XML Publishing with InDesign CS2+

Advanced Topics: Transforming XML with XSL

Many of the topics in this section of the Short Cut deal with CS3's new features for dealing with XML, and the more painful ways to accomplish the same work using CS2's features.

An Aside Regarding Scripting InDesign and XML Rules-based Publishing

There is a lot of potential hidden in the phrase "XML Scripting", most of which applies to InDesign CS3. The power tools are Scripting (AppleScript, Visual Basic and JavaScript) in CS2 and CS3, and rules-based XML publishing (CS3 only).

You can get started with the scripts by visiting the Adobe web site and looking at the Adobe InDesign CS2 Scripting Reference http://www.adobe.com/products/indesign/pdfs/InDesign_Scripting_Reference.pdf (a honking 1,900-page PDF file, which is also on the installation CD if you have that), and the Adobe InDesign CS3 Scripting Guide: Javascript http://wwwimages.adobe.com/www.adobe.com/products/indesign/scripting/pdfs/InDesignCS3_ScriptingGuide_JS.pdf). (There is a new object menu for scripting in CS3, but there is no PDF of the entire scripting reference for CS3.)

Scripting InDesign promises to be another hacker's delight—for hackers who like publishing. If you want to get a better idea of what can be done, see this O'Reilly Short Cut publication by Peter Kahrel:

Scripting InDesign with JavaScript

Series: Short Cut Format: PDF Pages: 56

ISBN 10: 0-596-52817-5 ISBN 13: 9780596528171

It is highly likely that more publications will be forthcoming that deal with XML and InDesign ...