.. _MetadataEditing:

Metadata Editing
================

Bridge provides a basic editor for metadata properties to create
ISO19139 metadata records. The purpose of this editor is to easily
complete a minimal subset of required metadata elements.

-   Title
-   Abstract
-   ISO topic category
-   Keywords
-   Metadata contact
-   Data contact
-   Access constraints (used for data license)
-   Use constraints (also known as Fees)
-   Metadata language

When publishing metadata to GeoNetwork, Bridge will
convert the metadata to ISO19139 format.

You can edit the metadata fields directly or click on the buttons beside each parameter to open the QGIS metadata editor.

Preview metadata
----------------

To show a preview of the metadata of the selected layer, click on the |previewmetadata| button

.. |previewmetadata| image:: ./img/preview_metadata_button.png

You will see the metadata in a new dialog formatted as a HTML webpage

.. image:: ./img/metadata_preview.png


Metadata validation
-------------------

Bridge can use QGIS built-in validation tools and display the result of metadata validation. Click on the |validatemetadata| button to validate your metadata.

.. |validatemetadata| image:: ./img/validation.png 

After validation a dialog with validation results is displayed.

.. image:: ./img/metadata_validation.png

Load metadata
--------------

If your layer has metadata in ISO19139 format, and that metadata is available in an additional file stored along with the data file, QGIS will not automatically read it (QGIS only has native support for its own `qmd` format), but Bridge can import it. Select the layer in the Bridge dialog and then click on the :guilabel:`Load metadata button` |loadmetadata|

.. |loadmetadata| image:: ./img/loadmetadata.png 

Bridge will look in the folder where the layer file is stored, and it will try to find a metadata file named either `[layer_filename].[extension].xml` or [layer_filename].xml` (that is, for a layer stored in `countries.shp` it will search for both `countries.shp.xml` or `countries.xml`). If such a file exist, and it is formatted as ISO19139, it will convert it to the QGIS metadata format and load it.
Note that aspects of the original ISO19139 metadata may get lost in the transformation. Also consider that changes in the metadata will not be automatically stored in the file where the metadata has been imported from.