Re: Remove EXIF metadata from photos stored in BLOB in Oracle table

Hi, Sallie

I haven't tried specifically stripping EXIF metadata, but I have worked successfully with images in the database using the Intermedia packages. In 12.2 that's now Multimedia and changed somewhat, but it should still be possible.
(Just had a thought - if the vendor package for removing EXIF is using Intermedia, perhaps the upgrade to 12.2 might be the cause of it not working, as there's been some changes in that area?)

I'm thinking something along the lines of using package function ORD_IMAGE.GET_METADATA first to extract all of the metadata from the image: https://docs.oracle.com/en/database/oracle/oracle-database/12.2/aivug/oracle-multimedia-ORD_IMAGE-plsql-package.html#GUID-1C40F7F6-8912-4D97-A767-795C62E28A89

That'll give you XML with all the metadata. Then I'd remove the EXIF part from the XML, leaving you with a metadata XML without EXIF but with the rest of the metadata.

And then use ORD_IMAGE.PUT_METADATA to create a new image BLOB where the metadata is overwritten with your new EXIF-free metadata XML: https://docs.oracle.com/en/database/oracle/oracle-database/12.2/aivug/oracle-multimedia-ORD_IMAGE-plsql-package.html#GUID-AF2CAD67-D19E-4562-A55E-E8D028E1FAD0

You can also find some more examples of this type of working with metadata in this doc chapter:
https://docs.oracle.com/en/database/oracle/oracle-database/12.2/imurg/working-with-metadata-in-oracle-multimedia-images.html#GUID-44CDCBB1-6180-4B21-92BD-AE84ECCF44D9

As I said, I haven't tried it - but it ought to be doable ;-) (It might even be something like the above that the vendor is doing, just using old Intermedia code?)

Cheerio
/Kim

Regards

Kim Berg Hansen
Senior Consultant at Trivadis
Oracle ACE Director

http://www.kibeha.dk
kibeha_at_kibeha.dk
_at_kibeha <http://twitter.com/kibeha>

On Tue, Jul 23, 2019 at 5:04 PM Sallie Cottingham < Sallie.Cottingham_at_cot.tn.gov> wrote:

> Hi Everyone –
>
> We are using a vendor application that stores photos uploaded by users in
> a BLOB column in an Oracle table. Some but not all of the images have EXIF
> metadata. This is a property assessments application and the reports are
> using Oracle Forms and Reports 10g. Yes I know all of this is just wrong,
> but I’m working with the hand I’ve been dealt….
>
>
>
> We recently upgraded our RAC database to Oracle 12.2. Everything is going
> fine, except one of the reports which may include photos. It is basically
> a report for a specific property that has address, location, etc and
> sometimes photos. We have been working with the vendor for many days right
> now trying to get this resolved.
>
>
> The one thing that we have found is that the reports having the issue have
> photos that include EXIF metadata. Knowing that Oracle FRS 10g can’t
> handle EXIF, the vendor has a package written that is supposed to convert
> the image so that it is readable. This doesn’t seem to be working but no
> one knows why. We have found that the user can download the offending
> image, rename it and then upload it back into the application and it works
> just fine.
>
>
>
> We have almost 40,000 photos that have EXIF metadata and can’t possibly go
> thru one-by-one. So while we know this isn’t the long term solution we are
> thinking that if we can write a script or find a third party tool to help
> with this, then we could make our customers happy.
>
>
>
> So, have any of you ever had a need to strip EXIF metadata from an image
> that is stored as a BLOB in an Oracle table? Any suggestions would be
> helpful!
>
>
>
> Thanks!
>
>
>
> *Sallie Cottingham, OCP*
>
> Database Administrator
>
> Comptroller of the Treasury
>
> Technology Solutions
>
> 425 Fifth Avenue North
>
> Nashville, TN 37243-34001
>
> *sallie.Cottingham_at_cot.tn.gov <sallie.Cottingham_at_cot.tn.gov>*
> 615-401-7962
>
>
>
>
>
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>

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