Adobe 12040118 Using Help - Page 197

Adobe After Effects Help Using Help Creating User Interface Elements Back 197 Creating User Interface Elements A JavaScript framework for creating user interface (UI) elements is included in After Effects 6.5. This framework allows developers to use JavaScript to create UI components such as windows, panels, buttons, checkboxes, and so on. The framework--called the scripting user interface--is built as an abstraction layer on top of the windowing framework provided by the host platform on which After Effects is running. Both Windows and MAC OS X native windowing systems are supported. The motivation behind the creation of this scripting user interface was twofold: • To enable JavaScripts to create dialogs and interact with controls. This satisfies a fundamental need on the part of developers to create parameterized scripts, whose actions can be controlled more directly by the end user. • To extend the JavaScript environment to allow scripts to create UI elements dynamically. In this way, developers can create specialized interactive access to an application's functionality. Types of interface elements The following controls and UI elements are supported: • Panels (frames) -- (classname Panel) a container to group and organize other control types • Push buttons -- (classname Button) a button containing a text string • Radio buttons-- (classname RadioButton) a dual-state control, usually grouped with other radio buttons, only one of which is set • Checkbox buttons -- (classname Checkbox) a dual-state control showing a checked box (if true) or an empty box (if false) • Edit text -- (classname EditText) an text field that the user can change. • Static text -- (classname StaticText) a text field that the user cannot change • Scrollbars -- (classname Scrollbar) a standard scrollbar with a moveable element and stepper buttons to incrementally move the element. • Sliders -- (classname Slider) a standard slider with a moveable position indicator In addition, the given classnames described above can used in window resource specifications to define controls within a window or panel. See "Creating a window using window resource specifications" on page 203 for more information. JavaScript UI interface This section provides a description of the scripting user interface programming model. UI objects The scripting user interface defines Window objects that wrap native windows and various control elements (Buttons, StaticText, etc.), which wrap simple native controls. These objects share common methods such as "query the element type", "move the elements around", and "set the title, caption or content". For a complete list of properties and methods, see "Reference" on page 21. Using Help Back 197