Deep Meta Data
Turning Files into Content
Internal Meta Data
In Just-Snips, all assets have meta data, information about the assets themselves. There are several kinds:
Asset-Based Meta Data:-
This type of meta data is derived from the asset itself
- Size
- The size of an asset is calculated in bytes. This is how big the asset file actually is.
- Dimensions
- What are the dimensions of the asset.
For bitmaps, that is the width and height of the asset.
For TXT, that is the widest line and the number of lines.
For the other text formats, this question is a bit meaningless (suggestions?). - Dates
- There are three date: the date the asset was created, added, and last changed.
- MIME Types
- These are the types of asset formats the app can work with.
- Colors
- This app extracts the average and most frequent color of assets by scanning either for the text characters or a sample of pixels.
Scanning all pixels is time consuming, you can specify how big of a sample rate you want to use, globally or for each library. You can also specify how many of the most frequent colors you want to remember. - Content Hashes
- To find duplicate assets, Just-Snips creates a content hash. You can specify whether the hash is generated based on the binary format (sometimes including compression), or the actual content (expanded bitmaps). The latter is slower (as we need to read and scan the actual pixels) but also more accurate. It also ignores any changes to meta data.
App-Based Meta Data-
- Association with a library
- An asset has to be contained in a library or Snip. There are no stand-alone assets.
- Creator and Last Editor
- Each asset remembers who created it (importing counts as that, too) and who made the last changes (and when)
- Name
- Each asset has a name.
- Description
- Each asset has a description.
- Copyright
- Each asset has a copyright notice plus the creator of the library can decide if the asset can be copied from the library.
- Origin
- Each asset has an origin.
- Tags
- Each asset has a comma-separated list of tags.
- Favorites
- You can make an asset a favorite. That places it in front of the population display.
- Clones
- An asset can be cloned. A clone retains its link to its master asset. I can be reverted back to that master. Of course, a clone can itself become a master. This family tree of assets can be used to manage and track changes.
- QuickPicks
- A QuickPick Asset is linked to a hot key. Pressing that hotkey will copy the asset into the clipboard.
All meta data can be searched for using a PowerSearch.
External Meta Data
There are three different meta data systems Just-Snips supports: Windows, EXIF, and IPTV. Just-Snips can read all three.
At this moment, only the geo location of these file-based meta data can be changed. Given enough interest, this might change in the future.