What's so Special about CatBase?

 

There are plenty of database publishing solutions available.

But none of them offer all the power and flexibility that CatBase does! Here's why ...

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Automation

You set up any number of Publishing Projects to publish your data in various ways - eg as a catalog, a price list, an order form, a directory, product labels, etc.

Each Publishing Project determines what data will be published (eg everything, or just a certain category, or a certain region, etc.); what content will be included; and how to format the data.

Then when you are ready to publish, just go to the appropriate Publishing Project, click a button, and your publication is created.

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Peace of Mind

You can be confident that all your data is published correctly; you don't have to check that each product has the correct picture, or each Member's name is in bold, etc. - as long as your data is accurate, CatBase will publish it correctly.

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Speed

Creating a publication is extremely fast with CatBase. You can produce your catalogue or directory in a fraction of the time it takes to produce it manually.

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Flexibility

Database Setup

You define the tables and fields needed for your database, and the data entry forms and list views.

Define the relationships between tables. For example:

• Products and Parts: Each Product can have any number of Parts linked to it

• Customers and Ads: Each Customer can have any number of Ads

• Listings and Addresses: Each directory listing can have any number of addresses or locations

• Listings and Personnel: Each directory listing can have any number of Personnel

Layout

Some data publishing solutions require a standard design for your publication: for example, each listing has a title, a product image, a description, and a price, each formatted in a certain style. But with CatBase each item can have different content depending on which fields are populated and which options are selected.

Content

Each entry can be published with different content depending on rules that you define.

For example:

• If it's a new listing, insert a special icon or set the name in a different style.

• If they have paid for an upgraded listing, include their email address, brief description, or whatever; otherwise, leave that out.

• If they have paid for a 'display ad" listing, set their entire entry in a box with a border.

• If a product is on special offer, set its name in a different style.

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Images

CatBase allows you to define any number of images for your publication and to specify the formatting for each one. Perhaps each product's main image is a certain size, and then if it has any additional images, these could be smaller.

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You can create Rules to determine whether an image should be published, and how to style it. For example, if a product is from a certain manufacturer, include the manufacturer's logo. Or you get create a "Highlighted product" option and if this has been selected for any product, then apply a certain Object Style to that product's main image (if publishing with InDesign).

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Images can even be embedded within table cells (InDesign only).

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Learn more about Publishing Rules.

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Tables

CatBase can dynamically create tables according to the data available for an individual product. For example: