This release provides a fix for the positioning of imported pictures and adds compatibility with InCatalog 6/7.2.8.1 and later.
This maintenance release addresses issues with frame corners and the &it tag and introduces support for character leading.
&L tag, where &La sets auto leading, &Lnum sets manual leading (0 to 5000 points) and &L$ restores leading to that of the current character or paragraph style.&it that produced no visible text could reset the active paragraph style.This release adds compatibility for Adobe’s 7.5.1 update to InDesign CS5.5 and fixes problems with scripted object exports.
This release extends script label support and includes several critical fixes.
...,("Label", "box name", "key1", "value1")...
(Note that what our documentation calls the box name is just the script label with key “Label”.)
This patch release of Xtags for InDesign addresses tab composition compatibility.
This patch release of Xtags for InDesign addresses a couple recently found scripting issues.
We’re pleased to announce that we now have server versions of our popular, field-proven data publishing solutions available for Adobe InDesign CS5 Server and Adobe InDesign CS5.5 Server.
Server versions of InDesign, coupled with our plugins, enable almost unlimited hands-off automation, driven from other business processes (such as web input or user-initiated scripts). You drive the whole system with scripts (the same scripts that you’d run on the desktop, except that there’s no user interface) in patterns such as opening a template document, updating with InCatalog from a data file or a direct database connection or importing with InData or Xtags–resulting in, for example, a price-updated catalog or a newly-created parts list or photo book–, optionally saving the result as a PDF, saving or discarding the resulting document, then repeating that with more documents and data/text inputs, etc. Since all our plugins are fully scriptable, they can participate as key elements in your overall automation process.
The server plug-ins will be freely downloadable from our website; however, to try them you’ll need to contact us to obtain a trial license or to purchase a full license.
For the time being, we’re only providing Windows versions of our server plugins, since Adobe is emphasizing the 64-bit server (available only under Windows), and since most folks are using this version. If you need the Mac OS X version of a server plugin, please contact us at the coordinates above.
As an additional help for your development and testing, we can provide a free desktop license along with the server license of our plugins.
Watch for the individual server product releases over the coming weeks (Xtags for InDesign is already available), and feel free to contact our support crew, if you have questions about availability, or would like to discuss how our plug-ins could fit into your server workflow.
We’re happy to announce the immediate availability of Xtags 8.1.4 beta 1 for Adobe InDesign CS6.
Our internal testing is showing Xtags 8.1.4b1 to be as stable and reliable in CS6 as its 6/7.1.4 predecessors have been in CS4, CS5, and CS5.5. Given this, we expect it to progress quickly through its beta phase.
You can download the beta from the sidebar on the right or from the beta sidebar on the main product page . When you download and expand the linked .zip file, you’ll find a folder Xtags 8.1.4b1 for InDesign CS6, containing the Adobe Extension Manager CS6 installation files for Xtags 8.1.4b1 and InFlow 8.2.2b1 for your selected OS (xtags814b1_installer_win.zxp and inflow822b1_installer_win.zxp for Windows, and xtags814b1_installer_mac.zxp and inflow822b1_installer_mac.zxp for Mac OS). Double-click on each .zxp file to install Xtags 8 and, optionally, InFlow 8 (which you may no longer need, given CS6′s new Primary Text Frame feature).
If you already own a license for Xtags 7 (beginning “ET-N-7″) for CS5/CS5.5, then this same license will also activate Xtags 8 during its beta phase. If you’ve an older license or are in need of a new license, please contact our sales department to purchase a license for Xtags 8. As always, you’re welcome to try Xtags 8 for free as a Demo, which limits imports to 50 paragraphs.
Please note that this beta plug-in will expire on July 1, 2012.
Thanks for giving this beta a try! We value your feedback, so please contact us with any questions or concerns while you use this, or any other, Em product.
This release of Xtags for InDesign adds support for InDesign CS6, officially ends support for CS4, improves compatibility with InDesign’s Smart Text Reflow and fixes an issue with the &it tag.
