Vista Tags

[Archive]

[Originally posted by keesmoerman on 2007-01-29 20:43:02-08]

Phil, thanks for the quick support for the Vista tags. I have been experimenting a bit now to see how fields interact (as Vista reads some, but then sets its own), might be helpful for others also. This is not yet a complete overview, just a direction to give an idea how Vista works with tags...

Keywords:Vista reads keywords from the -xmp:subject tag (actually the -xmp-dc:subject tag), and writes them into both the -xmp:subject tag and the -xmp-microsoft:LastKeywordXMP tag (but does NOT read from the latter).

If also keywords are set using -Keywords (or -IPTC:Keywords) as eg using IrfanView, values are collected also here, glued together, and written simultaneously to 4 tags: -xmp-dc:subject, -keywords (-IPTC:Keywords), -xmp-microsoft:LastKeywordXMP and -xmp-microsoft:LastKeywordIPTC

Not really symmetrical, plus thus duplicates. For example: input to exiftool is:

Code:

-xmp:subject=Key1
-xmp-dc:subject=Key2
-Keywords=Key3
-xmp-microsoft:LastKeywordXMP=Key4

and then, when adding 'Key5' via Vista Explorer, the output is (note the missing Key4):

Code:

[IPTC]          0x0019 Keywords                        : Key1, Key2, Key3, Key5
[XMP-microsoft]      - Last Keyword XMP                : Key1, Key2, Key3, Key5
[XMP-microsoft]      - Last Keyword IPTC               : Key1, Key2, Key3, Key5
[XMP-dc]             - Subject                         : Key1, Key2, Key3, Key5

An other example: comments. Different from Keywords (which are lists of values), only one value is kept here, even if multiple tags are set. However, this single value is next again written to multiple fields, overwriting values if 'needed'. Highest priory is -UserComment (if set, this value is taken), if not set -XPcomment is used, and if also not set -xmp:UserComment is used. For example, using '-UserComment=Comment1 -XPComment=Comment2 -xmp:UserComment=Comment3 -Comment=Comment4', and next via the Explorer properties window change the comment shown ('Comment3') to 'MyComment', write-back is to three fields:

Code:

[File]               - Comment                         : Comment4
[IFD0]          0x9c9c XP Comment                      : MyComment
[ExifIFD]       0x9286 User Comment                    : MyComment
[XMP-exif]           - User Comment                    : MyComment

Note that the JPG comment ('Comment4') is not read nor written.

Likewise for other tags (i played also with Copyright, Rating, Title, and several others). In general, the -XP... has highest priority, and all fields are overwritten when changing via Vista Explorer (e.g. for Title these are -XPTitle and -XMP:Title).

I hope this gives some insight in how Vista works with tags; one day I might add a web page to my site with a more structured review on this topic (however now I have little time, and also I am just using a release candidate of Vista, final details might still change). Probably in Dutch, though... If there is interest let me know (it might raise my priority for this).