Templates and CPKGs

Dynamic content templates are created using the InDesign plugin called uCreate. The text and images of the document are tagged in uCreate, so that they can be dynamically inserted into the document. The design is then exported as a XLIM CPKG file to be uploaded to Personalia.

Uploading your templates (XLIM CPKGs) to Personalia allows you to create dynamic PDF documents or images with variability, which transforms the static InDesign document into multiple variations.

All materials and resources of each XLIM CPKG are saved as a template. Each template is independent and self-contained, meaning no materials or resources are shared between templates.

Personalia comes with several out-of-the-box sample templates, which you can see in the dashboard. You can download the XLIM CPKG of sample templates and import them into Adobe InDesign to see how the samples were setup. You can also modify a sample template, export a new XLIM CPKG and upload it to the Personalia dashboard as a new template.

Tag your InDesign document

Note: This is a top-level overview to provide key points. For more detailed information, refer to the Designers page.  

While creating your document in InDesign, open the Dynamic Content panel from the Dynamic Content menu > Show Window.

Click the button icon on the Dynamic Content panel and select Manual definition.

Define the input fields and content objects in the Dynamic Content panel. Input fields are the data fields that are passed into the document by the Personalia API – these are the fields listed on the preview screen. Content objects are used to tag text and graphic content in the document.

The dropdown at the top of the panel allows you to swap between input fields and content objects.

Input fields can be of different types depending on the type of data that you will send into the document using the Personalia API. These input field types also determine the user control that is displayed in the Personalia preview:

Input field type

Expected data type

Preview control

Text

Any text string including foreign characters.

Number

Any positive or negative number with no comma separator and one optional period as a decimal separator. Maximum number length is 15 digits.

Date

Any valid date in the format yyyy-mm-dd

Boolean

0 for false; 1 for true

 

Content object types reflect the type of object in the InDesign document that they are designed to tag:

Content object type

Purpose / use

Text

Use the InDesign Type tool to select any text string in InDesign and double-click the content object to tag the text. Values from the content object rule will be placed into the text using the font attributes of the selected text.

Graphic

Use the InDesign Selection tool to select any graphic frame in InDesign and double-click the content object to tag the graphic. Images in the asset folder, will be searched and the image file name matching the value from the content object rule will be placed into the graphic frame.

Visibility

InDesign Layers or Pages/Spreads can be selected in the Layers or Pages panel, and from the panel menu, select Dynamic Content > Layer Visibility… (or Page/Spread Visibility…)

Style

The Style content object rule should return the name of an InDesign Character or Object Style which you have defined in the InDesign document. You can use the Type tool to select text and then double-click the content object to apply the style to the text. To apply an Object style, use the Selection tool to select a text or graphic frame, and double-click the Style Content Object.

Preflight the document

XLIM documents are created in Adobe InDesign, by exporting an open InDesign document to a XLIM campaign package (CPKG), which may then be uploaded to Personalia to create an output file.

To determine which features in the current design are not supported by XLIM (and will not be reproduced in an exported XLIM document), XMPie provides a XLIM preflight feature. This feature helps the designer convert a regular InDesign document into one that is fully compatible with XLIM capabilities. Note that you may be required to resolve all errors in the XLIM Preflight panel before the preview can be shown.

For more information about preflight, see Using the XLIM Preflight Panel in the uCreate documentation.

Export a XLIM CPKG from InDesign using uCreate

In InDesign, once you have completed your design, tagged objects in the layout and approved the preflight, select Dynamic Content menu > Export Package.

  1. Set the location in which you wish to save the campaign package.

  2. Set the Save as type to Personalia CPKG.

  3. Click Save.

Pay attention to the following requirements regarding the templates (CPKG files) which can be uploaded successfully to Personalia:

  • The CPKG must contain a single InDesign file.

  • If assets are included, only a single asset folder with no sub folders is allowed.

  • A table content object cannot be included.

  • The logic (rules) cannot use external assets which are not included in the package (e.g., uImage or public URLs using the Web.UrlContentAsFile() function.) However, the API can override the default image asset setup in the InDesign document. Refer to Accessing images from a Digital Asset Management system.

  • The file cannot be larger than 4 GB.

  • Limited to 200 input fields.

Important recommendation: If you include a data source in your CPKG, it must contain only sample data (due to data protection laws).

Access images from a Digital Asset Management system

Note that images may be included in the design as assets and resources. In addition, the images may come from an external source, e.g., images which are available in your Digital Asset Management (DAM) system.

In order to prepare the template to use an external image, do the following:

  1. In the template, create a text input data field which will receive the URL to the image in the DAM and a graphic content object which will display the image in the design.

  2. Pass the field value to the graphic content object.

  3. The value of the field is the full URL to the image, prefixed by "fetch:"

    E.g.,  fetch:https://help.xmpie.com/images/Amsterdam.jpg

    • The URL format can be: fetch:http://... or fetch:https://...

    • Username/password protected URLs are not supported yet.

    • The combined size of all the fetch URL images must be no bigger than 10 MB in total.

    • Up to 10 image fetches are supported in a single template.

    • Valid image types are JPEG and PNG.