Publish a Catalogue with Products in Boxes using Quark or InDesign
For this example we are going to create a catalogue that shows photographs offered for sale by our fictitious stock photo agency, Castlephotos. Each Picture will be placed into a text box, along with its details, and the boxes grouped together.
We're going to jump right in and demonstrate this idea in action. Then we will take a brief look at how it works.
Step One: Install the Xtags plug-in
You'll find demo versions of the Xtags plug-in in the 3rd Party Demos folder in the CatBase folder.
- Select the appropriate archive (Quark or InDesign) and expand it.
- QuarkXPress: Copy the plug-in into the Xtension folder within your Quark program folder.
- InDesign CS: Copy the plug-in into the Plug-ins folder in your InDesign program folder.
Step Two: Select the data you want to publish
- Click on the Find Data button and choose Pictures .
- Click on View All Records when the Search Dialogue window appears
You'll then have a list of Pictures records.
Step Three: Transfer the data
With the list of Pictures selected:
- Click on the Publish button at the top of the window
- Select the Publishing Style Sheet you want to use (Items in boxes in this case)
- Select either QuarkXPress or InDesign with Xtags as the publishing destination
- Hit the OK button to publish the data.
- Make sure that the file is going to be saved into your CatBase folder, give it a name, and save it.
Step Four: Import the published data into your document
Create a new document with an automatic two-column text box in Quark or Master Text Frame in InDesign, and save it into your CatBase folder.
We have set up the Demo with relative path names for all the pictures. They are all in a folder called Pictures, which is in the CatBase folder. In order for the pictures to import correctly, your document must also be in the CatBase folder. If you are using Quark, your import file must be in the same folder also.
Now for the fun part ...
- With your document open, make sure that the insertion point is in the first text frame.
- Choose File->Get Text with Xtags or Import Text with Xtags, depending on the page layout program and verison you're using (if this option isn't available, then you have not installed the Xtags plug-in!).
- Select the transfer file you just created in CatBase.
- Make sure that the Include Style Sheets option is selected
- Click on the Open button
Watch in amazement as the catalogue is created before your very eyes! It should look something like this:
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Each product has its own independent box. The pictures are grouped together with the text box so that each product box is a complete object. We've used the "Autofit" option to automatically size the depth of each box to fit its contents. ... and it was all formatted automatically! |
In this example, we've made all the text boxes basically the same style: the same width, with rounded corners, a blue border, and a 20% green background. Another example in the demo database (Items in Boxes 2) is a bit different:
This time, the item boxes are formatted according to the type of entry that the photographer has paid for: a basic entry just gets a plain white background; an Extended entry gets a picture and is set in a light green box, and so on.
... and it was all formatted automatically!
Let's see how this works ...
It's all controlled by the Publishing Style Sheet.
Take a look at the Publishing Style Sheet Items in Boxes 2 (to view or edit Publishing Style Sheets, click on the Style Sheets button and choose Publishing Style Sheets). It looks like this:
What we're particularly interested in is the Layout Manager. Click on the Layout Manager tab to see what makes it tick:
- There are four options in the Listing Level choice list. An item in the Option list has been created for each option.
- Double-click on an Option to set up the text box settings for that option. For example, the Text Box settings for the Extended option look like this:
The detailed workings of Publishing Style Sheets are covered in a separate Tutorial.
It really is that simple!