Meadows Support

Meadows Product FAQs

Q. I am running DesignMerge or AutoPrice on Windows, and I am seeing extra garbage/high-ASCII/special characters in the setup windows or the populated placeholders in the document after I update. Any ideas why this is happening?

A. DesignMerge and AutoPrice both support plain-ASCII text file databases. If you open your database file into a text editor and attempt to save another copy of it, you should see some format options. You want to save it with a format of ANSI (or ASCII), rather than UTF-8 (Unicode) or any other option.

Q. Does DesignMerge or AutoPrice support Unicode database files?

A. Not at this time. Our approach to Unicode has been discussed, but no changes have occured to the released software at this time.

Q. "Database contains records greater than 200 fields"!? What is this error message?

A. This is a common error message from AutoPrice or DesignMerge when the File Origin Setting in the Database Definition is set as Mac/PC-MSDOS/Unix and the text file that you are using changes to one of the other settings.

So, if you had setup the DDF to use File Origin: PC-MSDOS and someone had resaved your text database file on a Macintosh before giving it to you for updating or merging, this error could occur.

Edit your DDF and try different File Origin settings until this error stops occuring. Or question the provider of the file as to why its format is different this time then when you originally setup the Database Definition.

Q. My InDesign is crashing, any idea why?

A. In the folder /Users/[account]/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/ there should be a InDesign CS.crash.log. That file is probably large. Delete that file, and then open InDesign and repeat the crash again. The crash log file will now have information in it specific to that last application crash, and may contain the name of the plugin that caused the crash.

Q. Does DesignMerge, Batch Print, et cetera work with the Quark Vista XT?

A. What the Vista XT does is allow for the placement of image files within QuarkXPress, and then to have filters applied to the images *within QuarkXPress*. The original images are left intact in their disk files. This means that when you spool the document, when it finds an image that is using Vista and has a filter applied to it, that it must apply that filter to the data before sending it on to the print spooler. That could really, really increase processing time. But it does not seem to do anything if images are not using Vista.

Q. Does AutoPrice work with layers in QuarkXPress and InDesign?

A. In InDesign CS/CS2 and QuarkPress 6.5 AutoPrice will recognize placeholders that exist on layers in the document. The only application that layers are not supported in is QuarkXPress 5.01 on both Macintosh and Windows.

Q. How do I set permissions for AutoPrice components?

A. Because AutoPrice needs to be able to read and write to files in order to function, you should check the permissions on the AutoPrice components in these locations.

/XTension/MPS AutoPrice.xnt /XTension/Meadows/AutoPrice/[all files] /Users/[account]/Library/Preferences/Quark/QuarkXPress 6.0/MPS AutoPrice.prf /Users/[account]/Library/Preferences/Quark/QuarkXPress 6.0/MPS AutoPrice.ser

You do this by selecting the file or folder or group of files and doing a Get Info command in the Finder. Disclose the Ownership & Permissions tab on the Get Info window. Disclose the details. For simplicity, make sure that the account running QuarkXPress owns the item, and make all Access Read/Write for each of the user settings.

Q. AutoPrice has a function called the Table-Tagger. Does AutoPrice support tables in QuarkXPress and InDesign?

A. When AutoPrice was first released there were no tables in QuarkXPress other than regular lines of text with tab breaks for the columns. The Quark Table Tool was a feature that came later in the application. AutoPrice can *not* tag cells in a Quark table using the Table-Tagger.

The Table-Tagger will only tag columns in selected ranges of text within a single text box. The Table-Tagger uses the tab breaks in a line to determine the column positions, where the Search Key Value is, and where the placeholders will be assigned.

Tables are fully supported in InDesign CS/CS2. The Table-Tagger functionality will work with formatted InDesign tables, and regular lines of text with tab breaks for the columns.

Q. I have documents formatted for update with AutoPrice, but I want to be able to make manual changes to some of the placeholders, but I want to keep those changes when I update the documents. Alternately, I want to update only my prices that are tagged, but not my tagged descriptions. What do you suggest?

A. a) You can lock an individual placeholder by selecting the placeholder, clicking the padlock icon on the floating palette and hitting the Replace button. If you do not Replace (Reassign) the changes to the placeholder then it will not show as locked. At this point, the placeholder should show up as being red in colour.

b) Lock the Extraction Record by editing the Database Definition so that the padlock icon on the Extraction Record that needs to be locked is checked. Hit the Update button and that saves changes there. If you do it this way, the placholders themselves do not change color, that only happens if you lock the individual placeholder.

Q. How can I make DesignMerge customize the name of the output files that it is generating? The Names section of the Preferences seems very limited, and I thought there would be more options?

A. DesignMerge can use a Name Box to name the output files at the time you do a merge. This is detailed on page 21 of the Postscript Driver.pdf document found within the release folders /DesignMerge v6.0x/DesignMerge Documentation/Other DesignMerge Manuals/Postscript Driver.pdf on the disk or in the download archive that you received from us.

This allows you to setup a link in a text box on the pasteboard that DesignMerge will take the output filename from. By populating this name box link with the contents of a field or the result of a rule calculation, you can customize the names of the output file to your satisfaction.

Q. I am running AutoPrice for Windows QuarkXPress 4/5 and I need for other Quark users who do not have AutoPrice to be able to open my documents without an error message showing?

