Drupal doesn't really distinguish between "data" and "metadata" formally. Most things are "nodes" (item of content). A node has "fields". Whether a field is "data" or "metadata" really depends only on whether or not to choose to display it. There are also modules that add non-field "stuff" to a node, such as taxonomies, upload and attachments, etc. I suppose one could think of those as a form of "metadata", but Drupal doesn't really distinguish between the two, as I said, since those are exposed to the theme layer as well. Nodes have a reasonably consistent storage mechanism. "Add-on stuff" tends to have a storage mechanism per-stuff (all of it in the database, of course, except files which live on disk). The handbooks on the web site have more. If you still have questions, try the support@drupal.org mailing list, the forums, or the #Drupal-Support IRC channel. This list is more for active development of the core system. Thanks. On Sunday 18 March 2007 7:25 pm, Gabriel Rossetti wrote:
Hello,
I am trying to figure out how metadata is used in Drupal and I'm a bit lost. I am going to add new metadata to objects (nodes?) for a project I'm working on, and I came across flexinodes, node, taxonomy, relationships, and I need someone to clarify things up some for me. Are all things stored as the same object? Is an attachment (pdf, doc, jpeg, etc) stored as the same thing? Does it have metadata? Does regular content (non-attachment) also have metadata? Is it also stored like attachment metadata (if it has some)?
Thank you, Gabriel
-- Larry Garfield AIM: LOLG42 larry@garfieldtech.com ICQ: 6817012 "If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it." -- Thomas Jefferson