I'm an independent developer working on a data management platform (which I would like to commercialise at some stage but certainly not right now). The primary reason for developing this is to form the base for another system I'm developing with a small independent school to help them manage all of their administrative tasks more effectively. This means that more or less every need, in terms of document production, management and publication must be supported by a system that they use.
Below is what I need from the system where document production is required. I'm just wondering if someone can help me get some perspective on whether or not InDesign server is my only option. The core of the systems are web based, hosted with MS (Azure) and built using C# on an SQL background. I'm not even sure about how I would run an InDesign server instance to link with this setup but that is a separate challenge (suggestions welcome).
Document features already managed.
- Document storage, version control and management (multiple formats etc) - already handled very simply in code with the file storage and the SQL DB.
- Production of Invoices (and other billing documents), reports, newsletters, company documents, letters, contracts, surveys, posters, adverts... (etc. etc. - you see where this is going)
- Generating documents from templates (preferably InDesign produced and uploaded to the server) - content can be presented as XML (or whatever is needed as it will be translated when pulled from the database) as PDFs. Ability to export in other formats would be preferable but PDF is the most generally useful.
- Simple modification of templates. This bit is less important as the system will contain most of the templates that will be required but being able to make some layout changes within the system would be really useful to give some flexibility to the user without having to leave the system.
Essentially, I need to be able to do everything in code so that the system can spit out documents as required without them having to think about layout or design. From everything I've heard about the costs of InDesign server and having looked at the subscription costs for printui - it is far too expensive for a business that operates on a very small budget. At present, this system will just be used by them - and that may well only ever be the case so I'm starting worry about what I can do. I am aware of the PDF creation libraries available to simplify document production and am also considering that route. This whole project is largely about labour saving to reduce costs on the business, so being able to just create InDesign templates and upload them would be the ideal solution for us.
I hope that someone is able to offer some help or just talk through ideas with me as this whole area of the system is slowing progress quite significantly.