Adobe 23101764 Scripting Guide - Page 10

Photoshop CS Scripting Guide

6

Introduction

Legacy COM scripting

1

1.8 Legacy COM scripting

Photoshop CS supports legacy COM scripting as long as you modify the way that you refer to

the Photoshop application object in your scripts. For example, instead of saying:

Set appRef = CreateObject("Photoshop.Application")

you must change the above code to read:

Set appRef = CreateObject("Photoshop.Application.8.1")

No other change is necessary for legacy COM scripts to run under Photoshop CS.

1.9 New Features

•

Layer Comps

New to Photoshop CS is the ability to group layers into a "layer comp" or layer

composition.

A layer comp is a snapshot of a state of the Layers palette. Layer comps record three types

of layer options: layer visibility (whether a layer in the Layers palette is showing or

hidden);

layer position in the document; and layer appearance (whether a layer style is

applied to the layer).

Designers often create multiple compositions or "comps" of a page layout to show clients.

Using layer comps, you can create, manage and view multiple versions of a layout in a

single Photoshop or ImageReady

fi

le.

•

Web Photo Gallery

One of the most popular features of Photoshop is the ability to create a web photo gallery

out of a folder of

fi

les. You can now perform the same function through scripting.

•

JavaScripts get their own Scripts menu

JavaScripts now join AppleScript and Visual Basic scripts as

fi

rst-class citizens. You can

add your own custom JavaScripts to the Photoshop menu system. The JavaScripts you

write are displayed in the “File->Scripts” menu item along with several pre-built

JavaScripts that ship with the product.

•

UI for JavaScript

New to Photoshop CS is the ability to create graphical interface objects, such as windows

and panels, employing the JavaScript programming language. UI for JavaScripts is covered

in the JavaScript Reference Guide.

•

Paths

Although Illustrator is the premier path (or

vector

) editing application, many users want to

modify their path items in Photoshop. This release of Photoshop allows you to manipulate

the path items and obtain path points in a Photoshop document. Functions include the

ability to create, modify, delete and copy paths using scripts.

Section	Page
Photoshop CS Scripting Guide	1
Table of contents	3
Introduction	5
1.1 About this manual	5
1.1.1 Conventions in this guide	5
1.2 What is scripting?	6
1.3 Why use scripting?	7
1.4 What about actions?	7
1.5 System requirements	8
1.5.1 Mac	8
1.5.2 Windows	8
1.6 JavaScript	9
1.7 Choosing a scripting language	9
1.8 Legacy COM scripting	10
1.9 New Features	10
1.10 What’s Next	11
Scripting basics	12
2.1 Documents as objects	12
2.2 Object model concepts	12
2.2.1 Object classes	12
2.2.2 Object inheritance	13
2.2.3 Object elements or collections	13
2.2.4 Object reference	13
2.3 Object Model	14
2.3.1 Additional Containment Classes	16
2.3.2 Hello World Sample Scripts	18
2.4 Documenting scripts	21
2.5 Values	22
2.6 Variables	24
2.6.1 Assigning values to variables	24
2.6.2 Using variables to store references	25
2.6.3 Naming variables	25
2.7 Operators	26
2.8 Commands and methods	26
2.8.1 Conditional statements	27
2.8.2 Control structures	28
2.9 Handlers, subroutines and functions	29
2.10 Debugging and Error Handling	30
2.10.1 AppleScript debugging	31
2.10.2 Visual Basic debugging	32
2.10.3 JavaScript Debugging	33
2.10.4 Error handling	33
2.11 What’s Next	34
Scripting Photoshop	35
3.1 Photoshop scripting guidelines	35
3.2 Viewing Photoshop objects, commands and methods	35
3.2.1 Viewing Photoshop’s AppleScript dictionary	36
3.2.2 Viewing Photoshop’s type library (VB)	37
3.2.3 Viewing the JavaScript Environment	37
3.3 Your first Photoshop script	39
3.3.1 AppleScript	39
3.3.2 Visual Basic	40
3.3.3 VBScript	42
3.3.4 JavaScript	43
3.4 Advanced Scripting	45
3.4.1 Advanced JavaScript	45
3.4.2 Advanced Visual Basic	50
3.4.3 Advanced AppleScript	54
3.5 Object references	59
3.5.1 AppleScript	59
3.5.2 Visual Basic and JavaScript	60
3.6 Working with units	61
3.6.1 Unit values	61
3.6.2 Unit value useage	64
3.6.3 Changing ruler and type units	65
3.7 Executing JavaScripts from AS or VB	66
3.7.1 Passing arguments to JavaScript	67
3.7.2 Executing one-line JavaScripts	68
3.8 The Application object	68
3.9 Document object	72
3.9.1 Saving documents and save options	72
3.9.2 Document information	74
3.9.3 Document manipulation	75
3.10 Layer objects	76
3.10.1 Setting the Active layer	79
3.10.2 Layer sets	79
3.10.3 Linking layers	80
3.10.4 Applying styles to layers	81
3.10.5 Rotating layers	81
3.11 Text item object	81
3.11.1 Setting the contents of the text item	83
3.11.2 Setting text stroke colors	84
3.11.3 Setting fonts	84
3.11.4 Warping text	85
3.12 Selections	85
3.12.1 Defining selections	86
3.12.2 Stroking the selection border	88
3.12.3 Inverting selections	88
3.12.4 Expand, contract and feather selections	88
3.12.5 Filling a selection	90
3.12.6 Rotating selections	91
3.12.7 Loading and storing selections	91
3.13 Working with Filters	92
3.13.1 Selecting channel(s) to filter	92
3.13.2 Other filters	93
3.14 Channel object	93
3.14.1 Channel types	93
3.14.2 Setting the active channel	94
3.14.3 Creating new channels	94
3.15 Color objects	95
3.15.1 Setting a Color	95
3.15.2 Getting and converting colors	97
3.15.3 Comparing Colors	98
3.15.4 Getting a Web Safe Color	98
3.16 History object	98
3.16.1 Filling a selection with a history state	99
3.17 Clipboard interaction	100
3.17.1 Copy	100
3.17.2 Copy merged	100
3.17.3 Cut	101
3.17.4 Paste	101
3.17.5 Paste into command	102

Adobe 23101764 Scripting Guide - Page 10

Legacy COM scripting, 9 New Features

Page 10 highlights