How can I integrate EXIV2 with FileLocator Pro to search more detailed information on my images?

Question

FileLocator Pro provides some EXIF searching capability but it doesn't provide full access to all data stored in the image, such as XMP and IPTC data.

The free open source product EXIV2 can extract much more information so is it possible to integrate this with FileLocator Pro?

Answer 1

Yes you can integrate 3rd party products such as EXIV2 with FileLocator Pro.

Step 1: Download the EXIV2 binaries

The first thing you need to do is download the EXIV2 binaries from the Download Page. For example version v0.26 is:
http://www.exiv2.org/builds/exiv2-0.26-msvc.tar.gz

Step 2: Extract the exiv2 binaries into a folder

Step 3: Create a batch (BAT) file to run EXIV2

Using the EXIV2 command line:

exiv2.exe -pa <image_file>

we can print all the meta-data in the image. (The EXIV2 command line options are described in the EXIV2 Manual Page.)

So, save the following batch file in the exiv2 location, e.g.
E:\usr\bin\run_exiv2.bat

"E:\usr\bin\exiv2\exiv2.exe" -pa %1 > %2

Step 4. Create a plug-in definition for the EXIV2 file types

We need to create a configuration file to instruct FileLocator Pro to use the batch file for image file types.

Save the following plug-in configuration file to:
C:\Program Files\Mythicsoft\FileLocator Pro\plugin_cfg\exiv2.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<InterpreterConfig xmlns="http://www.mythicsoft.com/FileLocator">
    <displayname>EXIV2</displayname>
    <uniquename>http://www.mythicsoft.com/exiv2format</uniquename>
    <progid>Extensions.ConvertToTextCommand</progid>
    <setup>"E:\usr\bin\run_exiv2.bat" "$(InputFile)" "$(OutputFile)"</setup>
    <filetypes>jpg,png</filetypes>
    <interpretertype>textconverter</interpretertype>
    <active>no</active>
    <safemode>no</safemode>
    <useisfilter>no</useisfilter>
    <nonreglibrary>extensions.dll</nonreglibrary>
</InterpreterConfig>

Step 5. Remove the default image interpreters

To stop FileLocator Pro using the default image processing we need to clear the existing file type associations by either renaming the plugin_cfg\jpeg.xml file or removing the extensions in the Configuration settings:

Step 6. Test out EXIV2 by searching for an image file and clicking on the Text tab

Try a simple search for just a single image, e.g.

File name:
Containing Text:
Look In:           E:\img_0567.jpg 

and then click on the Text tab to see what information FileLocator Pro can now extract for the image.

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FileLocator Pro will now use this text for future searching and indexing.