1. Tools for creation of formal metadata

err2html: Making mp's error messages more readable with err2html

Because the error messages generated by mp are somewhat terse, new users will generally have difficulty interpreting them at first. With time, these users will hopefully develop familiarity with the standard and with the typical error messages. Err2html is a small stand-alone application designed to provide an enhanced presentation of the error report in order to facilitate peoples' learning of the standard elements and the error messages that mp generates.

Getting err2html

Err2html is included in the standard packages of metadata tools by Peter Schweitzer; see Formal metadata tools and information for platforms supported and downloadable packages. Linux is supported as well as Microsoft Windows (95 or later).
Users of Windows may also download just the executable program. You'll only need the file err2html.exe

Using err2html

Like mp, err2html is run from the command prompt, which is typically found under "Accessories" in the Windows programs menu. You have to run mp first, directing its error messages to a file:

C:> mp myfile.met -e myfile.err

Here myfile.met is a metadata record that you have created using some other software. Run err2html specifying the error file as the input and redirecting the output to a new file:

C:> err2html myfile.err -o myerr.htm

Then use your web browser to look at the file myerr.htm.

How does err2html help?

• Wherever a standard element name appears in an error message, err2html adds the section numbers from the FGDC standard. Opinions differ as to the benefits of learning these section numbers, but some find them useful.
• Err2html color-codes the messages that mp has generated:
  • Green indicates an informational message such as Upgrade, which indicates that mp has modified an element to make the metadata conform to the 1998 version of the FGDC metadata standard.
  • Brown indicates a warning; you should try to understand why mp issued the warning, but it generally doesn't indicate a serious problem.
  • Red indicates an error, meaning your metadata doesn't conform fully to the FGDC standard. Note that some errors are worse than others; elements unrecognized or misplaced are more serious errors than elements that are missing or empty.
  • Blue is reserved for hypertext links; elements that are recognized by err2html will be linked to their definitions in the hypertext version of the FGDC standard that I maintain.
• A summary of the errors is given at the bottom of the web page that err2html produces.

Extensions

Err2html understands registered profiles but not less-formal extensions to the metadata standard. This is because it wouldn't know their "section numbers" and couldn't link their names to an online hypertext reference document.

Technical contact

Peter N. Schweitzer
    Mail Stop 954, National Center
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Reston, VA 20192

    Tel: (703) 648-6533
    FAX: (703) 648-6252
    email: pschweitzer@usgs.gov