Added a __getitem__(key) method to class Image in order to allow the use of the dictionary metaphor to access metadata tags.

TODO: define the corresponding __setitem__(key, value) and __delitem__(key) methods for completeness.

1 files changed, 26 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/src/pyexiv2.py b/src/pyexiv2.py
index 9435ba7..eefda51 100644
--- a/src/pyexiv2.py
+++ b/src/pyexiv2.py
@@ -286,6 +286,11 @@ class Image(libpyexiv2.Image):
 	setIptcTagValue -- set the value associated to a key in IPTC metadata
 	"""
 
+	def __init__(self, filename):
+		libpyexiv2.Image.__init__(self, filename)
+		self.__exifTagsDict = {}
+		self.__iptcTagsDict = {}
+
 	def getExifTagValue(self, key):
 		"""
 		Get the value associated to a key in EXIF metadata.
@@ -447,6 +452,27 @@ class Image(libpyexiv2.Image):
 			strVal = str(value)
 		self.setIptcTag(key, strVal, index)
 
+	def __getitem__(self, key):
+		tagFamily = key[:4]
+		if tagFamily == 'Exif':
+			try:
+				return self.__exifTagsDict[key]
+			except KeyError:
+				value = self.getExifTagValue(key)
+				self.__exifTagsDict[key] = value
+				return value
+		elif tagFamily == 'Iptc':
+			try:
+				return self.__iptcTagsDict[key]
+			except KeyError:
+				value = self.getIptcTagValue(key)
+				if len(value) == 1:
+					value = value[0]
+				self.__iptcTagsDict[key] = value
+				return value
+		else:
+			raise KeyError('Invalid tag identifier')
+
 def _test():
 	print 'testing library pyexiv2...'
 	# TODO: various tests