SDK: Programmatically load grid previews?

Question

Hey folks,

When importing new photos, the thumbnails are generated for only the visible photos on the grid. Scrolling down and stopping, Lightroom then triggers a process that loads the previews for the newly visible photos if they've not already been calculated. Is there a way to programmatically do this same thing, but for all of the selected photos (in this case the collection of LrPhoto objects being passed to my plugin by the LrCatalog getTargetPhotos method)?

I've done some digging but to little avail. One solution that works (but is jenky in terms of user experience and speed), is to iterate through the photos by changing the selection to each (using the LrCatalog setSelectedPhotos method) - each selection triggering the aformentioned update. But there has to be a more elegant way to this.

Any wisdom from those more familiar with the Lightroom Classic SDK would be greatly appreciated. 🙏

johnrellis · Accepted Answer

Unfortunately, there is no SDK function that does the equivalent of Library > Previews > Build Standard-Sized Previews. The only other workaround I can think of is to select all the desired photos and then invoke Build Standard-Sized Previews using a keystroke-stuffing utility like Autohotkey on Windows or the equivalent on Mac, which is fragile and can take some care to make reasonably robust.

David Wavid · Answer

Got it - thanks for the perspective John. Using a keystroke-stuffing utility sounds like a good workaround - though, one that will take ample testing to get stable! Onwards and forwards.

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