Working with Data Sources

You can link data from a variety of sources to text, barcode and encoder objects to obtain the data that you want the objects to print on your documents.

When you initially place one of these data-sourced object types on the template, it is created to have a single Embedded Data data source. This means that the value or characters that you enter for the data is the value or characters that are printed on the document. You can replace this default data source with another data source type that you want, such as the system date or time, another object value, or a database field. You can also add additional data sources to the object when you want it to print a concatenated value that consists of two or more different data sources.

When you open the Object Properties dialog for a text, barcode, or encoder object, the dialog's navigation pane displays a list of the object's data sources. You can configure each data source separately by clicking the data source that you want to configure and then using the tabs on the Data Sources property page to specify the property settings that you want.

Open the Object Properties dialog. To do this, double-click the object. Alternatively, click Properties on the object's context menu. The object's data sources are listed in the left navigation pane under Data Sources.
Click a data source in the list to open the Data Sources property page, where you can view and configure the property settings for the selected data source.

In This Section

Available Data Sources

Learn about the different data sources that you can use with data-sourced template objects to specify the data values that you want objects to print.

Configuring Data Sources

Learn the different methods to change the value of an Embedded Data data source, replace an existing data source, create and delete data sources, and concatenate data sources. Additionally, learn about the properties that are available on the Data Sources property page, and learn about the data types and data source transforms that you can specify for a data source.

Using Named Data Sources

Learn how to create and use named data sources so that you can share data between multiple objects or scripts in your document.

Using Global Data Fields

Learn how to create global data fields so that you can easily share a data source across all users, computers, and documents that are connected to the same BarTender System Database.

Using Library Phrase Data Sources

Learn how to create and use a Library Phrase data source to share frequently used phrases in multiple BarTender documents and, when your phrase library includes translations of the phrases into another language, to specify that phrases are printed in that language at print time.

Using Data-Sourced Color

Learn how to use data-sourced color selection for any properties of the text box, barcode, line, and shape objects on your template that support color.