I edited the Caption field in Microsoft (Vista) Photo Gallery of an image. I then opened the same image in KPhotoAlbum and that caption came in on the Description box in the Annotate Image dialog. I then edit the Description to something different and opened the image in Eye of Gnome and that Description still has the original caption as saved from Photo Gallery. The new description is not there. If I reopen the image in KPhotoAlbum then the new description is still there. If I go to the Edit EXIF dialog box, then the Title shows the same name as the caption was in Photo Gallery. If I close that box, then the Description field in the Annotate Image dialog disappears. I suspect that is because the Caption box was blank (even though the box wasn't checked, BUG). If I go back and Edit Exif metadata again and this time change the Caption area, then that is copied into the Description of the Annotate Image dialog and it also shows up as the description in Eye of Gnome. It does not, however, show up as the caption in Photo Gallery. Here is what I think happened: 1. Photo Gallery changed the fields XPTitle and ImageDescription in the EXIF data. It also modifies (from Eye of Gnome information) XMP IPTC Title and Description. This doesn't show up in KPhotoAlbum EXIF Info (XMP info should be shown). 2. KPhotoAlbum read one of these fields and added it to the Description in the Annotation area (bug, or data shouldn't be added there that wasn't added by the user -- bad form). This creates confusion when trying to adjust only EXIF information. Maybe more documentation or notes need to be added so the user knows what exactly is happening with the Annotation dialog and EXIF information. 3. If I change the Title in the Edit Exif dialog, then KPhotoAlbum actually changes ImageDescription and not XPTitle (bug). 4. There doesn't appear to be a way to edit XPTitle from the Edit EXIF dialog (bug). My goal is to not have to rely on a database to hold all the extra info an image might need (title, description, place...). There are already plenty of defined fields in the EXIF area that can do this. KPhotoAlbum is nice and does just about what I need, but it needs to clean up the distinction where EXIF ends and a database begins. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1.Included in details 2. 3. Actual Results: Included in details Expected Results: Included in details Some of these problems are probably bugs and some are probably just the way the software was designed. I think adding a little clarity would help some of these things. Version 4.1.1 Using KDE Development Platform 4.4.5 (KDE 4.4.5)
Sorry for not getting back to you sooner! As for KPA not getting the refreshed exif description: did you calll "Maintenance" -> "Read EXIF info from files..."?
Note that according to the Metadata Working Group Guidelines, "Description" should be mapped to the following fields: Exif: ImageDescription IPTC: Caption XMP: dc:description
Just as a note: KPA currently uses only Exif.Image.ImageDescription. The description is read in DB::FileInfo::parseEXIV2() and written in Exif::Info::writeInfoToFile().
Ok. I finally got some time to look into this with more detail: > I edited the Caption field in Microsoft (Vista) Photo Gallery of an image. Ok. > I then opened the same image in KPhotoAlbum and that caption came in on the Description box in the Annotate Image dialog. At this point, the image was imported to KPA, and you apparently had "Use EXIF description" checked in the „Configure KPhotoAlbum...“|„General“ settings page. > I then edit the Description to something different and opened the image in Eye of Gnome and that Description still has the original caption as saved from Photo Gallery. The new description is not there. KPA has the policy of "don't alter the image files in any way". That means that meta-data is never written back to an image. This is a conscious design-decision on part of KPA. > If I reopen the image in KPhotoAlbum then the new description is still there. Yes, since it was written to the database of KPA. > If I go to the Edit EXIF dialog box, then the Title shows the same name as the caption was in Photo Gallery. KPA doesn't have a dialog box to edit the exif information. I'm assuming you mean the „Edit all metadata“ KIPI plugin. I just checked, and the plugin seems to ignore metadata coming from a host application such as KPA. > If I close that box, then the Description field in the Annotate Image dialog disappears. I suspect that is because the Caption box was blank (even though the box wasn't checked, BUG). Thanks for reporting that. I can confirm this is happening and that this is a bug. > If I go back and Edit Exif metadata again and this time change the Caption area, then that is copied into the Description of the Annotate Image dialog and it also shows up as the description in Eye of Gnome. It does not, however, show up as the caption in Photo Gallery. This is probably both an issue in „Edit all metadata“ plugin[1] and in Photo Gallery[2]: [1] When writing the exif ImageDescription field, the fields IPTC Caption and XMP dc:description should be synced (or at least cleared). [2] When reading the meta data, Photo Gallery should prefer the exif information over IPTC and XMP data. [1]+[2]: According to section 4.2.3 of the "Guidelines for handling metadata" by the Metadata Working Group (http://www.metadataworkinggroup.org/specs/)
Assigning to KIPI-Plugins since the report as a whole is a better fit for the „Edit all metadata“ KIPI plugin.
The kipi has already a "Sync JFIF Comment section" to synchronize this JPEG field with Exif, or Iptc or Xmp captions. Gilles Caulier