Re: UNC Paths in InDesign on a Mac

[Caleb Clauset]

UNC paths are Windows-specific. And the browse dialog for OS X doesn't provide a user-editable path field like you've seen on Windows. But since you said your DAM is browser (http) based, then I'd recommend avoiding copy-paste as a user interaction and instead look at developing or OEM-licensing a direct http linking solution like Silicon Publishing's Silicon Connector. You should also look at the InDesign Developer Center in the Adobe Developer Connection.

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Caleb Clauset  \  

Typefi Systems Pty Ltd

Vice President  \  Product Management

+1 215-586-4020  \  

ccla...@typefi.com

[William Adams]

On Dec 5, 2012, at 7:38 AM, Caleb Clauset wrote:

> UNC paths are Windows-specific. And the browse dialog for OS X doesn't provide a user-editable path field like you've seen on Windows.

Yeah, that's one of the things which I miss from NeXTstep --- used to be one could type in an entire path (using auto-completion) and get where one wished to be quite quickly.

William

--
William Adams
senior graphic designer
Fry Communications
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.

[Dennis Mc]

Hello and thanks for the reply.

I have looked at the Silicon Connector and I can see that it does indeed have paths like http://www.somesite.com/images/123456.jpg however that relies on the person knowing where to go and find the image. My system will be holding many thousands of images and each designer would not know where to find them, my system will provide search facilities to allow the designers to find images they want to use in their designs, the idea then was that my system would display the full path to a chosen image, the user would then copy/paste this path to have the image appear in their design.

Sorry if I have misunderstood, I will contact Silicon Publishing to try and progress this further.

Dennis

[William Adams]

(re-sending 'cause pasted in XML seems to've blocked the sending)

Why not construct a ``snippet'' which contains the link to the image and have the user drag / drop that?

Looks like all you need is:

Header
Document
Spread
Rectangle (if you don't parse the graphic for size and include that you get a really small image when you click and you have to hit <Command><option>c
Image

This works (and probably can be edited down further):

[Dennis Mc]

Thanks for that.

I am not aware of snippets.

Are you saying I could create a snippet in my web page, that the user could drag to InDesign?

So I would produce the XML dymanically dependant on the image chosen to create the snippet, then the user could drag this image into InDesign ?

If I have understood correctly then this sounds like a solution, thanks.

I will go and investigate snippets.

Dennis

[Dennis Mc]

UPDATE

As I said I am not a Mac user, but I have come across this,

"At any Finder window (or a Open/Save File dialog) you can simply use CMD + SHIFT + G and it will show a pop-up where you can type the address you desire"

I wonder if any Mac users can tell me if this would work in InDesign?

Many thanks, Dennis

-------------------------------------------------------

[William Adams]

On Dec 5, 2012, at 9:45 AM, Dennis Mc wrote:

> Are you saying I could create a snippet in my web page, that the user could drag to InDesign?

You would create a snippet on the server, the user's web browser would download it, then they would be able to drag the local snippet to their InDesign document to get the file link.

Do WebDAV servers not support links &c.? couldn't you just put all the graphics on a WebDAV server, make a folder of links each user needs and let the user interact w/ that directly?

William

[William Adams]

On Dec 5, 2012, at 10:00 AM, Dennis Mc wrote:

> As I said I am not a Mac user, but I have come across this,
>
> "At any Finder window (or a Open/Save File dialog) you can simply use CMD + SHIFT + G and it will show a pop-up where you can type the address you desire"
>
> I wonder if any Mac users can tell me if this would work in InDesign?

Yes, it does, it pops down a sheet labelled ``Go to Folder'' --- my problem w/ it is it lacks the dynamic auto-complete which NeXTstep had.

[KBL Graphics]

Hey, I know this is off topic, but I'm struggling to find a JDF user group?

Can one of you point me in the right direction?

Thanks!  Ken

[Bret Perry]

You can use command-shift-g and paste a url. 

If you do that from a command-d  "place image" dialog, it will place the graphic (and show you a preview IF you have your "open" dialog in column view (command-3)

On a Mac the format is:

/Volumes/YOURVOLUMENAME/ ART/FINAL ART//RFL-NTP 85x11.jpg

(no quotes around pasted link)

The prefix "/Volumes/" is needed when accessing a volume which is not the user's startup disk. 

