Editing Names, Metadata, and Versions

Owned by Rumena Zlatkova (Deactivated)
Last updated: Dec 20, 2023 by Bala Harish A(AC)
4 min read

Renaming Objects

When selecting and viewing an individual object, change the object name using the Rename command. (v5.5)

The name includes any pseudo directories added on upload to Swarm, as well as file extensions retained. 

Tip

The original filename of the uploaded object is always preserved in the metadata. Under the Metadata section, select more and locate the Castor-System-Name field.

Versioned Objects: Renaming a versioned object marks the existing object as deleted (which ends one chain of historical versions) and creates a new object using the new name (which begins a new chain of historical versions). A reminder of the impact of versioning displays when attempting to rename a versioned object:

Editing Metadata

The Content UI allows addition and editing of custom object metadata directly in the UI, unless the object is immutable (see Understanding Unnamed Objects). While applications can also add and change object metadata, this interface allows correction and extension of metadata for a given object from the convenience of a browser. If an editable metadata field (such as x-acme-meta-color) exists for the object, it appears in the object's detail view, and the value (red to blue) can be changed or removed entirely. (v5.4.0)

Versioning

Metadata for the current version of the object is edited if versioning is enabled for the object's domain or bucket. One new version is created if several changes are made to the metadata and saved. Another version is created, with both sets of metadata if another metadata change is made and saved.

 

What Metadata is Editable?

The Content UI only exposes metadata that has been created by the organization or is otherwise appropriate to change.

  • Fields that are system-controlled or generated by the request are not editable. The ETag (entity tag) is a 128-bit number used to uniquely identify the object on the Internet, and it must not be altered by hand.

  • Custom metadata names are protected from overwriting. Update the Value of an existing header, but if the Name is updated, a new header is appended to the object and the original entry is preserved. To replace an existing header, create a new one with the correct name and value and delete the old one.

These are fields that are available for adding, editing and deleting:



Examples

Exceptions

Notes



Examples

Exceptions

Notes

Content-*

Content-Language
Content-Location
Content‑Type

Content-Length
Content-MD5

Validate changes when updating required metadata, such as Content-Type.

Swarm restores the last known value if attempting to delete required metadata.

Castor-*

Castor-OLD-Metadata

Castor-System-*

These custom fields use a deprecated format, but they may still appear on older objects.

X-*-Meta

X-Country-Meta
X-Zip-Postal-Code-Meta
X-lat-long-Meta





X-*-Meta-*

X-Zer0-Meta-code
X-Zer0-Meta-name
X-Zer0-Meta-division





Creating Metadata

The Content UI verifies the field name is valid for custom metadata in Swarm when selecting the Add (+) command to create new metadata. Follow these rules to name metadata:

  • Use letters with any mix of case.

  • Only use numbers and dashes (-) following letters.

  • Create unique field names (no duplicates allowed)

The case entered is preserved; x-foo-meta and X-Foo-Meta are the same field.

Viewing and Deleting Versions

Although metadata cannot be edited on historical versions (because they must not be altered in any way), the ability to delete them is available. The Content UI supports precise deletions of one or all historical versions of a given versioned object. (v5.4.0)

Viewing: Click on the drop-down arrow in the Version list to view and access the object's version history. The preview image above an object version updates when a prior version of an object is selected. Click on the thumbnail to open the historical version in another tab. Download it from there if needed.

Deleting: A prompt appears to verify which kind of delete to perform when Delete is selected for a versioned object:

  • Delete the object, which writes a delete marker as the new current version. Deleted objects can be restored, if needed.

  • Delete the current version, which removes the selected version from the version history. The deleted version cannot be restored.

  • Delete all versions, which removes the current version and the entire version history. These deletions cannot be restored.

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