{"id":1283,"date":"2013-02-25T13:27:50","date_gmt":"2013-02-25T11:27:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ozalto.com\/?p=1283"},"modified":"2013-11-07T15:39:48","modified_gmt":"2013-11-07T13:39:48","slug":"how-to-choose-between-xml-import-and-datamerge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ozalto.com\/en\/how-to-choose-between-xml-import-and-datamerge\/","title":{"rendered":"How to choose between XML Import and Datamerge ?"},"content":{"rendered":"

During an InDesign User Group Meeting in Paris, a spectator asked me this simple question : “How to choose between XML Import and Datamerge ?”.\u00a0<\/strong>A vast topic I tried to cover in a short time. I take\u00a0this\u00a0opportunity to speak further and hopefully provide elements of\u00a0a\u00a0response\u00a0to make your final\u00a0choice.<\/p>\n

Context matters<\/h4>\n

It’s all about your layout project, what you have to accomplish and how much you need to keep track of your data.<\/strong> You must rely on you customer ability to provide a data file\u00a0of\u00a0a certain format. You don’t handwrite\u00a0XML. You get the output from a dedicated tool<\/strong> (SQL Database, FileMaker\u2026).<\/p>\n

If your customer doesn’t have such tool and refuse to invest, forget XML. Other clients only\u00a0swear by Excel Tables overwhelmed\u00a0with formulas, filters and so many fills that lead to randomly extractable CSV format.<\/p>\n

\"export<\/a><\/p>\n

Forget the XML export from Excel. If you are lucky, you will get a functional CSV file. Prefer the Tab Delimited Text File format, you will avoid may issues.<\/strong> And if you are really into XML, feel free to use our CSV2XML<\/a> script<\/strong> in our downloads section. As you see, you have many options here and yet the question is still hanging out there : How to choose between XML Import and Datamerge ?<\/p>\n

BusinessCards, Mailing ?<\/h4>\n

\"Business<\/a><\/p>\n

Choose Datamerge!<\/strong> It’s so easy to set. A few tags et voil\u00e0! In just seconds, you get all your 2500 entries. A few minutes and a PDF Export later, it’s done !\u00a0Datamerge fits well with Business Cards, mailing, letterheads.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tables, directories ?<\/h4>\n

\"Yellow<\/a><\/p>\n

Datamerge is not intented to generate tables and directories. If you need to do so, feel free to use our specific scripts such as CSV2Table<\/a> or InlineMerge<\/a>.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>if\u00a0still\u00a0not\u00a0adequate, maybe it’s time to use XML.<\/p>\n

Catalogs, datasheets ?<\/h4>\n

\"schema<\/a><\/p>\n

Say bye to datamerge unless you are using dedicated plug-ins able to extend this feature. Start using XML.<\/strong>
\nSetting a XML template is generally more time-consuming than preparing Datamerge documents.<\/strong> Although both features are based on tagging, they are really different. To get nice continuous flows throughout several pages, you have to use a particular logic based on threaded frames.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Eventually, it’s likely that the XML structure you received from the client will not match your requirements<\/strong>. You have only two options left :<\/p>\n