(there is no // nor \\ on Mac to indicate the volume,  /Volumes/ is used before the volume name instead)

If you have access to a Mac and can click and DRAG your image file from it's location TO a command-shift-g Go to Folder dialog, the correct URL will fill in.

But a more Mac-like way would be to use javascript or applescript to place the image directly on  the cursor (load cursor with image), or place it directly in a selected frame.

That would be fairly easy for an InDesign srcipter.

From: Dennis Mc <dennis.m...@gmail.com>
Reply-To: "indesi...@googlegroups.com" <indesi...@googlegroups.com>
Date: Wednesday, December 5, 2012 4:26 AM
To: "indesi...@googlegroups.com" <indesi...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [ID] UNC Paths in InDesign on a Mac

Hello All,

Sorry if this gets posted twice, I posted it once and it seemed to disappear?

I have a question about InDesign on a Mac (Please note I am not a Mac user so could be missing something simple?)

I am a software developer and I am developing an image management system for a company who uses both PCs and Macs, my system will run on a windows server, it will be browser based and accessed via a browser, so Windows and Mac users will be able to operate it.

There is a requirement for my system to provide a link to an image that the user can copy/paste into InDesign, this link would be something like \\imageserver\foldername1\foldername2\12345.jpg

I am not sure if the slashes need to go the other way on a Mac //imageserver/foldername1/foldername2/12345.jpg but that is not a problem as I am creating the link dynamically in my system.

I was at the clients premises yesterday and could not find a way to paste such a link into InDesign to retrieve an image, is this possible? When the user showed me where they would select images they were presented with a dialog box which enabled them to navigate the network, but there was no area to paste in a UNC path to an image.

Regards, Dennis

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[steve harley]

On Wed, Dec 5, 2012 at 8:07 AM, William Adams <will....@frycomm.com> wrote:
> Yes, it does, it pops down a sheet labelled ``Go to Folder'' --- my problem w/ it is it lacks the dynamic auto-complete which NeXTstep had.

it has dynamic auto-complete — try typing /Vol<tab>

[William Adams]

On Dec 5, 2012, at 8:24 AM, Dennis Mc wrote:

> I have looked at the Silicon Connector and I can see that it does indeed have paths like http://www.somesite.com/images/123456.jpg however that relies on the person knowing where to go and find the image. My system will be holding many thousands of images and each designer would not know where to find them, my system will provide search facilities to allow the designers to find images they want to use in their designs, the idea then was that my system would display the full path to a chosen image, the user would then copy/paste this path to have the image appear in their design.
>
> Sorry if I have misunderstood, I will contact Silicon Publishing to try and progress this further.

Why not construct a ``snippet'' which contains the link to the image and have the user drag / drop that?

Looks like all you need is:

Header
Document
Spread
Rectangle (if you don't parse the graphic for size and include that you get a really small image when you click and you have to hit <Command><option>c
Image

