EasyCatalog2p
Welcome to our EasyCatalog support site.
We help creative designers excel and automate with data driven content.
— Brian Cowell
contact@cunka.com

Field Options

Format

Alphanumeric

EasyCatalog Field Format1

Alphanumeric text can consist of letters, numbers and symbols.
Alphanumeric fields consist of Alphanumeric text and will be placed on the document unchanged. (same format as the original data)

Strip Whitespace

Whitespace is defined as things like tabs, spaces, etc.
Select this option to remove whitespace that appears at the start or end of the field’s content.

Strip Whitespace is performed after processing anchored items.
This prevents blank lines or whitespace remaining in the document if an anchored object deletes itself.
Formatted

Select this option if your source data contains formatted text tags like eg. <b>, <i>..

HTML formatting is applied when the field is placed into the document, while the original source content will be displayed in the data source panel.
HTML

Selecting this option provides support for HTML tags.

Updates Preserve Local Formatting

Once a formatted field has been inserted into the document, with this option checked any subsequent use of the "Update Document" menu option will not apply the formatting specified by the tags in the field content.

Instead, EasyCatalog will attempt to preserve any local formatting that has been applied to the field wherever possible.

Embed Tags As Conditional Text

This option will preserve, where possible, formatting tags in the text.

Ignore Whitespace Changes

Selecting this option allows minor modifications to be made to the field in the document without it being shown as ‘in error’ in the panel.

When selected, this option allows white space to be inserted into the field in the document, such as additional carriage-returns, tabs, etc

 ^i^y^t^n^p^S^-^f^>^m^3^4^%^/^s^<^|
Table 1. Ignore Whitespace Changes list.
Code Description

^i

Indent to here

^y

Right indent tab

^t

Tab

^n

Forced line break

^p

End of paragraph

^S

Nonbreaking space

^-

Discretionary hyphen

^f

Flush space

^>

En space

^m

Em space

^3

Third space

^4

Quarter space

^%

Sixth space

^/

Figure space

^s

Nonbreaking white space
(fixed widths)

^<

Thin space

^|

Hair space

Preserve Whitespace on Update

EasyCatalog will attempt to keep the characters listed in the edit field during an "Update Document" operation.
This can be used in instances where you need to manually insert characters that affect the formatting of the text in the document that you would not to be removed when you update the field.

Depending on how the source data changes and what needs to be updated its not always possible to correctly preserve the position of these characters.
Table 2. Preserve Whitespace on Update list.
Code Description

^i

Indent to here

^y

Right indent tab

^t

Tab

^n

Forced line break

^p

End of paragraph

^S

Nonbreaking space

^-

Discretionary hyphen

^f

Flush space

^>

En space

^m

Em space

^3

Third space

^4

Quarter space

^%

Sixth space

^/

Figure space

^s

Nonbreaking white space
(fixed widths)

^<

Thin space

^|

Hair space

Exclude From Panel Updates

The characters listed in the edit field will not appear in the field content when using the "Update Panel" menu option.

This is useful, for example, if you need to exclude characters used only by InDesign from appearing in your data source content.

^m^=^>^f^|^s^<^-^~^k
Table 3. Exclude From Panel Updates list.
Code Description

^m

Em space

^=

En dash

^>

En space

^f

Flush space

^|

Hair space

^s

Nonbreaking white space
(fixed widths)

^<

Thin space

^-

Discretionary hyphen

^~

Nonbreaking hyphen

^k

Discretionary line break

Number

EasyCatalog Field Format2

Defines the field to contain numerical content.

Format

Whole number
1 Decimal Place
2 Decimal Places
3 Decimal Places
4 Decimal Places
5 Decimal Places
6 Decimal Places

Percentage

EasyCatalog Field Format3

Decimal values will be converted to percentages with the number of decimal places specified.
e.g. 0.1 will be output as 10%

Format

Whole number
1 Decimal Place
2 Decimal Places
3 Decimal Places
4 Decimal Places
5 Decimal Places
6 Decimal Places

Currency

EasyCatalog Field Format4

Select from a number of predefined currency formats.

For those currencies not listed, please use the Custom field type where you can specify currency symbols and the decimal seperator to use.

Custom

EasyCatalog Field Format5

A formatting string should be defined for when the field contains a positive number and a negative number.
The two formatting strings are separated by a semi-colon (;).

Character Meaning

#

The # character indicates where digits from the source field should appear.

.

