graphikal Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 Does anyone know of a way to copy our FP layout and structure (all text, formulae, conditionals, etc.) into a new layout? We have a background the customer would like us to redesign, but I'd prefer not to spend hours rebuilding a complex layout in Acrobat using FusionPro. Ideally, I'd like a way to "copy" or "carry over" our existing FP layout and somehow drop it into our new .PDF layout background. Thanks in advance for any help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MHardee Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 Does anyone know of a way to copy our FP layout and structure (all text, formulae, conditionals, etc.) into a new layout? We have a background the customer would like us to redesign, but I'd prefer not to spend hours rebuilding a complex layout in Acrobat using FusionPro. Ideally, I'd like a way to "copy" or "carry over" our existing FP layout and somehow drop it into our new .PDF layout background. Thanks in advance for any help. You can associate the former file to the new file via the data manager pull down. It will import rules, etc. If you are just changing backgrounds, export the InDesign or Quark file over the old one and none of the previous Variable fields will be overwritten.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Marshall Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 Transferring Layout and Rules from a previous job If you are building an identical job that has the same layout, variable frames, rules, but different data file with the same field names, and would like to eliminate the need to reconstruct the FusionPro PDF; this tip will help. First, click "FusionPro", "Data Definition", "Wizard". Select "Import Data Source From Another Document". Click Next. Browse to the folder that contains the original pdf you want the information imported from. The name of the file will have a ".def" extension. Select it. Click "Open". Click "Finish" Click "FusionPro", "Advanced", "Import". A dialog box will appear with the following options preselected: Variable Layout, Colors, Style. Browse to the folder containing the original pdf . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graphikal Posted March 3, 2009 Author Share Posted March 3, 2009 Beautiful!! Worked like a charm - thanks so much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 Alex- Is there a way to exclude the database from importing when using this method? Or maybe import just the rules? I want to use the same rules on new projects, but never the same database. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Marshall Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 Just simply link the new data base with the new job using the Data Wizard. The rules should remain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 New pdf + new database + old rules from previous pdf = new project Projects are similar in format (use same rules), but use different art and different data. The pdf I'm working in would be the new pdf, so the rules are non-existent. I need to import the rules only into the new pdf. Seems that this rule import function would be part of the "Import" menu, rather than the database menu. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Marshall Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 Rules can indeed be imported from other FusionPro jobs. Note: Editing the installed .js files, including Builtins.js, BuildingBlocks.js, and the various RuleTemplates.<language>.js files, is unsupported and discouraged. If you want your own custom JavaScript localized to your machine, you are encouraged add your own .js files in the Plug-ins folder. If you want custom JavaScript logic to be attached to a particular job, you are encouraged to use the JavaScript Globals dialog. If you want to share JavaScript logic between jobs, you can use the Load function to process a .js file from a shared network location. Again, editing the RuleTemplates files is not supported, and if you choose to do so, it's at your own risk. I can't stress this enough From the menu in Acrobat, select FusionPro -> Data Definition -> Wizard, and click "Import a data source from another document." You can then select a .def (Data Definition) file from another job, and it will bring over all the rules. However, it's all-or-nothing; you can't select individual rules to import. But you can always import all the rules and then delete the ones you don't want. Yes, you'll still have to remember which job contains the rule(s) which you want to import. (But you would still have to do this even with an "Import Rule" GUI.) One way around this is to make one job with all your commonly-used rules and export a "Master Data Definition" to import when creating new jobs. If you have logic that's shared between, or common to, multiple jobs, I can recommend several approaches: 1. Use the "Import data source" feature, as described above, to import complete rules (along with Globals and resources). 2. Copy-and-paste individual rules' syntax from one job to another. (You can also create a text file with commonly-used rules, which you can copy from.) 3. Put your shared logic into functions in the JavaScript Globals, then you can copy-and-paste the entire Expressions of the Globals from one job to another. 4. Create a .js file in the Plug-ins folder on your machine, and call its functions from your rules. 5. Create a .js file in a shared network location and use the Load function to import its functions into your jobs. 6. Modify the RuleTemplates.English.js file to add your own templates, as described in the Rules Editor Reference Guide. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian F. Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 Just my 2 cents... I use Alex's method 1 to copy all the data to jobs that have all the same fields and everything, and method 2 for inserting commonly used rules when the data fields and other things are different. One or 2 master txt files and cut & paste into empty rules in FP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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