Skip to content

Image And Sequence Summary

Purpose, audience, prerequisites, and expected result

Image and Sequence Summary turns the active view's in-memory metadata into a readable report. Use it to verify identity, dimensions, channel/pixel format, file context, acquisition fields, or sequence frame/FPS information and to copy that report into support or processing notes.

You need an active view. Saved still images, native SER sequences, and image-list sequences provide the most complete reports. The expected result is a scrollable set of sections with selectable values and a plain-text clipboard action. The tool does not inspect pixel statistics or modify the target.

Reachability and availability

Item Current behavior
Path Image > Information > Summary, or Summary on the active image-view toolbar. The toolbar advertises Ctrl+Shift+M while that view has focus.
Enabled/visible when A view with an image is active. Opening the dialog disables the main-menu Summary for that parent view until the menus are next refreshed, as when another view is activated; the view's toolbar Summary and Ctrl+Shift+M stay enabled, and each opens another Summary window.
Supported inputs/state Still images, native SER sequences, and image-list sequences. Other sequence backends fall through to the current frame's image-metadata report rather than a sequence report. Masks, selections, display mode, and autostretch do not affect fields.
Outputs/side effects A transient structured report and, on request, its plain text in the system clipboard. No image, file, metadata, or history change.
Persistence None. No report settings are stored. Clipboard text remains under normal operating-system clipboard rules.
External dependencies None beyond the platform clipboard. No network, catalog, or external tool is used.

Before you start

  • Save the image or sequence first if you need meaningful file path, size, codec, and filesystem timestamps. Temporary workspace paths are intentionally hidden.
  • For sequence-level frame count and FPS, use a native SER or image-list view. FFmpeg-backed and raw-AVI views currently receive a current-frame still report.
  • Treat acquisition fields as metadata claims from the loaded file. A dash means unavailable; it does not infer a default camera value.

Procedure

  1. Activate the target and open Image > Information > Summary.
  2. Confirm the window title names the intended view. For a still, look for File Info, Image General Info, and Image Detailed Info. For SER or image list, look for File Info and Sequence General Info.
  3. Verify dimensions, channels, pixel type/format, CFA, and in-memory size before checking acquisition or filesystem metadata.
  4. For a native sequence, verify Number of Frames, Frames per Second and frame size. Sequence creation date is when a SER says its recording began, or when an image list was made, and - when the file states neither.
  5. Select individual field text if you need only one value, or choose Copy to Clipboard to copy the entire plain-text report. The action shows no success notification.
  6. Close the dialog when finished. A rename updates both the window title and the report's name line.

Complete control and action reference

UI label/action Type and unit Default Valid values/constraints Effect Enabled, hidden, or ignored rules Trade-off or side effect Scope Persistence
Summary Report Scrollable read-only section view Generated on open Parsed report sections, key/value rows, and free-text notes Presents the report in structured sections. Keys and values are mouse-selectable. A normal still/SER/image-list generator always returns content. If a supplied report is empty - as when the window opens while an edit holds the image - the view shows No summary information available. Image values reflect the in-memory metadata; the file's size and times are what the file system states when the report is built. The image itself is not re-read from disk. Active view Dialog lifetime
Scroll Scroll-area interaction Top of report Normal platform scrolling Navigates long reports. Available when content exceeds the viewport. Presentation only. Report view Dialog lifetime
Copy to Clipboard Push button Available Click Copies the entire report, as last shown, as plain text with HTML formatting removed. Does nothing if the platform clipboard object is unavailable; no confirmation is shown. Replaces existing clipboard text and may expose file/acquisition metadata when pasted elsewhere. Entire current report Platform clipboard lifetime
Close Push button/default dialog action Available Click, Enter when default, or close window Closes the dialog and re-enables Summary for its parent view. Always available. None. This dialog None
Image/sequence load or update Automatic action N/A Listener notification Rebuilds and rerenders the report. Sequence frame updates can trigger regeneration; native sequence-level fields normally remain unchanged. No disk verification occurs. Parent view None
View rename Automatic title and report update N/A Rename notification Updates the dialog window title and rebuilds the report, so Image Name/Sequence Name follows the new view name. None. None. Parent view None

Behavior and state model

The dialog selects one of three report paths:

  1. A native SER view uses the SER sequence report.
  2. An image-list view uses the image-list sequence report.
  3. Every other view uses the current image's metadata report. This includes normal stills and currently includes sequence backends not recognized by the first two checks.