Decimal point.
Specifies where the decimal point should appear and, by the use of the # character after the point, how many decimal places the number should be formatted to.

No rounding will be performed on the value.

,

May or may not be present as a divider between groups of digits, such as thousands, millions, etc.

*

Used after the decimal point, the * character indicates the minimum number of characters that must appear.

For example, you can specify that a field must appear with at least two decimal places, but more will be output if required.

Format String Original Content Custom Result

Only 2 positions are available after the decimal point.

$#.##

123456.123456

$123456.12

The comma may be used to separate groups of digits. No decimal point is provided in the format string, therefore the value will appear as a whole number.

$###,###

123456.123456

$123,456

4 places are available after the decimal point - the output value is truncated, not rounded.

$#.####

123456.123456

$123456.1234

As the characters "USD" do not have any special meaning, they appear untranslated in the output.

# USD

123456.123456

123456 USD

The position "*" character specifies that a minimum of 2 decimal places are required.

###.##*

123456.1

123456.10

123456.1234

123456.1234

Custom Formatting Keywords

Instead of the custom formatting string, keywords can also be specified to control characteristics such as the character(s) used as a decimal point.

EasyCatalog Field Custom
Keyword Description Example

DECIMAL

Specifies the decimal separator (radix point) character(s) to use.

[DECIMAL = ,]
The decimal separator will be the comma.
e.g. 199,99

THOUSANDS

Specifies a character or characters to use to as the thousands separator.

The thousands separator is used to divide the value into groups of three, right-to-left from the decimal point.

[THOUSANDS = .]
Values greater than a thousand will use a comma as a thousands separator.
e.g. 1.234.567

PRECISION

Specifies the number of digits that will appear after the decimal point.

[PRECISION = 2]
Values will be formatted to two decimal places.

PREFIX

Specifies the characters to be inserted before the numeric content of the field.

[PREFIX = €]
The field will be prefixed with the euro symbol.

SUFFIX

Specifies the characters to be appending to the numeric content of the field.

[SUFFIX = ¢]
The field will have a ¢ suffix

REMOVE

Characters can be optionally removed when the content of the field matches the specified criteria.

[REMOVE = 0.(<1)]
For values less than 1, remove "0."

Example using Remove - Remove ".00" from numbers over 99.
.00(>99)
  • .00 stipulates what to remove

  • >99 from numbers over 99`

EasyCatalog Custom Configure
Field Value Remove Applied

10.45

10.45

79.00

79.00

123.00

123

1000.01

1000.01

1000.00

1000

EasyCatalog Field Custom2
Fig 1. Example Custom Formatting Keywords
EasyCatalog Field Format6

InDesign hyperlinks for text and images can be inserted into the document that will be included when exporting the document as an interactive PDF.

The Hyperlink pane is split into two sections
Text

When inserting a text-based hyperlink, the contents of this edit field will appear in the document.
You can either use static text or include the content of other fields.

This setting is ignored when inserting a hyperlink on an image box.
URL

The URL to hyperlink to is specified in this box.
This hyperlink can include values from other fields by including the field name in { brackets }.

You can also use Custom Field commands to build the URL.
EasyCatalog Field Hyperlink1
Fig 2. Contents of a field called SKU will be used to build the hyperlink URL.
EasyCatalog Field Hyperlink2
Fig 3. Contents of a field called myCompanyCode will be used as the hyperlink text.
Cross-referencing to other pages in the document can be done using the command ECPAGE://{…​.} in the URL edit box.
Where {…​.} is the field where the page numbers are stored.
EasyCatalog Field Hyperlink3
Fig 4. Contents of a field called myPageNumber will be used to link too another page.

Imported Text

EasyCatalog Field Format7

EasyCatalog can import formatted text such as Rich Text Format (RTF), InDesign Tagged Text from a file, Microsoft WORD (.docx), or from the content of a field by setting the field type to Imported Text.

EasyCatalog can import any of the formatted text styles supported by InDesign.

Fields of type Imported Text will not be updated as part of the "Update Panel" operation.
Field Content

If the contents of the field contains the formatted content select the Field Content radio button.

Externally Referenced

If the field contains the name of a file to import, or a full path to a file, select the Externally Referenced radio button.

  • If the field contains a full path to the file to import:
    No further configuration in the Content Location: or Extension: is required.

  • If the field contains only the filename of the file to import:
    Specify the folder than contains the file in the Content Location: → Folder:.
    If the content of the field does not contain the file extension, specify this in the Extension:.

