hermes

Collection of Utilities to Read/Write a Dataset's Metadata. Allows users to easily create and modify the metadata from the feature class. The data will be returned as a dictionary object for easy of use. This means users can modify values and push them back into the metadata by referencing the key names.

Why use hermes?

Metadata is the way users describe their data. XML is hard, but this tool converts the XML to a Python dictionary. This means metadata is easy to modify, change and add.

What inspired hermes?

The name was inspired by Hermes Conrad from Futurama and his love of filing paperwork. It also was developed to help people deal with metadata in the Python environment.

Requirements

• ArcGIS Desktop 10.3.x+
• Python 2.7.x

To use, just pass in the path of a feature class or table. The dataset can be any support ArcGIS format that support metadata.

Usage Reader Example:

>>> fc =r"c:\temp\scratch.gdb\states"
>>> pw = Paperwork(dataset=fc)
>>> print pw.convert()

Usage Update Example (add searchKeys to the metadata):

>>> fc = r"c:\temp\scratch.gdb\states"
>>> pw = Paperwork(dataset=fc)
>>> val =  pw.convert()
>>> val['metadata']['dataIdInfo']['searchKeys'] = {}
>>> val['metadata']['dataIdInfo']['searchKeys']['keywords'] = ['states', 'USA']
>>> pw.save(d=val)

The dictionary results explained:

All attributes begin with a '@' and will be inside the element tag. All text values will be stated as: #text : Example: xml<someelement myValue=1>i heart paperwork</someelement>

Results in:

{'someelement': { '@myValue' : 1,
                  '#text' : 'i heart paperwork'
                }
}

Example 2: xml <someelement myValue=1> <subelement tags="fish">my value</subelement> </someelement>

Results:

    {'someelement': { '@myValue' : 1,
                      "subelement" : {'@tags' : "fish",
                                      '#text' : 'my value'
                                      }
                    }
    }