Metadata Reference

Information about channels and feed items are stored as metadata (information about information), arranged in a tree-like hierachy.

A metadata entry can be one of two types:

For example, a channel's metadata might look something like this: 
                *
                |
    value       +-- Name            The channel's name
    value       +-- Description     The channel's description
    group       +-- Link
                |   |
    value       |   +-- URL         The channel's home page URL
                |
    group       +-- Author
                    |
    value           +-- Name        The author's name.
    value           +-- Email       The author's email address.
    value           +-- URL         The author's home page

The tables below list the different type of metadata currently recognized by Awasu. While each type of metadata can be used either as a value or group, in practice each one is typically used exclusively as one or the other.

The following metadata are usually used as metadata groups.
Metadata ID Description
Author Feed/item author.
This will have one or more of the following child nodes: Name, URL, Email
Contributor Feed/item contributor.
This will have one or more of the following child nodes: Name, URL, Email
Editor Channel editor.
This will have either a Name or Email child node.
Webmaster Channel webmaster.
This will have either a Name or Email child node.
Image Channel image.
This will have a URL child node and optionally Width and/or Height child nodes.
Icon Channel icon.
This will have a URL child node.
Category Feed/item category.
This will have ID and URL child nodes and an optional Name child node.
Link A link.
This will have a URL child node and any of the following optional child nodes: Relation, Name, MediaType, Language.
Comments Indicates where a feed item's comments can be found.
This metadata node is found in RSS feeds only and has a single URL child node that specifies the commments URL.

The following metadata are usually used as metadata values.
Metadata ID Description
ID Feed/item identifier.
Name Feed/item name.
Description Feed/item description.
Copyright Feed/item copyright message.
Language Feed language ID.
Published Feed/item published date.
Modified Feed/item modified date.
URL Specifies a URL.
Email Specifies an email address.
SkipDays Specifies which days a feed should not be updated.
This metadata is found in RSS feeds only and is a list of day numbers (where 0=Sunday).
SkipHours Specifies which hours a feed should not be updated.
This metadata is found in RSS feeds only and is a list of hour numbers (0-23).
Relation Specifies a relation type.
This is usually a child of a Link node and specifies the link's reltype.
MediaType Specifies a media type.
This is usually a child of a Link node and specifies the link's media type.
Width Specifies a width.
This is currently only used for RSS channel images.
Height Specifies a height.
This is currently only used for RSS channel images.
Size Specifies a size.
This is currently only used for link length attributes.

 

Default child nodes

If a metadata group is referenced when a value is expected, Awasu will check the child nodes for a value to return instead. This lets you write things like this: 
Editor: {%CHANNEL-METADATA% editor}
which will insert the editor's name or email address or home page URL, in that order of preference.

The table below lists which child nodes Awasu will check (and in which order) for each metadata group.
Metadata ID Check order
Author/Publisher/Contributor Name, Email, URL
Editor/Webmaster Name, Email, URL
Image/Icon URL
Category Name, ID, URL
Link URL, Name
Source/Comments Name

 

Special channel metadata

There are several special metadata pseudo-values that can be used with the {%CHANNEL-METADATA%} template parameter.
Metadata ID Description
HomeUrl Searches the channel's links and returns the channel's home URL.
Copyright! Checks the channel's copyright message and prepends it with "Copyright" if it doesn't already contain this word.

 

Special item metadata

There are several special metadata pseudo-values that can be used with the {%ITEM-METADATA%} template parameter.
Metadata ID Description
AwasuId Returns Awasu's internal item ID.
Name! Returns the item's title, automatically generating one if not present.
Timestamp Checks the item's modified, published and received times (in that order) and returns a string of the form "Last changed: ...".