With this release, the CS6 plug-in now requires a valid Xtags 8 (CS6) serial number.
This release bundles our InFlow companion plug-in, which may be required for your tagged text imports to automatically add pages properly. Note that InFlow is not installed by the Xtags zxp installer; instead, you’ll need to double-click the separate InFlow zxp installer file.
When importing InDesign Tagged Text using the &it tag, a start file tag is now allowed and, if present, indicates the desired encoding of the import. A “narrow” tag like <ASCII-MAC> at the beginning of the tagged text now forces the tagged text to be treated as Roman/Latin characters and enables special character tags like. Likewise, a wide tag like forces the tagged text to be treated as Unicode characters.
For example, <&it"""<ASCII-WIN>bullet character: <0x2022>."""> will now properly place the bullet character.
The default encoding, when no start file tag is provided, has not changed and is still UNICODE.
This release of Xtags for InDesign adds the ability to size anchored frames to their column and includes several other improvements and fixes.
Adds a new C code letter for the sizing specs field of an anchored or as-anchored box tag’s width and height parameters. C may not be combined with S or R but may be used with F to size the box’s contents to the column as well. Sizing-to-column is allowed for anchored box tags, as-anchored box tags (unanchored, but with both x and y parameters left empty), and line tags.
Unlike S, which is only allowed to shrink a box, C is only allowed to grow a box to fit its column. Thus, its initial size is its minimum size, and what was the minimum (4th) parameter therefore becomes the box’s maximum size.
For example, <&pb((32pt,CF),(128,S),,,,,,,,,C,,,,,,,”p1234.jpg”)> would create an anchored frame with its width sized to the insertion point’s column, with the picture’s width scaled to the frame’s (and therefore the column’s) width, and with the frame’s height set to that of the picture.
*N for justify with last line aligned center, *G for justify with last line aligned right, *I for align towards spine, and *O for align away from spine.<$>, when used with some fonts (Adobe Garamond Pro, to name one), was applying a “Regular” override rather than resetting the typeface to that of the paragraph’s style.&Ya tag could cause a crash.This release of Xtags for InDesign adds a progress bar and support for OpenType features, and addresses a couple of import issues.
o(...), that was introduced in QuarkXPress 7.File > Place could cause a crash.<z7>small<@24PtStyle>big would incorrectly style “big” as 7pt text. Now, applying a character style will reset all overrides such that the same tags will produce “big” in 24pt text. (The z7 is removed when 24PtStyle is applied, which is what our Xtags for QuarkXPress sister-product has always done.)This patch release of Xtags for InDesign provides fixes for tagged text importing and exporting, display updating, and the preferences dialog.
\a (en dash) tag.
This major update adds compatibility with InDesign CC, and also includes long-awaited support for object styles and lines. Yes, lines. Woot!
Adds support for the &lb and &lbu line box tags.
A line tag’s framewidth parameter may be a sublist containing the line weight and a cap style (B for butt cap, R for round cap or S for square/projecting cap). For example, ..., (4, r),... describes a 4pt line with rounded ends.
The endcap parameter, which specifies the arrow style in QuarkXPress, is matched as well as possible. There are no feathered line end styles in InDesign, so these are mapped to plain. Arrowheads are internally mapped to InDesign’s Curved arrowhead style.
Optionally, the endcap parameter may be a sublist with two entries. The first entry names the line’s starting point end shape. The second names the line’s ending point end shape. For example, ..., ("Curved","Circle"),... describes a left-pointing arrow with a circle-style tail.
Note that InDesign lines are exported as end-points rather than as polar coordinates (as they are in QuarkXPress), to more closely match InDesign’s internal line representation.
Both anchored and as-anchored lines may be used with the recently-added size-to-column sizing spec.
Adds box placement relative to a named box that is on the current page, on the current spread, or anywhere in the document. If the named box is not found, the box creation fails and an error is generated. If the name is prefaced with a question mark, the creation is considered conditional: if the named box is not found then no box is created and no error is reported.
