Extended Attribute

TS732, Win Server 8
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Whats the difference between extended attributes and metadata ?
Is it one and same ? If so, then why are these two different names being used ? Is TeamSite EA, some propritory kind of data ?
If they are different then how is TS extended attribute different from a metadata ?
I saw a post on this forum which asked similar question, but no clear answer was given. Even I asked one of my collegues, who has been working on TS for a little while. He didn't have answer either

Regards

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praveen t n

Hi,

I also was unaware of this and RTFM. Here is what I got,

The content store allows metadata to be stored for every piece of your content. The content store does this with what Interwoven calls extended attributes. Interwoven uses extended attributes to define proprietary application data for your pieces of content, but they also allow you to define your own custom attributes and your own custom content categories.

Extended attributes can keep track of key information about the file such as what data category it belongs to or which data record was used to generate the page. These are attributes set on the file based on interactions with FormsPublisher. You can also provide extended attributes of your own such as expiration dates or flags indicating that certain actions should be taken in the workflow for this type of file.

Looks like EAs are a subset of Metadata. (Correct me if wrong)

regards

Bhargav Coca

Any Property which is set on any file using iwextattr from command line or a script or a workflow task is classified as Extended Attribute. Any property on any file which makes that file searchable from a browser or search engine or any script/ query using that particular Property can be classified as Metadata.

One can argue that all Extended Attributes are Metadata, but not all Metadata are Extended Attributes.

Hope this helps.

ExcelDataSheet_PR.rptdesign

peculiar

Thanks.

So any property that is set on a file using iwextattr is an extended attribute.

I understand this difference now. I still don't understand, why extended attribute is created as a separate set of metadata ? What is a special need that required EAs to be created separately.

Regards

nipper

Thanks.

So any property that is set on a file using iwextattr is an extended attribute.

I understand this difference now. I still don't understand, why extended attribute is created as a separate set of metadata ? What is a special need that required EAs to be created separately.

Regards

You are arguing semantics. That was how it was built.

However how would you attach metadata to a file on your PC desktop ? Windows supports some (limited) file metadata, Unix as well. Not the same. Most people create an XML file to hold metadata about a file. Some types of files inject metadata into the file (images, HTML, etc).

TeamSite lets you define any custom metadata you want and attach it without changing the source. That is huge. If you want to remove it from TeamSite, then you have to use a special command (iwextattr) or toll (datadeploy) to do so.

peculiar

Thanks.

This explanation helps clear many doubts