PresStore Metadata Import

[mrtubz]

Hi All

Just wondered if anyone had run into this problem before. we are archiving to tape and would like to store some metadata along with the files.

Firstly I simply went to manually archive a folder, applied some data i.e Job, Category, Description and clicked save. The archive process begins, it finishes successfully and everything appears fine. However when you navigate to an archived asset there is no metadata saved alongside it.

In addition I also tried to use the script as listed on the ArchiWare site to import metadata, this seems to work correctly from the command line. However when I apply this in an archive plan the metadata seems to import correct as it says it completed without failure in the Extended Log. Although it again show no metadata in the fields when you find the asset in the restore menu.

If anyone has any ideas I would be happy to hear them.

Also I tried this on a brand new fresh install of PresStore and it doesn't seem to work on that either.....

[AWSven]

Hi mrtubz,

> Firstly I simply went to manually archive a folder,
> ...
> However when you navigate to an archived asset there is
> no metadata saved alongside it.

This sets the metadata in the main folder only, not in all affected entries, maybe that is the problem?

> In addition I also tried to use the script as listed on the ArchiWare site
>...
> Although it again show no metadata in the fields when you find the
> asset in the restore menu.

The sample script uses mdls to extract some metadata from images, not sure for which other files mdls delivers data. If the script echoes some data correctly when called manually, it should be possible to apply it in the archive plan and get some metadata there.
Note that the setup requires to add the required fields to the archive database first, and the script is applied only for the configured file extensions (.jpg in the example on the Archiware website).
Does that explain why there are no metadata?

[mrtubz]

Hi

I have triple checked all my settings and everything appears to be set correctly. The script that runs has the attributes defined, these exactly match the Fields in the database and are in the same order.

In addition to this when I run the Metedata script it shows in the extended log that it has successfully run and has completed importing the data.

However when i look at these fields in the web browser they all seem to have imported the string (null)

There does seem to be something going on whereby it seems to be successfully running the script as the fields get populated, just without the right information.

Ive attached my script and some screenshots and logs if they maybe of some use... also if I can get this script to work then it maybe of use to others.

Download Link for Files


Thanks

Daniel

[mrtubz]

I have been doing sometesting of my script.

Firstly if i replace all of the variable values in the echo statement with plain text it imports everything correctly. i.e

echo "application {Creative Suite}"

However If I use a variable:

echo "application {$attr1}"

Then the value returned is (null) for some reason it wont return the correct value, if I run the script from the terminal then it does output the correct value.

Very slightly bafled as to why its doing this...

Cheers

Dan.

[AWSven]

H Dan,

it seems as if the mdls command is just not called from within PresSTORE.
This could be a PATH problem, as PresSTORE is called from the launch control daemon and thus has not the same environmental setup.
I suggest to replay "mdls" with "/usr/bin/mdls" in the script.
Does that work?

Cheers, Sven

[mrtubz]

Hi Sven

Thanks for your reply. After a bit of troubleshooting it appears that the 'mdls' command will only work on directly attached volumes.

We have a NAS device that im trying to archive some items off of, its connected over SMB and when i checked the command against a file on the server it could'nt find the metadata, probably because the file had'nt been spotlight indexed.

In the end I simply replaced the 'mdls' command with an install of ExifTool and just run the equivalent commands, it now works a treat and imports all the metadata fields accurately.


Thanks for all your help with this appreciated.