Updating image related fields in the Database manually

techxplorer

Hi,

I've just recently started using Zenphoto and have so far liked it alot.

I have a large number of photos that I need to upload and add metadata for. Many have the same values for some of the fields such as city, state, country.

Is it possible to manually add values to these fields via SQL statements?

What I'm most concerned about is if I'm going to break anything and do I need to do some sort of reindex afterwards to keep the search up to date?

With thanks.

-Corey

acrylian

Of course you can add things to the database manually, all just MySQL but why actually?

For meta data the best is actually to embed that into the images itself before uploading. Zenphoto will read that on discovery of the images and add it to the database. There are also tools to refresh the database.

sbillard

One of the best tools for adding the same metadata to multiple images is Adobe Bridge. There are probably other image metadata editors out there as well, perhaps forum members can make their suggestions.

You can add tags in bulk through Zenphoto but not other metadata fields. Look at the bulk actions on the image tab.

techxplorer

Hi,

Thanks for your quick replies.

I've found a tool that I can use to do bulk editing of the exif tags on my Mac called ExifChanger which so far is letting me make the required changes.

One further related question, what is the character in the iptc.keywords field that separates keywords? I tried a comma but the entire field was processed by Zenphoto as a single tag.

sbillard

I presume you are refering to the data stored in the image by ExifChanger. Keywords are stored in a structure within the metadata. Think of it as an array. I am not familiar with ExifChanger (I have a PC, not a Mac) but I would expect it would allow you to specify multiple individual keywords and it would store them in the appropriate structure. Otherwise, as you have noticed, the data is just one keyword.

acrylian

Sidenote: I am on Mac but I am not familar with that tool either (since it is a paid one I will not test it because I have no need for it..;-))

techxplorer

Hi,

Many thanks to both of you for the quick reply. I'll keep exploring the app and see what happens.

Please note that linking to the app isn't an endorsement rather it is there for informational purposes.

acrylian

Sure, no problem with that app link actually. We think we can differ seo spammers from real users…;-)