I think those parts of the guide are saying about the same thing, the frist just using the newer term for the play event. A script doesn't really have events handlers, they have notifiers. That is say the script can get a notice that an event has occured. But the event has already been handeled by Photoshop. Even if a script triggered events, the event handler script would not be able to run while the main script is running. There doesn't seem to be a 'stack' for waiting script calls. If the call is block it's dropped. I don't see how event handlers allow communication between plugins. Nor do I understand how it makes code cleaner. Event handlers are about being able to respond to user's actions. You have control over what happens in your script. If you want to do something when your script does something then just add that part of the code to your script. ... View more

From the code in your original post it looks like you are using the CS-SDK( or Panel SDK ). I don't know how to create a file object with ActionScript. You may want to ask in the CS-SDK user forum. ... View more

The code I posted is an example of an event script that tests for foregroundColor change. When installed as a notifier it will run when the user changes the foregroundColor using the colorPicker or eyedropper. There may be other ways to change the color you will need to account for. You should of course replace the alert with more useful code. One way to install the event handler would be: if(!app.notifiersEnabled) app.notifiersEnabled =  true;// make sure notifier are enabled var hasEvent = false;// flag for event test for(var e = 0;e<app.notifiers.length;e++){// search the notifier for the event    if(app.notifiers .event == 'setd') hasEvent = true;// if found set flag } if(!hasEvent) {// if event not found, install    var eventFile = new File("~/desktop/setd listener.jsx");// replace with path to where you saved the event handler posted above    app.notifiers.add( "setd", eventFile, charIDToTypeID('Clr '));// event, jsxFile, psClass. Adding the class argument will limit when PS fires the event    // by including the class argument PS will only fire the event script if the event uses the color class. That should improve performance by not running the    // the event script everytime a 'setd' event happens } ... View more

try {   if (arguments.length >= 2) {     var desc = arguments[0];     var event = arguments[1];     if (event == charIDToTypeID('setd')) {       var ref = desc.getReference(charIDToTypeID('null'));       var cls = ref.getDesiredClass();       if (cls == charIDToTypeID('Clr ')) {         var property = ref.getProperty();         if(property == charIDToTypeID('FrgC') ){             alert('foreground color changed');          }       }     }   } } catch (e) {} ... View more

Yes, you will need notifiers. Depneding on how inclusive you want to be you may need quite a few. There are many things that can change the activeLayer. Select, Make, and Delete are just some of the events that can cause a change.. You also need to be able touse Action Manager to set-up and catch the events. ... View more

ExtendScript runs under Photoshop as it's host app. It has very little access to the OS. You can't access the keyborad buffer. As suggested you can create a script that does the same action as the shortcut you want to use then transfer the shortcut to the new script. ... View more

app.activeDocument.layerSets.add() adds a new layerSet to the document. So yellow would be a layerSet which doesn't have a kind property. You can only set the kind property of artLayers to TEXT( NORMAL is the default ). To add any other layer type you must use Action Manager. var yellowSet = app.activeDocument.layerSets.add(); yellowSet.name ='Yellow layer set'; newAdjustmentLevelsLayer(undefined,undefined,undefined,126, 255); app.activeDocument.activeLayer.name = 'My levels layer'; function newAdjustmentLevelsLayer( blackIn, whiteIn, gamma, blackOut, whiteOut ) {     var desc = new ActionDescriptor();         var ref = new ActionReference();         ref.putClass( stringIDToTypeID( "adjustmentLayer" ) );     desc.putReference( stringIDToTypeID( "null" ), ref );         var classDesc = new ActionDescriptor();         classDesc.putClass( stringIDToTypeID( "type" ), stringIDToTypeID( "levels" ) );     desc.putObject( stringIDToTypeID( "using" ), stringIDToTypeID( "adjustmentLayer" ), classDesc );     executeAction( stringIDToTypeID( "make" ), desc, DialogModes.NO );     var desc = new ActionDescriptor();         var ref = new ActionReference();         ref.putEnumerated( stringIDToTypeID( "adjustmentLayer" ), stringIDToTypeID( "ordinal" ), stringIDToTypeID( "targetEnum" ) );     desc.putReference( stringIDToTypeID( "null" ), ref );         var adjustmentDesc = new ActionDescriptor();             var list = new ActionList();                 var levelDesc = new ActionDescriptor();                     var ref = new ActionReference();                     ref.putEnumerated( stringIDToTypeID( "channel" ), stringIDToTypeID( "channel" ), stringIDToTypeID( "composite" ) );                 levelDesc.putReference( stringIDToTypeID( "channel" ), ref );                     var inputList = new ActionList();                     inputList.putInteger( blackIn!=undefined?blackIn:0 );                     inputList.putInteger( whiteIn!=undefined?whiteIn:255 );                 levelDesc.putList( stringIDToTypeID( "input" ), inputList );                 levelDesc.putDouble(stringIDToTypeID( "gamma" ), gamma!=undefined?gamma:1.0 );                     var outputList = new ActionList();                     outputList.putInteger( blackOut!=undefined?blackOut:0 );                     outputList.putInteger( whiteOut!=undefined?whiteOut:255 );                 levelDesc.putList( stringIDToTypeID( "output" ), outputList );             list.putObject( stringIDToTypeID( "levelsAdjustment" ), levelDesc );         adjustmentDesc.putList( stringIDToTypeID( "adjustment" ), list );     desc.putObject( stringIDToTypeID( "to" ), stringIDToTypeID( "levels" ), adjustmentDesc );     executeAction( stringIDToTypeID( "set" ), desc, DialogModes.NO ); }; ... View more

