Hi Guys,

I am trying to use commons-imaging latest svn bits to write a program that will read standard metadata such as Exif and IPTC from images in a variety of image formats using code that is as image format neutral as possible. The goal is to store each class of metadata (e.g. Exif, IPTC, ...) in a separate Map where the key identifies a metadata attribute identifier defined by the standard and a value that is the metadata attribute's value.

Here are two patterns I have identified for reading the metadata by looking at test programs and code....

1. Read metadata items without considering image format or metadata standard.

IImageMetadata metadata = Imaging.getMetadata(is, "Oregon Scientific DS6639 - DSC_0307 - iptc added with irfanview.jpg"); List<? extends IImageMetadata.IImageMetadataItem> items = metadata.getItems();

            int i=0;
            for (IImageMetadata.IImageMetadataItem iitem : items) {
                ImageMetadata.Item item = (ImageMetadata.Item)iitem;
System.err.println("Index: " + i + " Key: " + item.getKeyword() + " Value: " + item.getText() + " class: " + iitem.getClass()); //common.ImageMetadata$Item, Tiff.TiffImageMetadata
                i++;
            }


This is closest to what I want. The EXIF metadata is represented by org.apache.commons.imaging.formats.tiff.TiffImageMetadata$Item and I can get at the TiffField and its tagName and value (good). However, IPTC metadata is represented by org.apache.commons.imaging.common.ImageMetadata$Item. This class seems to have no link back to the org.apache.commons.imaging.formats.jpeg.iptc.IptcRecord and thus I cannot find a way to get the attribute defined by the IPTC spec <http://www.iptc.org/std/photometadata/2008/specification/IPTC-PhotoMetadata-2008.pdf> under the IIM mapping rows.


2. Read Exif and IPTC separately using following metadata and image format specific patterns as shown below...

            //Read EXIF
JpegImageMetadata metadata = (JpegImageMetadata) Imaging.getMetadata(is, "Oregon Scientific DS6639 - DSC_0307 - iptc added with irfanview.jpg");
            TiffImageMetadata exifMetadata = metadata.getExif();
            List<TiffField> fields = exifMetadata.getAllFields();

            int i=0;
            for (TiffField field : fields) {
                String key = field.getTagName();
                Object value = field.getValue();
                String fieldName = field.tagInfo.name;
System.err.println("Index: " + i + " Key: " + key + ", Value: " + value + ", valueType: " + value.getClass());
                i++;
            }

            //Read IPTC
JpegImageMetadata metadata = (JpegImageMetadata) Imaging.getMetadata(is, "Oregon Scientific DS6639 - DSC_0307 - iptc added with irfanview.jpg");
            JpegPhotoshopMetadata psMetadata = metadata.getPhotoshop();
            List oldRecords = psMetadata.photoshopApp13Data.getRecords();

            for (int j = 0; j < oldRecords.size(); j++) {
                IptcRecord record = (IptcRecord) oldRecords.get(j);
System.err.println("Key: " + record.iptcType.getName() + " (0x" + Integer.toHexString(record.iptcType.getType())
                            + "), value: " + record.value);
            }

Above gives me all the linkage back to specification defined metadata fields but is less desirable because it metadata and image format specific.

I feel that it would be ideal to support a generic api that is agnostic to metadata and image format but provides a reference back to the specification defined field (attribute) identifier some how.

I would very much appreciate some ideas from dev team on how we could improve the api to support providing a reference back to a specification defined field in a metadata and image format neutral manner.

My apologies if I am missing an obvious solution while I am getting familiar with the code.

--
Regards,
Farrukh

Web: http://www.wellfleetsoftware.com

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