How to produce pdf catalogue from product database

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5 total messages Started by Brett_McCarthy Wed, 11 Aug 2004 03:30

#306

Author: Brett_McCarthy
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 03:30

17 lines
2064 bytes

I am about to build a very simple Product database for a clients website. They also want to use this database to produce their hard copy catalogue for customers each year.

There are approximately 3,000 products across 22 categories. Each product has several attributes stored for it (such as Description and Price) along with a picture of the Product. The database will be located on a hosted website, but can be stored/exported in any format.

The software we are looking for needs to do the following:

1. Read the product details (including picture) from the table
2. Layout the products on pages, using a different template for each of the 22 product categories (including headings, page numbers, multiple product blocks per page)
3. Allow some further layout/design changes by the user (such as moving images around, adding further text)
4. Provide a printing house with a file, in either pdf or eps format, that will be used to print a product catalog for their customers

It seems that some of these functions can be performed in MS Publisher (though I don't know how to distill the pdf afterwards), but we expect that an adobe solution for the entire process would be preferable. My trouble is, I don't know the first thing about adobe and am looking for some help about what products are needed, and the best (ie cheapest and fastest) way to set this up.

Any help appreciated

Cheers
Brett McCarthy

Re: How to produce pdf catalogue from product database

#317

Author: Jeff Daghir
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 13:31

22 lines
1431 bytes

I think InDesign in conjuction with one of the following plug-ins can do
what you want:

Adobe - PageMaker Plug-In
Cacidi Systems - Catalog Extreme Plug-In
Comdus Solutions - TradingBell InCat Plug-In
Em Software - InData Plug-In
Sansui Software - XPublisha
WoodWing Software - Smart Catalog CS plug-in

You can find more InDesign plug-ins at:
http://store.adobe.com/products/plugins/indesign/main.html


-- 

Jeff Daghir
MPS Printing, Inc.
The Ink & Paper People!
Madison, IN
www.mpsprinting.com
jeff_daghir@mpsprinting.com

Re: How to produce pdf catalogue from product database

#318

Author: Sheila_Carlisle
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 15:27

8 lines
1514 bytes

Brett, another Adobe product that could fit the bill would be Adobe FrameMaker used in conjunction with one of the 3rd party database publishing tools to automate the process.

We have many companies creating automated catalogs along with brochures / spec sheets, etc. exactly as you've described. The end result could be a system where the user builds a "profile" that is stored for future editions by selecting category(s), template(s), and output type(s), includes dynamic user-content as needed, and possibly schedules the automatic updating of the catalog as required.

More information on database publishing products and FrameMaker can be found on the FrameMaker section of this forum <http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx?14@@.ee6b312>

Sheila
[oblig. disclaimer: AxialInfo is a Miramo reseller. <http://www.miramo.com> ]

Re: How to produce pdf catalogue from product database

#333

Author: Brett_McCarthy
Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 09:59

6 lines
781 bytes

Thanks for the response guys

It looks like my client will go with a MS Publisher solution with Acrobat to produce the pdf.

Thanks for the info
Brett

Re: How to produce pdf catalogue from product database

#335

Author: Altsoft_Xml2PDF
Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2004 12:11

10 lines
1054 bytes

The task you describe is the typical XSL-FO workflow. It is commonly done in the following way:
1. DB query produces XML data.
2. XML query data is transformed to XSL-FO using XSLT stylesheet. Multiple stylesheets are applicable to the single source.
3. XSL-FO to PDF formatting engine produces PDF.

Ask for more if you need additional information.

Regards,
Altsoft Xml2PDF Team
 <http://alt-soft.com/>

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