Indesign and XML - how to auto flow into multiple pages with differing styles?

Question

I've got a bit of a problem at the moment. I'm trying to work with indesign (cs3) and xml. Basically i have a template which is has 1 master dps, both pages have the same data (fields 1-5) but one is left aligned, one right - hence mildly different paragraph styles. What i want to be able to do is import xml and have indesign flow the data from the individual nodes into many pages. eg xml format: root day field1 field2 field3 field4 field5 day field1 field2 field3 field4 field5 day ... I can almost make this work by tagging the frames on the master pages, then creating pages and importing the xml, however it only flows the first 2 nodes into the pages reptitively for the total count of all the nodes. I can also almost make it work by creating a page from the untagged masters and then tagging the frames with the field1-5 tags then importing the xml. This populates the first page, however i then can't find a way to make the rest of the data flow into new pages... Am I missing something? Am I being a complete dumbass? If anyone can offer any help it will be greatly appreciated...

Answer 1

You're not being a dumbass at all — this is one of InDesign's more frustrating XML quirks, especially in CS3. The core issue is that InDesign's XML auto-flow works best when your template structure mirrors your XML structure exactly, and the left/right alignment difference is what's throwing it off. The cleanest solution is to set up your master pages with tagged frames using the same tag names (field1–field5) but apply your left and right paragraph styles separately to each frame — InDesign will honor the local style even when XML populates the content. Then, rather than importing XML directly onto master pages, build your document pages first from those masters, select all the tagged frames across all pages, and then import your XML with the "Clone repeating text elements" option checked in the XML import options. This tells InDesign to repeat the structure for each day node rather than stuffing everything into the first two pages. If the clone option isn't flowing correctly, the usual culprit is a mismatch between your tag hierarchy and your frame tag structure — make sure each day node in your XML is a direct child of root and that your frames are tagged at the field level, not the page level. It's tedious to get right the first time but once the structure clicks it flows cleanly across as many pages as you need.