The generator emits small HTML sections. The dialog converts headings and colon-separated lines into section titles and key/value rows, preserves lines without a colon as notes, and falls back to a plain-text Summary section if the expected heading structure is absent. It also stores an HTML-stripped copy for Copy to Clipboard.

Temporary-file service paths are cleared before display. When the resulting path is empty, file name, size, filesystem timestamps, and codec are rendered as -. For a saved path, the file size and the creation and modification times are what the file system states for that path when the report is built, and - for a path that names no file; the codec is the format the file's extension names. The report is not a save verification: it does not reopen the file or compare disk pixels.

Load, update and rename notifications regenerate the body on the GUI thread, from the view's document read under a lease that never waits: asked while an edit holds the image, the window keeps the report it shows and rebuilds it at the next notification. No manual refresh button exists.

The report reads typed values rather than a card's text. A number is written in its fewest digits, to six significant ones (300 sec for a FITS card spelled 300.000), and an exposure under a second that is a whole fraction of one as a camera writes it (1/250 sec). A fact nothing states reads -, a sequence's size and frame rate included.

Inputs, outputs, and metadata

Still-image report fields

Section Fields and source
Overview Image Name from the view's unique name passed to the report.
File Info File Name; File Size in MB; filesystem File Creation Time and File Modification Time in local time with milliseconds; File Codec, the format the file's extension names. Unavailable or temporary-backed values become -.
Image General Info Image Resolution (Width x Height); Image Channels; Image Format, the sample type, such as 16 bits (unsigned integer) or 32 bits (float); Image Pixel Format, what the channels are: Grayscale, RGB, RGBA or the colour space they state; CFA pattern, the four filters at the image's top-left corner such as RGGB, X-Trans, or - for an image that is not a mosaic; calculated Image Size (in memory) in MB.
Image Detailed Info Camera Model; ISO Speed, or Gain when the file states a gain setting and no ISO speed; Offset; Image Creation Date, the date the file states - for a camera file its Exif.Photo.DateTimeDigitized - or else the exposure start, in UTC to the second; Exposure Time in seconds, a whole fraction of a second written as 1/N sec; Sensor Temperature in C; Software Used. The acquisition facts are read from the image's acquisition record and the engine's reading of its header cards; a missing value renders as -.

The summary does not list statistics, histogram bins, processing history, WCS, SIP coefficients, or all FITS/EXIF keys. Use the dedicated tools for those.

Native SER sequence fields

Section Fields and source
Overview Sequence Name from the view's unique name.
File Info File Name; File Size in MB or GB; filesystem creation/modification timestamps; Sequence Type: SER sequence.
Sequence General Info Resolution (Width x Height); Channels; CFA pattern; Number of Frames; Frames per Second to two decimals; Pixel Format, the sample type as in the still report; Frame size (in memory) in MB/GB; Sequence creation date, the SER header's UTC start time, or its first frame's timestamp when the header states none, in UTC; - when neither is stated.

Image-list sequence fields

The image-list report has the same general fields as SER, but File Info labels the size Total files size and the type Image list sequence. The size shown is the sum of the sizes of every file the list names, measured when the list was opened, and - when one of them cannot be measured; the creation and modification times are the list (.anseq) file's own. Number of Frames is the number of frames the list names and Frames per Second the rate it states. For a list opened from its file, Resolution, Channels, CFA pattern, Pixel Format and Frame size (in memory) describe its first frame, read when the list was opened; a list AfterNight has just written states the description of the frames it wrote. Sequence creation date is the creation time the list's manifest states, and - when it states none. The report does not enumerate member file names or per-frame metadata. The view's dock tooltip shows the same report.

The only durable output is optional plain text placed on the clipboard. No metadata/history field is modified and no report file is created.

