign QU
ICK
STA
rT
gU
Ide
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
7
• The filename of the image with extension (e.g. ‘.jpg’) - for example, your field may contain ‘12345.jpg’. EasyCatalog will attempt to location this image in the folder specified in the ‘Content Location’ specified in the FIeld Configuration dialog. The extension specified in the ‘Field Options’ will be ignored.
• The filename of the image - for example, your field may just contain ‘1234’ (as would be the case with stock codes, etc). EasyCatalog will look for this image in the ‘Content Location’ path, and will append the ‘Extension’ specified in the ‘Field Options’ dialog.
Configuring Image Fields
Select the column that references the image by clicking on any field in that column. Click the ‘Field Options’ button to present the field configuration dialog.
➀ Select the options to configure in
this list
➁ Specify the location of the images
referenced by this field
➂ The file extension will be appended
to the field content to make-up the
picture filename
If a picture can not be found for a record,
the image specified here will be used
Due to the number of records in the sample file (stock.csv), we are unable to provide a folder that contains images for all of the records in the file. For the purposes of this tutorial we will not be configuring the location of images, but when working with your own data you would:
➀ Select ‘Picture Content’ from the list on the left of the dialog, and ➁ hit the ‘Choose’ button in the ‘Content Location’ area of the dialog. Navigate to the folder containing your images.
➂ Enter the file extension of the graphic files you will be using (if appropriate) - for example, if you deal exclusively with JPEG files, enter ‘.jpg’ here.
Hit the OK button to save the configuration options for this field.
That’s it!
Configuration of the data source is now complete - further configuration options are available, details of which can be found in the User Manual.
Click ‘OK’ on the ‘File Data Source Configuration’ Dialog to create your first EasyCatalog panel.
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign QU
ICK
STA
rT
gU
Ide
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
8
The Panel
Introduction
The EasyCatalog Panel is your view on the data - unlike contemporary plug-ins, your data is a presented in spreadsheet-style panels. Using EasyCatalog Panels, data can be sorted, grouped, filtered - each panel also shows the current status of each record and field, such as whether it is placed on the current document.
Being able to see your data offers many other advantages - simply scroll around the table, select a field to insert in the document and hit the insert button, for instance. You do not need to know the SKU of a record in order to insert one of it’s fields.
Each panel is independent of the others - any queries, sorting or grouping configurations apply to a single panel. For example, you could have two panels open - one showing everything in the ‘Electrical’ department, one showing everything in the ‘Houseware’ department. You can even save a panel configuration and give it to another EasyCatalog user to work with!
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign QU
ICK
STA
rT
gU
Ide
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
9
Sort columns by clicking in the
table header, sub-sort by shift-
clicking in the header
The status column shows
records that have been inserted,
updated and deleted since data
was last retrieved from the data
source
Multiple data sources can be
worked with simultaneously
Insert the selected
field in the document
Query, or filter, the
data displayed in the
panel
Check the document to ensure
the contents are the same as
the data source
Individual columns can be
shown or hidden
The status of each field and
record is indicated by it’s colour
in the panel: green fields are
placed in the document; red
fields are placed in the document
but their contents do not match
the data source
Data can be grouped in the panel - show or hide the contents of each group by
clicking the disclosure triangle
All fields within this group are placed on the document and their content match
the data source
One of the fields in this group is placed on the document, but it’s content does
not match the data source
The number of sub-groups or items contained within this group
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign QU
ICK
STA
rT
gU
Ide
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
10
Using the Panel
Selecting records and Fields
Select a field by clicking on it
Select a row by
clicking it the status
column
The Status ColumnThe left-most column, which is always visible, shows the current status of a record.
Inserted - this field is new: it wasn’t previously in the data source and appeared as a result of retrieving the latest data
from the data source.
Deleted - this record was missing from the latest data retrieved from the data source. These records are shown as
deleted, but will remain in the panel until they are manually purged.
Updated - the record was different in the latest set of data from the data source. The fields that were modified are also
highlighted in the panel.
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign QU
ICK
STA
rT
gU
Ide
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
11
Manipulating data
Sorting dataData can be sorted and sub-sorted simply by clicking in the header area of the table.
➀ Click once to perform an ascending sort, ➁ click again to reverse the sort. Clicking a third time remove the sorting and the records will appear in their original order. ➂ Shift-clicking will add a sub-sort to an already sorted panel - so you could sort by ‘Price’ order within ‘Department’, for instance.
➀ Sort a column by clicking in its header area
An icon shows the direction of sort - in this case, it is ascending. ➁ To reverse
the sort-order, click in the column header again
➂ To sub-sort, shift click in the column you would like to sort by
A number now appears beneath the sort icon, showing
the order in which fields will be sorted - in this instance,
description will be sorted within Stock Code
grouping dataIf your data contains hierarchical data - data that should be logically grouped by department, manufacturer, etc - the panel can also show the data in this hierarchical manner. More on grouping data is shown in Tutorial 6.
