The DMP FLO Suite contains a lot of different ways to approach database publishing and web2print solutions. Rather than focus on a single approach (such as using InDesign Server), we followed a development path where multiple options exist. This way, the chance that you can't meet your end customer's specific needs is greatly reduced.
Scope
The current article only handles the database publishing options with print or PDF output. HTML, mailings, PURL creation, Flash movies and other output options are not discussed. But even within that scope, a lot of options exist. To make it easier on ourselves, we'll split these up into 2 types: output with a fixed number of pages, and output with a variable amount of pages.
Fixed number of pages
Clasically speaking, these are the simple documents to make. This ranges from simple business cards to complex product flyers. There are a number of options for this in the FLO Suite, and each of them can be embedded into any web2print solution or database publishing workflow.
First of all, there are InDesign templates, filled in by InDesign Server. You take a simple document, add tags to it (using our InDesign plug-in to make things even easier) and upload it to the server. The result is a ready-to-use template.
But because there are some disadvantages to InDesign, we also created our own templating system, based on PDF. Create a background in InDesign, upload it as a PDF to the digital asset management system, and configure variables on top of it in our web interface. The result is a template that runs almost without any delay. This is important especially when amounts are rising (e.g.: thousands of posters in a single run).
Both of these options can be either very simple or highly sophisticated. They come with tons of configuration options that you can can use to create an enormous range of variable printing documents. Copyfitting of texts (and even images), strike-throughs of old prices, conditional content, and so on. On top of this, we even expose the possibility to execute VB.NET scripts (which you can be writen by yourself or by an integrator) for the real exceptions.
Finally, a type of template even exists which consists of nothing but a script. If there is a logic to a document which is only applicable to this one customer, we don't want to ruin our templating system by making it configurable. But we also don't want you to have to say no to your customer!
Variable amount of pages
Slightly different in approach are documents with a variable number of pages. This can be anything like university prospectus documents, product catalogs, technical documentation, contracts, and so on. Where applicable, this type of document is composed of templates of the first type, to make things easier on the prepress department.
A first option in the database publishing workflow might be to simply merge existing PDF files (or files that were created from simpler templates). Merging in any way or order is an easy thing in the FLO Suite, and can also be included in a web2print interface.
While merging files automatically implies a certain logic, the next option does not require this. Our composition tools allow end users to drag and drop PDF files or products onto a brochure in their browser. The output can be an InDesign package (created with InDesign Server), or a print ready PDF file.
When we get to catalogs of hundreds or even thousands of pages, our customers often create interfaces on top of this for specific uses. Each catalog is different, but with a minimum of scripting, the end user gets the interface and options specifically for his uses. This way, product catalogs can be created (using smaller templates for the more complex lay-out) in a matter of seconds.