Date/Time

EasyCatalog supports the re-formatting of date and time fields.

EasyCatalog Field Format8

By changing a field’s type to be Date/Time, EasyCatalog is able to sort data correctly in the panel.

In some situations the output format should be the same as the input format: this is useful when the panel should be sorted by date or time.

Go to our in-depth section on using the Date/Time field :
https://www.cunka.com/easycatalog/myEasyCatalog.html#_datetime

Barcode

EasyCatalog Field Format9

The Barcode field allows a quick and convenient way to create many types of barcodes into an image frame from a field.

Currently only the barcode patterns are produced, there is no support for including human-readable content below the code.

This can achieved by including a text box below the barcode.
Barcode Type

EAN5

e.g. 11111

EasyCatalog Field BarcodeEAN5

EAN8

e.g. 9080140

EasyCatalog Field BarcodeEAN8

EAN13

e.g. 5272068363969

EasyCatalog Field BarcodeEAN13

EAN14

e.g. 01234567890128

EasyCatalog Field BarcodeEAN14

Code39

e.g. Aa-1234

EasyCatalog Field BarcodeCODE39

Code128

e.g. ABC-abc-1234

EasyCatalog Field BarcodeCODE128

GS1-128

e.g. 19123456789012

EasyCatalog Field BarcodeGS1 128

UPCA

e.g. 725267915267

EasyCatalog Field BarcodeUPCA

I2of5

e.g. 1234567890

EasyCatalog Field BarcodeI2OF5

DataMatrix

e.g. Made by CUNKA

EasyCatalog Field BarcodeDATAMATRIX

NEW QR Code (URL)

e.g. https://cunka.com/easycatalog/myEasyCatalog.html

EasyCatalog Field Barcode QRCODE URL

NEW QR Code (Text)

e.g. Made by CUNKA

EasyCatalog Field Barcode QRCODE TEXT

NEW QR CODE
The following QR code types are supported:

  • Text

  • URL/hyperlink

Additional QR code types (listed below) can be created and inserted, but a custom field needs to be created first in order to collect the necessary data through a custom command.


Color

Sets the barcode color with the default setting of black.

No Document open

Open Document

When no document is open, the available selections are the InDesign document default colors

Colors in the open document/template can also be used.

EasyCatalog Field Barcode2
EasyCatalog Field Barcode1

Introduced in to EasyCatalog v15.0.0

Formatting Rule

EasyCatalog Field Format10

The Formatting Rule option allows the content of a formatting rule to be inserted between the field markers for the field you’re defining.

Name

The name of the exisiting formatting rule to insert.

Fields

Is a list of the fields used within the Formatting Rule that you’ve specified, and is used to determine whether the formatting rule needs to be re-inserted.
(i.e. if any of those fields changes then the formatting rule will be updated within the field markers).

You can include quite complex logic, or layout information, inside of what looks like a regular field.
If you specify a function formatting rule type, then Fields: can assist to determine which actual formatting rule to insert.
Preview

Displays a preview of the formatting rule that will be inserted.

EasyCatalog Field FormatRule1

Go to our in-depth section on the Formatting Rules field :
https://www.cunka.com/easycatalog/myEasyCatalog.html#_formatting_rules

Tabular

EasyCatalog Field Format11

The Tabular field allows the creation and insertion of tabular tables from a variety of content styles and sources from a field.

Source

The Source determines where the source data to create the tabular table will be coming from.

EasyCatalog Field Tabular1
Field Content Type
Configure

When the option Field Content Type: is set to Delimited Text, selecting the Configure button allows you to set the row and column characters for the delimiter.

  • Row delimiter is usually set to ^n in a CSV file.

  • Column delimiter is usually set to , (comma) in a CSV file.

    EasyCatalog Field Tabular4

    When the option Field Content Type: is set to XML selecting the Configure, button allows you to set up a XSLT transformation for the XML data.

    EasyCatalog Field Tabular3
Additional Processing

Additional Processing is an additional mechanism to manipulate the source table changing its content and structure through the LUA scripting programming language.

EasyCatalog Field Tabular5

When executed, an object called 'table' is passed to the script which can be processed by the LUA programming language.

Column ID

Column selections:

EasyCatalog Field Tabular7
Row ID

Row selections:

EasyCatalog Field Tabular8

Preprocessing

The Preprocessing option allows content to be processed before any additional formatting is applied.

