User-defined XMP schema

[deni]

Is it possible to add custom xmp schema to IMatch? I'm working in archaeology and it would be perfect for me to add some specific fields to pictures metadata, which are not available in IMatch default schemas. As far as I know, Exiftool alows that functionality (http://owl.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/config.html).

[Mario]

User-defined XMP tags are a horror, frankly. 

Naturally, ExifTool and IMatch will read all XMP data, including custom metadata.

But in order to write/update such custom data, ExifTool needs to be made aware of these tags. It needs to know the schema, the data types, the formatting and value<->text conversions etc. And the syntax to declare such custom tags is, complicated, to say the least.

ET/IMatch support over 13,000 tags, and about 1000 XMP tags alone. The DarwinCore namespace is used successfully by many scientists, for example. If you cannot find something in that mass of available tags, and IMatch Attributes are also no option, you can define your own custom XMP schema and namespace and ask Phil to include support for it in ExifTool. Or you learn about how to declare such custom namespaces in the ExifTool configuration file and send Phil the final file so he can check it and include it in the regular ExifTool shipment.

[jch2103]

If your use model doesn't require that metadata to be in the images themselves, IMatch Attributes might be useful.

[deni]

Ok, Mario, thank you for answer.
I just hoped that IMatch could (in some way) read  ExifTool config file with schema definition and use it. Now I use workaround - just rename some unused existing fields; but it is not so elegant (and that's why I don't like it).

But maybe it would be worth to  take that functionality into consideration for the future? It  would make IMatch much more versatile and useful especially for scientists working with photographical documentation...

[Mario]

read  ExifTool config file with schema definition and use it.

This syntax looks like an exploded C++ compiler to me. I don't think I will ever support that.

Custom XMP namespaces are intended to be used by organizations, software companies and the like. Not really designed to be used on a per-user basis.