delete one guide at a time [2012]

[bala281972]

Hi

any idea on how to delete/remove one guide at a time pl. I've gone through the forum which clears all the guides but couldnt find any help on deleting guides one at a time.

Any possible solution

[Michael_L_Hale]

With version greater than CS4 guides are part of the Object Model.

app.activeDocument.guides.length;// number of guides in document
app.activeDocument.guides[0].remove();// remove a guide by index

The index is in the order the guides were created.

You can also determine where a guide is by looking at it's coordinate and direction priperties.

[Ghoulfool-Rz4oxM]

And for those mere motals using the Ludditian CS2? I noticed that the script listener doesn't pick up on guide deletion. And since they're not part of the the object model it's gonna be quite difficult to remove them (or even move them to off the canvas)

[Michael_L_Hale]

Yes, with older versions you are stuck with using Action Manger to work with guides. And as far as I can tell you can't remove a single guide with AM code.

You can remove all guides and you can create guides. I also have code that will let you get info about the current guides in a document. With that you could get the info about the guides in a document, remove all the guides, then add back the ones you want to keep. Not pretty but it should work. Here is the code.

To get guide info:

#target photoshop
app.bringToFront();
/* the info about guides can be found in the photoshop tag hex 35 42 49 4D 04 08
   the length of the tag is found at offset 11. that value is the length to the next tag
   the number of guides can be found at offset 27. From that point the data repeats
   for each guide. 4 bytes for the location. That value / 32 = pixels
   and one byte for type 0 = vert and 1 = horz
   Note: this info is just a best guess from looking at the data
*/
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// Function: getGuideInfo
// Description: Saves the document as a temp jpg file
//                        and extracts the info about the guides
//                        in document if any
// Usage: var guides = getGuideInfo( activeDocument );
// Input: Document
// Return: Object: TotalCount property  = number of guides
//                  HorizontalCount property = number of horizontal guides
//                  VerticalCount property = number of vertical guides
//                  Horizontal = horizontal guides
//                  Vertical property = vertical guides
// Source: Modified from http://ps-scripts.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=3283
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
function getGuideInfo( doc ) {
   saveOptions = new JPEGSaveOptions();
   // we don't care about image quality in the temp file
   // we do want the smallest file size
   saveOptions.quality = 0;// we don't care about image quality in the temp file
   var tempFile = new File( Folder.temp + '/' +'guideTemp.jpg' );
   // Dupe the doc, make it savable as JPEG, save it, then close the file
   doc = doc.duplicate();
   if( doc.mode == DocumentMode.BITMAP ) doc.changeMode(ChangeMode.GRAYSCALE);
   doc.bitsPerChannel = BitsPerChannelType.EIGHT;
   doc.changeMode(ChangeMode.RGB);
   doc.saveAs(tempFile, saveOptions, true);
   doc.close(SaveOptions.DONOTSAVECHANGES);
  tempFile.encoding = 'BINARY';
  tempFile.open('r');
  var str = tempFile.read();
  tempFile.close();
  tempFile.remove();
   var guideTag = '8BIM\x04\x08';
   var tagPos = str.search(guideTag);
   var guides = new Object;
   guides.toString = function(){ return 'GuideInfo'; }
   var horGuides = new Array;
   var vertGuides = new Array;
   if( tagPos != -1 ) {
      var tagLength = 12 + str.charCodeAt( tagPos + 11 );
      var guideStr = str.substring( tagPos, tagPos+tagLength );
      guides.count = str.charCodeAt( tagPos + 27 );
      var pointer = tagPos + 28;
      for( var i =0; i < guides.count; i++ ){
       //  var n = ((str[pointer] << 3) + (str[pointer+1] << 2) + (str[pointer+2] << 1) + str[pointer+3])/32;
      //var n = Number( '0x'+getHexString( str, pointer )+getHexString( str, pointer+1 )+getHexString( str, pointer+2 )+getHexString( str, pointer+3 ))/32;
             var n = ((str.charCodeAt(pointer)<< 32) + (str.charCodeAt(pointer + 1)<< 16) +
                    (str.charCodeAt(pointer + 2) << 8) + str.charCodeAt(pointer+3))/32;
if  (str.charCodeAt( pointer + 4 ) == 0) {
          //vertical
          vertGuides = insertValueInOrder(vertGuides, n);
       } else {
          //horizontal
          horGuides = insertValueInOrder(horGuides, n);
       }   
        // guides[ i ] =  [ (str.charCodeAt( pointer + 4 ) ? 'horz':'vert'), n ];     
         pointer = pointer + 5;
      }
     guides.HorizontalCount =horGuides.length;
     guides.VerticalCount =vertGuides.length;
     guides.Horizontal = horGuides;
     guides.Vertical = vertGuides;
   }else{
      guides.TotalCount = 0;
     guides.HorizontalCount =0;
     guides.VerticalCount =0;
   }
   function insertValueInOrder(a , n) {
      var b = new Array;
      var i = 0;
      if (a[0] == undefined)
         b[0] = n;
      else {
         while (a < n && i < a.length) {
               b = a;
               i++;
         }
         b = n;
         while (i < a.length) {
            b[i+1] = a;      
            i++;
         }
      }   
      return b;
   }
   return guides;
}
  function fromCharCode(input) {
      output = eval("String.fromCharCode(" + input + ")");
     return output;
   }
// demo
var masterDocument = app.activeDocument;
var guideInfo = getGuideInfo( masterDocument );
var s = "Vertical Guides: " + guideInfo.Vertical + "\nHorizontal Guides: " + guideInfo.Horizontal;
alert(s);

