How metadata are stored in the db?

[Dext]

I try to read metadata written by SNAP (directly from “postmeta” table of wordpress database) to include the date of last publish to different social site (several blogspot, several google+, ecc ecc) in my reports (that show statistics about every plugin i use).
Sometimes, i just need to unserialize (with PHP function unserialize() ) twice to get a valid array in wich i find the ‘pDate’ attribute (what i need). Sometimes instead, strings seem to be invalid serialized data… but the plugin can still read the correct date (i can see it in my /wp-admin control panel).
It’s possible to know exactly how metadata are stored in “postmeta” table of wordpress database?
thanks,
Dext

[Carol]

I have the same question too! How can i read directly from postmeta table? i mean, metadata whit meta_key ‘snap-BG’,’snap-GP’, ecc ecc
thanks in advance

[NextScripts.com]

Just use WordPress functions.

$postMeta = maybe_unserialize(get_post_meta($post_id, ‘snapFB’, true));

[Author]

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