Script to enumerate, and interactively modify File Properties (eg. meta-data)

Question

Hey Script Guys:
I am analyzing SharePoint capabilities for a customer and there are some things that they need that is not there, but so far it seems it is but can't be seen.
First two things are:
'Stored Procedures' - That is a way from within a rule or workflow to interact with an interpretive host.  Right now I use REXX, which has the INTERPRET function.  I can write a script into a text element, send it there, and get the results.  Handy,
but rough.  This is especially handy in validation situations, or re-mapping of data.
A way for metadata to be plugged into a file easily without using the Properties dialog (like read it from document fields, etc) so the Content Routing can be cleaned-up to be more fully automated.
Bear in mind I grew-up on Motorola Assembler, BAL and MASM to develop  ASIC's, process controllers, operating systems and compilers, so alot of this shell programming is still a little weird.  Be nice
JgEarl (FOG) sends...

Answer 1

File properties in WIndows are not part of the file. Some are part of the directory entry like the LastWriteTime and ReadOnly flag.
In Windows Explorer file properties like the internal properties of an MSWord document or an Adobe PDF file can be exposed if the vendor provides a support DLL that Explorer can use to expose these. They are not normally available to any program directly. 
They are only available via the "Shell" (Explorer) or via the application that manages the document.
In SharePoint the "library" or other container manages a set or properties defined by SharePoint.  For MS documents we may be able to use "shell" methods to tattoo the SharePoint library with this information.
None of this has much of anything to do with scripting.  It is e3xternal to the scripting system and can be accessed by the product specific support DLL such as the dll installed by MSWord and Adobe.
To access these things through the shell in script we must instantiate the "Shell" object.  In SharePoint we can do this prior to loading the document or we can load documetns that Sharepointas nan installed DLL for.
At this time I am not sure as to how SP does this.  I recommend posting in the SharePoint developer forum for information on how to access and build these extensions DLLs.  I believe you can also look it up in the SharePoint SDK.
Outside of serverside code or using a custom library I do not see how you can do this.
You can, of course, always generate a file of name/value pairs describing your files.  You can also add almost anything to the SharePoint library structure or create custom types to display your custom metadata.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