There are a couple of lists but I think the best way to find the IDs you need is to use the scriptlistener plug-in for things that can be recorded to the log. Some things don't log, so for those you can try using 'insert menu item' in an action, save the action, then either look at the action file with an hex editor or use xbytor's xtools to convert the action file to javascript. Here is a list of view related IDs charIDToTypeID("FtOn"); // fit window charIDToTypeID("ActP"); // actual pixels charIDToTypeID("ZmIn"); // zoom in charIDToTypeID("ZmOt"); // zoom out stringIDToTypeID("screenModeFullScreen"); stringIDToTypeID ("screenModeStandard"); stringIDToTypeID( "screenModeFullScreenWithMenubar" ); ... View more

csuebele wrote: While there may be a few number of actual scripters, the impact on our industries is huge! Not to put words in Tom's mouth but I think what he was saying is that Adobe needs to hear that from users that don't script themselves. It's those users that will put weight behind the request for resource from developer by letting Adobe know what they spend supporting scripting will pay off for more than just a hand full of active scripter. It worries me that some people like Paul have given up on scripting. It worries me more that it appears that Russell Brown has as well. His scripting page looks to me like it would scare off people that are new to scripts. I think what we need more than a code sharing is a way to expose as many users as we can to what scripts can do for their workflow. ... View more

I don't that that kind of rhetoric does little to help our cause. I think there are people working for Adobe that do care about our concerns. It's too easy to lump Adobe into one uncaring corporate monster when that is not the case. ... View more

I agree that the official documentation on using Action Manager in javascript is poor to non-existent so your best source is the user forums. I think PS-Scripts is better but I'll admit to being biased about that. If you wanted to reference a layer by name and the code you have references by index and you have a line that reads ref.putIndex( charIDToTypeID( 'Lyr ' ), i );// class,index property If you look in the javascript reference under ActionReference you see that putIndex has two arguments. The first is the class and the second it the index as a number. The charID 'LyrN' does map to the stringID 'layerName'. But name is a property so would be used where a class ID is required. Instead you  change the method to putName and it will use the name instead of the index. ref.putName( charIDToTypeID( 'Lyr ' ), layerNamei );// class,name properry Making a guess about which ID to use is never a good idea but I will admit that I have done that more than once. It is also true that the error messages are long longer very helpful. At one time Photoshop did have much better error messages for what caused the error. Not they might as well just say 'Error'. ... View more

mightysprite wrote: Is there really no way to access the transform via the "normal" scripting interface of objects etc? The short answer is no, you can not access the text transform value using the DOM. The snarky answer is actionDescriptor, actionReference, etc are DOM objects and executeAction is a DOM method so you can. ... View more

Yes, I expected the results would be the same. I just thought that having a two line text file with one line for the search terms and the second for the replacement terms was better than a one line text file. I think the two line text file is better because you don't have to count the terms to determine which is a search term and which is a replacement term. ... View more

can I ask you where does the BorderStyle: 'silver' come from? I don't where is comes from it has the same effect as the default borderStyle:"etched". The panel has the same appearence if you omit the borderStyle property. At least in Photoshop. ... View more

