Release: InData 4/5/6.1.5 for InDesign CS2/CS3/CS4

May 24, 2010 by cpr

This release of InData for InDesign adds support for missing pictures, and fixes a bug with importing from the clipboard.

(This includes all release notes back to the beginning of the CS2/CS3/CS4 series.)

Changes at 4/5/6.1.5 release

• Added support for missing pictures, where picture frames that fail to load content will now appear with a large ? for content, and the missing picture’s name will appear in the Links panel.
• Fixed a long-standing problem where quoted fields in text imported from the clipboard were being converted and/or localized by InDesign, before being seen by InData, and causing Import from Clipboard to fail.

Changes at 4/5/6.1.4.5 release

• For Windows 7, Vista and XP users with administrative privileges, the plug-in’s registration information is once again stored in the registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Em Software, where it will be available for all users of the machine. Registration information for users lacking administrative privileges remains in HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Em Software where it will be available only to that user.
• Fixed a problem introduced in 4/5/6.1.4.4 which was causing substring extractions to always start with the first character. For example, char N to M of a would always produce char 1 to M of a.
• Fixed a problem introduced in 4/5/6.1.4.4 which could cause some string functions to work incorrectly. For example, it had wordcase("FOO") producing FoooO instead of Foo.
• Fixed a problem where setting a picture’s position to “fit” could leave it un-centered in its frame.

Changes at 4/5/6.1.4.4 release

• Added the new aspectratiofill keyword for positioning pictures which determines the scale in each dimension where the picture would just fit the box, applies the larger of the two to both dimensions (maintaining its aspect ratio), and then centers the picture in the box. Chances are good that some part of the graphic will be clipped, but there won’t be any white space “left over.” Example:
  «set picpos of picture 1 to aspectratiofill»
  This placement method is also available in InData’s General Preference dialog’s Default Picture Position pop-up as Center, Size to Fill, w/o Distortion.
• Fixed a problem where the InDesign Tag <cstyle:...>—the abbreviated form of <CharStyle:...>—was being ignored in styled text.
• Fixed a problem where applying a master page to an altered document page—a page where some aspect of one or more of the autoflow thread’s frames had been changed—would result in a crash. InData now issues an error and the import is halted when a master page application results in the orphaning of the autoflow story’s thread.
• Fixed a problem where putting styled text as XPress Tags (using our Xtags for InDesign plug-in) would sometimes result in a crash.
• Fixed a problem where putting styled text containing incorrectly formatted style-application tags as InDesign Tags would sometimes cause InDesign to crash.

Changes at 4/5/6.1.4.3 release

• Fixed a problem with picture positioning, where “fit horizontally, then size frame vertically” was leaving the frame’s height sized to the picture’s original height rather than its “fitted” height.
• Fixed a problem where fitting large images into the smaller frames required for multi-column classifieds could leave the image too large after bumping up against our previous 10% scaling limit. InData now allows the scaling of pictures down to 0.1%.
• Fixed a problem where putting styled text containing XPress Tags wasn’t finding auxiliary files (like translation tables) relative to templates and converted documents.
• Fixed a problem where putting styled text containing XPress Tags numerical escape tags (like <\#208>) for special characters could result in the insertion of the wrong character when importing on a different OS. Numerical escape tags are now interpreted in the encoding specified in the document’s data import preferences (InData > Preferences > Data).

Changes at 4/5/6.1.4.2 release

• When putting styled text containing XPress Tags, InData will now find auxiliary files (like translation tables) relative to the document’s folder.

Changes at 4/5/6.1.4.1 release

• Added a minor performance enhancement, where a master page is now applied only if the target page isn’t already based on that master.

Changes at 4/5/6.1.4 release

• Added support for InDesign CS4.
• Fixed a problem with InData’s open statement which would cause a crash if the named file was missing.
• Fixed a problem where inserting an anchored, out-of-line picture frame would cause a crash. (InDesign CS2 only)

Changes at 4/5.1.3.3 release

• With this release we’re relaxing our long-standing policy that InData statements must be formatted in a single character style (pg. 182 of the InData User’s Guide). The result of an InData statement is now formatted with the character formatting that’s applied to the statement’s opening chevron, and all character formatting after the opening chevron is simply ignored. Thus, formatting changes within an InData statement will no longer result in the infamous [P1] You can’t change character styles here, inside an InData statement error.We hope this change removes a frequent and unnecessary source of frustration from the development and maintainence of InData prototypes.
• Fixed a problem where InDesign would crash if the InData menu was selected while the insertion point was in a footnote.
• Fixed a performance issue that was slowing down the import of lengthy fields.
• The plug-in’s registration information is now properly retained for all users. Previously, Windows XP and Vista users whose accounts had limited privileges were being asked for a serial number each time they started InDesign.

Changes at 4/5.1.3.2 release

• Applying a master to a document’s initial page now works properly. Before, the master was being applied but, on overflow, new pages with multiple autoflow text threads were being generated.
• An import is now halted and an error is issued if an applied master doesn’t contain an autoflow text thread.
• Starting an import in a document where the prototype story is missing (has been deleted) no longer causes InDesign to crash.
• Fixed a long-standing problem with prototypes containing key-from-link catalog links where, on import, a resolved link’s key was losing its first character. InCatalog links are now generated correctly. (Mac OS only)

Changes at 4/5.1.3.1 release

• Fixed an import problem that could, in some situations, cause styles and text attributes to be misapplied.
• The numtochar() operator now produces an empty string if given a value that wouldn’t produce a valid Unicode character (and might otherwise cause InDesign to become unstable). For example, numtochar(11), which produces a next-column character in QuarkXPress, now produces an empty string in InDesign.
• Fixed a problem where importing via scripting could cause CS3 to crash.
• Fixed the File to Import dialog’s new per-import settings so they’re not partially hidden. (Windows only)

Changes at 4/5.1.3 release

• As of this release we’re officially adding support for InDesign CS3.
• Simplified the import progress dialog and added per-import Format, Range and Encoding settings to the File to Import dialog.
• Fixed a problem where having too many fields (where there are more fields in the data than are defined by the prototype’s fields statement) in an ignored header row was causing the header row to be imported as a normal row. InData now ignores a header row even if it has too many fields.
• InData now supports CS2/CS3’s anchored object settings on inline prototype frames (graphics only, for now). This means you can float objects on the page relative to the insertion point of the object, using the Custom position and other settings in the Anchored Object > Options… dialog.
• Pictures specified as being relative to the document’s file are now found for “converted” documents (those templates and documents from previous versions of InDesign).
• Fixed a problem where the filecontents function was always issuing a “string too long” error.
• Fixed filetype statement such that «set filetype to "Tab-delimited"» now works properly.
• Fixed a problem where some valid data files weren’t showing as selectable in the Import from File dialog.
• Added support for XPress Tagged data fields when used in conjunction with our Xtags for InDesign plug-in (versions 4/5). Whether tags are treated as InDesign tags (the default) or XPress Tags is controlled by a new Styled text contains setting in the General Preferences dialog (InData > Preferences > General…). XPress Tags handling is currently limited to character and paragraph settings; Xtags tags which create and group frames, etc., are not supported at this time. Note that you’ll have to have the Xtags for InDesign plug-in installed to use the Styled text contains: XPress Tags preference.
• Fixed a long-standing problem where an empty picture path (in a set filename of picture statement, for example) could trigger a crash if the picture folders list happened to contain an entry lacking a terminating folder separator.
• InCatalog links may now be used in conjunction with put styled. Before, any style changes during the put would cause the catalog link to disappear.
• Right-clicking in a story editor window no longer causes a crash.
• Resolved several minor memory leaks.