Once pre-processed other options are then applied, such as
  • cleansing

  • prefix

  • suffix

Only fields with content are processed.

This option should only be used on fields that do not update back to a data source, because there is no way of reversing the process.
Ensure that preprocessing is stand-alone and not reliant on the formatted content of other fields, as they may not exist at the point the script is called.
EasyCatalog Field Preprocessing1
Method

Method chooses whether to use preprocessing, and if required which process to use.

EasyCatalog Field Preprocessing2
  • None
    This is the default value for all EasyCatalog fields.
    Indicates that no preprocessing is applied.

  • Lua
    Uses the Lua scripting language.
    The field content is passed as a content variable.
    The return value is used as the new content.

  • Mustache
    Uses the Mustache logicless template engine for transforming JSON/hash content fields.

  • JMESPath
    JMESPath (JSON Matching Expression Paths) is a query language for JSON.
    It allows you to declaratively search and extract elements from JSON field content.

  • XPath
    XPath is a query language for XML.
    It can be used to navigate through elements and attributes of an XML field.

Report Processing Errors

Report Processing Errors will report in the data source panel if there are any errors the method syntax.

Error in code

Data Source Panel

EasyCatalog Field Preprocessing6
--error code
return string.format("<b>%s</b>", content

-- correct code
return string.format("<b>%s</b>", content)
EasyCatalog Field Preprocessing7
Lua

Example using Lua preprocessing:

  • If any of the content contains an "X" then append "PREMIUM MODEL" to the end.

  • Additionally, if any content begins with an " * " (asterisk) then append "LIMITED STOCK" to the end.

    Original content

    Preprocessing (LUA)

    EasyCatalog Field Preprocessing3
    EasyCatalog Field Preprocessing4
    EasyCatalog Field Preprocessing5
    -- Lua code by Brian Cowell @cunka.com
    
    -- Look for content that has an "X"
    -- Include text PREMIUM MODEL if "X" exists
    if string.find(content,"X") then
        return string.format("%s **PREMIUM MODEL**", content)
    end
    
    -- Look for content that begins with a "*"
    -- Remove the "*" and include LIMITED STOCK text
    if string.find(content,"^*") then
        return string.format("%s **LIMITED STOCK**", string.sub(content,2))
    end
    
    -- if none of the above applies, change nothing
    return string.format("%s", content)
Mustache

Example using Mustache preprocessing:

  • Given a field of JSON format data, transform all fields so the content can be used.

    Original content

    Preprocessing (Mustache)

    EasyCatalog Field Preprocessing Moustache1
    EasyCatalog Field Preprocessing Moustache4
    EasyCatalog Field Preprocessing Moustache3

    Field with JSON syntax:

    {
      "type": "Battery Drill",
      "brand": "CUNKA",
      "code": 1234567890,
      "model":{
      	"title":"18V Drill Driver Kit",
      	"serial":"CUNKA-9000",
      	"material":"Plastic, Metal",
      	"color":"Red, White and Black",
      	"weight":"1kg",
      	"width":"200mm",
      	"height":"165mm",
      	"length":"225mm",
      	"warranty": 5,
      	"customer-note":"Intended for DIY use only"
      }
    }

    Preprocessing code used:

    {{type}}
    {{brand}}
    {{code}}
    {{#model}}
    {{title}}
    {{serial}}
    {{material}}
    {{color}}
    {{weight}}
    {{width}}
    {{height}}
    {{length}}
    {{warranty}} years
    PLEASE NOTE : {{customer-note}}
    {{/model}}
    
    by Brian Cowell @cunka.com
JMSEPath

Example using JMSEPath preprocessing:

  • Given a field of JSON format data, search for all stock that contains "YES", then return the location in a sorted order, comma separated.

    Original content

    Preprocessing (JMSEPath)

    EasyCatalog Field Preprocessing JMESPath1
    EasyCatalog Field Preprocessing JMESPath3
    EasyCatalog Field Preprocessing JMESPath2

    Field with JSON syntax:

    {
      "availability": [
        {"location": "CUNKA Warehouse", "stock": "YES"},
        {"location": "Zurich", "stock": "YES"},
        {"location": "Melbourne", "stock": "YES"},
        {"location": "New York", "stock": "NO"},
        {"location": "London", "stock": "YES"},
        {"location": "Berlin", "stock": "NO"},
        {"location": "Tokyo", "stock": "YES"},
        {"location": "Paris", "stock": "YES"},
        {"location": "Moscow", "stock": "NO"},
        {"location": "Amsterdam", "stock": "YES"},
        {"location": "Sydney", "stock": "NO"}
      ]
    }

    Preprocessing code used:

    availability[?stock == 'YES'].location | sort(@) | join(' / ', @)
XPath

Example using XPath preprocessing:

  • Given a field of XML format data, find the "side" view image.