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign QU
ICK
STA
rT
gU
Ide
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
12
reordering Columns
The order of the columns can be changed simply by dragging each column into position - the order of columns is important when working with document tables as the columns in the document will appear in the same order as the panel.
Manually reordering records
Where simple sorting does not satisfy your needs, the order of the records can be manually adjusted simply by dragging them into position.
Querying/Filtering dataIf you only need to work with a sub-set of the entire database, apply a filter to the panel. Using a query mechanism similar to the InDesign library ‘filter’, simple filters can be constructed to filter the data in the panel.
Create a query, or filter, by selecting ‘Show Subset’ from the EasyCatalog panel popout menu, or by hitting the ‘filter’ button ( ).
The query can be applied to all items
from the data source, or just those
currently visible
Data will only pass through the
filter if all of the conditions are
matched (‘Match All’), or any of
the conditions (‘Match Any One’)
Add or remove criteria here This query definition can
be saved and re-applied at
a later time
Select the field to
filter on
Select the
condition that
must be met
Enter the
value for the
condition
In this example, records will only pass through the filter when the ‘Dept’ field is equal to ‘Electrical’ and ‘Price Inc Vat’ is
less than 750
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign TU
To
rIA
LS
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
13
overview
The following tutorials have been designed to give you a gradual progression through some of the many features of EasyCatalog. More information on each feature can be found in the manual.
Tutorial 1 - Placing Fields, errors and Updating the document
This tutorial covers the basics - getting fields onto the document, checking the document for errors and updating the document. At the end of this tutorial, you will have experienced how easy it is to link data from your data source to the InDesign document, and how to ensure that your document is always up to date.
Tutorial 2 - Simple Tables
Using the power of EasyCatalog’s panels, you can easily construct simple tables in the document. At the end of this tutorial, you will have learnt how to use EasyCatalog panels as a preview of how your tables will look on the document.
Tutorial 3 - Product Styles
This tutorial introduces ‘Product Styles’ - what they are, and why you may want to use them. EasyCatalog lets you design how each record should look - no complex scripting language, or heavy learning curve.
Tutorial 4 - easyCatalog Libraries
EasyCatalog Libraries are a convenient way of storing multiple Product Styles - this tutorial will show how to create an EasyCatalog Library, and how to populate the designs stored in them with real data. Using EasyCatalog Libraries, you can create complex page designs in seconds, or just experiment with different designs.
Tutorial 5 - Tables
Where you need to design tables for your publication, EasyCatalog can also help - simply show EasyCatalog how your table should look, and the table will be expanded or contracted to accommodate the amount of data being inserted.
Tutorial 6 - grouping data
Data that is structured hierarchically, such as by department and manufacturer, can be viewed in the panel in hierarchical form. The grouping configuration of the panel also affects the way in which groups are automatically paginated in the document.
Tutorial 7 - Text Flow Pagination Requires optional EasyCatalog Pagination Module.
Automatically place many thousands of records - by creating a library of Product Styles, you can show EasyCatalog how each record (and group) should be paginated. For example, include designs for group headers and individual records in the library.
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign TU
To
rIA
L 1
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
14
Tutorial 1 - Placing Fields, errors and Updating the document
In this tutorial, you will learn how to:
• Place a field on the document How to a field in the document that is linked to the original data
• Check the document for errors How to check the document for errors; how errors are shown in both the panel and on the document
• Update the document How to update the contents of the document with the latest data from the data source
Pre-requisites
You should have already read the first chapter of this tutorial, ‘Getting Started’, and be familiar with how to use the EasyCatalog panel.
It is assumed that you have a panel open containing the ‘stock.csv’ sample data file.
Tutorial
Placing a Field
➀ Start by creating an empty text box, ensuring
you have a text insertion point
➁ Select a single field in the EasyCatalog panel
➂ Use the insert button to insert the selected field into the text box
➃ The field is placed in the text box - green field marker
characters show the bounds of the field content and that the
document content matches the original data source
Double click on a placed field in the panel to take you to the first
instance of it in the document.
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign TU
To
rIA
L 1
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
15
Check the document for errors
➀ Modify the text inside of the field so that it no
longer matches the original data
➁ Use the ‘synchronize with document’ button
to check the document for errors
➂ The field marker characters show in red on the
document to indicate that there is an error - the
field in the panel is also now shown in red.
If a field is shown as being in error in the panel,
double clicking will take you to it in the document.
Updating the document
➀ Use the ‘Update Document’ menu on the EasyCatalog panel
to update the document.
