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itskaabi
Inspiring
August 30, 2025
Answered

How to encrypt a script using Floating Window & BridgeTalk in Illustrator?

  • August 30, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 604 views

Hi everyone,

I’m working on an advanced JavaScript (ExtendScript) file for Illustrator that includes a floating window UI and uses BridgeTalk for communication between UI and drawing logic.

I tried encrypting the script using Adobe ExtendScript Toolkit to convert it to .jsxbin, then wrapped it with eval("...") and renamed it back to .jsx. However, when I tried running it in Illustrator, it didn’t work at all—the script wouldn’t even open.

I suspect the issue might be related to the use of BridgeTalk or the floating window, but I’m not sure.

My goal is to protect/obfuscate this script before distribution, but I’m stuck at this point.

If anyone has experience with encrypting scripts that involve BridgeTalk and floating palettes—please guide me on the best way to do this.

 

Thanks in advance!

Correct answer itskaabi

There's a high chance a mistake was made when escaping strings in runnerCode. Could there be too many or too few backslashes, or are the quotation marks not closed?


@sttk3 
Hi again,
I just wanted to follow up and let you know that I finally found a working solution.
I separated the original script lines using the + symbol, wrapped all of them inside an eval("..."), and then exported the file as .jsxbin.
After that, I added the line:
//@targetengine "your_script_id"
right above the eval("...") block, and saved the result as a .jsx file.
I ran it inside Illustrator — and everything worked perfectly, just like before!
The floating panel shows up, and the Generate button now responds as expected.
Thank you so much for your guidance and your time — I really appreciate your help throughout this process!

1 reply

S
sttk3
Legend
August 31, 2025

It may be necessary to unify the targetengine setting between the file executing eval("...") and the code running in BridgeTalk. The original code's targetengine was removed during binary export, so please add it again.

//@targetengine "your_script_id"
eval("...") ;

 

A
Andy Swift
Inspiring
August 31, 2025

It might be simpler to build a CEP panel and dynamically load/decode the script.

 

It's just like building a web page and the tools are much simpler and more predictable.

 

You can validate the account before downloading the script, and store the script in localStorate if you want it to load faster in the future.

 

Feel free to ask for more details.

I
itskaabiAuthor
Inspiring
August 31, 2025

@Andy Swift 

Hi Andy,
Thanks a lot for the suggestion!

I actually tried converting anoter script into a CEP panel a while ago — but I didn’t have enough experience with CEP at the time, so I couldn’t get it to work properly.

Now I’ve managed to build it as a floating panel successfully.
However, I’m on macOS, and when I tried to run it in Illustrator, the panel didn’t appear under the Window menu at all.

I’m not sure if I’m missing something or if there’s a specific step I need to follow?

From my research, it seems that Adobe has deprecated CEP in favor of UXP. But apparently, UXP isn’t yet supported in Illustrator, so I’m kind of stuck in between.

If you know of a working setup or workaround I could use, I’d really appreciate your advice!

Thanks again!

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