Warren Depending on your timeframe may be a an easier way.
The coming release of OS X Tiger (1st half 2005) indexes metadata automatically. For as little as $500 for a Mac mini you could add this capability, by simply putting the box on your network, then saving the images on the box. The metadata store is based on SQLite & you can issue SQL-Like queries thru the CLI via cfexecute: $ mdfind "kMDItemAcquisitionModel == 'Canon PowerShot S45'" Or, if you want to extract the metadata for specific images and put it in your own db, you can easily do this too: $ mdls myImage.jpg The first link, below, gives the overview, the second gives some examples of queries and metadata extraction. This has been demoed on multiple occasions by Steve Jobs & is wicked fast. It is an expansion of the metadata indexing/search/extraction used in iTunes to include all common file types. OS X Tiger is currently in beta test & Apple is pretty good about meeting its software release deadlines. http://developer.apple.com/macosx/tiger/ and http://developer.apple.com/macosx/tiger/spotlight.html HTH Dick On Feb 19, 2005, at 1:57 PM, Warren Parsons wrote: > I'm trying to find a way to extract IPTC information from a JPG and > insert that data into a database (MySQL in this case). For the > uninitiated, IPTC information is metadata such as a photo's Caption, > Copyright info, Keywords, etc, all of which are usually specified by > the author in an image editing or cataloging program (Photoshop or > ACDSee). > > The method I've worked out thus far is to use ImageMagick (via > CFEXECUTE) to output a text file containing the JPG's IPTC > information. Then I read the text file (CFFILE) and parse out the > information I want and pass it to a query to insert into the DB. > > What I would *like* to find is a more efficient way of getting from > Point A to Point B, namely one that doesn't involve creating and > reading a text file as an intermediate step. I'm no expert on > ImageMagick, but I've done a lot of searching and haven't found any > information on passing the returned IPTC information directly to a > variable, rather than a text file. > > I've also experimented with using CFFILE's READBINARY action directly > on the JPG, and although the desired data is contained in the result, > it looks to be a major pain to parse it out, as there's an awful lot > of extraneous information in the result, and I'm not sure how > consistent the output will be from file to file. I'm not real > confident that this is the best path to follow. > > My ImageMagic-TXT file-CFFILE-DB method is technically workable, but > I'm not sure how well it will work when dealing with large numbers of > JPGs (probably from 25 to 100 at a go). > > Any answers, assistance or just plain brainstorming on this matter > would be greatly appreciated. > > I'm running on a Linux machine, so I'm afraid I can't use the > Windows-only custom tags that are available. > > Many thanks, > Warren L. Parsons > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Logware (www.logware.us): a new and convenient web-based time tracking application. Start tracking and documenting hours spent on a project or with a client with Logware today. Try it for free with a 15 day trial account. http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=67 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:4:195578 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:4 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.4 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
