InDesign automated XML merge and PDF creation without InDesign Server

1
votes

I have a client that has a large product catalog built in InDesign. It has static sections mixed with dynamic sections that need to be data-merged periodically from an XML file generated from their DB.

They want to be able to have a single workstation, without owning InDesign Server or having InDesign Desktop launched, automatically merge with the latest XML file and generate a PDF of the entire catalog with as few user interactions as possible (preferably automatically whenever the XML file changes, or at the very least by a click of a button outside of InDesign).

Is this possible with or without IDS? Can scripting be set up to do this?

Thanks in advance for any input you have!

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xmlpdfadobe-indesignindesign-server
No you can't process indd files without InDesign engine. Otherwise you may have to consider alternative solutions such as XSL-FO or Webbased PDF generation tools such as PDFChip from Callas. – Loic
I suppose you can convert the catalogue into IDML format and manipulate XML. I suspect the amount of effort you will need will outweigh any licensing costs you are trying to avoid. On the bright side, you do not need InDesign Server for the job you described. The whole thing could be scripted and run in the desktop copy of InDesign. – Nicolai Kant
If it's necessary for InDesign Desktop to be launched, that's probably an acceptable compromise for the client. They mostly want to avoid the exorbitant cost of IDS, but if what I'm asking (fully automatic merge and PDF creation without running InDesign) is completely possible with IDS, I would like to give them that information. That said, Is it possible to automatically kick-off PDF generation with InDesign launched when the XML file changes? Or does exporting to PDF have to be done manually? – SchattenJager
but if what I'm asking (fully automatic merge and PDF creation without running InDesign) is completely possible with IDS, I would like to give them that information. > Yes. That said, Is it possible to automatically kick-off PDF generation with InDesign launched when the XML file changes? Yes. You can think of a hotfolder. Some workflow software are designed for this such as Enfocus Switch. Applescript folder actions intend to do so but with random results. – Loic

1 Answers

2
votes

I ended up creating a node.js gulp app that listens to an XML input folder, downloads images referenced in the XML, does some XSLT, and then launches InDesign desktop. An ID startup script takes over and does the XML import, exports a PDF, and then closes InDesign.

The node app takes over again, listening for the PDF being placed, and then uploads the file to a web server.

Thank you, everyone, for your feedback.