Integrate publishing workflows and editorial systems with DPS

Prerequisite knowledge

• Familiarity with C++ development and scripting, and familiarity with Adobe SDK’s (software development kits).
• User level: Solution vendors and 3^rd party developers.

Required Adobe products

• Digital Publishing Suite, Enterprise Edition
• Adobe InDesign Bundler SDK, and access to the Folio Producer API documentation at the Adobe Partners website. (Available on Adobe Technology Partner Portal after you are set up as an Adobe Technology Solution Partner)
• InDesign Server runtime and InDesign Server SDK. See:
  • InDesign Server
  • InDesign Buying Guide
  • InDesign SDK
• Adobe Technology Solution partner membership. Ask your Adobe representative for guidance or contact Technology Partner Helpdesk [email protected]

Sample files:

Sample files and documentation available from the Adobe Technology Partner Portal. (You must be set up as an Adobe Technology Solution Partner to have access to the required SDKs and APIs.)

For many publishers today, tablet publishing is not yet not fully integrated in the day-to-day editorial workflow. The digital department is sometimes an “isolated island” inside the organization. There are several reasons for this: it might require a special skill set to work with interactive overlays, app creation using Adobe Viewer Builder, and application account administration. But many times, the tablet publishing team is isolated because the DPS workflow is not yet fully integrated in the publishing workflow or editorial system. Adobe provide several technologies, SDKs (Software Development Kits) and APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) to facilitate such deep workflow integration.

Using technologies such as the Adobe’s InDesign Bundler Plug-in SDK, InDesign Server and the Third Party API to the Folio Producer, Solution vendors and 3^rd party developers can utilize these technologies to integrate Digital Publishing Suite with existing publisher workflowsystems and provide centralized and automated folio creation using InDesign Server. This article provides an overview of integration options and techniques.

The Adobe Digital Content Bundler is part of the Adobe digital content publishing workflow. It converts InDesign files and assets into a folio file that can be uploaded for viewing on a mobile device such as an iPad.

The Adobe InDesign Bundler Plug-in SDK consists of the Adobe InDesign Bundler Plug-in and C++ and scripting APIs. The plug-in is an InDesign plug-in that is used by the Bundler to interact with InDesign. The SDK helps third-party developers to integrate the bundling functionality into their own workflow.

You may use this SDK only in a manner consistent with the included License Agreement.

Getting Started

Adobe Technology Solution partner membership is required. Ask your Adobe representative for guidance or contact Technology Partner Helpdesk.

SDK Structure

The <Bundler SDK> folder contains the following directories:

• api/ - C++ header files
• binaries/ - Digital Publishing InDesign Plug-in (debug and release builds)
• docs/ - Documentation
• examplefiles/ - InDesign documents to use as test input for C++ code snippets and sample extension
• legalnotices/ - End User License Agreement
• libs/ - CSAW library for InDesign extension development
• samples/ - Sample Flash-based extension
• scripting/ - Sample scripts
• source/ - C++ code snippets

Installing the Plug-in

To use the Bundler APIs, you need to install the Adobe InDesign Bundler Plug-in into InDesign's Plug-Ins folder if it is not already there.

On Windows, the plug-in consists of an .apln file named DigitalPublishing.apln and a resource folder named (Digital Publishing Resources).

On Macintosh, the plug-in is an .InDesignPlugin bundle named Digital Publishing.InDesignPlugin.

Overview and Concepts

This SDK supplements Adobe InDesign Server, which leverages the design, layout, and typographical capabilities of Adobe InDesign to enable you to programmatically create engaging automated documents. The plug-in is used to assemble the layouts and interactive metadata into a .folio format that can be uploaded for viewing on mobile devices.

Each .folio file consists of one or more stacks. A stack can be an ad or an article. Each stack appears in its own folder inside a folio folder. A stack folder requires either one or two InDesign documents (one for horizontal display and one for vertical display), and it can also include a .png file to use as the article's thumbnail in the table of contents.

Each mini-folio file consists of only one stack. This is used for the Multiple Files option. The Multiple Files option is required for folio files that are intended to be exported to a server. When you export multiple files, a main .folio file is created and .folio files are created for each stack, making it easy to update and manage the stacks.

When you bundle the documents, the non-interactive page items are flattened into a single image file, and interactive items appear on top of the flattened image as overlays. For details about interactive overlays, see Overview of interactive overlays and Digital Publishing Suite hands-on tutorial.

The Folio Producer APIs make is possible for editorial and workflow solution vendors to programmatically interact with Adobe hosted services such as the Folio Producer.

Getting started

Access to the Folio Produce APIs are restricted and you need to apply for an Adobe Technology Solution partner membership and specially request access to these APIs. Ask your Adobe representative for guidance or contact Technology Partner Helpdesk.

Before Adobe grants you access to the Folio Producer API documentation, we will send you a questionnaire that you return to us.

If you planning to integrate with the Folio Producer API you will need to estimate expected load and you will need to provide the following type of information:

1. Initial integration testing date
2. Initial launch target date
3. Key customer launch dates (including customer + publication name)
4. Quarterly projections for the following:
   • i. number of of new publishers
   • ii. number of of new accounts (publication, application, creative)
   • iii. number of of new daily publications
   • iv. number of of new weekly publications
   • v. number of of new month publications
   • vi. number of of new entitlement integrations

Before any calls can be invoked, a provisioned user must authenticate him or herself using an API key.

How to obtain an API key: Please contact our product support team or our developer support team.

Using the API

This Folio Producer API is an extension to WSAPI2 and will give you programmatic control to Adobe’s hosted digital publishing suite services, including:

• Create Issue
• Create Session
• Delete Article
• Delete Issue
• Delete Preview Images
• Download Preview Image
• Get Issues
• Get Articles
• Get Issue Info
• Update Issue
• Upload Article
• Upload Preview Image

To get access to these APIs and to get initial guidance or help, please contact our developer support team or your Adobe DPS Partner contact person.