SetAttr Meta for JPEG Comments

Help & Support
1

I recently had occasion to create contact sheets using Faststone Image Viewer (an excellent utility). Whilst playing around with options I discovered that Faststone supports the use of JPEG Comments for labelling images on the contact sheet instead of the normal default of image file name.

My first port of call was Opus' SetAttr META but after reading the Opus Help file it doesn't look like there is currently support for adding/editing image (JPEG) comments. Did I miss something?

For anyone else who is interested, an alternative is to use ExifTool (another excellent utility). Here is sample button code:

@nodeselect cd {alias|homeroot}\utilities\exiftool exiftool "-comment={dlgstring}" {F}
Regards, AB

Update

Aargh! On closer inspection, it would seem that Faststone allows the user to add/edit JPEG Comments directly. Just select an image and press I or click View --> Image Properties. I'd still like to see Opus SetAttr support but at least there is a very simple alternative.

2

I believe FastStone jpg comments are stored in the EXIF metadata section of an image, Opus also seems to write its comments into EXIF but into a different block that IMatch identifies as an XP comment. In addition to those two the IPTC section of an image has a comment field called caption, and the xmp block of metadata in an image has several locations where comments can be stored. I'm not positive of this but I think ExifTool writes comments to all three sections, IPTC, EXIF, and XMP.

In other words, it ain't a black and white issue for software makers to resolve. What one program uses for comments may be ignored by others even though technically both are right. There's a constant tug of war going on between software developers and camera makers about establishing a standard but nobody is giving an inch. My guess is Adobe will end up winning the battle in the long run since they're the biggest fish in the pond.