40
T
ITLE
P
AGES AND
D
ATA
L
INK
Naturally, AV-HLC100’s
title pages
support embedded text and images, and these can be modified on
the fly using the integrated Title Editor (see Chapter 12). However, it’s helpful to know that
title pages
also support NewTek’s DataLink system, which provides a convenient and powerful alternative method
to update text and images.
Briefly, DataLink allows
title pages
to be updated
automatically using data served by various local host
or network sources. It works like this:
•
DataLink
tracks values assigned to a set of special variables called
DataLink
keys.
When used in
title pages, these
keys
are identified by a name wrapped in % signs – for example,
%Session Title
Name%
.
FIGURE 28
•
So, while you might add a company name to a title page as a literal entry, e.g., “MyFirm
Incorporated”, the very same text value could be supplied by a
DataLink
key
instead.
o
You would enter %Session Title Name% on the title page, and assign “MyFirm
Incorporated” as the value of the corresponding
DataLink key
.
o
When displayed on output,
DataLink keys
are dynamically evaluated, with the result that
“MyFirm Incorporated” is shown in place of the
key
(Figure 28).
Since both methods of supplying text to a title page provide the same result when displayed, you might
wonder why it would be worth using
DataLink
. Let’s consider one example:
•
Almost all of the hundreds of
title pages
supplied with AV-HLC100 include the %Session Title
Name% and %Session Title Description%
keys
. Some also use %Session Title Image%.
