Adobe 65014293 Scripting Guide - Page 9

C

HAPTER

2: Photoshop Scripting Basics

Scripting Support in Photoshop

9

the size of the selected area in an image: “If the selected area is smaller than 2 x 4 inches, add a green

border; otherwise add a red border.”

➤

A single script can perform actions that involve multiple applications. For example, depending on the

scripting language you are using, you could target both Photoshop and another Adobe Creative

Suite 4 Application, such as Adobe Illustrator

®

CS4, in the same script.

➤

You can open, save, and rename files using scripts.

➤

You can copy scripts from one computer to another. If you were using an Action and then switched

computers, you’d have to recreate the Action.

➤

Scripts provide more versatility for automatically opening files. When opening a file in an action, you

must hard code the file location. In a script, you can use variables for file paths.

N

OTE

:

See Photoshop Help for more information on Photoshop Actions.

Scripting Support in Photoshop

Photoshop supports scripting in three scripting languages: AppleScript, VBScript, and JavaScript.

AppleScript and JavaScript run on Mac OS, and JavaScript and VBScript run on Windows. For information

about how to choose which scripting language to use, and for additional information about using these

languages with Adobe applications, see

Introduction to Scripting.

See

“Creating and running an AppleScript” on page 18

,

“Creating and running a VBScript” on page 19

, and

“Creating and running a JavaScript” on page 19

.

You can call JavaScript scripts from AppleScript and VBScript scripts. See

“Executing JavaScripts from AS or

VBS” on page 10

.

For a file to be recognized by Photoshop as a valid script file it must have the correct file name extension:

JavaScript support

For a JavaScript file to be recognized by Photoshop as a valid script file, it must use either a

.js

or a

.jsx

extension. On the Mac OS, there is no difference in the way scripts with the two extensions function. On

Windows, if the script files is opened from inside Photoshop, there is no difference between using the

.js

and

.jsx

extension. However, if the script is launched by double-clicking on it, a script with the

.js

extension is interpreted with the Microsoft

®

JScript engine, and it cannot launch Photoshop. For Windows,

using the

.jsx

extension is preferable, since it interprets the script with the ExtendScript engine.

Script type

File type

Extension

Platform

AppleScript

compiled script

OSAS file

.scpt

(none)

Mac OS®

JavaScript

ExtendScript

text

.js

.jsx

Mac OS & Windows

VBScript

text

.vbs

Windows

Visual Basic

executable

.exe

Windows

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 9

Scripting Support in Photoshop, JavaScript support

Page 9 highlights