I'm using the -listx XML output to get the tag data types and ran into an issue in table Exif::Main ids '40091' to '40095' as being type='int8u'. (this is the XPTitle to XPSubject tags). It seems like these should be type='string'. Am I missing something?
Thanks!
Curtis
Hi Curtis,
In fact, they should be of type int16u since the text is encoded as UCS2. But this is Microsoft, and they aren't known for doing what makes sense. I suppose they probably made it int8u so the byte order wouldn't be swapped if the EXIF byte order is changed, because these are always written in little-endian order.
I think your source of confusion is about the meaning of "type" as reported by ExifTool. This is the format in which the information is stored in the file. Which probably isn't the type of "type" that you wanted.
- Phil
Ahh! I see... well it is not critical for what I am doing, but just curious, is there something in exiftool (via exiftool.exe) where I can get the type of "type" I'm looking for which is basically to know is it a string (text), integer, real (float, double), date types (and maybe others)? I would use this type information to determine how to edit and validate the tag value. (I am using the -n option when I get tags, and am handling the Choice type with info from the -listx XML).
Curtis
Hi Curtis,
Sorry, ExifTool really doesn't give you what you need to validate the input. ExifTool does as little validation as possible to give users the maximum freedom.
- Phil
Yup, that is what I suspected... and understand...thanks! Curtis