VariableImporter.jsx now supports Graph Variables!

VariableImporter.jsx now supports Graph Variables!

Now supports graphs
Now available, the one feature everyone longed for: the ability to import multiple graph data into an illustrator document for the purpose of creating dynamically-changing graphs without having to copy and paste from Excel (or importing separate files by hand) and manually capturing datasets! 

I only joke here
Because graphs inside Illustrator is not a widely used feature, and the need to import multiple graph data is a fractional subset of the users who use them in the first place, this feature was probably sought after by just a handful of professionals, most of whom probably had the technical skills and created their own solutions anyways. 

Yet, here's how you use them
The benefits of being able to import all the graph data at once are the assurance that the data did not get accidentally altered by human error, the time savings from not having to capture individual datasets, and the ability to process a multitude of datasets. The price for this feature is having to save individual data text files (.csv or .txt) with names to be referred by in a main data file (.csv or .txt, again) that is used by VariableImporter.jsx. You just need to take the data which comprises an individual graph state and save it as a text file, then refer to that file just like an image variable, except instead of the '@' symbol, the symbol for the graph variable is a '%' percent.
Putting a % in front of the column title in the main .csv file will tell the script that this column is going to fetch the graph data from a text file. The text file will be read and the graph data inside will populate a bound graph object in the Illustrator document.




Why?
A good question is why would somebody go through the trouble of putting each graph state into its own individual text file and then make sure to paste in their names into a column of yet another .csv? The benefit of using VariableImporter.jsx to import data this is way is being able to keep data in a separate place from the Illustrator document, while maintaining a consistency when importing it. Now that it is possible to import graphs this way, it would make faster such tasks as creating sales & data reports, quarterly reviews, anything that has variable graphs. For example, a restaurant chain could have a scenario where a supply report needs to be formatted as a booklet, with graphs, images and text copy, with all the information being present, yet unique to each individual location. Either the entire document can be made in Illustrator, or just the heavily-dynamic & Illustrator-specific parts such as images and graphs, and Indesign can be used for the main document.

This is the first edition
As with any newly developed addition, there may be use cases which were not accounted for or expected. Due to the obscurity of the graphs feature in general, getting usage feedback for this feature is very important, so I would like to ask anyone having difficulties with it, or getting bugs, to contact me about it.

https://github.com/Silly-V/Adobe-Illustrator/blob/master/Variable%20Importer/VariableImporter.jsx

 

Vasily Hall

Art Technologist at GraphXsource

9 年

Thanks to the testing and feedback of Norbert Gindl, a bug is now fixed relating to proper syntax in the file path of referenced items. I hope to gain more insight into his workflow, thanks for your testing dude!

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Norbert Gindl

makes things pretty.

9 年

Hi Vasily, I just registered here to reach you. Could you help me out: I am unable to get the %graph to work. Everytime I try to import the data, my graph only contains a "1" in the top left cell in Data. Thank you in advance, you script rocks!

Jackie Plant

Happily Retired ★ Interior Design advice ★

9 年

Yes agree - I think more people than you think might use this tool - thanks for your detailed review

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Stephen Marsh

Technical Consultant, Training & Support | Adobe Community Expert

9 年

Thanks Kristen, Vasily has done a great job progressing the script over the months and it has come a long way. It does show what is possible when people selflessly combine their time and effort on a project for the greater good (OK, so it is not solving world hunger, but with luck a starving artist or two may be helped).

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Vasily Hall

Art Technologist at GraphXsource

9 年

Wow thanks Kristen, your comment validates weeks of thankless work! That is great, that everyone who was involved in its creation & testing, etc, was able to produce a positive impact on the creative community.

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