Copying image comments from file to jpeg metadata

Forums › Digital Imaging › Copying image comments from file to jpeg metadata

timmmay

20858 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 5350

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#255822 2-Sep-2019 08:01

In the past I used a program called JAlbum to create static web galleries, which is fine for my use. The jalbum website is down, not sure if it's an isolated failure or if it's gone.

Later versions of JAlbum put comments into jpeg image metadata - doesn't seem to do it for mp4 files. When JAlbum was new image description went into a file called comments.properties. I'd like to copy these comments from the text file to the jpeg "ImageDescription" field. Does anyone have any suggestions how to do this? File format is something like.

filename1.jpg=Here's a family photo!

filename2.jpeg=Little Billy catches a fish

I could write a bit of Java to do it, but that'd take hours as I'd need to find a jpeg library. Any other suggestions how to do this more quickly / easily?

1 | 2

2938 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1860

#2309222 2-Sep-2019 08:16

ExifTool and a simple command line?

for /f "tokens=1,* delims==" %a in (comments.properties) do ExifTool.exe %a -ImageDescription="%b"

Replace % with %% if used in a batch file.

EDIT: Mixed up file name with property. Fixed now.

timmmay

20858 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 5350

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2309240 2-Sep-2019 09:23

Thanks @SirHumphreyAppleby that's the kind of thing I was looking for :) Which command line is that - dos / bash / other - looks like dos?

SirHumphreyAppleby

2938 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1860

#2309246 2-Sep-2019 09:28

timmmay:

Thanks @SirHumphreyAppleby that's the kind of thing I was looking for :) Which command line is that - dos / bash / other - looks like dos?

Windows Command Prompt.

timmmay

20858 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 5350

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2309679 2-Sep-2019 20:54

@SirHumphreyAppleby I just got a change to try it - almost perfect thanks! I just had to add one set of speech marks to cope with filenames with a space in them. The command line is

for /f "tokens=1,* delims==" %a in (comments.properties) do ExifTool.exe "%a" -ImageDescription="%b"r:

For bonus points - can this be made recursive and look at the comments.properties file in each folder? I see the for command can be made recursive with "for /R", but it has a whole different set of options that don't seem compatible with "for /f".

Oblivian

7345 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2117

ID Verified

#2309692 2-Sep-2019 21:15

If you want a bit more manual work during processing and use LR, there's a stashed method to sync IPCT in the import tab

https://helpx.adobe.com/nz/lightroom-classic/help/metadata-basics-actions.html#add_and_edit_iptc_metadata

-r is recursive for exiftool, but you would need to mod the initial command a bit

https://sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/mistakes.html

The -r option (to recursively process sub-directories) is only effective when a directory name is specified, so it doesn't work when "*.*" is specified (unless the first-level directories have a "." in the name, as mentioned in point b above)

Some tips there to do it as a line vs get a batch to do it too.

timmmay

20858 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 5350

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2309707 2-Sep-2019 21:51

Thanks for the ideas. I don't like / use Lightroom. I've used bridge successfully for many years, tried LR but found the UI and workflow really slow.

AliExpress

Shop now on AliExpress (affiliate link).

SirHumphreyAppleby

2938 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1860

#2309756 3-Sep-2019 07:16

timmmay:

For bonus points - can this be made recursive and look at the comments.properties file in each folder? I see the for command can be made recursive with "for /R", but it has a whole different set of options that don't seem compatible with "for /f".

I'd use a batch file for this. Make sure ExifTool is in your path (or change the command to the full path).

for /f %%a in ('dir /b /s /ad') do (
pushd "%%a"
if exist comments.properties (
for /f "tokens=1,* delims==" %%b in (comments.properties) do ExifTool.exe "%%b" -ImageDescription="%%c"
)
popd
)

timmmay

20858 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 5350

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2309781 3-Sep-2019 09:04

Thanks, I'll give that a shot tonight or when I next get time :)

timmmay

20858 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 5350

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2311834 6-Sep-2019 15:37

I just got to test this. Thanks again @SirHumphreyAppleby it works perfectly, you're some kind of a DOS coding genius!

timmmay

20858 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 5350

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2311838 6-Sep-2019 15:43

Sign. I then realise that I have another album with a different metadata type. In this one the format is below. Do you think this will work with the batch file you gave me or does it need tweaking?

filename.jpg.description=Description

SirHumphreyAppleby

2938 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1860

#2311847 6-Sep-2019 16:08

timmmay:

Sign. I then realise that I have another album with a different metadata type. In this one the format is below. Do you think this will work with the batch file you gave me or does it need tweaking?

filename.jpg.description=Description

Let's try that again. Had to enter a capcha to post and my reply didn't show up (@freitasm).

The script won't quite work as is as it treats everything before the = as the file name. It is necessary to remove .description from the file name. Something like the following (untested, sorry), should do the job...

setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
for /f %%a in ('dir /b /s /ad') do (
pushd "%%a"
if exist comments.properties (
for /f "tokens=1,* delims==" %%b in (comments.properties) do (
set fname=%%b
ExifTool.exe "!fname:.description=!" -ImageDescription="%%c"
)
)
popd
)

AliExpress

Shop now on AliExpress (affiliate link).

timmmay

20858 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 5350

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2311984 6-Sep-2019 21:13

The console said "error" a lot, but a spot check suggests it's worked as well. Thanks again! I'll have a better look at the errors later and post if it's not quite worked.

If we meet at a Geekzone event remind me I owe you a couple of beers :)

SirHumphreyAppleby

2938 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1860

#2312497 7-Sep-2019 20:16

timmmay:

The console said "error" a lot, but a spot check suggests it's worked as well. Thanks again! I'll have a better look at the errors later and post if it's not quite worked.

If we meet at a Geekzone event remind me I owe you a couple of beers :)

I gave the script a quick test this evening and the basic parsing appears to be correct. It should work with both file formats.

At a guess, I would say the errors are most likely from ExifTool. If ExifTool weren't in the path, you'd see errors, but it would obviously not work. The script checks for the file before trying to use it, and only tries to pushd in to directories. Everything is just built-in commands that will work with the default Windows cmd.exe configuration.

Happy to look at the errors and assist were I can. Beer won't be necessary.

timmmay

20858 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 5350

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2312533 7-Sep-2019 21:09

Thanks for that, I appreciate it. I'll have a proper go when I have a bit of free time - a rare thing with a toddler.

timmmay

20858 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 5350

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2736013 28-Jun-2021 19:39

@SirHumphreyAppleby after 18 months delay I finally had a crack at this and your script worked perfectly. Thanks again :)

1 | 2