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Creating a custom metadata editor

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This how-to provides a step-by-step procedure for creating your very own custom metadata editor for text input.

Creating a custom editor

Where: Open the program configuration (File | Configuration), expand the Metadata node, and select the Dialog builder node.

Tip: To modify an existing metadata editor, open it and then hit Ctrl/Command-E to jump directly into edit mode. Follow the instructions below to modify the field layout. This functionality may have been disabled by a system administrator.

The metadata editor designer is used to make custom metadata editor layouts. This means you can create a custom metadata editor using the XMP fields you defined in the metadata configuration. The editors you create here can also be exported and shared with FotoWeb for a consistent look throughout a larger system.

 

Creating a custom editor using the metadata editor designer

An overview of the Metadata Editor Designer

To create a new, blank editor, select New. To use one of the existing editors as a template, select it in the list and select New. In this case, the new editor will be named Copy of <old editor name>.

When the designer opens, you have three panels on the left side of the screen:

Editor Items lists all the XMP fields in your metadata configuration. Using the drop-down list, you can filter the contents by namespace or by field groups that you define in the metadata configuration. You can add group boxes for your fields and an image preview from here by choosing Other graphical items from the drop-down list.

Editor properties contains all the general properties of the metadata editor you are working on. Here, you can change the editor name, change colors, enable an ODBC connection for searching a database, write information in the editor back to a database, and more.

Item Properties will change based on the item you have selected in your layout. It allows you to set special properties related to the fields and other items in your editor, for example, whether certain fields should be required, whether they have a QuickList associated with them, and so on.

Creating a custom editor

  1. To add fields to the editor, go to the Editor Items panel, select the fields you want to add to your editor and drag them onto the layout on the right.
  2. To align the fields on the page, select them by dragging a frame around them or by Ctrl-clicking each field you want to align. Then right-click your selection and choose Align left/right/top/bottom from the context menu. Note that the last selected field determines the other fields' alignment.
  3. To adjust the position of the selected fields, you can use the arrow keys on the keyboard. If you wish to adjust the grid size, right-click an empty area in the editor and choose Set grid size.
  4. You can also make all your fields the same height and/or width using the options on the context menu. Again, the last selected field determines the height and width of the fields you adjust.
  5. If you need to create additional pages, select the little square at the top of the editor (next to the Default page label). You can rename and change the order of pages by right-clicking their label and choosing Rename page.
  6. If you want to create a group box around some of your fields, select them and right-click, then choose Create group box from the context menu. To change the group box label, click on the label and go to the Item Properties page, then change the content of the Label field.
  7. Now, it may be time to change the properties of your fields. Select one or more fields and go to the Item Properties page. Here, you can set properties such as QuickList support and sorting options for each field. Note that if you select several fields, the Item Properties page may not show all the field properties.
  8. If you would like to add a file preview to your layout, right-click an empty area inside the layout and choose Insert preview item. Then, size it and place it as you wish.
  9. If you want to adjust the tab order (the order in which the cursor jumps from one field to the next when you hit the Tab key), right-click a free area inside the layout and choose Set tab order. Then click the fields in the order you would like them to be tabbed between. To help you know which fields have had a tab order set and which haven't, the numbering turns green for the fields you have given a tab order.
  10. If you get the order wrong, start over by right-clicking an empty area in the editor and choosing Set tab order again. When you are done setting the tab order, click an empty area in the editor.
  11. Go to the Editor properties panel and enter a name in the Name field.
  12. Select OK to store the editor.

Note that this is not an exhaustive list of everything you can do in the editor designer. The right-click context menu, in particular, provides useful functions to easily arrange and modify the items you add to your editor.

Tip: When captioning files using the text editor you can jump from one field to the next using the Tab key. The order in which the text input marker jumps from one field to the next can be set by right-clicking an empty area in the grid and choosing Set tab order. Then select the fields in the order you want to jump between them.