I would have made the text file a two line file. The first line would be for the search terms and the second for the replacement terms. 'Sun','Day','Hot' 'Moon','Night','Cold' Then I would replace these lines var theTexts = readPref ("….txt", false); var theArray1 = theTexts.slice(0, Math.round(theTexts.length/2)); var theArray2 = theTexts.slice(Math.round(theTexts.length/2), theTexts.length); with these var theTexts = readPref ("...filePath or file object"); var theArray1 = theTexts[0]; var theArray2 = theTexts.[1]; and replaced the readPerf function with this ////// read prefs file ////// function readPref (thePath) {     if (File(thePath).exists == true) {         var file = File(thePath);         file.open("r");         var textArray = [];         textArray.push(file.readln().split(","));// make array of search terms         textArray.push(file.readln().split(","));// make array of replace terms         file.close();         return textArray;     } }; Ideally it would have checks to make sure there are two lines and the number of terms match. ... View more

The code below is the same as pressing x to exchange the foreground and background. var desc = new ActionDescriptor(); var ref = new ActionReference(); ref.putProperty( charIDToTypeID('Clr '), charIDToTypeID('Clrs') ); desc.putReference( charIDToTypeID('null'), ref); executeAction( charIDToTypeID('Exch'), desc, DialogModes.NO ); ... View more

Would need to know if you are using the DOM or Action Manager before I can post an example. The DOM doesn't have a layerID and layerID is not the same as the layer index. The index can change as you noted but the ID doesn't. If you are using Action Manager I would use the layerID. ... View more

Apod42 wrote: I do start to believe that this is too much of a handful. It will be a handful. And how it's done will depend on which version of Photoshop you are using. It will require using Action Manager and adjusting not only the text string but either the text ranges( CS5 of lower ) or the text and paragraph ranges( CS6 or higher ). The text descriptor is massive and even as experienced as I am with scripting I would do this manually. ... View more

The DOM doesn't have a page setting in EPSOpenOptions but you can open a specific artboard( page ) using Action Manager. ... View more

the.real.nps wrote: But since I've already implemented the duplication-approach and it works, my question is - would restoring history states be significantly faster than the first approach? I think history states would be faster than dupe to new document. How much faster would depend on the size of the document and your system. However I also think that dupe to a new doc is 'safer'. If something goes wrong only the dupe is effected. I think that is why some of the Adobe script use the dupe approach. ... View more

I don't think you will be able to do this by actions alone. You will need a script that can do the needed math to convert your desired size in pixels( or inches ) to percent. In the GUI you can enter any unit in the options bar but Photoshop converts and stores the value as percent. You are not really resizing the layer in the same way the document is resized. What you are really doing is transform scale. ... View more

Seems to me that you only need to keep the cropped pixels because of way you want to do this. However if you want to do it this way you could create a history snapshot, crop and save the first layer. Then restore the document using the snapshot and crop and save the second. Or you may be able to just store the current history state in a variable then restore the document using that history state if you are only using a few history states to crop and save. With a snapshot you don't have to worry about the number of history states but it needs action manager. Storing the current history state can be done using the DOM. ... View more

You could dupe to new document and trim transparent pixels to do the crop. Or hide the other layers and trim. ... View more

c.pfaffenbichler wrote: Well, the Action Manager code approaches that (if I remeber correctly) you and Paul have presented seem fairly quick in contrast to DOM-approaches. Yes Action Manager can be faster and there are plenty examples of searching the layer stack using either the DOM or Action Manager. But even then you need some way to know which layer named "example" should be used. Is it really that hard to name the layers "top example" and "bottom example" or "example1" and "example2"? If the layer structure is always the same you could refer to the layers by index( position in the layer stack ) and not worry about how they are named. ... View more

It may be not what you want to hear but the best workaround is to have unique layer names. Otherwise you have to loop thoroug all the layers in the document and collect matching names. That is often slow, sometimes very slow. ... View more

What version of Photoshop are you using? Newer versions have a preference for 'Save as to original folder'. With that preference off you will not have to keep choosing the new folder. ... View more