    Original content

    Preprocessing (XPath)

    EasyCatalog Field Preprocessing XPath1
    EasyCatalog Field Preprocessing XPath3
    EasyCatalog Field Preprocessing XPath2

    XML field content:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <item>
      <car category="sports">
        <image view="front">
          <mime>qdf45643.jpg</mime>
        </image>
        <image view="top">
          <mime>edf4tu43.jpg</mime>
        </image>
        <image view="side">
          <mime>wwwq1u11.jpg</mime>
        </image>
        <image view="back">
          <mime>zaza4671.jpg</mime>
        </image>
      </car>
    </item>

    Preprocessing code used:

    //car/image[@view="side"]

General

EasyCatalog Field General
Style

The character style sheet specified in this pop-up is applied to the field when it is inserted into the document.

The Character Styles for the current document, or the default character style sheets if there is no document open, will be listed in this popup.

When inserting the field into the document, you must ensure that the character style sheet is available.

A warning will be displayed if it is not, and the field will be inserted without applying the style sheet.

Prefix & Suffix

Any characters that should included before the content of this field should go in the Prefix field; any that should be included after should go in the Suffix field.

The Prefix and Suffix is only applied to non-empty fields.
Sorting

Where your data contains non-English data, select the language in the Sorting pop-up.

This will force EasyCatalog to use a linguistic sort when sorting this field, but should only be used when necessary as it can have a significant impact on performance.

Content Is Tracked

Turn this check box off if you do not want the content of this field to be tracked in the document.

When off, the field will not be enclosed inside of our field marker characters in the document and so cannot be updated with new data.

Cleansing Options

EasyCatalog allows the content of each field to be "cleansed" before it is used in the document.

"Data Cleansing" is a simple search-and-replace that is applied to the data during import and before any formatting options are applied.

See our in-depth usage of Cleansing Options, with examples here :
https://www.cunka.com/easycatalog/myEasyCatalog.html#CLEANSING

Cleansing Options (Pencil Icon)

Allows the creation and preview of cleansing options.

Commonly-used cleansing options can be stored in a plain text file and imported using the Import button, or saved by using the Export button.

EasyCatalog Field General1

Picture Content

EasyCatalog Field PictureContent

In addition to inserting textual field content into an InDesign text flow, EasyCatalog can also be configured to import images into picture boxes.

See also our in-depth Working with Images section here :
https://www.cunka.com/easycatalog/myEasyCatalog.html#_working_with_images

The picture to import is specified by the content of each field.

The Picture Content pane is split into two sections:

  1. How the image will be imported.

  2. Where it will be imported from.

Scaling

This option determines how the image will be scaled to fit into its containing box.

See our in-depth usage of Scaling/Alignment, with examples here :
https://www.cunka.com/easycatalog/myEasyCatalog.html#_images_in_frames

None

The picture will not be scaled when it is imported

Proportionally Fit

The picture will be proportionally scaled to fit its containing picture box.

There may be white space around the image if the image frame has a different aspect ratio to the image.

Fill Frame

The picture will be scaled to fit the picture box but, unlike Proportionally Fit, it will completely fill the box ensuring there is no white space around the image.

The aspect ratio of the original image will not be maintained when using this option.

Fill Proportionally

The picture will be proportionally scaled to fill the picture box but, unlike Proportionally Fit, it will completely fill the box ensuring there is no white space around the image.

Some of the image may be outside of the box.

Fixed Scale

Pictures will always be imported and scaled to the percentage specified by the Scale pop-up.

Field Specified

If your data also contains picture scaling information, this option can be used to nominate the field containing this value.

Alignment

After the image has been imported into the frame, it can be aligned to any of its containing frame’s corners or edges.

See our in-depth usage of Scaling/Alignment, with examples here :
https://www.cunka.com/easycatalog/myEasyCatalog.html#_images_in_frames

X Offset / Y Offset

These options are used to offset the image within its containing frame by an amount specified in the selected field.

Specify the name of a field containing the X and/or Y offset that must be applied to the image.

