Mapping structured content to pages with Wedia Fields
It is possible to flow content stored in articles or other editorial contributions into print Templates.
For this purpose it is necessary to map the InDesign frames to the corresponding content.
This process is split into 3 different parts :
Setting up the database in Wedia to create your “content object” and a corresponding “ref” object that will be sent to InDesign to help the designer “tag” the InDesign template.
Into InDesign, use these “content fields” to prepare the InDesign template, by designating which text and image boxes will be used to flow the content from the Wedia database : https://crossmedia.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/WD/pages/383778871
Into Wedia, edit the template to restrict the content selection to a database query : https://crossmedia.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/WD/pages/383451166
Setting up the server to export the content fields into InDesign templating
Before being able to flow some content into Print pages, it is necessary to set up the server to indicate which fields on which object types can be used in Print documents.
This is done by creating new entries into the “ref” object, and exporting this ref object into the InDesign desktop configuration file.
Mapping content properties concepts.
The ref repository is the pivot between :
the structure of a content object in Wedia (example: article, real estate property…)
The text and image boxes of the Indesign template in which instances of the content object will be flowed into.
Structuring the content object
The content object will be the “source” for the data you want to flow into the InDesign template, like a database table.
“instances” of the content object will represent actual data of this object, like database rows.
The content object is created using the “Structure” mode, which is the database designer included in Wedia : https://crossmedia.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/WD/pages/15958244
It is a very good practice to create the content object using the base contentobject template : search for the “contentobject” in the Structure mode, and copy it to create your new content object : see below.
Let’s create a “article” object with a “title” texte, a “intro” text, a “html” body, an “image” and a “author” which is a link (child) to the “user” object.
Now we need to create a new “ref” instance to describe this object to InDesign.
Administration > Object Management
Open object called ref
Tab Data
Create a new instance using the “Create a new element” button.
Enter a short “name” (article) : this is unique in the system, a trigger will check its uniqueness before saving. Only alphanumeric characters are allowed for this field). This property is mandatory.
the “label” is a longer description that will help graphic designers understand which content object it is
these will be used in the InDesign palette :
Once saved, you can now add “Properties”, which will construct the list of available fields to the graphic designer.
In the "Properties" area, click on "Add" to add new "refproperties" to the repository.
Each refproperty corresponds to a field of the content object you want to expose as a content to InDesign :
The first properties describe the name of the field :
Label: plain text description of the field. For example, for the 'title' field, the label could be "The title of the article". This value will be displayed in the Indesign tagging palette. This property is mandatory.
Name: This is the name of the corresponding field in the structure of the content object. In this case, the value will be "announcement".
The name is unique in the repository, a trigger will verify this uniqueness. This name allows to build a unique key for the property in the system. The key is calculated automatically. Only alphanumeric characters are allowed for this field. This property is mandatory and must exist in the object declared in the Object name property (see below).
Active: leave the value checked
Then the following fields describe how to get that value from the database :
Object name: indicate to which content object this refproperty corresponds. In our example, this should be the content object "article" (the “database table”). This property is mandatory.
objtype : indicate the type of object (article, galleryelement...). This is very likely the same name as above.
Objtype serves some very edge cases uses : in doubt, always fill it with the same value as Object name.
objpath : indicate thow to get the property on the object: @html, #thumbnailPath, owner/@name..
Property type | how to access it | example |
|---|---|---|
property of the object | @ + name of the property | @title |
property of a linked object (child) | name of the property that contains the child, “/@”, the name of the property in the child object | owner/@name |
image : the image should have a gallery thumbnail tag (see below) | #thumbnailPath | #thumbnailPath |
default content: optionally enter a default value for the field
Sending these informations to InDesign.
The new “ref” object should now be sent to InDesign. This is done by :
Extracting the ref as a file
Inserting the file into the InDesign wedia.cfg file
Restarting InDesign.
Each Indesign user tagging the documents should have a updated wedia.cfg file.
Extract file by clicking on the Extract button of the “ref” instance :
This will create a XML fragment.
Save file as wedia.cfg
Edit file and add start and end tags.
Copy file to /Users/<name>/Library/Preferences/Adobe InDesign/<version>/<language>
→ Use cmd + shift + “.” (dot) to show the hidden Library folder.
→ Hold down cmd + shift + “.” (dot) a second time to hide the files again.
Restart your InDesign, and test if the new repository is available : Click on “Tagging” from the InDesign menu
The Wedia palette will appear, with the new repository available :