You can choose to update the entire document (‘All’), only the
fields that are selected in the document (‘Selection’) or only the
fields selected in the panel (‘With Panel Selection’)
➁ The field will be updated on the document, and
the panel will update to show the field is no
longer in error
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign TU
To
rIA
L 2
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
16
Tutorial 2 - Simple Tables
In this tutorial, you will learn how to:
• Insert a simple table into the document
Pre-requisites
You should have already read the first chapter of this tutorial, ‘Getting Started’, and be familiar with how to use the EasyCatalog panel.
It is assumed that you have a panel open containing the ‘stock.csv’ sample data file.
Tutorial
Inserting a Simple Table
➀ Start by creating an empty text box, ensuring
you have a text insertion point
➁ Select the fields to appear in the table - to do
this, first select the top-left field
➃ Hit the ‘Insert’ button to insert the table
➂ While holding down the ‘Alt’ key, select the
bottom-right field - this will highlight all of the
fields in the selected range
➄ Column headers have been inserted, based on the field names. The columns widths are also proportioned the same
as in the EasyCatalog panel
➅ The fields in the table behave like normal
EasyCatalog fields, and are shown in green
(placed) in the panel
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign TU
To
rIA
L 3
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
17
Tutorial 3 - Product Styles
In this tutorial, you will learn:
• What a Product Style is, and why you would want to use one
• How to construct a Product Style
• How to populate a Product Style with data
Pre-requisites
You should have already read the first chapter of this tutorial, ‘Getting Started’, and be familiar with how to use the EasyCatalog panel.
It is assumed that you have a panel open containing the ‘stock.csv’ sample data file.
Tutorial
What is a Product Style?
A Product Style is a grouping of InDesign text and pictures boxes which form a design for how each individual record, or group, should appear in the document.
Product Styles use place-holders (Field Specifiers) which show where field content should be inserted, and how the fields should appear (font size, style, etc).
For publications that feature a number of predefined styles, Product Styles can also be stored in EasyCatalog Libraries, allowing a collection of different styles to be stored and easily managed. When Product Styles are dragged to the document, they are populated with the data for the record currently selected in the EasyCatalog panel.
What is a Field Specifier?
In order to show EasyCatalog where field content should go, EasyCatalog provides a means of inserting placeholders, or ‘Field Specifiers’ into the design.
Field Specifiers use blue field marker characters on the document, and can have styling applied in the same way as normal InDesign text. When populated with data, Field Specifiers will retain all of this styling information.
Graphic boxes can also be tagged with Field Specifiers, and during population the image referenced by the field will be imported.
Constructing a Product Style
Product Styles are simply an extension of existing InDesign functionality, so create your Product Style using all of the familiar InDesign tools. Where field content should appear, use the ‘Field Specifiers’ menu on the EasyCatalog panel to choose the field to insert.
In order for easyCatalog to determine that all of the boxes belong to the same Product Style, they must be grouped on the document.
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign TU
To
rIA
L 3
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
18
Text Field Specifiers
➀ To insert a Field Specifier, ensure you have a
valid text insertion point
➁ Use the ‘Field Specifier’ menu (from the
EasyCatalog panel popout menu) to insert the
Field Specifier
The Field Specifier has been inserted into the text ➂ Apply styling to the text - this will be retained
when the Field Specifier is populated with data
Picture Field Specifiers
➀ To tag a picture box with a Field Specifier,
ensure you have an empty frame selected
➁ Use the ‘Field Specifier’ menu to tag the frame
with the Field Specifier
The frame has been tagged with the Field Specifier
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign TU
To
rIA
L 3
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
19
How to populate a Product Style
Populating a Product Style is as simple as dragging a record from the EasyCatalog panel to any one of the boxes in the Product Style group on the document. The Field Specifiers will be replaced with field content for the dragged record.
Drag
➀ All boxes for this Product
Style are grouped on the
document
➁ Drag the record you want
to populate the Product
Style with to the document
Field Specifiers have been
replaced with field content for
the dragged record
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign TU
To
rIA
L 4
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
20
Tutorial 4 - easyCatalog Libraries
In this tutorial, you will learn:
• What an EasyCatalog Library is
• How to create an EasyCatalog Library
• How to use an EasyCatalog Library to create complex page designs in seconds
Pre-requisites
You should have already read the first chapter of this tutorial, ‘Getting Started’, and be familiar with how to use the EasyCatalog panel.
You should have also read Tutorial 3, which gives an overview of what a Product Style is and how to create one.
It is assumed that you have a panel open containing the ‘stock.csv’ sample data file.
Tutorial
What is an easyCatalog Library?
EasyCatalog extends the functionality of InDesign’s libraries by allowing designs with dynamic content - Product Styles (see Tutorial 3) - to be stored. When an item is dragged from an EasyCatalog Library to the document, it will be populated with the records selected in the EasyCatalog panel.
By storing all of your Product Styles in a library, complex page designs can be produced - populated with live data - in seconds.
Creating an easyCatalog Library
There are two ways in which to create an EasyCatalog Library:
• Use the ‘File→New→EasyCatalog Library’ menu option - you will be asked for a file name and location to create your EasyCatalog Library
• Create, or open, a standard InDesign library and use the ‘EasyCatalog Library’ option on the library’s pop-out menu.
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign TU
To
rIA
L 4
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
21
Create a new library using the ‘New EasyCatalog
Library’ menu option
Tag an existing library as an ‘EasyCatalog Library’
using this new menu option on the library panel
pop-out menu
Populating an easyCatalog Library
Populate your EasyCatalog Library as you would a standard InDesign library - simply drag your Product Styles to the EasyCatalog Library.
➀ Group the Product Style boxes and drag it to
the EasyCatalog Library
Drag
This Product Style can now be dragged to the
document, and will be populated with the fields for
the currently selected record in the EasyCatalog
panel
Populating Product Styles from easyCatalog Libraries
Once your Product Styles are stored in an EasyCatalog Library, they can be populated with live data from an EasyCatalog panel by simply dragging them to the document. The ‘EasyCatalog Library’ option must be enabled on the library to replace Field Specifiers with field data.
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign TU
To
rIA
L 4
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
22
➀ Select the record
that should populate
the Product Style
in the EasyCatalog
panel
Drag
➁ Drag the Product Style
to the document
The Field Specifiers have been replaced with field content
for the selected record
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign TU
To
rIA
L 5
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
23
Tutorial 5 - Tables
In this tutorial, you will learn:
• How to design tables that will be populated with a variable amount of data
• Populate a designed table
• How to store table designs in EasyCatalog Libraries
• Populate a table stored in an EasyCatalog Library
Pre-requisites
You should have already read the first chapter of this tutorial, ‘Getting Started’, and be familiar with how to use the EasyCatalog panel.
You should have also read Tutorials 3 and 4, which outline what a Product Style and an EasyCatalog Library are.
It is assumed that you have a panel open containing the ‘stock.csv’ sample data file.
Tutorial
designing your table
Field Specifiers can also be included in table designs, allowing you to design how your tables should look. This table design can also be stored in an EasyCatalog Library for later population.
EasyCatalog will expand or contract the design of the table to accommodate the amount of data being used to populate it.
Design your table using the standard InDesign tools. Include Field Specifiers in the design where field content should
appear.
Field Specifiers in the header row(s) of the table will be populated with field content for the first record being used to
populate the table
Apply row and cell attributes as normal - these will be retained
Further body rows will be added to the table to accommodate the amount of data being used to
populate it
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign TU
To
rIA
L 5
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
24
Populating a designed table
Tables are populated in the same way as normal Product Styles - drag all of the records, or a group in the panel, to the table on the document.
The header row of the table has been populated with the fields for the first record
➁ Select the records that you want to populate the table with
Dra
g ➂ Drag the records to the table
➀ Place your table design on the document
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign TU
To
rIA
L 5
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
25
Populating a table stored in a library
Tables that are stored in EasyCatalog Libraries can be populated in the same way as Product Styles - select all of the records that you want to populate the table with, and drag the table to the document.
➀ Select the records to populate the table
Drag
➁ Drag the table design to the document ➂ The table design has been expanded to accommodate
the amount of data selected
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign TU
To
rIA
L 6
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
26
Tutorial 6 - grouping data
In this tutorial, you will learn:
• How to group data in the EasyCatalog panel
• How to specify the sort-order of groups
• How to work with hierarchical data in the EasyCatalog Panel
Pre-requisites
You should have already read the first chapter of this tutorial, ‘Getting Started’, and be familiar with how to use the EasyCatalog panel.
It is assumed that you have a panel open containing the ‘stock.csv’ sample data file.
Tutorial
When working with large volumes of data, or data that is hierarchically structured (i.e. contains groups and subgroups, such as department and manufacturer), EasyCatalog can group the data. This not only makes working with the data easier, as it is presented in a hierarchical manner, but it also affects operations such as automatic pagination (headers can be inserted on change of group, for instance).
grouping the panel
EasyCatalog provides a grouping configuration dialog to allow you to specify the hierarchical structure of the data and how the data should be sorted within each group. The grouping configuration only applies to individual panels, so different grouping configurations can be applied to different panels.
Display the ‘Grouping Configuration’ dialog by selecting ‘Group...’ from the EasyCatalog panel.
