If you use the Web-to-Print add-on tool, additional configuration options allow you to link Web-To-Print with the Database and User Account areas of the platform. Record fields or User account information can be mapped to specific image or text frames within a template so when the user is creating a new job, they can select the relevant record and automatically populate values into those frames.
This functionality is an additional add-on to Web-To-Print. Please contact your Customer Success Manager to find out more.
This article contains an overview of the entire tool, from setup through to selection. To jump to a specific section, click on one of the headings below.
- Scenarios
- Creating your Template on InDesign
- Setting up Dynamic Data Mapping
- Configuring your Data Source
- Saving your Data Sources
- Creating a new Job with Dynamic Data Mapping
- Restrictions
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Example Scenarios:
There is a new Web-To-Print template about an upcoming finance campaign, but each Branch needs to add specific information about their own Staff and Rates. Existing Databases contain the information required about each Branch, Product (finance campaign) and Staff. With this feature, you can map Database fields to the relevant InDesign frame on the template. The user will then just need to select their Branch's record and any relevant Staff or Products when creating a new job, and all frames will automatically be updated with the correct values.
Alternatively you might have a business card template. In this instance, you can map fields from the User Account (or an Employee Database as demonstrated below) to the template, for example Name, Title, Email, etc. When the correct user is selected, the details will appear in the relevant frames on the job.
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Creating your Template on InDesign
When creating your Template on InDesign, please take note of the following:
- Only frames that can be edited will be available for mapping. Layers in the Foreground/Background will therefore not be supported.
- To map Layers, a custom layer name will need to be entered in InDesign. You will need to triple click on the layer name and add a custom name in the Layers panel (indicated below) to customise it. This applies to both image and text layers. It is advisable to name the Layer so it will be easily identifiable when you need to map it.
- If you intend to restrict the user's ability to move or resize a layer on the Template Editor, keep in mind the length of potential values (and add text limits on Record fields). You can read more on that here.
- To have layers available for mapping but locked so the user cannot edit those values, you need to select the layer and click non-selectable in the PrintUI Frame Options extension.
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Setting up Dynamic Data Mapping
Once the Dynamic Data Mapping feature is enabled on your platform, you will be able to setup up Dynamic Data Mapping.
Add New Template
If you are adding a new Template, go to Add Resource in the relevant folder and select InDesign Template as the Type. You will then need to select the relevant template in the InDesign Template dropdown. To setup Dynamic Data Mapping, you will first need to Save the Resource before continuing with the steps below.
Edit Template to Configure
Edit the relevant InDesign Template by clicking Edit Resource. You will then be able to view a field called Dynamic Data Mapping. Click the Configure button that is highlighted below:
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Configuring your Data Source
The overlay page that will load (Dynamic Data Mapping) allows you to create the data sources that will be available for selection in a new Job. For each data source (you can choose up to 5), you can map the fields from the selected source (a Database or User Account) to text or image frames within the InDesign template. The same source can be mapped multiple times, however each frame can only be used once.
Click Setup Data Source or Add New to add a data source.
Set Data source
The first step when adding a new data source is to select the source and decide on any filtering / mandatory settings.
Source:
The selection made here will dictate which module the fields will be sourced from when you setup the mapping. The options available are:
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Databases: This will require you to select a specific Database. The records within the Database selected will be the selection option for each Job. For this option, you will be able to map the Database fields and the values entered on each record is what will be populated in the Job.
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Users: The fields to map will come from the user account, ie First Name, Email, etc. This option allows you to select specific Users on the popup.
Custom Selection Prompt
The value entered will appear on the popup (see 'Branch Locations' example below) when the user is selecting the Record or User which will populate the values into the new Job. The default will be either the Database name or 'Users'.
Mandatory Selection
This setting will determine if the field is mandatory for the user to select. This is useful if it is essential that the frame should be filled with a specific value. Note that if one of your Data Sources is mandatory, you will not be able to Skip this step.
Filtering Conditions
As in other areas of the platform, Filtering Conditions allow users to restrict the values that will be available for selection. For example you may wish to Filter to only those Staged Database records that have been completed or that are related to a specific filter value.
