Creating a Vector Mask from a Path

Saying that... how do I do that manually?

If you have a non-background layer as active then you can select the path and go menubar/layer/vector mask/current path… done…

You can do the same with script like so…

#target photoshop

var doc = app.activeDocument;

doc.pathItems.getByName('Work Path').select();

pathtoVectorMask();

doc.pathItems.getByName('Work Path').remove();

function pathtoVectorMask() {
     function cTID(s) { return app.charIDToTypeID(s); };
     function sTID(s) { return app.stringIDToTypeID(s); };

          var desc27 = new ActionDescriptor();
          var ref11 = new ActionReference();
          ref11.putClass( cTID('Path') );
          desc27.putReference( cTID('null'), ref11 );
          var ref12 = new ActionReference();
          ref12.putEnumerated( cTID('Path'), cTID('Path'), sTID('vectorMask') );
          desc27.putReference( cTID('At  '), ref12 );
          var ref13 = new ActionReference();
          ref13.putEnumerated( cTID('Path'), cTID('Ordn'), cTID('Trgt') );
          desc27.putReference( cTID('Usng'), ref13 );
     executeAction( cTID('Mk  '), desc27, DialogModes.NO );
};

The above assumes… 1. you have a document open… 2. your active layer is NOT background 3. you have a path called 'Work Path'… there may be some other checks that you should make too…