Adobe InDesign CS5 - Manual (Page 584)

578 USING INDESIGN
XML
Last updated 11/16/2011
Structure pane showing structure of placeholder text
A. Element that will contain all repeated elements B. Element that will be cloned as repeating XML content is imported C. Child elements for
data contained in the repeating element
1 First, you will need a parent or root element that describes the collection of information, or records, you will import.
For example, a Chapter element that will contain a series of recipes.
2 Under that parent, create one element that describes the information (or record) that will repeat.
For example, under the Chapter element, you might create a Recipe element. This is the element that will be cloned
for each record in the imported XML.
3 Under this element, create child elements to describe the units of information (or fields) that make up the record.
For example, under the Recipe element, you might create Recipename , Ingredients , Instructions , Notes , and
Serving elements.
To include labels, returns, or tabs between “field” elements in the repeating XML data, create placeholder elements in
the frame the imported content will be merged into. And add spacing or labels as needed between the placeholders.
Create placeholder text
1 Open an existing document, or create a new document for the XML.
2 Open the Tags panel (Window > Utilities > Tags) and the Structure pane (View > Structure > Show Structure).
3 Make sure the Tags panel contains tag names that are identical to the names of elements you will import with the
XML file, and create new tags or load the necessary tags if necessary.
Importing a sample of the XML content is the easiest way to obtain all the necessary tags and to ensure that the
document structure matches the XML file.
4 Create placeholder frames (and thread them together) as needed for your XML content.
5 Using the Text tool, click in the first frame to create an insertion point, and type placeholder text for each element
you want to merge into that frame. Include any spacing you want between elements, as well as any static text.
Note: If you will be importing repeating data, you only need to create one instance of sample text for the elements that
will repeat.
A
B
C