With this capability, metadata stored in the file header in the Windows file system can be imported into ProjectWise. The Windows file system defines a common set of attributes for all files such as Filename, Size, Created (date), Modified (date), and Accessed (date).
Extracted file properties data displays on the File Properties tab on the respective file's Document Properties dialog in ProjectWise Explorer, and can be searched on like any other property from ProjectWise Explorer's Search dialogs.
In addition, Windows provides API’s for application programmers to extend the standard attribute list. Therefore, the list of attributes available for a given file may vary from file type to file type. When importing these properties into
ProjectWise, the administrator must decide which properties are worthwhile and which should be discarded. Again, this will vary from application to application.
File Property Extraction
Some of the Windows metadata may not be useful in ProjectWise, so you may be tempted not to import this information. However, there are many reasons why it may be advantageous to import key Windows metadata fields.
• When existing documents are imported into ProjectWise, the document created date is the date the file was imported into ProjectWise. ProjectWise does not maintain a file created date. Therefore, the date the file was actually created is inaccessible from ProjectWise. With file property extraction, you can maintain both.
• MicroStation has custom metadata fields for Title, Subject, Keywords, Edit Time, etc. However, this information cannot be used in the Windows Find Documents dialog. Extracting this data into ProjectWise makes it searchable and potentially reportable.
Enabling file property extraction in ProjectWise is a simple process. It shares all the common configuration parameters discussed previously for thumbnails and full text. File property extraction differs only in that the administrator must also specify which attributes to extract, which to display, and in what order to display them.
Exercise: Enabling file property extraction
1 In ProjectWise Administrator, right click File Property Extraction in the console tree, and select Properties.
2 Set the following on the General tab:
Extraction enabled: Enabled ProjectWise User: extraction Password: <enter password>
3 Select the Scheduled Updates tab and make the following configuration changes:
On the schedule, enable all periods for file property extraction
Check for updated documents every (minutes): 2
4 Click OK.
5 When processing is complete, you can view the results by selecting various documents in ProjectWise Explorer, and viewing their properties.
Once file property extraction has completed, the process will hibernate until it senses that there are documents needing to be updated. Based on the
configuration specified, ProjectWise will check every two minutes to see if there are new, modified, or deleted documents.
Exercise: Reviewing file properties
1 In ProjectWise Explorer, navigate to the folder \Document Indexing\MS- V8, right click CB1.dgn, and select Properties.
2 Select the File Properties tab.
You will see the entire list of properties stored with a MicroStation V8 file.
3 Close the Document Properties dialog.
Note that MicroStation versions prior to V8 did not support the COM Structured Store format so you can’t extract properties.
Exercise: Importing additional documents for file property extraction
1 In ProjectWise Explorer, create a new root level folder named FilePropertyExtraction.
2 In Windows Explorer, navigate to the \FilePropertyExtraction folder in the class data set, drag the files from that folder into the new ProjectWise folder, and drop them.
All extraction processes will process the new files during the next regularly scheduled update.
3 Once processing is complete, verify the files by viewing their properties. When the first file of each new type is processed, ProjectWise establishes a place in the datasource to store the custom attributes associated with the file type. This can be reviewed by selecting the Property Sets item from ProjectWise
Administrator.
Exercise: Reviewing and configuring Property Sets
1 In ProjectWise Administrator, select Property Sets under File Property Extraction.
You see items named Summary Information and Document Summary Information. You will also see an Order number column. The order number specifies the order in which these items will appear in the ProjectWise Explorer File Properties dialog. You can reorder the items simply by changing the order number.
2 In the console tree, select Summary Information.
You see a composite list of all attributes found under this heading for all document types.
File Property Extraction
You see a composite list of all attributes found under this heading for all document types.
4 Select Link Dirty?
5 From the right click menu, select Properties.
This is an example of an item that is used internally by some application. It is most likely of no value to ProjectWise users.
6 Enable Do not extract, and then click OK.
7 In the console tree, select Summary Information.
8 In the document view, right click Date Created and select Properties. This is an example of an item that you may want to move to the top of the list.
9 To do this, enter a number that is less than any current order number, for example, 900, in the Order Number field and click OK.
These changes are a sample of the many configuration possibilities. An administrator should further define the File Property Sets to remove all unwanted attributes, and then reorder the remaining items.
The reordering operation is effective immediately. You can confirm this by viewing any document’s file properties from ProjectWise Explorer. The Do not extract setting is effective immediately, but will have no effect on documents already indexed. To see the effects of this setting on existing documents, you will have to force them to be updated.
More about file property extraction:
• For file property extraction, the specified user account needs Read, File Read, and Write privileges. In addition, the user properties setting Document -> Modify must be enabled.
• File properties are stored in the ProjectWise datasource. The exact impact on the database size is proportional to the number and size of the properties extracted.
• File property extraction is limited to file types supporting the COM Structured Store concept. This includes MicroStation V8, but not MicroStation/J or earlier. It also includes common Microsoft formats such as Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. It does not include text, html, AutoCAD, or common raster formats. • It is recommended that the administrator import one file from each type and
allow the file property extraction to run. Afterwards, the Property Sets are populated with all attributes found in any of the document types. You can then modify the list as appropriate for your organization.
• Use of the Do Not Extract item causes the attribute field to be removed from the properties dialog. It is not necessary to use the Hidden setting in
combination with Do Not Extract to hide the item.
• The Hidden setting should be used when you want to extract an attribute but do not want to display it to the user.
• It should not be necessary to establish extension mapping rules for file property extraction. All Com Structured Store file types should be recognized regardless of their extension.