metadata

NAME

SYNOPSIS

metadata [ -n ] [ file... ]

metadata [ -c ] [ file... ]

metadata [ -n ] -e

AVAILABILITY

DESCRIPTION

The idea of the metadata command is to gather the (often poorly defined) meta data that is saved in a file (where the main focus are documentation/PDF files) and enrich the data with the real information of the file (as: title, subtitle, author, date, etc.) and save the data beside the original file without changing it.

The so gathered and enriched information can be used to quickly view the most important information by opening the *.meta file instead of the original file where the key information often has to be searched on several pages.

Furthermore it can be used to create reference files that can be used by other software or manually; currently available are: CSV, SQLITE3, BibTex/JabRef and 'Microsoft Word' bibliography XML files using the command metadata -e.

In addition to the saving of the *.meta file alongside to the original file, it is saved to a central repository for later retrieval.

The original file is identified by its SHA256 check sum.

If the *.meta files are defined to be opened by the metadata command a double-click on the *.meta file will later display the enriched meta data information. Because the displayed file is always primarily loaded from the repository, the data displayed is always up to date based on the latest editing (enrichment) of the meta information.

When later the same original file is located somewhere else (probably also having another file name) and the metadata command is used against the file using the 'Send To' mechanism, the previously saved meta data from the repository is displayed and also saved alongside the newly discovered file. This is possible due to the fact that if the file is identical it will also have the same SHA256 check sum.

The original file is not changed, the enriched meta data is therefore not written back to the original.

NO key pressed:

As soon as the meta data editor is closed, a short bibliography entry is available in the clipboard for later pasting.

CONTROL key pressed:

If you press the CONTROL key while closing the meta data editor all filled out meta data fields from the [GENERAL] section are copied to the clipboard.

When pasted to a text editor the output width is adjusted to 80 characters.

If pasted to a HTML/Rich-Text mail (as Microsoft Outlook™) or a word processor (as Microsoft Word™) the information is pasted as a table.

SHIFT key pressed:

If you press the SHIFT key while closing the meta data editor all filled out meta data fields from the [GENERAL] section are copied to the clipboard.

When pasted to a text editor the output width is not adjusted.

If pasted to a HTML/Rich-Text mail (as Microsoft Outlook™) or a word processor (as Microsoft Word™) the information is pasted as a table.

ALT key pressed:

If you press the ALT key while closing the meta data editor nothing is copied to the clipboard, respectively the current content of the clipboard is not replaced.

The metadata command should be installed to the 'Send To' context menu in 'Microsoft™ Windows Explorer' for most convenient usage. To do so, invoke the config(1m) command and select the related option.

In addition the config(1m) command also registers *.meta files to be opened by the metadata command.
When the automatic registration is not successful it is recommended to define that the metadata command should be used to open *.meta files in 'Microsoft™ Windows Explorer' on double-click manually.

OPTIONS

-h

usage message.

-i

install the metadata command as menu point 'metadata' to the 'Send To' context menu in 'Windows Explorer'.

-u

uninstall the metadata shortcut from the 'Send To' context menu in 'Windows Explorer'.

-V

print program version.

-e

export metadata repository to *.csv, *.tab, *.sqlite3, *.bib BibTeX/JabRef, XML files. The target directory is var/metadata/ respectively the DATABASEDIR specified in the metadata.cfg file.

-n

non interactive mode.

When using this option together with the file... option, the interactive editor to edit the meta data information is not started, but the data is still updated.

When using this option together with the -e option, the 'Press any key to continue ...' message at the end of the export does not show up.

This to enable batch- or scheduled processing.

-c

output of computed metadata to stdout.

file...

list of files to save the meta data to *.meta . When installed in the 'Send To' menu the selected file(s) in 'Windows Explorer' are passed as a list of files to the metadata command and the meta data of all given files are saved to separate *.meta files.

If no file is specified, you are queried to select a file by a open file box dialog where you then can select one file to be processed.

ENVIRONMENT

EXIT STATUS

0

no error.

4

usage message displayed.

5

program version printed.

6

export was not successful due to locked output files.

FILES

etc/metadata.cfg

optional configuration file for metadata. See: metadata.cfg(4) for more information.

etc/metadata.suffix.meta

optional adjusted template for file type with suffix suffix. See metadata.template(4) for more information.

etc/metadata.default.meta

optional adjusted default template. See metadata.template(4) for more information.

lib/metadata.default.meta

default template to save the resolved meta data.

etc/metadata.type.bib

optional adjusted BibTeX template for document-type with name type. See metadata.bib(4) for more information.

etc/metadata.default.bib

optional adjusted default BibTeX template. See metadata.bib(4) for more information.

lib/metadata.type.bib

default BibTeX template for document-type with name type.

lib/metadata.default.bib

default BibTeX template when no other template matched to the type.

var/db/metadata/<DB-VERSION>/<SHA-FILE-KEY>/meta

centrally saved meta data information. The location (var/db/metadata/) of the meta data "database" can be changed using the DATABASEDIR=directory setting in metadata.cfg file.

path/filename.ext.meta

meta data file of the file path/filename.ext

path/.meta/

if the .meta directory exists (has to be created manually) beside the file path/filename.ext , the filename.ext.meta file is saved to this subdirectory.

path/.meta/filename.ext.meta

meta data file of the file path/filename.ext if the .meta directory exists.

EXAMPLES

SEE ALSO

NOTES

If the performance stays unacceptable, you can increase the performance of resolving meta data of PDF files by setting the FASTPDFRESOLUTION=True setting in the metadata.cfg(4) file. The downside of doing this is, that you will get a bit less meta information, but the most important data is still present.

To create a full HTML bibliography file from *.meta files, use the tf filter command:

  [ H:\data\projects\Apollo\documents ]
  [ neil@acme-007 ][*wtshell*/cmd]: lsw -r * | grep "\.meta$" | tf bib - > _BIBLIOGRAPHY.html 

and to create a [REF] - only HTML bibliography:

  [ H:\data\projects\Apollo\documents ]
  [ neil@acme-007 ][*wtshell*/cmd]: lsw -r * | grep "\.meta$" | tf bibref - > _REF.html 

BUGS

If you send a file that has currently no *.meta file and that is not known in the repository multiple times to the metadata command (what would happen if you get no response as described in the NOTES section and you think the command does not work) the last opened window will be the one whose data "survives"

Workaround: be patient on the first command call.

AUTHOR

COPYRIGHT

This is free software; see WA2LWinTools/man/COPYING for copying conditions. There is ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.