This works (and probably can be edited down further):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<?aid style="50" type="snippet" readerVersion="6.0" featureSet="257" product="7.5(142)" ?>
<?aid SnippetType="PageItem"?>
<Document DOMVersion="7.5" Self="d">
<Spread Self="uba">
<Rectangle Self="uf7" ContentType="GraphicType" StoryTitle="$ID/" GradientFillStart="0 0" GradientFillLength="0" GradientFillAngle="0" GradientStrokeStart="0 0" GradientStrokeLength="0" GradientStrokeAngle="0" ItemLayer="ub7" Locked="false" LocalDisplaySetting="Default" GradientFillHiliteLength="0" GradientFillHiliteAngle="0" GradientStrokeHiliteLength="0" GradientStrokeHiliteAngle="0" AppliedObjectStyle="ObjectStyle/$ID/[None]" Visible="true" Name="$ID/" ItemTransform="1 0 0 1 362.54158878504677 -0.0009345794391606432">
<Image Self="uf8" Space="$ID/#Links_CMYK" ActualPpi="300 300" EffectivePpi="136 136" ImageRenderingIntent="UseColorSettings" LocalDisplaySetting="Default" ImageTypeName="$ID/TIFF" AppliedObjectStyle="ObjectStyle/$ID/[None]" ItemTransform="2.2075055187637966 0 0 2.2075055187637966 -119.99999999999999 -73.90728476821191" GradientFillStart="0 0" GradientFillLength="0" GradientFillAngle="0" GradientFillHiliteLength="0" GradientFillHiliteAngle="0" Visible="true" Name="$ID/">
<Link Self="ufc" AssetURL="$ID/" AssetID="$ID/" LinkResourceURI="file:/Volumes/FIS/Customer/AGS%20Misc/GRS8/Links/grs6Figure20_2.tif" LinkResourceFormat="$ID/TIFF" StoredState="Normal" LinkClassID="35906" LinkClientID="257" LinkResourceModified="false" LinkObjectModified="false" ShowInUI="true" CanEmbed="true" CanUnembed="true" CanPackage="true" ImportPolicy="NoAutoImport" ExportPolicy="NoAutoExport" LinkImportStamp="file 127504980000000000 514704" LinkImportModificationTime="2005-01-18T00:00:00" LinkImportTime="2012-11-21T05:17:41" LinkResourceSize="0~7da90"/>
<ClippingPathSettings ClippingType="None" InvertPath="false" IncludeInsideEdges="false" RestrictToFrame="false" UseHighResolutionImage="true" Threshold="25" Tolerance="2" InsetFrame="0" AppliedPathName="$ID/" Index="-1"/>
<ImageIOPreference ApplyPhotoshopClippingPath="true" AllowAutoEmbedding="true" AlphaChannelName="$ID/"/>
</Image>
</Rectangle>
</Spread>
</Document>

[steve harley]

On Wed, Dec 5, 2012 at 8:00 AM, Dennis Mc <dennis.m...@gmail.com> wrote:
> "At any Finder window (or a Open/Save File dialog) you can simply use CMD +
> SHIFT + G and it will show a pop-up where you can type the address you
> desire"
>
> I wonder if any Mac users can tell me if this would work in InDesign?

it would work; however (at least with InDesign CS6 on OS X 10.7) the
paste command (cmd-v) is for some reason not available from the
keyboard, the Edit > Paste menu must be used instead

i think the snippet approach sounds smoothest, as it is
cross-platform, but if you are committed to providing a path how about
using a contextual menu (right click) to trigger a script when you
select the path text in the browser? the following is an example of
how that would work; you'd need to start by using Automator to create
a new Service workflow, set "Service receives <text> in <any
application>", and add a Run AppleScript action; replace the action
body with the following:

on run {input, parameters}
set f to (POSIX file input) as text

tell application "Adobe InDesign CS6"
tell place gun 1 of front document
load place gun {alias f} without showing options
end tell
end tell
end run

note that this is a proof of concept, as in "works for me"; it takes
an unescaped POSIX path as input, not an HFS path nor a URI; the
finished script should check for preconditions and errors; a
disadvantage of this approach is that the service would need to be
installed on users machines (installation is as easy as downloading
the file and double-clicking it)

[Roy McCoy]

steve harley wrote:

> (at least with InDesign CS6 on OS X 10.7) the
> paste command (cmd-v) is for some reason not available from
> the keyboard, the Edit > Paste menu must be used instead

But you could still assign cmd-v to a QuicKeys shortcut
that chose the Edit > Paste menu item, right? That might
make ordinary pastes a little slower, though, which would
be a drawback.


Roy

[Thomas Olbrich]

InDesign appears to handle paths in two syntaxes, "/" vs. ":" (which, for instance becomes relevant/disturbing with In Designs datamerge feature).

a.)   /Volumes/Daten 3/Downloads/image.tiff

b.)  Daten 3:Downloads:image.tiff

a.) & b.), shown as options in InDesigns link palette:

1.) Here's a script (2009) to convert Mac to Win paths:

http://erik.arvedson.se/2009/04/converting-windows-paths-to-mac-paths.html

2. Attached is an updated (2012), including .scpt and .workflow files:

a. _ scpt

b. _ workflow

i hope it does inform besides my germish sparkling,

- thomas

[Bret Perry]

Yes, but do't blame InDesign, that is the Mac OS.

