Using Asset Catalog with AEM Commerce and InDesign Server using-asset-catalog-with-aem-commerce-and-indesign-server

AEM 6.4 Catalog enhancement provides the capability to create catalog pages using AEM Asset Templates and InDesign Server. A user can create a catalog page using the InDesign template and map product properties to editable fields, which can be later used to create similar pages for different products.

Transcript
Hey everyone. In this video we’re going to be discussing about how AEM Asset users can easily create product catalogs, with the help of AEM Asset templates and product details stored within AEM Commerce. Before we get started, we need to make sure we have our InDesign server up and running. How to download and set up your InDesign Server, could be found along with this video. Also we need to make sure, that the AEM Cloud Proxy server is setup the same port number as your InDesign Server for successful integration. Let me begin with how to create a template within Adobe InDesign and how to tag the content we would like to edit within AEM. I have an InDesign file where I have identified and tagged some of the text and images within the InDesign file. You can view the existing tags under Window, Utilities and Tags. Let’s select text or a paragraph from oor InDesign file and we can convert it into a tag. Provide a name for your tag and save your changes. Tagging content within InDesign files by creative users, makes the content eligible for content authors within AEM. Content authors otherwise need to reach out to the creative users to make changes to a design. Let’s quickly check out some of the tags that we have created here, before we upload our InDesign template to AEM Assets. Make sure, your InDesign servers is up and running. From your AEM homepage, navigate to Assets and click on Templates. Click on the Create button and upload your InDesign file. When you’re InDesign file is being uploaded and processed, you should be able to notice scripts that get executed by the InDesign server, to process the InDesign file and then create different renditions. Once the processing is complete, your template is ready to be used for catalog creation. From your AEM homepage, navigate to Assets and then choose Catalogs. Click on the Create button to create a new catalog. Optionally, you can provide a thumbnail for your catalog. Provide a name and description. After creating your catalog, open to add pages. Click on the create button and then select New Page. Navigate within the template folder to find our InDesign file, which we uploaded in the previous step. Select the InDesign file and then click Next to continue. Provide a name for your catalog page and then click Create. Open the page to edit it. You can notice our first catalog page open in the edit mode. Towards the left side of the screen, you can notice a product Pathfinder and product Properties, also has the text properties added option. In the center screen, you can notice the catalog page and its default content provide with the InDesign file. On the right side, you can notice the tags that we added to the InDesign file that are listed as editable text fields or editable fields. Content that maps the editable fields within page can be modified and customized by content authors. As a content author, I would like to create a catalog for We.RetailSummer biking camp with the list of new biking products and its details. Let’s select one of the biking product, which we have stored under our AEM Commerce and use it to create our first catalog page. Under We.Retail, Equipments and Running, let’s select the biking shoes and then click Continue. On the left side, you should be able to notice properties associated with the biking shoes displayed.
Each property provides information about the property type, property name and its value stored. Let’s edit the page and map our product properties to the editable fields. Drag drop the image from the left properties listing onto the editable image field. Similarly, let’s map the Title, Description, Summary, Price, Color and size.
Once you’re done with all the changes, click on the Preview option. You should be able to review your changes and make further edits, if required. Let’s select the Summary editable text field and you can notice the selector switched from product properties to text properties on the left hand side. Text editor provides option to select your desired font, size, color and provides other rich text editing options. Once you have finalized your textiles, click on the Preview option and save your changes. We have successfully created first page for our summer biking catalog, using Asset template and InDesign Server. Let’s create catalog pages for other biking products. Going through the entire step again for every product to create a catalog page, could be cumbersome. Select the page, you have created for mountain biking shoes and from the top toolbar, click on the Create Similar Pages option. You can select all the products for which you would like to create a catalog page and then click on Create button. You can notice that the product catalog page is created for each product, with just fewer clicks and steps. It saves time for content authors and no longer need to manually create catalog pages for each product. Click on the Create button and select Merge option to combine all the catalog pages into a single PDF or InDesign file. You also have an option to Preview and Rearrange the page layout. Once we have decided the layout, let’s move the next step, where we can configure the catalog properties. By default, the export file type is InDesign, but you also have an option to export the file into a PDF. Save your changes. Now, we have successfully created a summer biking catalog for We.Retail. Let’s also check out how changing product properties affect the existing catalog pages. From the AEM homepage, let’s navigate to Commerce and Open products. Navigate to find our mountain biking shoe product, which is used for one of our catalog pages. Let’s select a product and open to view its properties. Let’s edit the product description and save your changes. Now, we have updated our product details and this product is also being used in our product catalog. Note that, description is one of the editable templates fields, that we added using InDesign and we’ve mapped a product property to this editable field. So let’s go back to our catalog folder and open to see, if the change we made is reflected. You can notice that, one of the pages is marked as steel, which means, the current catalog page does not have the latest update or product details. Let’s quickly select the page and click on Update Page. This process would fetch new product details and update the existing catalog page. You can also download the catalog you have created along with its renditions, by simply selecting the catalog and then click Download from the toolbar. Make sure to select the renditions for PDF rendition. Open the saved file and extract it. Open the PDF and you can view the catalog that is ready to be used for marketing purposes. AEM further improves the catalog UI by giving content authors, the ability to easily update catalog pages. Asset catalogs UI enhancement introduce in AEM 6.4, helps content authors to easily create, edit and manage catalogs with AEM with less dependency on creative users.
NOTE
Your InDesign server should be running before uploading .indd files to AEM Assets.
  • Creative users can tag content with an InDesign file. InDesign file with tagged content, when uploaded to AEM Assets, would be identified as Editable Fields.
  • A user can create a Catalog page using a .indd file. Tagged content within the .indd file would be available as Editable fields, thereby giving content authors the ability to modify content for these fields.
  • Product properties can be mapped to Editable Fields provided their field type matches.
  • Catalog pages for similar products can be easily created.
  • Ability to merge different catalog pages into a single PDF or .indd file
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