Read DataBase to extract categories

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iten.ramon
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Mar 07, 2016 5:42 pm

Read DataBase to extract categories

Post by iten.ramon »

Hi there

I'm new to this forum and I recently downloaded XnView to manage the large amount of pictures I have on my NAS.

I tried a few other tools, but XnView matched my expectation of such a program most, so I gave it a try. It seems that it does what I want, but there is one small part about this tool that may be a reason to avoid the tool:

Due the "importance" to manage my pictures and due the fact, that I will spend a lot of time to categorize the images, I would like to have read-access to the database, where the different categories are (probably) stored. The reason I want to be able to read the database is, that if I want to change the tool in the future, or I want to code my own simple manager (I am thinking about this since a while), I want to be able to port the data (mainly the categorizes) to this new program.

Does anyone know, if this is possible with XnView (or another "viewer/converter", which could for example export the database to an xml-file)?
I would be very happy, if this was possible...

Thank you very much for your Help

Kindest regards
Ramon

ps.: If you find any spelling or grammar mistakes, which belong to my English skills, you can keep them ;)
cday
XnThusiast
Posts: 4396
Joined: Sun Apr 29, 2012 9:45 am
Location: Cheltenham, U.K.

Re: Read DataBase to extract categories

Post by cday »

iten.ramon wrote:Due the "importance" to manage my pictures and due the fact, that I will spend a lot of time to categorize the images, I would like to have read-access to the database, where the different categories are (probably) stored. The reason I want to be able to read the database is, that if I want to change the tool in the future, or I want to code my own simple manager (I am thinking about this since a while), I want to be able to port the data (mainly the categorizes) to this new program.

Does anyone know, if this is possible with XnView (or another "viewer/converter", which could for example export the database to an xml-file)?
Do the any of these setting available in Tools > Settings... provide the options you need Ramon?

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iten.ramon
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Mar 07, 2016 5:42 pm

Re: Read DataBase to extract categories

Post by iten.ramon »

Thank you for your quick answer

Yes this partly helps, but while researching a while more, I've found a tool, which can extract all the data out of the SQL-Database.

The tool is "SQLite Database Browser" and it allows you to view the content of the database (and export to csv). For me, this is the better (easier) option than extracting the data from the metadata.

But still: Thank you for your help

Regards
jonha4711
Posts: 62
Joined: Mon Feb 08, 2016 4:35 pm

Re: Read DataBase to extract categories

Post by jonha4711 »

I've got exactly the same problem. I have to catgorise tens of thousands of images but I do not want to lose all that work when the XnViewMP database gets corrupted. The advice I received was "backup, backup, backup". While that is good advice, like you I'd prefer a way to extract the categories from the database in a human-readable format.
iten.ramon wrote:Yes this partly helps, but while researching a while more, I've found a tool, which can extract all the data out of the SQL-Database.

The tool is "SQLite Database Browser" and it allows you to view the content of the database (and export to csv). For me, this is the better (easier) option than extracting the data from the metadata.
As you've already found out, it is quite easy to read the XnViewMP database with some SQLite tools. I've done so as well in a couple of cases but the problem with metadata is that they're stored in a binary blob. Bummer.
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