Such complex file formats as EXIF, TIFF, JPEG-JFIF, PNG and some others contain a lot of non-image data generally referred to as metadata. ImageGear provides functionality to read the metadata during image loading, to store it with the image in memory, and modify metadata during image saving.
ImageGear for .NET provides two sets of API for working with non-image data:
- General Metadata API. This set of API provides unified access to metadata of all supported image formats. Non-image data itself can be of any possible complex type and completely depends on the nature of the file format itself. ImageGear processes this complex data through a single interface and provides uniform processing that does not depend on the actual data format and varies from information fields of such simple formats as BMP and PCX, up to the complex EXIF and IPTC metadata support in such filters as TIFF and JPEG.
- Simplified Metadata API. This set of API provides access to standard tags of specific complex formats, such as TIFF, EXIF, and IPTC. It takes care of the location of particular tags in the metadata tree, decodes and encodes complex metadata values, and provides structures and enumerations for data types according to the metadata standard.
ImageGear for .NET is responsible for translating this format-dependent data into a standard uniform format. As soon as an image is loaded, its metadata is accessible through ImGearPage.Metadata Property and ImGearDocument.Metadata Property objects.
You do not need to load image pixels to obtain the non-image data. Use ImGearFileFormats.LoadPageHeader Method to load DIB info and metadata without loading pixel data.
This section provides information about the following:
- Common Non-Image Data
- Accessing Non-Image Data
- Metadata Dictionary
- Updating File Metadata Without Updating its Pixel Data
- Working with XMP Metadata
- Simplified Access to Non-Image Data
