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populating custom fields

I'd like to be able to populate a custom field with keyboard commands. This would be analagous to using option-1, etc., to add keywords to the Keyword field.


My custom field is called 'Type', and the population consists of Tree, Palm, Patio Tree, Shrubs, Vines, Aquatics, Annuals. I want to assign keyboard shortcuts for each of these terms and have the term populate 'Type'.


Is this even possible? I spend a fair amount of time with the Command Editor, but didn't see anything. Of course my fallback is to simply use keywords, but as I am already about a third through 5000 images, I'd like to continue.


Thanks.

iMacs: Core Duo, i7, several PPC iMacs and Powerbooks and iPhones., Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Jul 19, 2011 11:06 AM

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Posted on Jul 19, 2011 11:23 AM

Use OS X's built-in text substitution ("System Preferences→Language & Text→Text"). You'll have to turn it on in Aperture each time you launch Aperture, though.


Alternatively, use any of the several good text-replacement utilities for the Mac.


Added: I think it makes more sense to simply convert what you have to keywords, and put all the keywords as children of a keyword category called "aa.Type".


Simply filter on your custom field to group each of the already-labeled Images, and then apply the keyword to the assembled batch.


This makes more sense because you'll get more utility from the built-in keyword tools, and your application of the custom field can be ported to keywords with no loss of functionality that I can see.


Message was edited by: Kirby Krieger

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Question marked as Best reply

Jul 19, 2011 11:23 AM in response to Michael Spencer

Use OS X's built-in text substitution ("System Preferences→Language & Text→Text"). You'll have to turn it on in Aperture each time you launch Aperture, though.


Alternatively, use any of the several good text-replacement utilities for the Mac.


Added: I think it makes more sense to simply convert what you have to keywords, and put all the keywords as children of a keyword category called "aa.Type".


Simply filter on your custom field to group each of the already-labeled Images, and then apply the keyword to the assembled batch.


This makes more sense because you'll get more utility from the built-in keyword tools, and your application of the custom field can be ported to keywords with no loss of functionality that I can see.


Message was edited by: Kirby Krieger

Jul 19, 2011 12:15 PM in response to Michael Spencer

The organizational uses are important. Grouping like Keywords as children makes them much easier to find and use when using the Keywords HUD. And being able to collapse your Keyword HUD into a manageable number of top-level categories (just like an outline) is helpful in many situations. But the big advantage is this:


Using a parent Keyword as a category puts an entry in the Filter HUD whenever any on of its children Keywords are assigned to an Image in the currently active container. Thus you can filter any container easily using the Rule {"Keyword" "includes any of the following" "yourParentKeyword"}, and the filter will select all images that have a Keyword that is a child of "yourParentKeyword". (This saves you having to troubleshoot the results when you forget to click "Vines" while hunting down and clicking "Tree, Palm, Patio Tree, Shrubs, Aquatics, Annuals".) With a well-structured Keyword hierarchy, this can be extremely useful. At its simplest, you could filter Photos view as {"Keyword" "does not include" "Type"} and immediately identify all Images to which you have not added a "type" Keyword.


As a general practice, I promote specificity over concision. In this case, you should, imho, avoid the un-specific label "Type" in favor of something that will always specify its meaning to any user, such as "Type of Plant".

populating custom fields

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