975 - support write XMP for ai files

[Uwe]

Hello,

 

as far as I understand this information: https://daminion.net/feature-tour/daminion/broad-format-support

Daminion should write XMP metadata in the ai file. But it seems that the metadata are only written in the catalog and neither in the ai file nor in a XMP sidecar file.

What is wrong - the documentation, my understanding or is it a bug?

 

Regards, Uwe

[Murat]

It depends from AI file. We use Adobe XMPToolkit to update XMP in various media formats and sometime it fails with updating metadata. Could you please send me your AI image for analyzing?

[Murat]

Thanks for the sample image. This is the PDF document that was saved with .ai extension. XmpToolKit has limited capabilties with updating XMP in PDF files. Probably we'll use another way to update XMP in PDF documents.

[Uwe]

Hello Murat,

 

I don't understand it. Does it mean: The XMP toolkit, delivered by Adobe doesn't write their own formats?

I've added some metadata with Adobe Illustrator CS6 in this AI file I sent you before and I see them in Daminion when I use "read tags from file".

I guess the write of metadata is not yet full implemented for some formats.

 

Regards, Uwe

[Murat]

I don't understand it. Does it mean: The XMP toolkit, delivered by Adobe doesn't write their own formats?

 

Yep. This is clearly stated on their forum. That there are problem with updating XMP of the PDF format in some cases because PDF is very complex format. Adobe is a large corporation and different departments are responsible for Adobe XMP ToolKit development, creating PDF and XMP specifications.

 

I've added some metadata with Adobe Illustrator CS6 in this AI file I sent you before and I see them in Daminion when I use "read tags from file".

I guess the write of metadata is not yet full implemented for some formats.

 

Reading metadata is a much easy process than writing. XMP can be read from virtually any media formats by just scanning the hole document for an XMP text block and then parse it.

 

To update XMP in a media format you need to dissambly it before and then assembly it again by following a format specification and without losing any part of the file.

[Uwe]

Hello,

 

thank you. I've never expected that Adobe problem.

But now there is a problem: I can enter new values for the tags in Daminion. They exist in the Daminion catalog but not in the file itself and don't overwrite the values in the file written by the Adobe Illustrator.

The next time I make a "Read tags from file" or a "Rescan Folders" I lose the values in the Daminion catalog because they are overwritten by the values of the file.

 

Regards, Uwe

[Murat]

thank you. I've never expected that Adobe problem.

But now there is a problem: I can enter new values for the tags in Daminion. They exist in the Daminion catalog but not in the file itself and don't overwrite the values in the file written by the Adobe Illustrator.

The next time I make a "Read tags from file" or a "Rescan Folders" I lose the values in the Daminion catalog because they are overwritten by the values of the file.

 

Yep, there is the possible data conflict. However Rescan Folders feature take into account the file modification date, and will not update tags of the files if DB date is equals to the File Modified Date.

 

I don't have a clear answer to this question now. A possible way to resolve the conflict is:

1. Track in the DB if metadata was successfully written into the file.

2. Don't replace DB info by metadata if last Write operation was failed

3. Don't replace DB info by metadata if file format doesn't support writing metadata (check for each field in the metadata)

 

Something like this... Any ideas/suggestions are welcome.

[Uwe]

Hello Murat,

 

thank you for the answer. I'll think about it.

At the moment it will be helpful to show a message in the log (like it is used for Import errors): Which metadata are not written in the file. I hope you get a return code when you try to write the metadata in the file with the XMP Toolkit.

At the moment I don't get any information and without to check it by the ExifTool I don't know if something is wrong. And please adjust the documentation of the formats. There is written that Ai format is supported "RW".

 

Regards, Uwe