Hide My Action Moves

[MJ ST]

I want to keep my work secret. It's an action play but no one will be able to read it. Can this ever happen? My job is to involve everyone in my Action but no one should copy it.

[Lumigraphics]

There are various ways to obfuscate a script but not an action. You CAN use the 'Copy as Javascript' command in the Actions palette but that may or may not give you usable code.

[Stephen Marsh]

Note: The developer tools preference must be active and the JS code is Batch Play for UXP scripting, not legacy ExtendScript.

As @Lumigraphics wrote, your best bet is to convert or rewrite the action to a legacy script where you can create a single history step, obfuscate the code and or save it as jsxbin to make it harder for others to reverse engineer the script.

[jane-e]

I haven't used Droplets for years. I know the action has to be there when it's created, but I forget if it has to still be there when it is used? Is this a possibility — or not?

Jane

[Stephen Marsh]

@jane-e 

Nice idea, although similar to Batch, the action is embedded in the Droplet... That being said, it's possible to use a script to extract the action.

It all depends on how "secure" one wishes to try to make things.

[Bojan Živković]

Provide the effect as a service. This option was previously available on many websites. You can upload images with and without the effect to demonstrate the difference and offer it to the public. That is the only secure method that I can think of. Another way is to offer the effect on a website that allows users to upload their own images. That should be costly. 

[MJ ST]

I think this is not possible

[Stephen Marsh]

I think this is not possible

By @MJ ST

That is the consensus opinion, yes.  :]

[c.pfaffenbichler]

I think that most of the Scripting-leaning regulars here freely share Photoshop Scripts; so making a secret of any processes that combine default Photoshop functionality is usually considered unnecessary. 

[Lumigraphics]

All of my code, sad though it may be, is Apache-licensed and I'd prefer it not be hidden, if someone does choose to use it.