importing a table into indesign

I have a job soon in which i must create tables (filled with data) that can be imported into indesign. The data comes from a database and hundreds of tables will be generated this way, then imported into indesign and eventually become a pdf and a book. My part of the job is to create the tables with data, and someone elses job is to do everything that has to do with indesign. Im planning on creating the tables with PHP and output them in the format that indesign accepts.

I found the technical reference pdf online(''Adobe Indesign CS3 and XML: A Technical Reference''), and it describes a format of tables that can be imported into indesign.

Here is an example of a table i made in that format:

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%26lt;Table xmlns:aid=''http://ns.adobe.com/AdobeInDesign/4.0/'' aid:table=''table'' aid:trows=''2'' aid:tcols=''2''%26gt;
%26lt;Cell aid:table=''cell'' aid:crows=''1'' aid:ccols=''1'' aid:ccolwidth=''200''%26gt;r1c1%26lt;/Cell%26gt;
%26lt;Cell aid:table=''cell'' aid:crows=''1'' aid:ccols=''1'' aid:ccolwidth=''200''%26gt;r1c2%26lt;/Cell%26gt;
%26lt;Cell aid:table=''cell'' aid:crows=''1'' aid:ccols=''1'' aid:ccolwidth=''200''%26gt;r2c1%26lt;/Cell%26gt;
%26lt;Cell aid:table=''cell'' aid:crows=''1'' aid:ccols=''1'' aid:ccolwidth=''200''%26gt;r2c2%26lt;/Cell%26gt;
%26lt;/Table%26gt;

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This should be a table with 2 rows and 2 columns.

Before i go any further, i must say that i know nothing about indesign and have never used it before. It is not really required for what i need to do and all i need to know is if my approach is viable. Someone else will do all the indesign work.

So i imported this table into a new indesign document, but i didnt seem to get a table as a result.

My questions are:

- is it possible to import tables like that into indesign?

- Did i do something wrong?

- Is there another way, an easier one perhaps?

- Can html tables be imported or pasted into indesign?

importing a table into indesign

You might just want to look into something like Teacup Software's DataLinker.

http://www.teacupsoftware.com/products/datalinker.html

Bob

importing a table into indesign

Looks interesting but not sure if it would work.

The indesign people work for a different company in a different city and we cant tell them to use different software and change the way they work. They know 0 about sql and databases. Also the tables are very dynamic, each one has a different number of rows and columns, merged cells, etc. so there is not a fixed format into which the data can be inserted, And also a single table uses many different queries to get the content, there needs to be error handling to replace nulls, zeroes, yes/no, 1/0, etc. and i dont know if teacup datalinker can do it.

Does anyone know how to import a table in indesign?

File%26gt;place. For best results check show options in the place dialog and browse to an Excel or Word document.

Bob

Does it accept anything other than word or excel?

According to the technical reference, above format should work. But nothing happens when i import it, i dont see a table anywhere.

How did you import that?

I cut/pasted your xml to a file and tried to import it to fresh new indesign document by using File%26gt;Import XML and it worked.... try following:

1. Import your XML

2. A structure panel should become visible on left side of your working space

3. Drag%26amp;drop Root tag to place where you want to insert your table..

Table is very rough looking but stucture of it is quite right I guess....

XML can be very effective way to upgrade content of existing tables but I don楹搕 know is it so good for creating new ones... You may face all kinds of difficulties with wrong tags at wrong places... and they can follow your indd-document and cause all kinds of troubles in future for people who continues working with your files.

Thanks Petteri, thats what i was looking for.

I did as you described and it worked. Previously i did not do step 3 that you mentioned, because i really know nothing about how indesign or its panels work and hadnt thought about dragging the root to the other side of the screen. I tried to drag the table, but that wasnt possible.

Now i know it works.

About the XML: i figure if i stick to the table format from the indesign technical reference, and not do any new tags in it, the tables will always work. This will all be a one time import per table, and the data of each table will not be updated after that.

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