"Copy EXIF User Comment to Comment" -- why?

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Silversleeves
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Location: Nordestlich VSA

"Copy EXIF User Comment to Comment" -- why?

Post by Silversleeves »

"Copy EXIF User Comment to Comment" is a command that appears in the Metadata sub-menu of the Edit menu of many recent Windows versions of XnView. I'd like to know why it's there, since I have yet to see a "User Comment" label or string in the EXIF tab -- in the Browser or the Viewer -- for any JPEG file into which I have written an EXIF User Comment (hex location 0x9286) by any number of means.

Why would anyone want to copy data from one field or block in a JPEG file to another when they can't see it to know what they're copying?

I have two suggestions that I hope will be considered for future Windows versions :
1. Make "User Comment" one of the tags displayed in the EXIF tab of the Properties window or frame, in the browser, in the viewer or in both, when such data is present in a file;
2. Take this command out of the Metadata sub-menu.

I'll wait to see what Pierre thinks of either one.

BZT
Silversleeves
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Joined: Mon Nov 27, 2006 6:12 pm
Location: Nordestlich VSA

Re: "Copy EXIF User Comment to Comment" -- why?

Post by Silversleeves »

I've just installed XnView 1.98.3 and I see the line for "User Comment" in the EXIF tab of the Properties window in Viewer mode.

I also notice there's a problem.

I've only viewed two pictures and their corresponding EXIF data (by the means mentioned above), and I notice that in each case, the first 8 letters or characters of the EXIF User Comment are missing.

It's like they've been cropped off, but Exiv2 (in both Cygwin and GNOME Linux) display these comments from the first character to the last.

Exiv2 happens to be the means by which I added User Comment data to both files.

Coincidentally, IrfanView also shows these files' User Comments without the first eight characters.

I will share this with the folks who write and maintain Exiv2 to see what their opinions are on the matter.

Cheers.

BZT
Silversleeves
Posts: 95
Joined: Mon Nov 27, 2006 6:12 pm
Location: Nordestlich VSA

Still crops in 1.98.5

Post by Silversleeves »

It's interesting how Windows 7's Explorer can read and display the complete Comment string, regardless of what application or utility was used to write it into a file, but XnView -- an application made for viewing graphic image files and their metadata -- still has trouble with this one particular tag.

I hope some attention is paid to this before 1.99 .

BZT
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xnview
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Re: Still crops in 1.98.5

Post by xnview »

Silversleeves wrote:It's interesting how Windows 7's Explorer can read and display the complete Comment string, regardless of what application or utility was used to write it into a file, but XnView -- an application made for viewing graphic image files and their metadata -- still has trouble with this one particular tag.
Could you send me a sample with problem?
Pierre.
Silversleeves
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Joined: Mon Nov 27, 2006 6:12 pm
Location: Nordestlich VSA

Re: Still crops in 1.98.5

Post by Silversleeves »

xnview wrote: Could you send me a sample with problem?
I just did so this morning. It's a pretty good example of the problem, as I used the same string for EXIF Image Description, which displays in full in XnView. I sent an original file and three modified "window shots" from, besides XnView, the Windows 7 Explorer (focusing on the Details pane) and A. Gateau's Gwenview for Linux. I hope the latter three prove helpful.

Thanks for the quick response.

BZT