A. You can forward this link to your printer. This is the Tag Display XTension for Windows QuarkXPress. This will unzip to a .xnt file that should be placed in the XTension folder, with the folder that contains the QuarkXPress application.

http://www.meadowsps.com/downloads/autoprice/aptagdisplaywin.zip

Q. I am using AutoPrice or DesignMerge, and I am getting double-quote or single-quote marks on the placeholders in the document after an update or a merge? Am I doing something wrong?

A. These are called text qualifiers, and are used by some database applications to enclose the field data. For instance if there is a tab character in a field, and the file is tab-delimited, the use of text qualifiers allows the software to distinguish between the field data and the delimiters.

Goto AutoPrice/DesignMerge => Setup => Database Definitions and choose your DDF. Then click Edit. On the Edit window, there will be a Text Qualifier setting. Set this to be the type of quote you are seeing in the updated or merged document.

Q. DesignMerge is giving me an EOF! error during a merge. What does that mean?

A. This usually means that DesignMerge wanted to grab more records, but there were no more in the database file.

For example, you might have a four-up postcard document. One-sided, for simplicity. You would sequence these on the page in groups. So for each card on the page, the links on that card would be sequenced. The first card's links would be sequenced to 1, second to 2, et cetera.

In that instance, DesignMerge would grab records in groups of four to populate the document. If there were only 15 records in the database, DesignMerge would give an EOF! warning, as all of the records needed (16) would not be present.

You can uncheck the Display EOF preference under DesignMerge => Preferences, which will stop that error from displaying. Alternately, you can insert return blank lines in the database text file in order to pad it out to an even number of records. Those links will show an error indicating there was no field data, but the merge will finish without incident.

Q. Which DesignMerge Print Drivers support OPI?

A. Supports OPI: PostScript, PPML, and the Xeikon PrintStreamer-1 Print Drivers

Does not support OPI: Xerox VIPP Driver (Database Mode and Native Mode).

Details:

PostScript: The OPI option is available on the QuarkXPress Print window.

PPML: The OPI option is available on the PPML Driver window.

Xeikon PrintStreamer-1: The OPI option is available on the QuarkXPress Print window (the PS-1 Driver creates PS disk files for all of the layer files).

VIPP Database Mode: Does not support OPI. VIPP caches images on the RIP while processing a job. The fixed layers are emitted as EPS disk files. If the original variable images do not change when merged into a document, then these can be stored as they are on the RIP where the VIPP job can find them when the DBM file (contains the description for each page) calls for them by the name provided in the DBF file (contains the data). However, if variable images do change when merged, then you can run a Preflight Report where you can export the job's variable images as EPS disk files for VIPP output. This will ensure that the merged images are saved as new image files - the original image files may misrepresent the merged image (for example, original image is at original size; merged image may be sized to fit). These image files need to be moved to the appropriate location on the VIPP printer before processing the job. One note: The Preflight Report does not process rules. If any variable images are selected by a link rule (for example, a link rule that sets data to an image file name), these images will not be listed by the Preflight Report and therefore cannot be exported by DesignMerge for VIPP output.

VIPP Native Mode: Does not support OPI From the VIPP Native Mode Driver manual: Each combination of variable images are stored as separate variable image layer files which will be combined by the printing device with their corresponding variable text and fixed layers. The variable image layer files and the fixed layer files are cached on the RIP.

Q. I am using the demonstration version of AutoPrice to tag documents for update. Will these documents work with the full version of the software after I purchase?

A. The demonstration of AutoPrice is not meant to be used for full production. Any documents tagged with the demonstration version of the software will be flagged as such, and will produce an error if you attempt to update them with the full version. If you have tagged a document and wish to not have to redo your work, please contact our offices to discuss what we can do for you.

Q. QuarkXPress 6 is reporting that DesignMerge (or AutoPrice) is "not compatible with this version of QuarkXPress"! What is going on?

A. There are drivers for the USB dongle key for DesignMerge that must be installed into the operating system before the program will load into QuarkXPress. That installer is included on the release disk with the other software in a folder called USB Security Key, or some variation on that.

If that installer produces an error when you run it. Use the following download link and copy the unstuffed folder into the /Library/Frameworks folder on your hard-drive.

http://www.meadowsps.com/downloads/designmerge/eve3_framework.sit

If you are still getting the error after this point, open the XTensions Manager in Quark and see if it will report the error message being generated when the XTension loads, then contact support@meadowsps.com with that information.

Q. DesignMerge in QuarkXPress 4/5 seems to be merging slowly. I have copied all elements of the job onto the local workstation. Do you have any other suggestions?

A. a) Make sure that QuarkXPress has enough memory, and that it is allocated properly. By this, I mean that on the Get Info memory settings, make the minimum size your maximum size. In other words: do not have 10000 megs set as the minimum amount of memory and the maximum set to 24000 ... have both set to 24000. That way we are sure Quark is getting as much as it needs.

b) Close the Page Layout palette in QuarkXPress. Having this palette open, we recently discovered, causes cumulative slowdowns in the merge process.

c) DesignMerge will always use the first column of the database as the index value when you select a new database file. Adding a column of unique values as the first (leftmost) column of your database file will speed up the merge process a bit. This can be as simple as adding the record number to each record: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, et cetera.

Q. I am running a merge in DesignMerge to disk file output. It appears that certain ranges of records are missing from the final output. I have checked my Missing Picture and Overset settings and I do not think I am doing anything wrong. Any ideas?

A. In DesignMerge 6.04d and QuarkXPress 6.5 we addressed a condition that could cause record dropouts to occur if any other applications or windows were being interacted with when the merge was running. Please be sure that you are running the very latest version of DesignMerge, available from our website.