Access Metadata from ArcSDE-tables using python

Question

Is it possible to access the metadata of a feature class in a ArcSDE-data, using arcpy / python (on Arcgis 10.0).

I suppose I could export the metadata to xml and parse the xml, but is there a more direct approach? I need to make a summary table of all the data in our database, with several elements from the metadata (author, last update etc. ). We always enter metadata for each new dataset in our DB.

Answer 1

I suppose I could export the metadata to xml and parse the xml

This is the approach that I have used successfully in the past.

I posted a script in this answer that does exactly what it sounds like you are talking about (creating an inventory of a geodatabase including certain metadata elements):

• Creating a table containing all filenames (and possibly metadata) in a File Geodatabase.

• warrieka: Great I am changing it to suit my needs right now.
• user2856: Sorry for accidental downvote. I edited answer so I could upvote instead as my vote was locked.
• Jon Lynch: You can use native SQL queries on the metadata field in the GDB_ITEMS table to read individual metadata attributes directly. This takes some effort to set up the queries, however is much faster than other methods.