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign TU
To
rIA
L 6
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
27
The Grouping Configuration Dialog
The left-hand side of the dialog shows fields the are still
available (not used in the current grouping configuration)
The right-hand side of the panel shows the current grouping
configuration
➀ Select the first field to group by, ‘Parent Category’ and
hit the add button. Alternatively, double-click on Parent
Category
➁ Now do the same for ‘Child Category’ and ‘Manufacturer’
The configuration will appear on the right-hand side of the
dialog
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign TU
To
rIA
L 6
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
28
Specifying the sort-order of groups
Select one of the rows on the right-
hand side, then use the ‘Ascending’ and
‘Descending’ radio buttons to adjust the
sort-order of the group
In this example, the ‘Child Categories’ will be shown in descending order
Working with groups in the easyCatalog Panel
The panel will show
the new hierarchy of
the data. Click the
disclosure triangle to
expand or contract
each group
The number of sub-
groups is shown on
each group row
When opening a lowest-level group, the
individual records will be shown
Ungrouping the panel
Select ‘Ungroup’ from the EasyCatalog panel pop-out menu.
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign TU
To
rIA
L 7
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
29
Tutorial 7 - Text Flow Pagination
In this tutorial, you will learn:
• How to design tables that will be populated with a variable amount of data
Pre-requisites
You should have already read the first chapter of this tutorial, ‘Getting Started’, and be familiar with how to use the EasyCatalog panel.
It is assumed that you have a panel open containing the ‘stock.csv’ sample data file.
Tutorial
EasyCatalog allows large volumes to data to be placed onto the document automatically - this can be achieved either by supplying the geometry (and positional information) in the source data, or by flowing Product Styles into a text flow.
Flow-based Pagination
Flow-based pagination, so called because Product Styles are inserted into a standard InDesign text flow, uses a library of Product Styles. These Product Styles will either be inserted as anchored boxes in the pagination text flow or, if the Product Style consists of only one box, just the textual content can be inserted in the flow.
EasyCatalog uses an InDesign library for pagination - this library contains Product Styles that can be inserted for each
record being paginated, or for each group.
Each library item has a number of
pagination attributes that determine how
EasyCatalog will use it during pagination
EasyCatalog will paginate the current panel selection - the way data is grouped in the panel is also important as it determines how EasyCatalog will group data on the page. For instance, in the example library shown above, there are Product Styles for the ‘Parent Category’ and ‘Child Category’ groups.
These advanced pagination options are only available with the optional EasyCatalog Pagination module.i
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign TU
To
rIA
L 7
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
30
As EasyCatalog is paginating the data, it will look in the pagination library for library items that are suitable for the record or group currently being paginated. It is possible to store multiple library items for the same group or record - i.e. you could have two different headers for ‘Parent Category’ and EasyCatalog will choose the appropriate one based on simple logic that can be assigned to each style.
Simple Text Flow example
In this example, we’ll look at the simplest form of automatic pagination, whereby we’ll create a flow of text - headers will be introduced later.
In this example, we’ll be creating a simple flow of records. The order of the records is determined by any sorting or filtering
applied to the EasyCatalog panel
X MEN 2: Wolverines”s Revenge ...................... £9.98Spiderman: The Movie ....................................... £9.98Rogue Squadron .................................................. £9.98Star Wars: EP1 Racer .......................................... £9.98Force Commander ............................................... £9.98Indiana Jones ....................................................... £9.98Star Wars: Starfighter .......................................... £9.98Escape From Monkey Island .............................. £9.98Curse Of Monkey Island ..................................... £9.98X-Wing Collectors Series ................................... £9.98Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast ................................. £9.98Mat Hoffman 2 .................................................. £10.57Mat Hoffman ..................................................... £10.57Rally Fusion Race Of Champions ..................... £10.57Wreckless .......................................................... £10.57Gungrave ........................................................... £10.57Kelly Slater Pro Surfer ...................................... £10.57Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2 ................................. £11.75Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3 ................................. £14.09Kelly Slater Pro Surfer ...................................... £14.09Jedi Knight II Jedi Outcast ................................ £14.68Medieval: Total War .......................................... £14.68Bloody Roar ...................................................... £14.68Star Wars Saga .................................................. £15.27Empire”s Dawn Of The Modern World ............ £15.27Star Wars Star Fighter ....................................... £15.27Star Wars Jedi Starfighter .................................. £15.27X Men Next Dimension .................................... £15.27Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3 ................................. £15.27Quake III Gold .................................................. £16.44Return To Castle Wolfenstein ........................... £17.03Gladius .............................................................. £17.03Spiderman The Movie ....................................... £17.03Tony Hawks Pro Skater 4 Platinum .................. £17.03Battle Collection (Medievil Double Pack) ........ £17.62Return To Castle Wolfenstein XBL ................... £17.62Mat Hoffman 2 .................................................. £17.62Tony Hawks Pro Skater 4 ................................. £17.62Spiderman The Movie ....................................... £17.62Gladius .............................................................. £17.62Tony Hawks Pro Skating 4 ............................... £17.62X MEN 2: Wolverines”s Revenge .................... £17.62Tony Hawks Skateboarding 3 Classics ............. £17.62Medieval:Total War - Viking Invasion .............. £17.62Wreckless Classics ............................................ £17.62Star Wars Clone Wars ....................................... £17.62The Weakest Link Windows ............................. £19.97True Crive: Streets Of L.A. ............................... £22.91Tony Hawks: Underground ............................... £22.91Call Of Duty ...................................................... £24.67
Star Trek Elite Force II ..................................... £24.67Jedi Knight Jedi Academy ................................ £25.84Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3 ................................. £25.84Knights Of The Old Republic ........................... £25.84Secret Weapons Over Normandy ...................... £25.84Tenchu 3: Wrath Of Heaven ............................. £25.84Jedi Knight Jedi Academy ................................ £25.84Soldier Of Fortune 2 XBL ................................ £26.43Secret Weapons Over Normandy ...................... £31.13Tony Hawks Underground ................................ £32.31Tony Hawk Underground .................................. £32.31Star Wars Rebel Strike ...................................... £32.31True Crime: Streets Of LA ................................ £32.31True Crime: Streets of L.A. .............................. £32.31Doom III - Rel. Q.1 2004 .................................. £32.31Star Wars: The Clone Wars ............................... £32.31Secret Weapons Over Normandy ...................... £32.31Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic 9/03 . £32.31DB25 to HD50 SCSI Cable .............................. £11.75DB25 to HD50 SCSI Cable 2M ........................ £14.09DB25 to HD50 SCSI Cable Mac ...................... £16.44Xhub2 USB 2.0 2-Port Hub .............................. £18.79Xhub4 USB 2.0 4-Port Hub .............................. £25.844-Port USB 2.0 Notebook Hub ......................... £25.841394 FireWire Card EFIGS Bare Card Only .... £27.02aua-3100-LP Contoller Card ............................. £28.1950 Pin Internal 5 Position Fast SCSI Cable 1.3m ........£29.37WideSCSI HC68F-I50F Adaptor ...................... £29.37SCSI Connect 2904 ........................................... £34.07XHub4 Plus USB 2.0 4-port Hub ..................... £35.25USB 2.0 6-port Card EFIGS Kit ....................... £36.4268-pin High Density/Male to 68 ....................... £37.59ASH-1205SA 2 Port Serial ATA ....................... £39.94Connect 3100LP USB2 3 Port PCI Win/Mac ... £41.12Add 2 USB 2.0 ports to your PC or Mac Notebooks ...£41.12Ultra 160 SCSI 2m Cable ................................. £45.82USB 2.0 Upgrade Kit ........................................ £45.82Adaptec 2906 PCI SCSI Narrow Mac Internal . £45.82FireWire 1394 Plus EFIGS Kit ......................... £47.00FireConnect For Notebooks .............................. £52.87Serial ATA RAID 1210SA Kit .......................... £52.87VideOh CD VideoConverter Kit ....................... £55.22PCI Bus SCSI Adaptor ...................................... £57.57USB 2.0 Xchange Kit ....................................... £57.57ATA-RAID-1200A 2Channel PCIKIT .............. £57.57XHub7 Plus USB 2.0 7-port Hub ..................... £58.74USBxchange Adaptor ........................................ £58.745 Connector Wide terminated ........................... £58.74
Showing the Pagination rules Panel
To examine and set the pagination attributes assigned to each of the Product Styles in the library, ensure that the Pagination Rules panel is visible by opening it from the Window menu.
Open the Pagination Rules panel, if it is not already visible, using the ‘Pagination Rules’
option on the ‘Window’ menu
The ‘Pagination Rules’ panel is used to apply pagination attributes to each box in the
Product Style that will be stored in the pagination library.
The ‘Pagination Rules’ panel shows the rules for the currently-selected box on the
document.
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign TU
To
rIA
L 7
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
31
➀ Create the Product Style
This Product Style is available for your inspection in ‘Library7a.indl’ (in the ‘Tutorial Files’ folder) - here we’ll examine how it was produced and the attributes that have been applied using the ‘Pagination Rules’ panel.
In this example, we want to create a simple flow of text. To define how we want our records to flow into the document, we
create a library item which contains a prototype of the record content
This library item is available in ‘Tutorial7a.indl’ - drag it to the document to inspect how it was constructed.
