3 Replies Latest reply: Oct 25, 2013 11:30 AM by shawninvancouver RSS

    Does InDesign have a CLI? Batch processing projects

    shawninvancouver Community Member
    shawninvancouver Oct 18, 2013 4:01 PM

      Hello all,

       

      I think I already know the answer but I thought I'd ask anyway.

       

      A little background...

      When I push my MadCap Flare source to our source control, we have a buildbot that automatically runs a shell script that compiles/publishes my Flare source (via Flare CLI compatible MadBuild) to pushes it to a latest build server.

       

      Now I have a documentation project that is impossible to build in Flare, so I must use Indesign (it is a poster-style quick start guide). I am hoping that InDesign has a similar feature where I can push the InDesign source to our source control server and have the buildbot automatically publish via a shell script.

       

      All I need is an InDesign batch file method (via Command Line Interface) of publishing. Is this possible? If so, someone please point me to instructions on how to use the command line options.

       

      NOTES:

      - I found some information about Indesignserver for CS3 but my installation only has "InDesignServerService.exe.metagen" - no other similarly named files.

      - I am using Adobe Indesign CC CS6

       

       

      Thanks!

        • 1. Re: Does InDesign have a CLI? Batch processing projects
          Joel Cherney Community Member
          Joel Cherney Oct 18, 2013 4:20 PM (in response to shawninvancouver)

          You already know the answer.

           

          InDesign Server is not the product you have - and Server costs far, far more than your desktop license.

           

          There are a few different ways to approach your project, but the one you want ain't it.

          • 2. Re: Does InDesign have a CLI? Batch processing projects
            peter at knowhowpro Community Member
            peter at knowhowpro Oct 18, 2013 4:37 PM (in response to shawninvancouver)

            InDesign can run startup scripts that you can build with Extendscript (comes with InDesign.) It might be possible to dedicate an InDesign installation to start up with a dedicated script that performs what you need, when your source-control application launches InDesign.

             

            Another possibility might be to have an InDesign script periodically look for a file in a location and when it finds it, perform operations on that file. The source-control application would put the file for InDesign to find.

             

            These are technically called "wild guesses" at solutions. You sound tech-enough to go further.

             

            However, read the InDesign license agreement to see if this is permissible use. Some applications don't permit using a single-user installation as a service for other users.

             

            [EDIT] I forgot to mention that InDesign does have some XML smarts. Depending on your needs, it might be possible to output InDesign documents and/or templates in XML form, and process them with an XML processor that does run from a CLI. Worth a look, anyway. Also, look up the book XML for InDesign by James Maivald. You might find useful info in it.[/EDIT]

             

             

            HTH

             

             

            Regards,

             

             

            Peter

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            Peter Gold

            KnowHow ProServices   

             

            Message was edited by: peter at knowhowpro

            • 3. Re: Does InDesign have a CLI? Batch processing projects
              shawninvancouver Community Member
              shawninvancouver Oct 25, 2013 11:30 AM (in response to peter at knowhowpro)

              Thank you everyone for your valued input.

               

              After experimenting a bit with automating InDesign to work with git and shell scripts... it proved too complex to waste any more time on.