Performance and responsiveness

Report generation is metadata-only and normally small: it formats a fixed set of fields and rebuilds a modest widget tree. A still with recorded file size zero may issue a filesystem size query. No pixel scan, sequence-frame iteration, catalog lookup, or network request occurs.

Repeated sequence-frame updates can rebuild the same native sequence report, so pause playback if the dialog is not needed continuously. Clipboard cost is proportional to the short report text.

Worked example

  • Evidence mode: Source-and-test-derived.
  • Starting state, actions, settings, checkpoints, result, and limitations: For a saved SER sequence, the selected source path produces SER sequence plus common resolution, channels, CFA, frame count, FPS, pixel type and per-frame memory size. ImageReportTest holds a 640 x 480 16-bit SER of 1000 frames at 30 frames per second to 640x480, RGGB, Number of Frames: 1000, Frames per Second: 30.00, 16 bits (unsigned integer) and 0.59 MB per frame. For an image-list sequence the report substitutes Image list sequence and Total files size. InspectorWindowsTest copies a report to the clipboard and renames the view, but no project-data field value is claimed.

Warnings and limitations

  • Summary reports metadata; it does not validate pixels, statistical quality, file integrity, or whether the file can be reopened.
  • Temporary workspace paths are deliberately hidden and their file fields show dashes.
  • FFmpeg-backed and raw-AVI sequences do not enter the two sequence-report branches; they show current-frame image metadata.
  • Image-list summary does not enumerate files or aggregate per-frame acquisition fields; its frame fields describe the first frame, and its Total files size is measured when the list is opened, not when the report is built.
  • Sequence creation date shows - for a SER whose header and trailer state no time, and for a list whose manifest states none.
  • The toolbar Summary action and Ctrl+Shift+M are not disabled by an open Summary window, so repeated use opens more than one.
  • Copy replaces clipboard text, provides no confirmation, and may reveal local file names or acquisition metadata when pasted.
  • WCS/SIP, full FITS/EXIF tables, history, and numerical image statistics belong to separate tools.

Troubleshooting

Symptom or exact error Verified cause/enablement path Recovery Evidence source
Summary is disabled No active image exists, or this parent view already has an open Summary dialog. Activate a loaded view, or close the existing Summary dialog. ActionStateCoordinator.cpp; ImageSummaryViewerControl.cpp
File fields show - The image is unsaved/temporary-backed, or metadata/filesystem information is unavailable. Save to a durable path, reopen if disk verification matters, and open Summary again. common.h
A video/raw-AVI sequence shows image fields Only SER and image-list sequence checks select sequence reports; other backends use current-frame image metadata. Use the sequence workspace/status for backend/frame context; do not infer sequence totals from this summary. ImageInspectorContent.cpp
The report did not change while an edit ran The window never waits for an edit; it keeps the report it showed until the edit lands. Wait for the edit to finish; the report rebuilds on the image's update. ImageSummaryViewerControl.cpp; ImageInspectorContent.cpp
Copy produces no visible feedback The action writes plain text without a success notification. Paste into a trusted text field to verify, while considering metadata privacy. ImageSummaryViewerControl.cpp
Expected FITS/EXIF/WCS fields are missing Summary intentionally formats only its fixed common-field set. Open FITS Header, EXIF, And Astrometry Metadata. common.h; ImageSummaryViewerControl.cpp

References and provenance

  • common.h is authoritative for every still/SER/image-list field, unit, placeholder, timestamp format, and temporary-path rule.
  • ImageSummaryViewerControl.cpp defines report parsing, refresh, rename, empty/fallback behavior, and clipboard conversion.
  • ImageInspectorContent.cpp reads the view's document under a lease that never waits and chooses the report; the engine's SequenceDescriptor.h and CodecMetadataProjection.h define the sequence description and the acquisition facts the report reads.
  • ImageReportTest.cpp in Test_ControlsServices holds every report's fields, labels and placeholders; InspectorContentTest.cpp and InspectorWindowsTest.cpp in Test_ControlsDialogs hold the dispatch, the window, its clipboard copy and its rename; test_image_metadata_viewers_ui.cpp verifies the structured summary view, scroll/content widgets, and primary close action. Live layout was not inspected.