Moving a layer in Photoshop CS5 using Applescript

In any language the way to move a layer x,y is to use translate… You will need to do the math from current x,y to required x,y given a distance… A read only property is just that regardless of language… Here is a quick example of how I did this kind of thing using Applescript… I still do the same method now but use the ESTK instead…

tell application "Adobe Photoshop CS2"

activate

-- Store the app settings

set User_Rulers to ruler units of settings

set User_Dialogs to display dialogs

set ruler units of settings to pixel units

set display dialogs to never

set Doc_Ref to the current document

tell Doc_Ref

-- Store the image res so we can put it back

set Original_Res to resolution

-- Change to work at 72 dpi

resize image resolution 72 resample method none

-- Move horizontal 1 inch

translate layer 1 delta x 72 as pixels

-- Move vertical 1 inch

translate layer 1 delta y 72 as pixels

-- Read the bounds propety

set Layer_Bounds to bounds of layer 1

log Layer_Bounds

-- Move the layer using bounds to top/left

translate layer 1 delta x -(item 1 of Layer_Bounds) as pixels

translate layer 1 delta y -(item 2 of Layer_Bounds) as pixels

-- Put back the image res

resize image resolution Original_Res resample method none

end tell

-- Put back the app settings

set ruler units of settings to User_Rulers

set display dialogs to User_Dialogs

end tell

You should get the general idea of how this works from this. It should move the first layer across 1 inch, down i inch then put it top/left. It assumes you have a layer that is not a background layer nor is it locked in any way…