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they are attached to. Each element has a name and a value. Here is a definition of these 2 types of ele-
ments:
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Attribute: A read-only, system-defined element which holds certain information about a certain
node in the Metadata structure. This information can be static (e.g. the size of a physical page) or
evaluated on-the-fly (e.g. the number of documents in a group). Attributes are non-repetitive (i.e.
name is unique) and do not persist through Metadata recreation. (See also: "Metadata Attributes
reference" on page73.)
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Field: A read-write, user-defined element which holds custom information about a certain node in
the Metadata structure. Fields are repetitive (i.e. the same field may appear multiple times) and
persist through Metadata recreation.
When the Metadata file is viewed through the Data Selector in Workflow, attributes are listed under Pro-
duction information; fields are listed under User defined information (see "Metadata tab" on
page715).
In addition to attributes and fields, each Metadata node has a number of properties and methods. The
Boolean property selected indicates whether or not to produce the pages under that node. By default,
this property is set to true for all nodes. This property is not visible in the Metadata file, but it can be
used in a Run Script task via the Metadata API.
Metadata Tools in PlanetPress Design
PlanetPress Suite includes a complete set of Metadata-related functionality, which can be referred to
as Metadata Tools. These tools can be used to generate Metadata, retrieve or define Metadata ele-
ments, and build the Metadata structure of a PlanetPress Design document. For information about
these tools see the Design user guide: PlanetPress Design 7.6 User Guide.
Working with Metadata
A set of special Workflow plugins allows to edit the Metadata during a Workflow process (see
"Metadata" on page67 and "Metadata tasks" on page469). This topic describes what you have to know
about Metadata in order to be able to use these plugins effectively.
How data and Metadata influence each other
When Metadata are created, they are based upon a data file. However, modifying one file doesn't auto-
matically change the other, and Metadata aren't reset by default in a Branch, Condition or Loop.
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Modifying Metadata does not immediately modify the data. This is one of the benefits of
Metadata because you can sort it, filter it, sequence it, add data to it, without ever modifying the
data file itself. This is important because if you, for instance, filter out certain data pages from the
Metadata and then save your data file with the Send to Folder task, the full data file is saved, not
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