Configure Layout Element widgets

When multiple assets are planned for and placed in layout groups or layout boxes inside one layout, the Layout elements widget in the Editor for Adobe InDesign documents provides placement information in a table. The widget is pre-configured and can be customized to your needs.

Context

The workflow is carried out in censhare Web. It refers to the Layout elements widget which is part of the Editor for Adobe InDesign documents.

Feature available since censhare 2017.5.

Prerequisites

None.

Introduction

The Layout elements widget is based on the standard table widget. The widget is pre-configured and can be used out of the box. You may customize it to your needs. Before doing so, make yourself familiar with the asset table widget configuration in censhare. For further information, see the article "Configuring Table widgets".

Left: Editor for Adobe InDesign documents with layout preview
Right: Layout elements widget with table of content elements

Pre-configured Layout elements widget

Three default configuration assets in censhare Web control what is shown in the Layout elements widget and what the table looks like:

Layout elements widget - workspace widget configuration
Layout elements query - XSL transformation for pre-defined query
Layout elements table - table layout

Layout elements widget

This configuration asset defines what is shown in the table rows. In censhare Web, this is handled through queries. A root query defines what is shown as top-level elements of the table and a child query defines which content is displayed on the lower levels.

For the Layout elements widget, the following queries are pre-defined:

Field	Value	Description	Example
Root query	Layout elements query	showing all assets connected to the context asset (the current layout) by a planning or placement relation, as top-level elements	product assets
Child query	All child assets	showing all child assets connected to the respective top-level element by an assignment relation, as lower level elements	images, Adobe InDesign text files

The standard workspace widget configuration "Layout elements widget" is used for configuration. It pre-configures the queries above. For further information, see the article on Standard workspace assets. The query IDs are stored as XML in the "Internal workspace configuration" Properties on the Details tab of the asset.

Layout elements query

This is a transformation asset. It pre-defines the root query for the assets that are shown in the table. In the widget configuration, other transformation assets can be selected as queries, too.

Layout elements table

The asset defines what the table looks like. It specifies which columns are displayed on the table. The table column assets used here are also part of the standard workspace structure. For the Layout elements widget, the following columns are pre-defined:

Column	Description
Asset item (mandatory)	asset name
Placement count	storing a macro that calculates the number of placements of an asset in the current layout
Placement type	reading out the type of data asset placed
Asset ID	storing a template for reading out the asset ID

How to customize the Layout elements widget

You may want the widget to display different content. For instance, the table should be showing products as top-level elements but hide all media assets connected to them. Or else, only user-related child assets should be displayed on the lower level of the table. You may also want to add further columns to the table such as "modification date" or "modified by" or change the size of the columns. Additionally, users may want to adapt the pre-defined table queries to their personal needs.

Customize pre-defined queries

To customize the pre-defined queries using the "Layout elements widget" configuration asset:

Create a resource replacement variant of the "Layout elements widget" asset.
In the variant asset, edit the values for "rootQueryID" and "childQueryID" in the XML of the "Internal workspace configuration" property on the Details tab according to the queries that should be displayed.
The XML statement looks like this:
```
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><xmldata><configuration tabIcon="cs-icon-elements" 
rootQueryId="censhare:search.layout-elements-query" 
childQueryId="censhare:search.all-child-assets"/></xmldata>
```
CODE

The Layout elements widget is updated accordingly.

For further details, see the section on workspace widget configuration in the article on Standard workspace assets.

To adapt the pre-defined queries to personal user needs:

On the Layout elements widget, select "Configure widget" from the Actions menu.
Under "Table configuration", select the "Root query" and/or "Child query" items as needed. For instance, you may want to restrict the lower levels to only show user-related child assets.

The Layout elements widget is updated accordingly.

Customize table layout

To customize the table layout:

Create a resource replace variant of the "Layout elements table" asset.
To add columns to the table, add the respective column assets to the Columns widget of the variant asset, on the Overview tab.
To edit the table columns, for instance to change their size, create a resource replacement variant of the columns. Open any variant column asset and edit the column properties as needed.

The table layout of the Layout elements widget is updated accordingly.

Result

The Layout elements widget configuration is updated according to your edits. The pre-defined queries cannot be changed by users. However, users may select other queries directly in the Layout elements widget configuration dialog to adapt the table to their personal needs.