Scripting Access to XMP Metadata

XMPScript, the XMP ExtendScript API, offers JavaScript access to the Adobe XMP Core and XMP Files libraries. This chapter provides reference information for the JavaScript objects related to XMP, with their properties and methods.

This chapter is not intended to provide complete details of the XMP metadata technology. For more information about XMP metadata, see the XMP Specification at Adobe Developer Center.

Adobe Bridge CS5 makes the XMP library available in its libraries folder. Scripts must load the library at run time to use the API; it is not automatically loaded when Adobe Bridge launches. The XMPScript API is separate from the Adobe Bridge DOM. You can use it independently, to get and set metadata in supported formats; or you can use it with the Adobe Bridge API to modify the metadata that you access from files using the Adobe Bridge DOM’s Thumbnail object.

Note

Adobe Bridge provides a means of embedding metadata values in a script (to describe the script file itself) using XML delimited by special tags within a comment block. This is not related to metadata access for files and thumbnails. For details, see the Adobe Bridge JavaScript Guide.