What's the best way to create an extension for Adobe Animate in 2023?

[sunghoon jung]

Hello everyone, I have experience with python scripting in blender and appscript in google sheets.

I'd like to create extensions for Adobe Animate to help my teammates with naming and file import/export tools to prevent human error when they try to follow naming conventions, and to support batch processing for multiple or nested symbols.

However, from what I've researched, there seem to be a number of different ways to create extensions for Adobe animate, or major changes, and the website organization of them is confusing to me.

What is the best way to create an extension for adobe animate as of 2023? It would be great if you could introduce me to important terms and concepts, and tell me what web pages to visit.

[Vladin M. Mitov · Accepted solution]

Indeed, there are three types of extensions in Animate:

1. Tools
2. Commands
3. Panels (SWF and CEP)

As an example for a custom tool, you can explore the script PolyStar.jsfl located in the Tools folder.

Commands are essentially JSFL scripts placed in the Commands folder. They are executed once whenever you invoke them from the Commands menu. For instance, you can record a series of actions through the History panel in Animate and save them as a command for repeated use.

SWF Panels are additional UI elements written in AS3. Communication between JSFL and AS3 in these panels is achieved through methods like ExternalInterface.addCallback(), swfPanel.call(), and MMExecute(). To make these panels (.swf files) work, they should be placed in the WindowSWF folder. An example of such a panel is Code Snippets.swf.

As for CEP panels, I don't have information on them. Perhaps someone else can provide more details about them.

*All the mentioned folders are located in the program's configuration folder.
For Windows, it's typically
C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Local\Adobe\Animate YourVersion\YourLocale\Configuration\
For Mac, it's typically
HD\Users\YourUserName\Library\Application Support\Adobe\Animate YourVersion\YourLocale\Configuration\

[sunghoon jung]

That's a great overview. I like the idea of Commands/Tools without panels or UI elements to start with, so can you talk a bit more about JSFL? As far as I can tell, the most recent documentation for JSFL seems to have been written back in the CS5 days, and I'm wondering if there have been any updates or maintenance since then. Can you point us to the most recommended web page address in 2023 to learn about JSFL and Animate's API?

[n. tilcheff]

Here: https://github.com/AdobeDocs/developers-animatesdk-docs/blob/master/index.md

[sunghoon jung]

hello. I think the best roadmap for an animator coming into the Adobe Animate camp is to learn the basics of Animate and then learn EDAP. It's great to learn not only the tools, but the spirit of researching and pioneering paradigms. Is EDAP built using JSFL, SWF Panels, and CEP all?

[n. tilcheff]

Thank you for the kind words!

We have spent more than a decade slowly pushing the boundaries and trying to provide a flexible well-structured framework for digital cutout or hybrid animation, produced in Flash/Animate.

Yes. EDAP Tools are written in JSFL + AS2 SWF panels (for compatibility with the older versions of Flash).

My friend and colleague, Vlad, who replied to you earlier is the software architect of EDAP Tools.