Where the named box is looked for can be specified by setting a new parameter in the relative reference sub-list to D (to search the document’s layout), S (to search the current spread) or P (to limit the search to the current page). The default search location is the current spread.
E.g., <&pbu2((0,TL,"sidebar"),0,...)> looks for a box named “sidebar” on the current spread and places this new box on top of it. If “sidebar” isn’t found, the tag fails and an error is generated.
E.g., <&pbu2((0,TL,"?sidebar"),0,...)> also looks for a box named “sidebar”, but if one can’t be found no error is issued.
E.g., <&tbu2((0,TL,"?left-page-footer",P),0,(1,R,0),(1,R,0),...)> searches the document for a box named “background” and creates a same-sized text box on top of it.
Note that you can name a box on a master page and then position boxes on each document page relative to where the named master page box lies. This could be handy when tagged elements’ placements need to be determined by the layout rather than the tags. For example, something like
<&tbu2((0,TL,"?left-page-footer",P),0,(1,R,0),(1,R,0),...)>
might be used to place a left-page footer only on left pages. Since no box named “left-page-footer” would exist on the right page master, the tag would silently fail on right-side pages.
Adds the U box flag, which may be used to send a relatively placed unanchored box behind (under) its referenced box. If both the U and K (send to back) flags are specified for a relatively-placed box, the K flag will be ignored.
For example, the tags sequence:
<&tbu2((0,TL,"fancybox",S),0,(1,R,0),(4",S,6),0,0,,...)>Some text.<&tbe>
<&pbu2((0,TL,1),0,(1,R,0),(1,R,0),0,0,U,...)>
would create a text box aligned with (and as wide as) the current spread’s “fancybox”, shrink the box’s height to its contents, then slide a same-sized picture box in behind that text box to provide a background graphic.
key from text ˄ and key from text ˅ types, represented as U (upwards) and D (downwards), respectively, in InCatalog’s &Ce() tag.
This quick-patch release fixes a frame width problem introduced in the 2.0 release.
Fixes a problem where box tags specifying a 0pt width would import as frames with 1pt widths. This restores the previous (1.6.1 and older) behavior where a zero-width frame would cause Xtags to ignore any remaining frame-specific settings in that tag (like color and style). Doing this avoids a long-standing InDesign-ism where the frame’s width is forced to be at least 1 pt if any remaining frame settings (like color or style) are applied by the tag.
Note that starting with Xtags 2.0, the width setting may be left blank in order to adopt the applied object style’s setting. In this case, where no width is specified, Xtags will consider all remaining frame settings and apply any that are specified (non-empty). It’s up to the user to make sure that settings applied by a tag are compatible with those contained in the object style.
This patch release fixes a problem with frame creation on master pages.
This patch release includes a fix for a problem that could cause InDesign to shut down in some OS X 10.6 and 10.7 configurations.
This release adds compatibility with InDesign CC 2014 and a few minor fixes.
This is actually a re-release of 2.1 that contains a workaround for a serious bug we found in one of the Microsoft Visual Studio tools we use to build our CC 2014 Windows plug-ins.
This release adds a box fitting enhancement, improves PDF importing, and fixes an issue with inline frames and vertical justification.
F, A, or L). Previously, the box’s shrink-to-fit-contents would simply fail, leaving the box at its original/maximum size and showing the now-scaled picture.
Allows $ in a picture box tag’s page number and cropping style parameters, which tells Xtags to use InDesign’s default PDF Place Preferences for that setting. Please note that, because InDesign’s PDF settings are just those of the most-recent manual PDF import, using $ in an uncontrolled environment could result in inconsistent results.
As before, if left empty, Xtags will use its built-in defaults for these settings: page 1 and Bounding Box (Visible).
&tb and &pb tags is now (once again) being forced to “none” so that it doesn’t block vertical justification. (See the notes for the Xtags 3/4.0.2 release for details.)
This patch release improves compatibility with the Electra LH font family.
<I> to use Electra LH’s Cursive variants as the family’s italic faces.
This release includes minor improvements to product stability and scripting.
ExportFormat.XTAGS.