The field should also contain the measurement system (e.g. 'mm') to ensure the offset it applied correctly.

Content Color

Monochrome TIFF images can be recoloured when imported: specify a field that contains the name of a swatch to apply to the image.

Clipping Path

A clipping path can be automatically applied to the image when it is imported.

Clipping Path

Description:

None

No clipping path will be applied.

Default

The default clipping path settings will be used - i.e. the settings that were selected during the last import on the Show Image Import Options dialog.

Photoshop

The first Photoshop clipping path will be applied to the imported image.

Preserve Size and Position On Update

By default when re-importing an image during an "Update Document" operation the alignment, scale, etc will all be re-applied.

When this option is selected the new image will be imported into the box but the options specified above will be ignored.

Location

Images can be imported from either a folder on a file system or by downloading them from a URL.

Select either Folder or URL in the Location pop-up.

Folder
If the field contains a full path to the file to import

No further configuration in Location or Extension is required.

If the field contains only the filename of the file to import

Specify the folder than contains the file in Location.
If the content of the field does not contain the file extension (e.g. '.jpg','.gif',etc), specify this in Extension.
Specify multiple file extensions in Extension by separating them with semi-colons:

.jpg;.pdf;.eps;.gif
EasyCatalog Field PictureContent1
Fig 5. jpg pdf eps gif file extensions
Where multiple file extensions are specified, EasyCatalog will attempt to import a file with each file extension in turn.

In the example above it will look for a .jpg file, then a .pdf file.

This can be useful in situations where multiple files exist with different file extensions: specify the order you would like to search with the most preferred format first in the list.
The path to the folder containing the images can be selected using the Choose button

It can also be dynamically built using one of EasyCatalog’s inbuilt Custom Field functions.

For example, the following will pick out the fourth and fifth character from the 'code' field:

// Macintosh
Macintosh HD:Images:SUBSTR(code, 4,2):

// Windows
C:\Images\SUBSTR(code, 4,2)\
EasyCatalog Field PictureContent2
Fig 6. Macintosh file path
EasyCatalog Field PictureContent3
Fig 7. Windows file path
URL

EasyCatalog can also download images from a URL.

Images that are downloaded are cached in the EasyCatalog Workspace folder.

Images will be automatically downloaded as required, so an attempt to insert a picture that has not previously been cached will result in the image being downloaded.

If you’re using the optional EasyCatalog Pagination Module, all images required will be downloaded before the pagination commences.

The Extension option is ignored when importing from a URL.

If the field contains a full path to the file to import

No further configuration in Location is required.

If the field contains a partial URL, or the URL needs to be built from the contents of one of the record’s other fields

The Image URL field can also be built from the contents of the record’s other fields using EasyCatalog’s inbuilt Custom Field functions.

For example, ‘FIELDSTR(key)’ will insert the contents of the ‘key’ field.

// Note that .jpg is being appended to the end of the file path
https://www.cunka.com/images/FIELDSTR(key).jpg
Options

Select the Options button to specify HTTP authentication and Proxy Server settings on a field-by-field basis.

Any settings specified here will override the ones specified in the main EasyCatalog preferences for the field.
EasyCatalog Field PictureContent4
Fig 8. HTTP Authentication options
Store all images in a single folder

By default, all the images downloaded will be stored the data sources EasyCatalog Workspace folder (under Images) in a hierarchical folder of the domain name it has retrieved the image from.

e.g. https://www.cunka.com/easycatalog/images/automation/panel2.png image stored in the folder www.cunka.com
EasyCatalog Field PictureContent5
Fig 9. Images stored in a URL named folder

Selecting Store all images in a single folder checkbox removes the default behaviour and puts all the images in a folder named after the EasyCatalog field that called the download.

Use Store all images in a single folder if you want all the images downloaded stored in a single convenient location.
EasyCatalog Field PictureContent6
Fig 10. Images all stored in a folder named after the field
Downloading Images

EasyCatalog will download images on demand and cache them in your EasyCatalog Workspace folder.

When one of the fields in the data source has 'URL' based images a new sub-menu will be available on the data panel’s pop-out menu: 'Images'.

EasyCatalog Field PictureContent7
Fig 11. Images menu option

Download All

Download and cache all images referenced in the panel.

Download Missing

Download images referenced in the panel that have not previously been downloaded.

Delete Unused Images

Deletes images not referenced by URL picture fields.

