UnitExifTool

Unit to use ExifTool in Delphi applications

Features

This unit takes advantage of the stay_open feature.
Commands are executed asynchronous.
Output of the ExifTool is provided by an OnReady event.

Usage

See the sample project.

Include the unit UnitExifTool in your uses list.

uses UnitExifTool;

Create an instance of TExifTool, or optionally a specialized class.

ExifTool := TExifTool.create;

Create has a optional parameter ACmdLine: string allowing a different command line to start ExifTool.
The default is: exiftool -stay_open true -@ -

Write an Onready Event, and connect that to the ExiftTool.

procedure TForm1.ExifToolReady(Sender: TObject; Content: TContent);
ExifTool.OnReady := ExifToolReady;

Content is a record, with the following info.

TContent = record
ExecNum: integer;
Request: string;
Response: string;
Error: string;
end;

Send commands.

ExifTool.Send('c:\sample\sample.jpg' + #13 + #10);

Sending only the filename will return already a lot of info.
Dont forget to add CR + LF after each line.

In production applications it is probably better to load your commands in a stringlist and send that.

Cmds := TStringList.create;
try
Cmds.LoadFromFile('cmds.txt'); // Refer to the ExifTool documentation
ExifTool.Send(Cmds);
finally
Cmds.Free;
end;

CleanUp.

ExifTool.Free;

The Free ensures that ExifTool terminates.

Build the executable.

Make sure the program finds the ExifTool executable. See the create method.

Compiler info

The source, and sample, can be build with Delphi Community Edition. Currently 11.3.

Tested on

Windows 7, 8 and 10. 64 Bits, with ExifTool version 12.63.