Storing metadata separate from XML

My application supports several different forms, each representative of a different XML Schema. A user can add any one of these forms to the same collection in an exist db. Therefore, without being able to depend on location to indicate what XML Schema applies to a particular file, I need a mechanism to store additional metadata separate from the XML file itself.

I need to store some additional information about each file created, but it does not belong as part of the XML itself. Just as an image supports storing metadata about its size, etc. I need to store metadata about a file's author, type, title, etc.

Please point me in the right direction on how to achieve this.

Hi,

On Jun 10, 2009, at 11:06 AM, stacyladnier wrote:
Well, I hesitate to call it the right way, and there may be some
standards for this like JSR 170 (content repositories, the first
version which uses XPath).

Since you have the eXist db, you could put a metadata document alongside
the actual document.  It must have a different schema -- or the
same elements would be returned in queries that use collection().

my-doc.xml
my-doc-meta.xml

and the "my-doc-meta.xml" had the metadata. If the ...meta.xml
documents all looked something like:

<doc-meta>
   <editor>me</editor>
   <last-update>2009-01-01</last-update>
</doc-meta>

but if the two had the same elements, and you made queries like

for $x in collection('/docs')//editor

You would get data from both the actual and metadata docs.
So, you might have to put them in two different collections.

In your XForms, you can group multiple actions together in
the trigger element so you can make submissions for both
the doc and the meta doc.

Anyway, from here I can't say what the right direction
is.  The eXist list also may be reluctant to advise you
on architectural matters.  But I am sure there are ways
to do this effectively.

Good luck,
Hank


Hank Ratzesberger
NEES@UCSB
Institute for Crustal Studies,
University of California, Santa Barbara
805-893-8042







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stacyladnier wrote

My application supports several different forms, each representative of a different XML Schema. A user can add any one of these forms to the same collection in an exist db. Therefore, without being able to depend on location to indicate what XML Schema applies to a particular file, I need a mechanism to store additional metadata separate from the XML file itself.

I need to store some additional information about each file created, but it does not belong as part of the XML itself. Just as an image supports storing metadata about its size, etc. I need to store metadata about a file's author, type, title, etc.

Please point me in the right direction on how to achieve this.

Like Hank said, you can store the metadata in another document, and link the document to the metadata based on the document name.

If possible, I would just put the metadata in the same document, as this will make your code simpler for most operations.

Alex