THIS WILL DELETE ALL IMAGES from the "Images" Workspace Folder, including those that are not URL referenced.
EasyCatalog Field PictureContent8

Always Download Latest

Once an image has been downloaded and cached in your workspace folder, it will never be downloaded again unless this menu item is checked.

It is advisable to enable this option prior to running the Update Document operations to ensure the images you have cached locally are the latest available from the server.

Delete Unused Images on Synchronize

Deletes images not referenced by URL picture fields when the panel is synchronized.

THIS WILL DELETE ALL IMAGES from the "Images" Workspace Folder, including those that are not URL referenced.
EasyCatalog Field PictureContent8

Prevent Images from Being Downloaded

Disables images from being downloaded or updated. Easycatalog will use whatever is currently in the "Images" Workspace folder.

Disables the ability to use the Always Download Latest selection.

EasyCatalog Field PictureContent9
Replacement Image

When an image cannot be found (or downloaded), the image specified in the Replacement Image: field will be used instead.

The Replacement Image: is often used as a placeholder in the document to indicate that an image isn’t yet available.

EasyCatalog Field PictureContent10
The field will be shown as 'in error' in the panel to indicate that the correct image is not being used.

Advanced

The Advanced options pane contains settings that ordinarily will not require any adjustment.
EasyCatalog Field Advanced
Source Data Number Format

This option allows you to specify the thousands and decimal separators used in your source data.

For example, if your data source outputs numeric data using a . as a thousands separator and a , as the decimal separator, these should be specified on the Advanced pane.

When first configured, fields will default to the settings specified:

  • in the Regional and Language Options control panel on Windows

  • or the International System Preference on Macintosh.

Field Group

The Field Group parameters are used to group fields together so that some operations can operate on multiple fields simultaneously.

For example, if you have sets of fields for English, French and German text, three groups could be created that contain the relevant fields for each language.

Replace Fields menu option, for example, can use these Field Groups to replace all fields in a group with fields from another group.
Group Name

Group Name is the name of the group (e.g. English)

Identifier

Identifier is used to specify part of a field name that all fields in the group have in common.

For example, if all English fields begin with ‘en_’, enter ‘en_’ as the Identifier.

When replacing field content, this identifier will be used to determine which fields relate to one another.
(e.g. EasyCatalog will to identify that en_Description equates to de_Description).

Language

Language is used to identify the language of the field content.
The language specified here will be set on the text that’s inserted into InDesign, and will affect hyphenation, spell checking, etc.

Exclude from ‘Update Panel’

This field will not be updated in the panel when using the ‘Update Panel’ function from the data panel’s pop-out menu.

Exclude from ‘Update Document’

This field will not be updated in the document when using the ‘Update Document’ functionality.

Exclude from ‘Synchronize with Document’

This field will not be included during a Synchronize with Document operation, and so will not show as red or green in the panel.
This field’s content can still be updated using the 'Update Document' menu option.

Fill Down On Synchronize

This option will populate any empty fields in the column with data from the first non-empty field above it in the data.

This option is commonly used when only the first record in a group contains the grouping information:

Original Data

Fill Down On Synchronize

In this data set, the Parent_Category and Child_Category fields are only populated for the first record in the group. It would not be possible to group the data using these fields as the "Group" function relies on all records in the group sharing the same value.

When Fill Down On Synchronize is selected for a field, if an empty field is encountered the last non-empty value will be used instead:

EasyCatalog Field PictureContent11
EasyCatalog Field PictureContent12
Changes to this flag only take effect at the next Synchronize with Data Source operation.
Flag Empty Pictures As Errors

When checked, the Replacement Image will not be imported for image fields that have no content and the field will not be shown as 'in error' in the panel.

Exclude From Status Flagging

When checked this field will not affect the record’s status flag (shown in the status column in the data panel) after a Synchronize with Data Source.

So, for example, if this field is updated during the Synchronize with Data Source the record will not be shown as 'updated' (unless other fields have also been updated).

This option can be useful for fields that frequently change but are not important to the layout.
(e.g. time stamps).

Database Update

Requires the optional EasyCatalog ODBC Data Provider module.
EasyCatalog Field DatabaseUpdate

Appearance

EasyCatalog Field Appearance

The Appearance field settings allow you to format the way information is displayed in the data source panel through color and shapes.

For large amounts of fields in a data source panel, use certain colors for image fields, custom fields for quick reference.
Style

Select from a range of existing colors and shapes.

Commands

Shows the existing LUA scripting code to create the color shape.
You do can further edit or create your own colors/shapes and use the Test to preview the results.