Under the hood, ALL paths are forward slash "/" (\ folder delimiter for UNIX paths)

In the interface, OS most often shows "Mac classic" paths, colon  ":" (: folder delimiter for Mac paths)

Windows uses forward slash "/" for folders and two "//" for disks/volumes.

Thanks for the scripts, the App version is too old for Lion. :-)

From: Thomas Olbrich <t.ol...@t-online.de>
Reply-To: "indesi...@googlegroups.com" <indesi...@googlegroups.com>

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[William Adams]

On Dec 5, 2012, at 1:55 PM, steve harley wrote:

> it has dynamic auto-complete — try typing /Vol<tab>

I have keyboard menu options enabled so that <tab> takes me to the next control --- if I didn't drag-drop into dialog boxes, or use the sidebar, I'd probably change that --- glad to hear the old behaviour is still there though.

[Thomas Olbrich]

To be honest: I haven't used data merge for years. Last time in 2010 I had this experience:

Am 08.01.10 18:44 schrieb "Thomas Olbrich" unter <t.ol...@osk.de>:

After some more trial&error I could solve it now. The issue was the correct

typing of the path, even more tricky with a misunderstandable hint in the

Indesign help (which guides to the InDesign path via the link pane). The

solution:

Different to InDesigns path view in the link palette, on Mac OSX datamerge

needs the path be written with : instead of /

Furthermore the path must not include any "localhost" or "volumes" or

"users" at the beginning but needs to start with the volume/partition name.

Weird: it appers to have been different in CS3. In a video tutorial both

path beginn with "users" and use of / (not : ) seemed to work. I wonder why

this : glyph is needed in CS4 on Mac, especially cause the Mac usually does

use / but not :

About the scripts I sent yesterday:

You need to adjust both the script and the workflow file to make them work in your surrounding: The volume letters need to be set within the scripts and 'translated' for mac, for instance "W" will become "WindowsVolume" etc.  (There was no App version sent, just .scpt and .workflow.)

Does it work when you made these changes?

- thomas

[Thomas Olbrich]

Besides previous answers and because InDesign in particular: 

1.)  InDesign handles path syntax different to OS X. 

This disturbes for instance InDesigns datamerge feature, which appears not to agree with the OS X syntax. So, InDesigns link palette mentions/provides two paths either using "/" or ":". For instance:

a.  /Volumes/Daten 3/Downloads ot/image.tiff

b.) Daten 3:Downloads ot:image.tiff

whereas below in in InDesign's links palette a) is according to 3rd and b) to 4th line:

2.)  Path convertion via script or contextual menu on a Mac:

Here's an Apple script (2009) which converts win/mac paths:

http://erik.arvedson.se/2009/04/converting-windows-paths-to-mac-paths.html

2012: In the attached .zip you find an updated version of this script (.scpt) and a context menu file (.workflow – to be used from finder with control-click > pulldown menu > ...)

_ a.)  .scpt:

_ b.)  .workflow:

- thomas

(please fix my english)

Von: Dennis Mc <dennis.m...@gmail.com>
Antworten an: InDesign Talk - Google <indesi...@googlegroups.com>
Datum: Mittwoch, 5. Dezember 2012 13:26
An: InDesign Talk - Google <indesi...@googlegroups.com>
Betreff: [ID] UNC Paths in InDesign on a Mac

Hello All,

Sorry if this gets posted twice, I posted it once and it seemed to disappear?

I have a question about InDesign on a Mac (Please note I am not a Mac user so could be missing something simple?)

I am a software developer and I am developing an image management system for a company who uses both PCs and Macs, my system will run on a windows server, it will be browser based and accessed via a browser, so Windows and Mac users will be able to operate it.

There is a requirement for my system to provide a link to an image that the user can copy/paste into InDesign, this link would be something like \\imageserver\foldername1\foldername2\12345.jpg

I am not sure if the slashes need to go the other way on a Mac //imageserver/foldername1/foldername2/12345.jpg but that is not a problem as I am creating the link dynamically in my system.

I was at the clients premises yesterday and could not find a way to paste such a link into InDesign to retrieve an image, is this possible? When the user showed me where they would select images they were presented with a dialog box which enabled them to navigate the network, but there was no area to paste in a UNC path to an image.

Regards, Dennis

--