===== Meta-data =====

With meta-data, we identify all data that surrounds a slide, but that is not graphical. The actual pixels (or viewport representation) of a slide are //not// meta-data. [[working_with_annotations|Annotations]] can be considered meta-data in the semantic sense, but they're link to graphical activities as well. So [[working_with_annotations|annotations are discussed elsewhere in this manual]].

There is [[https://realdata.pathomation.com/how-to-handle-slide-meta-data/|a blog article]] that serves as a complementary tutorial to this blog entry. In [[https://realdata.pathomation.com/how-to-handle-slide-meta-data/|the article]], we consider 3 types of meta-data in PMA.core:

^ Meta-data ^ Location ^ Storage ^
| Intrinsic meta-data | Embedded in the slide's [[supported_file_formats|file format]] | File system or cloud FS |
| User-captured meta-data | Stored in PMA.core | PMA.core RDBMS (SQLServer) |
| External meta-data | Stored in own (customer) database | SQLServer or Oracle |

==== Intrinsic meta-data ====

This type of data can be consulted via the Image Management's [[image_manager#slide_view_right_panel|left panel]], or more directly via the [[interfacing_the_server_from_3rd_party_software|API]].

==== User-captured meta-data ====

In the [[form_management|forms management section]], data input forms can be designed that are subsequently assigned to virtual slides. These forms can then be filled in by the system's users while viewing slides. The data that users submit for each form are also available within this section.

==== External meta-data ====

No matter how powerful we make our own [[form_management|form management]], we realize that there will always be external data silos that for any number of reasons are inconvenient to bring to PMA.core in their entirety.

That's why we provide the option to [[external_data|establish links to external databases systems]] in a two-step fashion: 

 * first, you define the link to the resource (via a connectionstring). In PMA.core 2 this can be a SQLServer or Oracle RDBMS.
 * second, you define a query that retrieves the data from the RDBMS, and identify a way so that individual records can be mapped back to specific filenames.