To remove all guides:

function clearAllGuides() {
     var desc = new ActionDescriptor();
        var ref = new ActionReference();
        ref.putEnumerated( charIDToTypeID( "Gd  " ), charIDToTypeID( "Ordn" ), charIDToTypeID( "Al  " ) );
     desc.putReference( charIDToTypeID( "null" ), ref );
     executeAction( charIDToTypeID( "Dlt " ), desc, DialogModes.NO );
};

To add a guide:

function guideLine(position, type,unit) {// from Paul MR
   //units '#Pxl' pixel '#Rlt' =Relative  '#Prc' = percent
   // types: 'Vrtc' & 'Hrzn'
    var desc = new ActionDescriptor();
        var desc2 = new ActionDescriptor();
        desc2.putUnitDouble( charIDToTypeID('Pstn'), charIDToTypeID(unit), position);
        desc2.putEnumerated( charIDToTypeID('Ornt'), charIDToTypeID('Ornt'), charIDToTypeID(type) );
    desc.putObject( charIDToTypeID('Nw  '), charIDToTypeID('Gd  '), desc2 );
    executeAction( charIDToTypeID('Mk  '), desc, DialogModes.NO );
};

[cameronmcefee]

I'm about 3.5 years too late, but here's how to delete a guide by its index:

function removeGuideByIndex(idx) {
   // Build a reference to the guide we want
  var ref = new ActionReference()
  // Guide indexes start at 1 for some reason.
  ref.putIndex(charIDToTypeID('Gd  '), idx+1)

  // Create a descriptor with our reference in it
  var desc = new ActionDescriptor()
  desc.putReference(charIDToTypeID('null'), ref)

  // Execute the delete action on our descriptor.
  executeAction(charIDToTypeID('Dlt '), desc, DialogModes.NO);
}

[tssee]

I tried the script but does not work for me.

[cameronmcefee]

Can you be more specific about what doesn't work? It's working fine for me in CC+

To test:

1. Create a new document.

2. Create a guide on the left side, then one on the right side.

3. Run the function above with removeGuideByIndex(0)

The guide on the left will disappear, as it was the first guide added.

*I'm making the assumption you are familiar with how JavaScript works. If not, the code above is just a function declaration and won't do anything unless you know your guide's index and how to call a function with it.

[tssee]

I tried in every way but does not go

Use photoshop cc2014

[things_and_things]

For anyone looking to do this now almost 10 years in the future, the code would look something like this:

async function deleteAGuide() {
   await executeAsModal(async () => {
      app.activeDocument.guides[0].delete();
   });
}

Good luck

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

For anyone looking to do this now almost 10 years in the future, the code would look something like this:

async function deleteAGuide() {
   await executeAsModal(async () => {
      app.activeDocument.guides[0].delete();
   });
}

Good luck

By @things_and_things

Thanks for sharing! Just to clarify, this is UXP .psjs code, not the more common legacy ExtendScript .jsx code.

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

For anyone looking to do this now almost 10 years in the future, the code would look something like this:

async function deleteAGuide() {
   await executeAsModal(async () => {
      app.activeDocument.guides[0].delete();
   });
}

Good luck

By @things_and_things

Hmmm, nothing happens, even when adding the expected call to the function:

deleteAGuide();

[D Fosse]

I'm probably missing some purpose here - just wanted to point out that you can delete one guide at a time manually - click it with the move tool to activate it (it changes color), then hit the Delete key.

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

I'm probably missing some purpose here - just wanted to point out that you can delete one guide at a time manually - click it with the move tool to activate it (it changes color), then hit the Delete key.

By @D Fosse

As the topic is labelled actions/scripting, the assumed context is to do so programmatically.

[D Fosse]

I suppose I was just trying to wrap my head around how a script can know which guide you want to delete 😉

Now I know I'm missing something here, but that's fine 😄 Carry on, don't mind me -

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

I suppose I was just trying to wrap my head around how a script can know which guide you want to delete 😉

Now I know I'm missing something here, but that's fine 😄 Carry on, don't mind me -

By @D Fosse

That is true and a fair valid question . An Individual guide can have scriptable properties, such as horizontal or vertical and the associated coordinate.

The collection of guides can be identified by the first guide or the last guide, or the second guide added etc.

So a pretty blunt tool depending on what one needs to do compared to using the mouse.

[jane-e]

Now I know I'm missing something here

By @D Fosse

I'm with you on this! Select and Delete for one guide is easy. Was it the same 14 years ago in 2012 when the OP asked the question?

Jane