➀ InDesign text box
➁ Field Specifiers for each of the fields we want to appear on the document
➁ Create the Pagination Library
Creating the pagination library
A pagination library is a standard InDesign library - drag the
Product Style to you InDesign library. The pagination library
for this example is already provided for you, 'Tutorial7a.indl' in
the ‘Tutorial Files’ folder
Drag
➂ Create a text box for the Pagination flow
EasyCatalog flows the Product Styles for each group and record into a normal InDesign text flow - each Product Style will either be inserted as an inline, anchored, box or just the text content of the Product Style will be inserted in the flow.
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign TU
To
rIA
L 7
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
32
➃ Select the records to paginate
EasyCatalog will flow in the current panel selection - therefore you should select the records or groups that you want to paginate.
Select the groups in the panel that you would like to paginate
➀ Select the first group in the panel by clicking in the left-
hand, status, column in the panel.
➁ Select the last group you would like to paginate by
clicking in the left-hand, status, column whilst holding the
‘Alt’ key.
➂ Select ‘Paginate’ from the EasyCatalog panel pop-out
menu.
➀
➁
➂
➄ Paginate the records
The Pagination dialog allows you to configure where the library containing the Product Styles for the pagination is
➀ Hit the ‘Choose’ button to locate the pagination library. A
file-picker dialog will appear - navigate to the ‘Tutorial7a.indl’
library in the ‘Tutorial Files’ folder.
➁ Ensure 'Into Text Flow' is selected
➂ Hit the ‘OK’ button. Pagination of the selected records will
now commence.
➀ ➂➁
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign TU
To
rIA
L 7
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
33
grouped data Pagination example
In this example, we will introduce group headers - by configuring the grouping in the panel, EasyCatalog will look for Product Styles for each of the groups. For example, each time a group changes, it will insert a new header in the document.
Here we are introducing headers for each group change - we have three levels of grouping - ‘Parent Category’, ‘Child
Category’ and ‘Manufacturer’. In the pagination library, we will include Product Styles for each of the groups - in
this instance we do not need a Product Style for individual records, as the lowest level we want to paginate with the
‘Manufacturer’ group.
Intuit
041202 QuickBooks 2004 Professional £199.00 £233.82041207 QuickBooks 2004 Pro+Payroll £234.00 £274.94041204 QuickBooks 2004 Premier £309.00 £363.07041205/1 QuickBooks 2004 Pro 2 User £379.00 £445.32041203/1 QuickBooks 2004 Professional 5 User £689.00 £809.57
MYOB UK Limited
280064 MYOB Business Basics £55.00 £64.629316869330020 MYOB First Accounts £89.00 £104.57280040 MYOB Accounting v13 for Windows and MacOS £155.00 £182.12280057 MYOB Accounting Plus v13 £235.00 £276.12
Sage Accounting
142404RT TAS Books Payroll -half price- £34.50 £40.53142504RT TAS Books Basic £35.00 £41.12013604URT Instant Accounting v10 Upgrade £49.00 £57.57142104RT TAS Books 1 Accounts £69.00 £81.07013804RT Instant Payroll v10 Windows £69.00 £81.07141404 TAS PayRoll v2 £84.00 £98.69141104 TAS Books 1 £84.26 £99.00013604RT Instant Accounting v10 Win £99.00 £116.32142604RT TAS Financial Suite £115.00 £135.12013704URT Instant Accounts Plus v10 Version Upgrade £115.00 £135.12141504 TAS Financial Suite £125.00 £146.87013904RT Instant Financial Suite v10 £129.00 £151.57142204RT TAS Books 2 Accounts Plus £139.00 £163.32013704RT Instant Accounts Plus v10 £149.00 £175.07141204 TAS Books 2 £165.00 £193.87013914RT Instant Business Suite v10 [inc ACT] £169.00 £198.57013914 Instant Business Suite - Accounts/Payroll/Act! £169.00 £198.57142304RT TAS Books 3 Controller £289.00 £339.57141304 TAS Books 3 £339.00 £398.32
Simply Books Software
780004 Simply Books Accounting Software £69.00 £81.07
Human Recources
Business Software Centre
Staff Files [DVD Packaging] £149.00 £175.0710105 Visual Staff Scheduler Pro £229.00 £269.07
Office Application Suites
Ability Software
5060064620007 Ability Office £32.00 £37.59
Adobe
Acrobat v6 Pro+Microsoft Office Pro Mac BUNDLE £459.00 £539.32
Apple Soft inc
M9057Z/A Appleworks v6.2.7 £55.00 £64.62
Business Software Centre
10101 Ultimate Business Planner £65.00 £76.37
Corel
WP12ENGPCUG WordPerfect Office v12 Version Upgrade [from version 11]
£95.00 £111.62
