12
Smart Connection 9
Enterprise Text Variables
This document is part of the documentation for
Smart Connection 9 and is an extract from the former Smart Connection 9 User Guide for InDesign. For
more information about using Smart Connection, visit the
Online Help.
Smart Connection allows you to add text variables
that hold Enterprise-specific content. Following the
same functionality as regular InDesign text variables, these Enterprise text variables allow you to
insert a variable on a layout to automatically display
the name of the Brand, Status, publication date,
etc. Since text variables are dynamic, the value of
the Enterprise text variable on the layout can be
updated automatically.
Text variables are most powerful in headers and
footers on a Master page or on a template.
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Smart Connection 9 Enterprise Text Variables
1. Enterprise Text Variables
Table 1. Enterprise text variables (continued)
Variable
Enterprise text variables are added to the list of regular
InDesign text variables which is found in the Type > Text
Variables > Insert Text Variables menu.
Logon based
Publication date
Displays the publication date of the
layout. (The date formatting is determined by the ‘short date’ format
of the operating system on which
InDesign is installed.)
Issue Subject
Displays the content of the Issue
Subject field, as entered on the Issue
Maintenance page.
Issue Description
Displays the content of the Issue
Description field, as entered on the
Issue Maintenance page.
User Name
Displays the name of the user who
had the file open for editing at the
time of logon.
Enterprise text variables are split into two groups:
• File based. Variables that are part of the
Enterprise properties of the document. These
can be dynamically updated.
• Logon based. Variables that are part of the
Brand setup on the Enterprise server. These
stay static during the whole log-in session.
Table 1 shows the Enterprise text variables that are
available:
Table 1. Enterprise text variables
Variable
Description
File based
Brand
Displays the name of the Brand that
the layout is part of.
Issue
Displays the name of the Issue that
the layout is part of.
Category
Displays the name of the Category
that the layout is part of.
Editions
Displays the name of the Edition(s)
that the layout is part of. Multiple
Editions are separated by a comma.
Status
Displays the Status that is assigned
to the layout.
Description
Inserting Enterprise text variables is possible at any
time, even when not logged in to Enterprise. (For
more information, see section 2. Availability.)
(Continues in next column)
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Smart Connection 9 Enterprise Text Variables
2. Availability
1.1 Appearance
Unlike regular InDesign text variables (which appear as a
box with a faint outline), Enterprise text variables appear
between orange square brackets when viewing the layout
in Normal screen mode (View > Screen Mode > Normal).
All Enterprise text variables are available at any time
through the Insert Text Variable menu, even when not
logged in to Enterprise. However, in order for the value
of the variable to appear, the layout needs to be part of a
Brand and you have to be logged in to Enterprise. If either
is not the case, the name of the Enterprise text variable
is displayed instead.
[WW News]
Table 2 shows the possible scenarios. In these examples,
assume that the Enterprise text variable Brand is inserted
and that the name of the Brand is Our Globe:
Figure 1.1. Enterprise text variables appear between orange
square brackets
Table 2. Enterprise text variable display scenarios
1.2 Setup
Unlike regular InDesign text variables, Enterprise text
variables are set up within the Enterprise system itself
and cannot be further defined or modified. For that reason, Enterprise text variables will not appear in the Text
Variables dialog box that can be accessed via Type > Text
Variables > Define.
Logged In to
Enterprise?
Layout part
of Brand?
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
Enterprise text
variable display
[Brand]
[Our Globe]
[Our Globe]
[Brand]
The third scenario (not logged in but the layout is
part of a Brand), is possible by taking a document
offline and logging out of Enterprise. Of course, since no
connection to Enterprise exists, the Enterprise text variables are not automatically updated.
Figure 1.2. Enterprise text variables cannot be edited and
therefore do not appear in the Text Variables dialog box
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Smart Connection 9 Enterprise Text Variables
3. Inserting an Enterprise Text Variable
4. Updating an Enterprise Text Variable
Inserting an Enterprise text variable is similar to inserting
a regular InDesign text variable.
The method of updating an Enterprise text variable in the
layout requires you to be logged in and is dependent on
the type of variable:
Whereas variable text in InDesign does not break
across lines, Enterprise variable text does break
across lines.
Layout-based variables
To update the value of any of the layout-based text variables (Brand, Issue, Category, Edition, or Status), do the
following:
To insert an Enterprise text variable, do the following:
Step 1. Place the insertion point where you
want the variable to appear.
Step 1. Open the layout (does not apply to
opening offline documents when no connection to Enterprise exists).
Step 2. Use one of the following methods:
Step 2. Save the layout by using one of the following save actions: Save As, Save Version,
Check In.
• Choose Type > Text Variables > Insert
Variable, and then choose the Enterprise
text variable that you want to insert.
Logon-based variables
• Open the Quick Apply panel by pressing
To update the value of any of the logon-based text variables (publication date, Issue Subject, Issue Description,
or User Name), do the following:
Cmd+Return (Mac OS) or Ctrl+Enter
(Windows). Locate the desired text variable
and press Return or Enter.
Step 1. Open a layout (only the values are
loaded that were fetched from the Enterprise
server at log on time. If any of these values have
changed, these do not reflect until logging in
next).
More information about using the
Quick Apply panel can be found in
the InDesign documentation.
Step 2. Close the layout, log out of Enterprise,
log back into Enterprise and open the layout
once more.
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Smart Connection 9 Enterprise Text Variables
5. Converting an Enterprise Text Variable
6. Revisions
There may come a time when you want the text displayed
by the Enterprise text variable to be static and to not automatically update anymore. In these circumstances, the
text variable can be converted to regular text. Converting
an Enterprise text variable to regular text is done in the
same way as for regular InDesign text variables:
The following sections list the changes that have been
made to this document.
6.1 Version 1.0.0
Step 1. Place the text cursor anywhere in the
text variable.
Released November 2014
• First version created by extracting chapter
Step 2. Use one of the following methods:
12 ‘Enterprise Text Variables’ from the Smart
Connection User Guide for InDesign.
• From the Type menu, choose Convert
Variable To Text from the Text Variables
submenu.
• Right-click the text variable and from the
context menu, choose Convert Variable
To Text from the Text Variables submenu.
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