Logo of crossbase mediasolution GmbH
Requirements PIM system requirements Corporate Divisions Management Marketing Product data maintenance Translation E-commerce and Sales Engineering Industries Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Building Elements and Materials Medical Technology Consumer Goods Solutions Solution Overview Advantages Modules Editions Architecture Use of AI Cloud | On-Premise Services Advice and Support Customers Customers and Success Stories crossbase in use Knowledge Blog Media Library PIM guidelines The company About us Mission Ethics Guidelines Partner News Career Working at crossbase Vacancies Contact us
/ Solutions / Modules / Print - Publishing / InDesign Data Sheet Engine

InDesign Data Sheet Engine

Mass-Produce Data Sheets With Complex Layouts

With crossbase’s InDesign data sheet engine, data sheets with complex layouts can be produced in bulk in all required languages. As soon as changes are made to the underlying product information, the data sheet is automatically updated and saved as a new PDF version.

Data sheets are often made available for download as PDFs on websites or in shops. With thousands of products, it’s impossible to keep them up to date manually. That’s why crossbase has developed a batch processing feature in conjunction with the print server to produce and update data sheets in all required languages fully automatically.

 

To reduce processing time, a data sheet is updated only if an image, text, or feature has changed. As soon as the data sheet is generated, it can be displayed immediately on the website or in the shop for the respective item. To indicate the version status, the version number and date are included.

The Benefits

  • Mass production of data sheets in all languages via batch processing and a print server
  • Direct link to the item on the website or in the shop, as well as a download link, available
  • Sophisticated layouts created with InDesign
  • Data sheets updated daily
  • Updates only when changes are made
  • Traceable version history

Master Template

 

As a preliminary step, a master template is created for each data sheet layout. The master template contains four components:

 

1. A selected item as a blueprint

2. A layout template to define how images, text, and tables should be positioned (created using the crossbase layout editor)

3. A template for formatting the text (created with InDesign)

4. The sample data sheet generated from these (created using the classic InDesign PrintEngine)

 

In addition, the master template includes a reference to a specific assortment. This assortment contains all items that are to be generated in the same way as this sample data sheet. Once these preliminary steps are complete, batch processing can be set up.

Batch Processing

 

Batch processing can be configured as a batch job and scheduled to run. The print server can be started using the following calls and parameters:

 

GeneratePagesByChapter (call)

A data sheet folder is created for an item based on a corresponding master template. In this process, the item, the layout template, and the template from the master template are linked.

 

ProduceTables (call)

Tables are regenerated for an item based on the sample data sheet and saved in the data sheet folder.

 

ProducePages (Call)

All data sheet pages for an item are regenerated according to the sample data sheet and saved in the data sheet folder.

 

RefreshOnlyCritical (parameter)

Tables and data sheets are regenerated only when changes are made to the master template or the product data.

 

PDFtoArticle (Call)

A new version of the data sheet is saved as a PDF and linked directly to the item.