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A
andrew_macfarlane-pffbOr
Participating Frequently
October 3, 2013
Question

Extendscript Toolkit just completely stops working?

  • October 3, 2013
  • 5 replies
  • 3879 views

Let me preface this by saying it has only begun happening on osx 10.7 and 10.8.   My laptop running 10.6 has never had this issue.

So I've had this issue before while freelancing - Periodically, and for reasons that I've been entirely unable to pin down, Extendscript Toolkit (the one that ships with CS6) will for all intents and purposes cease functioning.  I've been thick in editing code when I realize that it pretends to be working, but fails to run the code or even respond to keyboard shortcuts. 

Command-R does nothing, Command-C / Command-V do nothing.

Hilariously, Command-S does nothing. There are plenty of times where I have to manually drag-select my entire code and right click to copy it out into a different text editor to save my work. 

Thankfully, Command-Q still works. 

I'm really at a loss here.  In the past I've resorted to running my code via applescript, ft-toolbar, etc etc.  This leaves me working in the dark without access to a debugger.  Nothing spells fun like putting all your debugging info into an alert().  Until I can resolve this issue, I just have to drag my laptop with me when I freelance and use it to write all my code.

The only thing that I thought could cause it was 'enable javascript debugger' in the general prefs but that seems to have no effect.

---

Okay, I went and removed everything from 'startup' and changed some random preferences in EST.  (I always like to sanity check before asking questions on the internet) and LO AND BEHOLD, it seems to be working, after two weeks of not working.

I'd still deeply appreciate any and all insight into this issue, as it has already severely taxed my sanity.

Andrew

This topic has been closed for replies.

5 replies

U
urbanstarship
Inspiring
February 25, 2019

Not sure if this is related, but I was under the impression that ESTK wasn't working at all with After Effects, when in fact my script UI would end up hidden behind the AE UI when I brought AE to the foreground.

P
pose
Participant
August 20, 2018

I deleted the preferences of library folder and it worked again

Kevin J. Monahan Jr.
Community Manager
Kevin J. Monahan Jr.Community Manager
Community Manager
December 12, 2014

Hi Andrew,
I know this thread is over a year old, but was referred to today on social media. I cannot reproduce any of these issues. We had an update in After Effects CC 2014.1 (13.1.1) that may assist any current problems you are having with the ESTK. Please update if you have not already done so.


Thanks,

Kevin

Kevin Monahan - Sr. Community and Engagement Strategist – Adobe Pro Video and Audio
Nik Ska
Nik Ska
Known Participant
October 9, 2013

So did you find working solution? I'm now stuck with the same problem and reinstall does not solve my problems.

A
andrew_macfarlane-pffbOrAuthor
Participating Frequently
October 9, 2013

I've installed ESTK CC which has this problem slightly less frequently than the one that ships with CS6. I wouldn't call it a good solution. As others have suggested and I thought I implied, using an external IDE to do most of your actual coding may mitigate some of the painfulness. I have not found ESTK's 'automatic reload of changed documents' to be very reliable, but YMMV.

Nik Ska
Nik Ska
Known Participant
November 4, 2013

So this is not funny, I haven't been able to find the solution so far and I am literally blindfolded, working via Sublime.

Hey, Adobe guys, where are you? Win 7 64bit /AE CS6

A
Arie Stavchansky
Legend
October 3, 2013

I've experienced that as well. It seems as though ESTK is built as an Adobe AIR application. If that's the case, Adobe can cross compile ESTK's source it will run on both Windows and OSX operating systems. It would definitely be nice for Adobe to implement and build ESTK as a native app for both OSX and Windows, but I very seriously doubt Adobe would consider that unless the developer community stopped using it completely, or somebody else comes up with an IDE specific to debugging scripts with Adobe Apps. Using their IDE is a bit painful to develop with, I will admit, but I noticed in CC's ESTK, that an auto-backup feature was added to prevent data loss that might occur in a crash.

--Arie

A
andrew_macfarlane-pffbOrAuthor
Participating Frequently
October 3, 2013

I'm already doing everything in my power to avoid using ESTK as my IDE.

Non-monospaced font as the default font? Awesome. Adjustable UI brightness that only applies to interface elements and not the windows contained within those elements, like the debugging console? Fantastic. Automatic reload of changed files that works maybe a third of the time? Wonderful.

I would be using a 'pure' javascript ide if I could figure out how to link in the adobe app-specific libraries (if that's even doable), but what it boils down to is that I have to use ESTK because of the the integrated debugger. The integrated debugger is relatively excellent. When it fails at the only thing that I can't not use it for, words fail me.

Andrew

A
Arie Stavchansky
Legend
October 3, 2013

I feel your pain.

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