IDTideChart is a free, fully functional script which also serves as a demo of how JSXGetURL can be used to render live data into an InDesign document.
IDTideChart is ready-to-run and comes with an embedded copy of JSXGetURL. The script is installed like any other script. There are step-by-step installation and usage instructions on the Github README page linked below. Note that in the current script, only tide stations on the coast of the USA are supported. Adding support for APIs to support other countries is left as an exercise.
To download the script or look at the source code, go to:
https://github.com/zwettemaan/IDTideChart
For more info about JSXGetURL:
https://rorohiko.com/jsxgeturl
JSXGetURL enhances Adobe InDesign and InDesign Server automation by enabling ExtendScript to fetch live data from web APIs.
Through the JSXGetURL native ExtendScript functions, a script can dynamically pull text, images, and other assets into an InDesign layout in real-time.
It’s perfect for producing up-to-date documents like weather reports, product price tags, tide charts…
A server version of JSXGetURL is also available for high-throughput, fully automated solutions.
The IDTideChart script will work without needing a license for JSXGetURL.
However, the demo version of JSXGetURL is limited to making just a few consecutive API calls, after which InDesign needs to be restarted.
Without a JSXGetURL license, you will need to restart InDesign after each run of IDTideChart.
Purchasing a license for JSXGetURL will lift these restrictions.
More details at https://rorohiko.com/jsxgeturl