Filtering using Lookup Fields
If you have selected a Lookup Record from a Database that has already been added as another Data Source for the current Template, you can select that Data Source as the filtering option. If you do this, that Data Source field will only appear once the other Data Source has been filled out and the values will reflect the option selected in the Lookup field on the record.
In the example below, you can see that the Employee Database and Products data sources only appear once the Branch Location is selected. Like with lookup fields, the dropdown values (in this case the Employee or Product records) will now be dependant on the 'Melbourne' value being selected in the Branch lookup field on those records.
Setup Data Mapping
The second step when creating a Data source is to Map the Frames. This will link, for example a Record field to a Frame in the template. When creating a job, the user will select a record and the value within the field will automatically appear in that frame.
IMPORTANT: Only frames/layers which have been attributed a custom name in InDesign will appear as an option. To update the default frame/layer name, triple click on its title in the Layers pane, and at minimum remove the < > characters. Then re-upload the template for the frames to appear.
Source Field Name
This dropdown menu will contain a list of all fields from the selected Source:
- If User Account is selected as the Source, the list will include: UUID, Address 1, Address 2, Company, Email, First Name, Last Name, Full Name, Mobile, Phone, Postcode, State, Suburb / City, Title
- If a Database is selected as the Source, the list will include all supported fields from within the Database. Supported field types include: Text, Upload (Single), Phone, Email, Website, Currency, Date (including Date Time), Number, Lookups (unless Resource Lookup is selected), Select fields, Calculation.
Once you have selected a Source Field Name, supported options will be available for mapping. This will be restricted based on the type of field. For example Upload fields can only be mapped to image frames, not text frames. Similarly, text fields can only be mapped to text frames, not upload frames.
Template Destination Frame Name
Depending on Source Field Name selected, a list of frames from within the InDesign template will appear in the list. Users will need to select the frame that should be updated with the value entered in the corresponding source field.
For example the 'Employee Name 'Record field would be mapped to the corresponding 'Employee Name' Template Frame, as pictured below.
To note:
- A template frame can only be mapped once, including across other data sources. So if the frame has already been selected you will not be able to map it twice (as two values would otherwise need to be added in the one frame).
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50 frames can be mapped per data source
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Saving your Data Sources
You will need to save your changes in two locations:
- Click Save to add the data source when you've filled out the mapping correctly. You can then close the Dynamic Data Mapping overlay.
- You then need to click Save on the Edit Resource page to save all data sources. Note that unless this occurs, your Data Sources will not be saved and will not apply.
Editing your Data Sources
Once you have saved your Data Source, it will be added to a list page of all of your data sources for that Template. From this page you can Edit, Delete and Re-order your data sources, via the icons highlighted below.
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Creating a new Job with Dynamic Data Mapping
Once you have configured your data sources and saved all changes, go to your Template in the Resources module and click Template Editor and Create New Job (as you would normally do to create a new Job).
A popup (example below) will now appear which will include all of the data sources you have created.
The values that appear in the dropdown will either be the Records of the Database or a list of Users, depending on the Source selected.
Users will need to select the relevant Record or User for the Job they're creating and then click Continue. Note that if there are no Mandatory Data Sources, users will have an additional option to Skip this step.
For example, if the user is creating a Job for a new Holiday product which needs to feature specific Staff members and Branch information, they would select their Branch, the relevant employee and product in each field above.
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Data Mapping Results
When the Web-To-Print editor loads, you will be able to see the values entered on the fields in the Record or User Account in the corresponding Frame, according to what was setup in the data sources.
You can see an example of this below. After setting up the Mapping following the steps above, the user just needs to select the Branch, Employees and Product in the dropdown options. When the new Job loads, as you can see below, all of the related information has been populated, from the user profile to the branch information and even the terms and conditions and interest rate set by the Branch.
Restrictions
There are a few restrictions that will need to be catered for when setting up this feature:
- A maximum of 5 Data Sources can be added.
- A maximum of 50 Mapped fields can be added for each data source.
- Images above 300MB will be skipped when generating the new Job.
- A Template Frame can only be mapped once, including within other data sources.
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To find out more about this functionality or to discuss its addition to your platform, click here or contact your Customer Success Manager.
Please note that the 'Database' and 'Records' terminology referenced above may appear differently in your platform as these are customisable terms. You can view alternative options here.
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