LUA APPEARANCE1
Fig 12. Example of shapes and colors in our data source panel
List of Style Colors

Appearance Color Name

RGBA with opacity

RGB without opacity

Light blue

79, 153, 255, 0.2

79, 153, 255

Red

255, 0, 0, 0.2

255, 0, 0

Green

79, 255, 79, 0.2

79, 255, 79

Blue

0, 0, 255, 0.2

0, 0, 255

Yellow

255, 255, 79, 0.2

255, 255, 79

Magenta

255, 79, 255, 0.2

255, 79, 255

Cyan

0,255,255,0.2

0,255,255

Gray

127,127,127,0.2

127,127,127

Black

0,0,0,0.2

0,0,0

Orange

255,102,0,0.2

255,102,0

Dark Green

0,84,0,0.2

0,84,0

Teal

0,153,153,0.2

0,153,153

Tan

204,153,102,0.2

204,153,102

Brown

153,51,0,0.2

153,51,0

Violet

153,51,255,0.2

153,51,255

Gold

255,153,0,0.2

255,153,0

Dark Blue

0,0,135,0.2

0,0,135

Pink

255,153,204,0.2

255,153,204

Lavender

153,153,255,0.2

153,153,255

Brick Red

153,0,0,0.2

153,0,0

Olive Green

102,102,0,0.2

102,102,0

Peach

255,153,153,0.2

255,153,153

Burgundy

153,0,51,0.2

153,0,51

Grass Green

153,204,0,0.2

153,204,0

Ochre

153,102,0,0.2

153,102,0

Purple

102,0,102,0.2

102,0,102

Light Gray

186,186,18,0.2

186,186,18

Charcoal

170,163,181,0.2

170,163,181

Grid Blue

122,186,216,0.2

122,186,216

Grid Orange

255,181,107,0.2

255,181,107

Fiesta

247,89,107,0.2

247,89,107

Light Olive

140,165,107,0.2

140,165,107

Lipstick

206,130,181,0.2

206,130,181

Cute Teal

130,206,193,0.2

130,206,193

Sulphur

206,206,130,0.2

206,206,130

Grid Green

155,221,155,0.2

155,221,155

White

255,255,255,0.2

255,255,255

Introduced in to Easycatalog CC2015 v11.0.2

Custom Field

EasyCatalog Field CustomField

A Custom Field allows you to add functionality to EasyCatalog by creating your own fields to repurpose data in a new way, or create new data that currently does not exist in the original data source.

  • Custom fields can be create data from EasyCatalogs custom reference commands or the LUA scripting programming language

  • Custom fields can group data

  • Custom fields can be identified in the data source panel by the function EasyCatalog Field Custom Field1 icon in the column header.

    Name

    Contains the name you create for the Custom Field.
    A Name: must exist for the field to be created.

    Type
    Standard

    This is the default setting.
    Contents: will be created with the use of the EasyCatalog Custom Reference commands.

    EasyCatalog Field Custom Field3
    Advanced

    Uses the LUA scripting programming language.

    See our example usage of Advanced in "Debugging EasyCatalog LUA with ZeroBrane" here :
    https://www.cunka.com/easycatalog/myEasyCatalog.html#_easycatalog_lua

    The return value from LUA becomes the field content.
    return string.format("%d, %q", string.match("I have 2 questions for you.","(%d+)%a+)"));
    EasyCatalog Field Custom Field4
    Scripted

    For More Information : https://www.65bit.com/docs/batch-scripted-custom-fields/

    EasyCatalog Field Custom Field5
    Reference

    Lists the EasyCatalog Custom Reference Fields that can be used and inserted that creates the field contents.

EasyCatalog Field Custom Field2

Update Automatically

Always keep the content of the field up-to-date

Update Manually

Only update the custom field when the Update Selected Custom Field(s) menu option is used

Update Only After Synchronize

Only update the field after a Synchronize with Data Source operation.

Update During Content Creation

Updates when the records associated with the field are used to populate document content.

Notes

Introduced in to Easycatalog CC2019 v14

EasyCatalog Field Notes

The Notes tab can be used to store notes/memos to aid in documenting each field.
eg. to detail its purpose, store previous custom field command settings.

Tooltips will show the content of the Notes field when hovering over the column header in the data source panel.

Getting Help

Brian Cowell can be contacted at contact@cunka.com

©2019-2023 Brian Cowell