Creating a metadata view
A metadata view is a collection of metadata fields that is applied to an archive. The Metadata View controls the fields that are in the different FotoWeb user interfaces and plugins, and whether they are read-only or editable.
Users may only edit metadata in an archive if they have been given permission to do so in the archive's access list, but at the lowest level, it's the metadata view that controls whether a field is editable at all.
Note: How metadata views affect uploading of assets to the system
The metadata view that is assigned to an archive also affects the fields users see and are required to fill in when uploading assets to an archive. By setting required fields, and optionally coupling that field with a taxonomy that has preset values, users will have to fill these fields in when uploading files to the archive. This applies to all means of upload to FotoWeb: from web browsers, FotoWeb Desktop, Adobe Extensions, and FotoWeb mobile apps.
Creating a metadata view
Start by choosing Site Configuration from the Tools menu. On the left-hand side, expand Metadata and select Metadata Views. Select the Add Metadata View button to begin. You can also clone an existing metadata view by selecting the Clone link for the relevant view.
Enter a name and describe the view using the Name and Description fields in the General section.
Adding fields
Below Name and Description fields, you can add the fields you'd like to expose in an archive using this metadata view. (See screenshot above.)
Fields that you add here can be assigned to Regions and Zones. These terms are used to describe the areas on the Asset Details page in the web interface where the information is displayed.
A Region is a group of fields with a group header and can contain any number of fields. Each region you create can then be assigned to a Zone Zones relate specifically to the main FotoWeb interface, where the asset details page has two zones: Quick Info is the zone directly below the asset's title, to the left of the asset preview, while the Asset Details zone is the area that holds the asset's preview and additional information tabs. Assigning a region to the Asset Details zone creates a new tab that holds those metadata fields. The tab will be named according to the region name you chose above.
Note: In the Pro interface, the Region will be used as a group header for the fields it contains. Zones are not in use in the Pro interface but you should still assign a zone to all regions so the metadata view can be used in the main FotoWeb interface.
Creating a region and adding fields to it
To add a region, scroll to the bottom of the Metadata View dialog and click the Add Region button. Name the region and assign it to zone, and then click on Add field to choose the fields you want to include.
Field order
Fields will be listed in the order that the regions and individual fields are listed in the metadata view. Both regions and individual fields in a region can be moved up and down using the "=" icons on each line. Thus you can control the "tab order" when using keyboard navigation with the metadata editors in the various user interfaces (such as the metadata editors in FotoWeb and FotoWeb Pro, FotoWeb Desktop etc.)
Important
If the metadata configuration is changed so that a metadata view refers to a Field ID that no longer exists in the master metadata configuration, the metadata editor in FotoWeb Pro will refuse to load. Should this happen, refer to this troubleshooting article to remedy the situation.
Setting field properties
Each field added to a region has a number of properties associated with it:
API: Lets you control whether this fields should be exposed though the API to allow other systems to read and modify its contents.
View: Controls whether the user can see the field in the metadata editors in the main and Pro interfaces in FotoWeb.
Edit: Controls whether users may edit the content of the field. If only View is enabled, field content will be exposed but not editable.
Important: Even if a field is editable, a user may only edit the field content is he has been given Edit text permissions in the archive(s) that the metadata view is assigned to.
Required: Controls whether the field is required. If it is, users will not be able to store the field if left blank. Users who upload files to an archive will have to fill in the required fields before they may initiate the upload.
Taxonomy Only: Controls whether text can be input in the field only using content from the associated taxonomy. (See paragraph below for more info.)
Note: Enabling some of these properties may also enable others automatically. For example, if you enable Required, Edit will also be enabled.
Taxonomy-related field properties
When a field that has a taxonomy associated with it is added to a metadata view, a user who edits that field will be able to choose from the tags that have been added to the taxonomy.
By default, the user will also have the possibility to add a custom tag that is not in the taxonomy. However, if the system administrator has decided that users should only be allowed to choose from the tags that are predefined in the taxonomy, he can tick off the Taxonomy Only option for the field in the metadata view. Then users will not be able to type custom tags into the metadata field but will rather be forced to choose from the tags that are defined in the taxonomy. Learn more about taxonomies!
Preserving the original dates of uploaded assets
When migrating content to FotoWare, it may be desirable to preserve the original date and time of the assets that are uploaded. This can be accomplished by enabling the Preserve modification time switch in the metadata set and associating that metadata set with the archive to which files are migrated.
Note: This setting is currently honored only by the web uploader.
Configuring the fields that are used in the Thumbnail view
On the Thumbnail View tab you can choose which fields to expose in the regular thumbnail grid. Below each thumbnail in the FotoWeb grid there is a container for metadata that's split into sections: Label, First line and Second line. The metadata shown in these fields can be customized using the radio buttons in the Operations Center as shown in the screenshot.
Note: You may need to clear cache in your web browser after changing the labels to reflect the update.
Additional fields
You can also specify additional fields and set the order they appear in, as well as in which user interfaces they should appear:
Desktop App: Shows the field in the FotoWeb Desktop apps and plugins (Uploader, Office plugins, Adobe Extensions)
Widget: Shows the field in the Selection Widget used in CMS integrations, for example.
Web: Shows the field in the regular FotoWeb user interface in the web browser.
Pro: Shows the field in the FotoWeb Pro user interface in the web browser.
Setting properties for built-in fields
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On the Advanced tab, you'll also see the list of Built-in fields. These fields - Title, Description,Tags, Status, Rating and Notes - are shown in all archives by default.
The three first fields, Title, Description and Tags are deemed the minimum required metadata fields in an archive and are therefore always editable for users who have metadata editing rights in the archive.
If you do not want users to be able to overwrite information already stored in these fields, you can map them to custom fields other than the standard ones (field numbers 5, 120, 25) by using the little Browse button next to the field assignment.
Note: The Tags field can only be associated with a bag field to allow multiple entries.
To toggle the visibility of a field, tick its View/Edit checkbox.
To also make a field required, tick the Required checkbox next to the field.
Tip: By default, the built-in fields are not exposed when uploading files to an archive. To allow users to add information to these fields during upload, add them to the Detail view tab in the Metadata View and then assign the metadata view to the archive in question.
What's next
Having created a metadata set you probably want to assign it to an archive.