932 - Bug during import of images

[Yfact]

The start of a new year = time for good intentions. The one for me this year is to finally start using a media management tool for my +/- 100k pictures :-)

 

Yesterday I installed the latest build of the standalone version and started experimenting. Everything is quite intuitive and seems to work fine (although I haven't used all features yet).

During an import I got this error: "String was not recognized as a valid DateTime." and a stacktrace telling me quite exactly where the error occurred (parsing a DateTime value). Restarting Daminion won't help because it's an actual error during the processing of the meta data of some images.

I attached one of the images which cause the error.

 

Steps to reproduce:

- start up Daminion

- drag and drop the attached image into Daminion. The import window now appears

- don't select any tag preset. just leave every settings as-is

- click on the "import" button

- expected: the images should be imported into the catalog

- actual: exception displayed ("String was not recognized as a valid DateTime.")

 

When examining e.g. the attached file and compare it with some more recent files, I noticed that the older pictures have time zone specifications while more recent pictures don't.

partial RAW meta data of attached picture (using Photoshop)

<rdf:Description rdf:about="" xmlns:xmp="http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/">

<xmp:CreatorTool>v753u-84</xmp:CreatorTool>

<xmp:CreateDate>2002-12-31T23:00+01:00</xmp:CreateDate>

<xmp:ModifyDate>2002-12-31T23:00+01:00</xmp:ModifyDate>

<xmp:MetadataDate>2002-12-31T23:00+01:00</xmp:MetadataDate>

</rdf:Description>

partial RAW meta data of a more recent picture that doesn't give errors (using Photoshop)

<rdf:Description rdf:about="" xmlns:xmp="http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/">

<xmp:Rating>0</xmp:Rating>

<xmp:ModifyDate>2011-07-16T10:17:17.91</xmp:ModifyDate>

<xmp:CreateDate>2011-07-16T10:17:17</xmp:CreateDate>

<xmp:MetadataDate>2011-07-16T10:17:17.91</xmp:MetadataDate>

</rdf:Description>

 

Being a .NET developer myself and came accross the above error a couple of times, I guess the format mask is either wrong or the DateTime strings aren't converted using e.g. DateTimeOffset class but with just the DateTime.Convert method. There are several approaches to resolve this error e.g. using a specific mask or something like this post on StackOverflow. Knowing that Microsoft wrote quite a lot of articles concerning dates, times and timezones means it's a tricky part for developers :-)

 

For now I can omit the older pictures but it would be nice if i could include them too in the Daminion catalog. :-)

[Yfact]

For those who come across the same error in the future: I used a small utility Pro Photo Tools (of Microsoft) downloadable via several ways e.g. download.cnet.com. After having modified the dates and saved the new meta info I was able to import them in Daminion. :smile:

 

Note: as one of the 2 votes on cnet.com mention this tool adds a "Headline" tag in the meta data. Since it isn't a standard meta field application like Photoshop CS6 "complain" that the meta data has been modified. Besides this warning you still can do everything you want with modified the jpeg :smile:

[Yfact]

Seems that v3.0 (build 994) solves this issue :-). Thanks!