WP12ENGPC WordPerfect Office v12 £179.00 £210.32
Lotus
AN01EIE SmartSuie v9.7-9.8 version Upgrade £119.00 £139.82AN01DIE SmartSuite Millennium v9.8 £179.00 £210.32
Microsoft
070-02134 Works v7 £49.00 £57.57053-00795 Office 2003 Proofing Tools £55.00 £64.62053-00727 Office XP/2002 Proofing Tools-You MUST have office £55.00 £64.62B11-00859 Works Suite 2004 including Word Autoroute and Money
[on CDROM]£69.00 £81.07
543-01904 Outlook 2003 £79.00 £92.82B11-00862 Works Suite 2004 DVDROM Inc Word/Autoroute/En-
carta£79.00 £92.82
503-00282 Office 2003 Standard Edition - STUDENT or TEACH-ER
£85.08 £99.96
731-00765 Office vX Mac STUDENT £95.00 £111.62S26-00001 OneNote 2003 £139.00 £163.32021-04754 Office XP Standard Edition Version Upgrade £142.00 £166.84S27-00001 InfoPath 2003 £149.00 £175.07021-06153 Office 2003 Standard Upgrade £165.00 £193.87731-00996 Office Mac 2004 Upgrade £169.00 £198.57588-02638 Office 2003 Small Business Version Upgrade £185.00 £217.37731-00319 Office 2001 Mac Version Upgrade £199.00 £233.82731-00470 Office vX for Mac Version Upgrade £199.00 £233.82269-06752 Office 2003 Professional Version Upgrade £205.00 £240.87
➀ group the panel
First, we need to ensure that our panel is grouped in the way we would like our data to appear on the page. This is achieved using the ‘Group Configuration Dialog’, which is available from the ‘Group’ menu on the EasyCatalog pop-out menu.
Group the panel by ‘Parent Category’, sub-grouped by ‘Child Category’ and ‘Manufacturer’:
➀ Select ‘Group’ from the EasyCatalog Panel
➁ Select ‘Parent Category’ in the left-hand pane, hit the
‘Add’ button
➂ Select ‘Child Category’ in the left-hand pane, hit the
‘Add’ button
➃ Select ‘Manufacturer’ in the left-hand pane, hit the
‘Add’ button
➄ Hit the ‘OK’ button
➁ ➂ ➄➃
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign TU
To
rIA
L 7
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
34
➁ open the pagination template
‘Pagination.indd’ contains the paragraph style sheets required for this pagination example. Open this document, select the ‘Type’ tool and click in the main, master, text frame.
➂ Select the records to paginate
EasyCatalog will flow in the current panel selection - therefore you should select the records or groups that you want to paginate.
Select the groups in the panel that you would like to paginate
➀ Select the first group in the panel by clicking in the left-
hand, status, column in the panel.
➁ Select the last group you would like to paginate by
clicking in the left-hand, status, column whilst holding the
‘Alt’ key.
➂ Ensuring you have a valid text insertion point, select
‘Paginate’ from the EasyCatalog panel pop-out menu.
➀
➁
➂
➃ Paginate the records
The ‘Pagination’ dialog allows you to specify the location of the pagination library, and the type of pagination - in this instance, we are paginating into the current text flow
The Pagination dialog allows you to configure where the library containing the Product Styles for the pagination is located
➀ Hit the ‘Choose’ button to locate the pagination
library. A file-picker dialog will appear - navigate to
the ‘Tutorial7b.indl’ library in the ‘Tutorial Files’ folder.
➁ Ensure 'Into Text Flow' is selected
➂ Hit the ‘OK’ button. Pagination of the selected
records will now commence.
➀
➂
➁
easyCatalog for Adobe Indesign TU
To
rIA
L 7
©2003 65bit Software Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us at www.65bit.com
35
How the Product Styles were constructed
The Product Styles for this example are included in ‘Library7b.indl’ (in the ‘Tutorial Files’ folder) - drag each one to a new document, and inspect the properties set in the ‘Pagination Rules’ panel.
The ‘Paragraph Styles’ panel in the pagination document
In this example, we want to populate all of the Product Styles with Group Data (‘Populate with Group Data’). We do not
want to paginate individual records - each individual record in this example must belong to a group (as we would get one
table for each record, not a table per manufacturer)
The two Product Styles that are used for headers will be paginated as inline,
anchored boxes (‘Insert As Inline’). When a Product Style is inserted as an
anchored box it can also, optionally, have a paragraph style sheet applied.
This style sheet must be present in the document being paginated into. Using
paragraph style sheets, you can specify keep options, spacing, etc.
The ‘Manufacturer’ Product Style will
not be inserted as an inline, anchored,
box (‘Insert Frame Contents’)