WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.366 Hi! Welcome to XMPie uCreate Print training. 00:00:04.366 --> 00:00:09.299 In this module we demonstrate how to connect uCreate Print with your data sources 00:00:09.300 --> 00:00:14.400 so you can start to create your VDP or variable data print templates. 00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:18.600 To start, open InDesign, and create a new document, 00:00:18.600 --> 00:00:24.300 or open the document that you want to change to a VDP template. 00:00:24.300 --> 00:00:26.666 Locate the Dynamic Content panel. 00:00:26.666 --> 00:00:32.666 If it is not visible, select it from the Dynamic Content menu, Show Window group. 00:00:32.666 --> 00:00:35.366 Click the button on the panel to start. 00:00:35.366 --> 00:00:39.532 For most jobs, you will select to connect to a Data Source... 00:00:39.533 --> 00:00:45.233 At the end of this video, I will come back and explain more about these other options. 00:00:45.233 --> 00:00:48.533 Click Browse... and select your data source file. 00:00:48.533 --> 00:00:53.566 The types of data that you can connect with will depend on your computer platform. 00:00:53.566 --> 00:01:02.332 On Windows, uCreate Print can connect with text, CSV, Microsoft Access or Microsoft Excel data sources. 00:01:02.333 --> 00:01:08.533 On Macintosh, uCreate Print can connect with text and CSV data sources. 00:01:08.533 --> 00:01:18.199 If the file you select is Excel or Access, you will be asked to select the spreadsheet tab or database table that you want to use. 00:01:18.200 --> 00:01:26.433 If the file you select is TXT or CSV data, you will be asked what character is separating the data columns. 00:01:26.433 --> 00:01:34.199 If the character you need is not listed in the dropdown, you can simply type the required character. 00:01:34.200 --> 00:01:43.000 If you are using fixed-width data files where there is no column separator and each column has a set number of characters, 00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:47.900 you need to enter a comma separated list of the column widths. 00:01:47.900 --> 00:01:55.700 For countries where decimal numbers use a comma instead of a point for the decimal separator, this can be changed here. 00:01:55.700 --> 00:02:05.266 When you connect to a file-based data source, uCreate will use the file's BOM or Byte Order Mark to determine the file encoding. 00:02:05.266 --> 00:02:12.199 If the information is in the file, then the encoding will be set automatically and greyed out. 00:02:12.200 --> 00:02:18.966 For data source files that don't include a BOM, you will need to select the correct encoding format. 00:02:18.966 --> 00:02:23.932 If needed, there is a Preference that you can set to your usual encoding format 00:02:23.933 --> 00:02:31.899 so that you will only need to change the drop-down if you receive a file with encoding different to what you normally work with. 00:02:31.900 --> 00:02:39.666 Encoding is most important when you work with data files that include foreign languages that use accented characters, 00:02:39.666 --> 00:02:44.666 double-byte or other unusual characters like emojis. 00:02:44.666 --> 00:02:56.799 For the best results XMPie recommends that Text and CSV data files be saved with Unicode encoding on Windows, or UTF-16 encoding on Macintosh. 00:02:56.800 --> 00:03:03.733 Even Japanese, Chinese and Korean character sets are supported correctly in uCreate Print 00:03:03.733 --> 00:03:10.699 if the TXT or CSV files are saved with Unicode or UTF-16 encoding. 00:03:10.700 --> 00:03:14.266 Click OK to close the confirmation. 00:03:14.266 --> 00:03:19.366 Your data source fields or columns are now listed in the Dynamic Content panel 00:03:19.366 --> 00:03:25.832 ready to be placed into the document, or to create new content objects based on data values. 00:03:25.833 --> 00:03:30.466 In some cases, it is helpful to see the data values in the panel. 00:03:30.466 --> 00:03:39.232 To do this, select preferences from the Dynamic Content menu, and check the option to Show Data Column. 00:03:39.233 --> 00:03:46.299 The controls at the bottom of the panel allow you to scroll through the data records, or to go to a specific record. 00:03:46.300 --> 00:03:50.433 You are now ready to start placing the content objects into the document, 00:03:50.433 --> 00:03:57.399 or to edit and add new content objects as shown in later videos in this training course. 00:03:57.400 --> 00:04:03.166 Before I return to the data connection options, there is another preference you may want to set. 00:04:03.166 --> 00:04:10.532 You can control the default input data type, which is the option selected when you first set input data. 00:04:10.533 --> 00:04:14.966 For me, it is usually a data file. 00:04:14.966 --> 00:04:20.966 If I create a new document, you can see this option is now selected by default. 00:04:20.966 --> 00:04:26.266 A counter is an automated data source containing a sequence of numbers. 00:04:26.266 --> 00:04:32.599 This is useful for jobs like tickets where a sequential number is the only data that is needed, 00:04:32.600 --> 00:04:36.900 but the counter can also be used for other types of projects. 00:04:36.900 --> 00:04:43.400 Depending on your license, you may be able to link to a plan file that has been created with uPlan. 00:04:43.400 --> 00:04:47.133 The plan file contains information about the data structure, 00:04:47.133 --> 00:04:54.866 the content objects that can be placed into the InDesign document and the business rules or logic used by the content objects. 00:04:54.866 --> 00:05:01.899 If your company has purchased PersonalEffect, and you have a larger team with both designers and programmers, 00:05:01.900 --> 00:05:08.300 the tasks for creating the data connection and defining the logic might be done by the technical team 00:05:08.300 --> 00:05:13.100 and the completed plan passed to the design team and selected here. 00:05:13.100 --> 00:05:24.633 Usually, when working with a plan file, you will also use a proof set to see some sample content objects in the document design. 00:05:24.633 --> 00:05:31.666 If you don’t have a proofset, the design will only show the name of the content object as a placeholder value. 00:05:31.666 --> 00:05:38.332 The last option is used to manually define the structure of a data source that you will connect with later. 00:05:38.333 --> 00:05:44.933 To help you get started, uCreate Print will automatically create firstname and lastname content objects 00:05:44.933 --> 00:05:48.099 that can be placed into the document design. 00:05:48.100 --> 00:05:55.833 And in the Input Data Fields area, it will create database fields for id, fname and lname. 00:05:55.833 --> 00:06:00.033 If your data file will have different names, you can rename these here, 00:06:00.033 --> 00:06:05.233 and of course add more fields that will be in the data you plan to connect with later. 00:06:05.233 --> 00:06:10.599 There are videos later in this course that will go into these options in more detail.