Data From Data Objects

This section describes how to integrate product data from the Marketing Data Hub module into your document, if you are permitted to do so.

If you can add data, the Categories, Layout, or Data Objects tabs are displayed in the document editor. Note that the display is page-dependent: the tabs are accessible only if data can be added on the selected page.

If you can add data, the Marketing Data Hub module is enabled in your BrandMaker system. In this module, you create "types" as templates for similar data objects. If a data object is mapped in Marketing Data Hub, the creator chooses a type as the template. Data objects of the same type therefore have the same properties, but the values are different.

When creating a layout, the template designer connects the layout fields with the fields that the type supplies. Examples include the product description, material, size, or a product image:

When you as the template designer create a document to which data can be added, you can assign the layout to the document in a suitable grid:

If you then assign a data object, e.g. a product, the layout fields are filled with the values of the data object:

Your document now contains the data.

Note

The process for you as the document creator also includes assigning a category. For more information, see the Process section below. In this step, the data objects from which you can choose for the assignment are restricted and/or sorted beforehand.

Data objects can be localized to locales in Marketing Data Hub. This means that the data can have different values for each created locale. An example of this is the price, which changes depending on the different national tax rates.

The template designer has two options for integrating localized data:

  • The template designer links a variable to your document locale. If you assign the locale Germany to your document, the price of the product in Germany is then used. If you assign the locale Austria to the document, the price in Austria is used.

  • The template designer links a variable to the value for your locale. Using the price as an example, this means that the price of one locale (for example, Germany) is always used in the document, even if your document is assigned to a different locale.

Note that both variants can be used in one layout. If the locale of a variable differs from the locale of the document, the flag of the deviating locale is displayed next to the variable.
In any event, BrandMaker recommends that you specify the document locale before you assign a data object.

To add data object, note the following process:

You use data by adding Smart Groups as layouts. Smart Groups are templates that are linked with data and that determine how it is placed in the document. If you want to add Smart Groups, the document must contain Grids that are available as placeholders. The designer has created these grids in the template.

Assign the following to the grids:

  • Categories: The designer of the template decides whether you must first select a category that is also assigned to the data object, e.g. a specific product group. If you have to select a category, you will not see any suitable layouts on the Layout tab or on the Content tab for the variable that represents the grid.

  • Layout: in this step, you choose the layout with which the document is added. The layout determines which product data is added to your document and how the data is positioned. You select the layout either on the Layout tab or on the Content tab when you display the grid variable. Note the chapter Texts and Images.

  • Data Object: in the last step, you specify the data object that you want to display in the grid. You select the data object either on the Data Object tab or on the Content tab when you display the Grid variable. Note the chapter Texts and Images.

Note that the Categories and Layout steps are interchangeable. The template designer may have preassigned or even preset the categories and layouts so that they cannot be edited.

In the next step, you edit the texts and images (see Texts and Images).