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Inspiring
October 31, 2015
Question

Unable to launch extension for Photoshop CC 2015

  • October 31, 2015
  • 5 replies
  • 7980 views

I want to develop an extension for Photoshop CC on OSX using Eclipse.

I've installed Eclipse and the Adobe Extension Builder 3 package, and set up the basic template.

When I try to launch it, I get this error:

Launch Error

Unable to launch extension

Reason:

Could not launch Photoshop CC. Please check your installation and ensure that the correct launching path is specified inside Adobe Extension Builder 3 Preferences

I have gone into preferences (Eclipse -> Preferences -> Adobe Extension Builder 3 -> CC Launching Paths -> Target Applications) and made sure the path for all the applications are set correctly. I have updated all the apps. It still does not work, and throws the same error.

Anyone had this same problem and managed to fix it?

Thanks

This topic has been closed for replies.

5 replies

AmitGupta
Participant
November 23, 2018

I had the same problem and here is how I fixed it.

On Mac, when you select the target application as per the screenshot below

eclipse, automatically expands the path to the executable inside the package. The path to which it expands is "incorrect". Go to terminal and find the correct path upto the executable inside the package and use that path.

Hope this helps.

www.metadesignsolutions.com

Inspiring
January 21, 2016

Bumping this because I also have this problem and I'm getting annoyed by the poor state of Adobe's docs (which haven't been updated in a while).


So I've successfully installed Eclipse and Adobe Extension Manager 3, and now I'm on that "5 minute tutorial" which feels more like a 5 hour tutorial.

First problem is the Service Manager (CEP) paths in Preferences > Adobe Extension Builder 3

The paths are old by default. It seems that oliverIntergrafika is correct. It seems that Adobe has just abandoned this entirely (makes sense considering that the docs are old).

Second problem is CEP missing entirely, despite the fact I have a clean install
\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CEP\extension
Those folders don't exists so ok, I'll just create them..


Third problem I came across and which I'm currently stuck at is that Eclipse/Adobe Extension Builder 3 does create the extension for me ( com.example.Demo ) but it fails to appear inside Photoshop under Window > Extensions.

Note:
The paths provided by matias.kiviniemi are correct but will cause a problem - at least on windows 7. If I use those paths I will get duplicate /extensions/ folders on the hard drive.
Matias path: c:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CEP\extensions\ - results in this structure: c:\Users\martin.dahlin\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CEP\extensions\extensions\com.example.Demo\
My path: c:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CEP\ - results in this structure: c:\Users\martin.dahlin\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CEP\extensions\com.example.Demo\

So here I thought that Photoshop wasn't able to find the extension due to the duplicate folder, but even when I use my path in the example above (which gives me the proper structure) - Photoshop still can't find my extensions.

Participant
January 21, 2016

I managed to get it all working.

Check the manifest.xml. Make sure that the version of photoshop set in the ExecutionEnvironment is the current one:

<HostList>

  <Host Name="PHXS" Version="[16.0,16.9]" />

  <Host Name="PHSP" Version="[16.0,16.9]" />

</HostList>

You have to update the version with every new version of photoshop.

Also, if you want node.js support (you can use require() to modularize your code), Set the following under DispatchInfo/Resources:

<CEFCommandLine>

  <Parameter>--enable-nodejs</Parameter>

</CEFCommandLine>

The docs are scattered all over the web. A great help are the Adobe CEP resources:

https://github.com/Adobe-CEP/CEP-Resources‌ (Current is 6.1 which is only available as pdf)

and Davide Barranca's Blog: http://www.davidebarranca.com/category/code/html-panels/

Also check out GitHub - codearoni/generator-gizmo: Yeoman generator for Adobe extensions for a Yeoman generator that bootstraps a new Plugin.

There are 3 official Adobe guides for CEP plugins:

- Adobe Creative Suite Javascript Tools Guide

- Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 Javascript Scripting Reference

- Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 Scripting Guide

Regards

Simon

Inspiring
January 21, 2016

Thank you!
Updating the host-tag in manifest.xml did the trick, and I was able to launch my demo extension in Photoshop CC 2015 summer edition. Awesome!
Now I just need to make this into a package and the rest is just html, css and js!

DBarranca
Legend
November 2, 2015

The paths in there needs to point to the exec inside the Photoshop.app package:

Hope this helps.

Davide Barranca

---

www.davidebarranca.com

www.cs-extensions.com

Participant
December 8, 2015

Thanks DBarranca.

Unfortunately, I don't have any CEP folder, in any of the Adobe locations (Windows 32bit & 64bits + other directories).

I resigned for using Eclipse, switched to Brackets. They are buggy, but are helping with the initial setup. I will probably rely on manual packaging instead of using any of the tools.

I'm on Windows, and just for the protocol - the plugin project for Visual Studio didn't work for me too, here again I'm doing things manually.

matias.kiviniemi
Legend
December 8, 2015

Windows has (at least) two CEP locations

  • \Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CEP\extensions: This is where Eclipse/you copies development builds
  • \Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\CEP\extensions: This is where Adobe CC syncs the files if you install from Addons website
oliverIntergrafika
Inspiring
November 1, 2015

That Eclipse installatin is old, Adobe abandoned it or at least left it wiht old settings suitable for older version of PS I think. I had the same never solving problem, but luckily that IDE is totally avoidable.

Start from a pre build template extension and modify it. Better to use Sublime Text or Brackets to write code, Extendscript Tookit to debug .jsx, Chrome to debug html panels.

Participant
June 7, 2018

Hi. Where can I download the template extension?

matias.kiviniemi
Legend
November 1, 2015

Have not used EB in OSX, but try to change escaping the spaces in path like "/Applications/Adobe Photoshop CC 2015/" =>"/Applications/Adobe\ Photoshop\ CC\ 2015/" or vice versa. Alternatively copy the extension manually to ~/Library/Application\ Support/Adobe/CEP/extensions/