Adobe 65014293 Scripting Guide - Page 10

C

HAPTER

2: Photoshop Scripting Basics

Scripting Support in Photoshop

10

Scripts written in JavaScript can be accessed from the Adobe Photoshop Scripts menu (

File > Scripts

),

which provides quick and easy access to your JavaScripts. By putting a JavaScript file into the appropriate

location on disk, it can be accessed directly from the Photoshop menu.

To install a JavaScript in the Scripts menu, place it in the Scripts folder (

Photoshop CS4 /Presets /Scripts

).

The names of the scripts in the Scripts folder, without the file name extension, are displayed in the Scripts

menu. Any number of scripts may be installed in the Scripts menu.

Scripts added to the Scripts folder while Photoshop is running do not appear in the Scripts menu until the

next time you launch the application.

All scripts found in the Scripts folder and sub-folders are displayed at the top level of the

File > Scripts

menu. The addition of sub-folders does not add a hierarchical organization to the Scripts menu.

Executing other scripts

The

Browse

item at the end of the

Scripts

menu (

File > Scripts > Browse

) allows you to execute scripts

that are not installed in the Scripts folder. You can also use Browse to select scripts installed in the Scripts

folder after the application was last launched.

Selecting

Browse

displays a file browser dialog which allows you to select a script file for execution. Only

.js

or

.jsx

files are displayed in the browse dialog. When you select a script file, it is executed the same

way as an installed script.

Startup scripts

On startup, Photoshop executes all

.jsx

files that it finds in the startup folders.

➤

On Windows, the startup folder for user-defined scripts is:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Startup Scripts CS4\Adobe Photoshop

➤

On Mac OS, the startup folder for user-defined scripts is:

~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Startup Scripts CS4/Adobe Photoshop

If your script is in this main startup folder, it is also executed by all other Adobe Creative Suite 3

applications at startup. If such a script is meant to be executed only by Photoshop, it must include code

such as the following:

if( BridgeTalk.appName == "photoshop" ) {

//continue executing script

}

For additional details, see the

JavaScript Tools Guide

.

Executing JavaScripts from AS or VBS

You can take advantage of JavaScript’s platform-independence by running scripts from AppleScript or

VBScript. You can execute either a single JavaScript statement or a complete JavaScript file. For more

information, please refer to

Introduction to Scripting

.

Section	Page
Adobe® Creative Suite® 4 Photoshop® Scripting Guide	2
Introduction	6
About this Manual	6
Conventions in this Guide	6
Photoshop Scripting Basics	8
Scripting Overview	8
Why use scripts instead of actions?	8
Scripting Support in Photoshop	9
JavaScript support	9
Executing other scripts	10
Startup scripts	10
Executing JavaScripts from AS or VBS	10
Photoshop Object Model	11
Containment hierarchy	11
Application and document classes	12
Layer classes	12
Layer Comp class	13
Channel class	13
Selection class	13
History State class	13
Document Info class	13
Path Item, Sub Path Item, and Path Point classes	14
Preferences class	14
Notifier class	14
Count Item class	14
Color Sampler class	14
Measurement Scale class	14
The containment hierarchy and the Photoshop user interface	14
Additional objects	16
Constants	16
Creating a sample Hello World script	17
Creating and running an AppleScript	18
Creating and running a VBScript	19
Creating and running a JavaScript	19
Scripting Photoshop	21
Viewing Photoshop Objects, Commands, and Methods	21
Viewing Photoshop’s AppleScript dictionary	21
Viewing Photoshop’s type library (VBS)	22
Targeting and Referencing the Application Object	22
Creating New Objects in a Script	23
Setting the Active Object	25
Setting the active document	26
Setting the active layer	27
Setting the active channels	28
Opening a Document	28
Opening a file with default file format	28
Specifying file formats to open	29
Saving a Document	31
Setting Application Preferences	32
Allowing or Preventing Dialogs	33
Working with the Photoshop Object Model	33
Using the Application object	34
Using the Document object	34
Manipulating a document object	35
Working with layer objects	36
Creating an ArtLayer object	37
Creating a Layer Set object	38
Referencing ArtLayer objects	38
Working with Layer Set objects	39
Linking layer objects	40
Applying styles to layers	40
Using the Text Item object	41
Determining a layer’s kind	41
Adding and manipulating text in a Text Item object	42
Working with Selection objects	42
Creating and defining a selection	43
Stroking the selection border	44
Inverting selections	44
Expanding, contracting, and feathering selections	44
Filling a selection	45
Loading and storing selections	45
Working with Channel objects	46
Changing channel types	46
Using the Document Info object	47
Using history state objects	47
Using Notifier objects	48
Using the PathItem object	49
Working with color objects	51
Solid color classes	52
Using hex values for RGB color	52
Getting and converting colors	52
Comparing colors	53
Getting a Web-safe color	53
Working with Filters	53
Other filters	54
Understanding Clipboard Interaction	54
Using the copy and paste commands	54
Using the copy merged command/method	55
Working with Units	56
Unit values	56
Special unit value types	56
AppleScript unit considerations	56
Using unit values in calculations	57
Unit value usage	57
Setting ruler and type units in a script	59
Sample Workflow Automation JavaScripts	60
Advanced Scripting	60
Working with document preferences	61
Applying color to a text item	64
Applying a wave filter	66
Defining the area of a selection object	67
Applying a MotionBlur filter	71
Action Manager	73
The ScriptListener Plug-In	73
Installing ScriptListener	73
Action Manager Scripting Objects	74
Recording a Script using ScriptListener	74
Using the Action Manager from JavaScript	75
Using the Action Manager from a VBS Script	76
Running JavaScript-based Action Manager code from VBScript	79
Running JavaScript-based Action Manager code from AppleScript	80
Using ScriptListener to find event IDs and class IDs	81

Adobe 65014293 Scripting Guide - Page 10

Executing other scripts, Startup scripts, Executing JavaScripts from AS or VBS - photoshop

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