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1. Re: Is it possible to keep an InDesign text box transparent unless it has content in it?
I guess I would need a screen shot or two to really understand what you are wanting. But, as you mention there is no conditional abilities in the native merge. You can probably script the application of an object style post merge, though. Use an object style on the frame, have another that only will change the fill, them post merge check the frame for contents and if there's something in it, apply the other object style.
I would use Em Data's InData plug-in myself. It has great conditional merge support.
Mike
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2. Re: Is it possible to keep an InDesign text box transparent unless it has content in it?
I'm creating a series of flash cards with white backgrounds that have occasional breaks between topics. These section break pages have black backgrounds (and some other formatting differences - like white text). It would be great if I could add a few dedicated columns in the CSV file that, when filled with text, would activate elements of a master that are only used for my black section breaks.
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3. Re: Is it possible to keep an InDesign text box transparent unless it has content in it?
If these are separate fields you might be able to use a paragraph style with white text and a custom black underline or paragraph rule.
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4. Re: Is it possible to keep an InDesign text box transparent unless it has content in it?
I see what you're saying about applying a paragraph rule. That's a neat workaround. Thanks.
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5. Re: Is it possible to keep an InDesign text box transparent unless it has content in it?
Yep, like Peter says, a rule will likely do what you need as long as the data for that is a separate field. The screen shot is of a price list merge that uses a rule with white text.
How well it will work without the plug-in I mention is another thing. In the case above, every record has a field for the category. The logic here is that only the first instance of a category is actually merged, and when it finds a new category, a single instance of it is used and so on through the merge.
You might be able to have the Section Break titles in the first column with the rest of the row empty. The date in subsequent rows being for the parts belonging to that section. I dunno. Never tried it.
Mike
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6. Re: Is it possible to keep an InDesign text box transparent unless it has content in it?
Using a paragraph rule didn't pan out for me. The top spread below in Image-1 show that the paragraph style (specifically the giant black paragraph rule part) is invoked during a data merge even if the relevant entry in the CSV file is left blank. This only happens when data merge is used (a regular text box---one not generated by a data merge---that uses this same paragraph style does not display the large, black paragraph rule when the text box is empty). The bottom spread in Image-1 looks the way I intended it to, and Image-2 shows what I would have liked the output of both spreads to look like.
So unless there's a check box hiding in a settings menu somewhere that might alter InDesign's (arguably counterintuitive) behavior regarding style implementation during a data merge, I think I've hit a wall with this approach.
I haven't looked into the plug-in yet, Mike. I wanted to exhaust any native options first.
Nick
Image-1
Image-2
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7. Re: Is it possible to keep an InDesign text box transparent unless it has content in it?
Would you be willing to share your sample ID file and the sample data file to go with it? If so, upload them as a zip file to dropbox.com or the like and either put a download link here in the forum or send me a private message with the link.
Mike
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8. Re: Is it possible to keep an InDesign text box transparent unless it has content in it?
If that frame is not threaded I bet the rule will disappear if you remove blank lines (though you might have to remove the field marker too). You can try using the built-in method during the merge, or if that does not work, see the comments from Uwe Laubender and myself at Getting Rid of Empty Lines in a Data Merge | InDesignSecrets
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9. Re: Is it possible to keep an InDesign text box transparent unless it has content in it?
Yes, in part. We PM'd last night and I sent a screen shot of my result. I haven't heard back whether the result was proper or not.
A find for both of the merge markers:
<FEFF><FEFF>
and a replace of nothing but changing the paragraph style to the style without the rule in the sample should work.
Mike
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10. Re: Is it possible to keep an InDesign text box transparent unless it has content in it?
I was writing using my tablet before. Here's a couple screen shots. This of course presumes the results are correct...
After the merge, running this F/C...
Results in the merged file looking like...
Mike
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11. Re: Is it possible to keep an InDesign text box transparent unless it has content in it?
I can't tell from the screen cap of the pages what's going on...
It occurs to me that if you're going to be using Find/Change to do this, you don't have to delete the paragraph or even remove the field markers.
Do a GREP search for ^\x{FEFF}+$ change to $0 and just change the formatting to remove the rule
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12. Re: Is it possible to keep an InDesign text box transparent unless it has content in it?
Mike - The Find/Change did what I needed it to. I think I'm all set, though I'm not clear on what <FEFF><FEFF> exactly is, and Google isn't being super helpful. I'm guessing that they're tags indicating the beginning and end of a string (in this case, one with no content).
Peter - the screen cap shows that the Find/Change has removed the instances of styling that previously were causing the white spreads to be covered with the black paragraph rule shown in the black spreads.
I tried a GREP search by cutting and pasting what you wrote above, but it returned zero results, though "command-line stuff" like that is on the far edge of my skill set, so I may have done something wrong.
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13. Re: Is it possible to keep an InDesign text box transparent unless it has content in it?
Hmmm. Doesn't work for me either, and now I seem to remember something about this being an anomaly and you can't find the markers in GREP which is why Uwe used a plain text search. That makes it a lot harder and it's back to Mike's solution.
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14. Re: Is it possible to keep an InDesign text box transparent unless it has content in it?
Yes, those are the codes for the merge markers that are left following a merge. As mentioned, Uwe did a great script last year or so for resolving another user's merge challenge.
Mike
