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mickb65022978
Participating Frequently
September 16, 2016
Question

Custom data in a Custom File Info Panel

  • September 16, 2016
  • 1 reply
  • 3591 views

Hi all. I'm inexpert at scripting but I've been having fun creating a Custom Info Panel in Adobe Bridge thanks to this thread:Custom Info Panel as Bridge MetaData Panel​. This is for a project to restore some harmony to a rather large photo collection. At some point in the past an external contractor got around some problem (now forgotten) by creating a custom metadata schema to track some specific needs of the client. Going forward we'll be keeping everything within the bounds of IPTC standard fields, but for the clean up it would be really helpful to display the custom fields alongside IPTC fields in the Info Panel. When I look at the XMP list of raw data for an existing image I can see the relevant fields listed like this:

        <CR_1_:BBCCompliance>False</CR_1_:BBCCompliance>

         <CR_1_:Campaign>1985-2003</CR_1_:Campaign>

         <CR_1_:Exclusive>False</CR_1_:Exclusive>

I managed to get a custom info panel working in Bridge CC6 (Mac) with the following file:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>

<xmp_definitions>

  <xmp_schema prefix='mypanel' namespace='http://ns.adobe.com/mypanel/' label='$$$/my/FileInfoLib/Panels/Name=mypanel'>

         <!-- simple properties -->

        <xmp_property name="Text" category="external" label="$$$/Custom/Panel/Document Title=Property 1 Name:" type="text"/>

        <xmp_property name="Text2" category="external" label="$$$/Custom/Panel/Credit=Property 2 Name:" type="text"/>

        <xmp_property name="Bool1" category='external' label="$$$/Custom/Property/BooleanInput_Label=Check Box Input:" type='boolean'/>

        <xmp_property name="Bool2" category='external' label="$$$/Custom/Property/BooleanInput_Label2=Check Box Input2:" type='boolean'/>

  </xmp_schema>

</xmp_definitions>

But from that point on I have been unable to adapt it to show the custom data. Where I'm struggling is that I don't know how to address those fields in the custom info panel's xmp file. OR Maybe I'm completely misunderstanding the deal here. Perhaps by "custom file info panel" this only allows the creation of NEW custom fields, not pull data from old ones.

Either way I'd be enormously grateful for a pointer or two from somebody who really understands this stuff. If I'm barking up the wrong tree it would be good to know. And if there's a better tree I'd love to know what that is. My basic need is to pull the old custom metadata info up front while I work on cleaning up the files in Bridge. Or writing or adapting a script that would write that data back into standard fields supported by Bridge that I can work with.

Hope this makes sense

Mick

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

Stephen Marsh
Community Expert
Stephen MarshCommunity Expert
Community Expert
September 18, 2016

Or writing or adapting a script that would write that data back into standard fields supported by Bridge that I can work with.

If you would like to do this fast, then I would recommend using ExifTool, I can help you through the learning curve if needed, I nave a little experience with using this free but powerful CLI tool. Generally a single line of code in ExifTool can achieve the same results as hundreds of lines of script in Bridge.

Can you supply a file sharing link to download a copy of one of the images in question? It only needs to be a 1 pixel square, this is all about the metadata.

BBCCompliance = Mapped to which IPTC Core/Extension Field?

Campaign = Mapped to which IPTC Core/Extension Field?

Exclusive = Mapped to which IPTC Core/Extension Field?

Do you wish to remove the custom values from the original custom metadata entries, remove the entire custom metadata entries and values or simply leave them as is?

Will you be performing these tasks on a Mac or Windows OS?

Otherwise if you wish to do this with Bridge Scripting, I would recommend posting your question to the following site if you don’t get a satisfactory result at this site.

https://www.ps-scripts.com/viewforum.php?f=72

M
mickb65022978Author
Participating Frequently
September 20, 2016

How very kind of you to offer to help Stephen. Shortly after posting my question I convinced myself that getting to grips with the Exiftool was likely to be a more productive way forward. So I went ahead and installed that as well as the pyExifToolGui which allows me to see what's going on. I'm similarly inexpert with CLI but have run a couple of simple Exif commands which seemed to work fine but I still could really use some advice on how to handle those custom fields.

In answer to your questions:

  • Here is a sample image which has a total of 6 custom xmp fields embedded. https://db.tt/MXqJo8bE (Note: I don't know if it makes a difference to the copying or moving of field data, but the fields are a mixture of free text, combobox  and checkbox on our present system. )
  • As to mapping to IPTC fields, the answer is complex: over the years some of the information in these custom fields for some images has been duplicated or superceded in IPTC (or DC fields that write to IPTC, right?). In others, particularly in the earliest images, that custom data is the only identifying information we have so it's crucial that it is not lost. That's particularly true of the Description field.

All in all a mess I know. But my plan, such as it is, is to move cautiously forward on step at a time:

  • identify images whose IPTC/DC Description fields are empty and COPY in data from the custom Description field where it exists
  • ditto with the Custom Tags field
  • For the other custom fields my thought was to write to them to standard fields that we never use so that I can see them while editing in Bridge. AND in order to preserve that data for when we finally make the transition to a new DAM system somewhere down the road. But maybe that's one for the DAM supplier to figure. The main purpose here is to make my clean-up job a little easier
  • Beyond that it might be helpful to know how to APPEND data to a field and perhaps add some boilerplate text to a field.

Presuming that makes sense, if you are able to show me how to construct a CLI command or two based on what's here I'd be really grateful. Hopefully that will get me rolling up that curve so I can figure out other options as we roll forward. thx again

M
mickb65022978Author
Participating Frequently
September 20, 2016

Oh, and I'm on a Mac.

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