EmData

Assemble documents from your raw data

EmData brings the full layout, design, typographic and picture publishing power of QuarkXPress (Xdata) or Adobe InDesign (InData) to bear on all your data-driven repetitive publishing tasks.

Simply put, EmData works like a mail merge on steroids. You create a template in a normal document, with rules that tell it how to format your text and graphics. Then, with a single menu invocation, EmData builds your documents at jaw-dropping speeds—up to hundreds or even thousands of pages per hour.

control your design and layouts

Use your publishing platform’s typographic controls for each variable field and for any static text, to get just the right look for your data.

EmData has a powerful English-like scripting language. You can put any field from your data source in any order in the text flow, force page breaks, generate headers/footers, apply master pages as needed–and lots more.

control your content

Use EmData’s scripting language to build simple or complex rules for including or excluding fields, pictures and static text. And there are no limits on your data: records and fields can be as many and as long as you need.

Applications

EmData is designed to build • one-to-one marketing mailers • product catalogs • financial and legal reports • conference guides • abstracts • real estate guides • trader and swap magazine • classified advertising • timetables • phone books • course listings • TV guides • and much more: just about any job where you’re given variable data to publish.

Features and benefits

With EmData, you can

publish automatically using a “prototype” (template) for your records

in your template text, use bracketed names to identify each incoming data field, e.g., «address», and style each field with appropriate text and paragraph attributes. You can weave in static and dynamic text and pictures, include your fields in any order, or omit fields entirely.

get results as either a beginner or an expert

do simple jobs easily, and still tackle the toughest and most complex jobs with power.

import pre-sorted delimited text files

sort and then export from your database application, spreadsheet applications (e.g., Excel), or download from the web or your corporate information systems, and then import the resulting data file with EmData, fully formatted.

enjoy unlimited data

use as many fields and records as is practical, with each being as long as needed.

do sophisticated picture importing and sizing

import related graphics into picture frames anchored in the incoming text. You can size the graphic to the picture frame or the frame to the graphic, using one of several sizing options.

use variables

calculate and store information for later use in the prototype, or for use in later records.

use conditional statements

create more sophisticated record templates that apply different formats to a field, based on its or another field’s value. For example, you can print heads and subheads only when they change, or generate a page break, given a change of value indicating a new section or subsection.

use repeat loops

loop over data elements (character or words or lines), looking for particular information, or even repeat whole portions of the prototype.

build with automated headers and footers

create multiple, independent “dictionary-style” headers and footers on each page or spread, with sophisticated controls over the header/footer contents.

apply multiple master pages

based on incoming data, use different page layouts by applying master pages.

script EmData

drive EmData with scripts for automation of repetitive single jobs, as well as large, complex jobs involving multiple imports in multiple documents.

team up with EmCatalog

build your templates with EmCatalog links embedded. Later, using EmCatalog, you can update fields in place from updated data, or extract any document updates to your data.

enjoy full Unicode support

in your data to be imported, use the full Unicode character set in various encodings (auto-detected at input time).

Solutions for data publishing challenges

challenge

You’ve got a raw data dump from a spreadsheet or database, and you’ve got to import each record, re- arrange the fields, style each field appropriately, deal with missing fields in some cases, etc. You’re looking at hours or days of endless busywork that’s also quite error-prone.

solution

Writing an EmData prototype, you declare the fields, use field placeholders in the appropriate order, style each placeholder as needed, and then with a single menu selection (Import Data…), you’re done in a few minutes, with 100% data accuracy.

challenge

You’ve got a complex data publishing job, with sections, subsections, a huge list of fields, many of which are optional, potentially multiple graphics per entry, etc. How are you going to automate it all?

solution

Using EmData’s English-like scripting language, you build conditional rules to suit your needs, including or excluding fields based on the presence or content of other fields, including one or more graphics per entry based on picture availability, etc.

challenge

You need “dictionary style” running headers or footers for each spread, for example, to show the first and last names on the spread.

solution

Using EmData’s built-in header/footer support, you decide which data fields to track, and whether to only look on this spread or on previous spreads.

challenge

You’ve got a truly complex data publishing job, where the basic page or spread layout needs to change, based on the incoming data.

solution

With EmData’s master page/spread support, you use conditionals that apply the appropriate master for the current data.

challenge

You need to format the beginning or end of a given sub-group of records specially; for example, you need a header for each state in a directory listing.

solution

Using EmData’s ability to look forward or backward one record, you build a conditional statement that decides when you’re at the start or end of a group and format appropriately.

challenge

You’ve got to build and print or save a bunch of documents using one basic template and multiple data sources, or you’ve got one data source and multiple documents to build. It’s tedious to do it all one-by-one.

solution

With EmData’s scriptability, you can easily automate this and many other “batch” situations.

challenge

You’re building your document with EmData and are miles ahead of the game, but you might need to make last-minute small but wide-ranging changes—for example, updating a set of prices in a catalog or parts list—and you can’t afford to miss any changes, nor make any pricing mistakes.

solution

Using our companion product EmCatalog, you link your prototype data field placeholders to the appropriate field in your database using another data field for the key, and flow in the data with all EmCatalog links in place. Anytime later, you can update the linked document contents from the latest database snapshot, with 100% accuracy, and without re-creating the document.

Field-proven

EmData has been in production use at thousands of sites, world-wide, since late 1990. It has been steadily improving all these years, directly driven by user feedback.

Next steps

Navigating from the sidebars on the upper right, you can browse testimonials and news, head to our online store to purchase a serial number, download the appropriate software (which also functions as a trial version), download the manual and tutorials, browse release history, get more information about obtaining pre- and post-sales support and about evaluating the product, and see recent product-related news items on this site.