I’m willing to pay $150-$200 for this work. I need it done in 15 days or less.
We want orders from the site to populate illustrator.
Illustrator has an API that “technically” can read data (i.e. label color, font, icon) and could create our labels for us from a text file.
I was reading about this possibility here http://www.vectorials.com/tutorials/Adobe-Illustrator-and-Data-Driven-Graphics-09196.html
When someone orders, we get the details via email and print it out.
Then we have to CREATE the labels with illustrator.
We have to change the background color, add the icon the customer chose, change the font etc…
We want illustrator to DO THIS FOR US. Click a button, and have illustrator create the labels based on what the customer ordered.
So:
Product Builder Utility
Assumptions
• The existing designer’s form will be reused along with as much of the existing code (where
feasible)
• Order Numbers and Customer Information section won’t change
• Additional functionality will be added to form described below.
• Code to drive Illustrator automation will be VBA / MS Access.
• Prototyping of Illustrator automation used CS4. Final templates will be CS4 based.
• All files will be of the same type (CS4) ai files.
Template Management Capabilities
Utility will perform rudimentary template management capabilities to help minimize the user
intervention when new templates are introduced as well as doing the initial mapping. Based
on design, there may be no need to modify existing templates to work with the product builder.
Template groups *should* give us the ability to describe the document structure enough to
automate correctly the movement of text from the builder application to the template.
Template Management
Template Groups
•
Groups of like templates will form a template group.
•
Groups directly map to template directories of the same name.
•
Utility will maintain list of groups which describe the line mappings of each
group.
•
Options which don’t impact the template will be accounted for as well. For
example, options which give the design group more information will be part of
the mapping definition so that these lines are not mapped accidentally.
Template Group Information
• Name of Group (Directory)
•
•
Number of lines in template
Mapping information from order to lines in template.
Templates
•
Templates will be part of template groups.
•
Templates which don’t belong to template groups can be mapped ‘on the
fly’ using the template mapping form below.
Template Mapping
•
A form will be provided to add / modify template groups.
•
Template mapping can be performed when:
1. A new group is discovered
2. Company wants to change a group definition.
Template Discovery
• When the PBU cannot find a given file (based on SKU), it will throw an error and
ask that the template be installed.
• When a template is found, it will use the directory the template is under to
match the group template definition.
• When a template is found, but an existing group does not exist, PBU will give
the user the ability to create a new group definition.
Template Activities
Initial group discovery / Definition
• PBU will have the ability to discover template groups and when template groups
are found for the first time, the ability for the user to define the template groups
(see above)
Template Structure Validation
• PBU will validate the # of text boxes based on the group definition and if the # of
text boxes is incorrect it will alert the user.
Template Publishing
• PBU will give the option to bring in a new template, decide what group it will
belong to or create a new group to put it into.
• PBU will then enable the publishing of this template to its respective template/
group directory.
Preview Options
• When mapping is completed you can have the option to preview the template in
one of two ways.
o Preview the template with the mappings
o Preview the template with the data from the order option data
populated.
Template Publishing
Additional information submitted:
11/01/2010 at 2:04 EDT:
Template Publishing
• PBU will give the option to bring in a new template, decide what group it will
belong to or create a new group to put it into.
• PBU will then enable the publishing of this template to its respective template/
group directory.
Preview Options
• When mapping is completed you can have the option to preview the template in
one of two ways.
o Preview the template with the mappings
o Preview the template with the data from the order option data
populated.
Template Publishing Assumptions
• Any template inside a particular group will be considered ‘live’ and if the product is
purchased, this template will be called up and be modified.
• Any template within a group must have the same attributes as the group definition.
Care needs to be taken when defining groups or adding templates to existing groups.
‘Final Product’ Publishing Capabilities
Builder Utility will be able to publish lines to template, save final product, and print the final product.
Pull up Order Data [Button]
• When all or an individual order is entered, the line items bought in for each order will
only be the line items of existing templates and not line items that do not need to be
built.
Publish Customer Lines [Button]
Appears when an order is retrieved from the order manager database
Open up Illustrator template
o
Based on product SKU, open up the correct AI template
o
It will pull from the template directory the correct file based on SKU and
associated group membership.
Copy lines to Illustrator template
o
Review template map, past lines into the template according to map.
o
Once AI file is open, the text is copied into AI template from the order data
retrieved.
Publish Product [Button]
Illuminates only after the customer lines have been published.
Save template
o
Once designer is completed any fix-up work after the lines are published to
the template.
o
Final product will be saved in the production directory with no group
affiliation directory.
o
The template name will be created by inserting the order number-line
number into the name.
Print Product [Button]
Illuminates only after the customer lines have been published.
Print / Re-print
• Prints template
• Logs status of ‘Printed’ in the order detail status field.
• Can be used stand-alone to pull up job in a printed state and re-print it.
