How to get postscript font name for text with paragraph or character styles applied

[ajabon grinsmith]

Hi there, ,
As the title says, I want to get the postscript name of the font applied to a text layer in ExtendScript.
I was able to achieve this by searching the forum logs if I am specifying the font directly.
But if a paragraph style or character style is applied, I get nothing.
I am not bright in AM code.
Please help me.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

// thanks to mike hale and paul riggott;
// 2015, use it at your own risk;
if (app.documents.length > 0) {
var myDocument = app.activeDocument;
var theFonts = selectedLayersFonts ();
alert ("the result:"+"\n"+theFonts.join("\n"))
};
////////////////////////////////////
function selectedLayersFonts () {
var theFonts = new Array;
////////////////////////////////////
var selectedLayers = new Array; 
var ref = new ActionReference(); 
ref.putEnumerated( charIDToTypeID("Dcmn"), charIDToTypeID("Ordn"), charIDToTypeID("Trgt") ); 
var desc = executeActionGet(ref); 
if( desc.hasKey( stringIDToTypeID( 'targetLayers' ) ) ){ 
 desc = desc.getList( stringIDToTypeID( 'targetLayers' )); 
  var c = desc.count 
  var selectedLayers = new Array(); 
  for(var i=0;i<c;i++){ 
	try{ 
	   activeDocument.backgroundLayer; 
	   selectedLayers.push(  desc.getReference( i ).getIndex() ); 
	}catch(e){ 
	   selectedLayers.push(  desc.getReference( i ).getIndex()+1 ); 
	} 
  } 
}else{ 
 var ref = new ActionReference(); 
 ref.putProperty( charIDToTypeID("Prpr") , charIDToTypeID( "ItmI" )); 
 ref.putEnumerated( charIDToTypeID("Lyr "), charIDToTypeID("Ordn"), charIDToTypeID("Trgt") ); 
 try{
	activeDocument.backgroundLayer;
	selectedLayers.push( executeActionGet(ref).getInteger(charIDToTypeID( "ItmI" ))-1);
 }catch(e){
	selectedLayers.push( executeActionGet(ref).getInteger(charIDToTypeID( "ItmI" )));
 }
};
////////////////////////////////////
var theNumber = selectedLayers.length;
////////////////////////////////////
for (var m = theNumber; m >= 0; m--) {
try {
var ref = new ActionReference();
ref.putIndex( charIDToTypeID( "Lyr " ), selectedLayers[m]);
var layerDesc = executeActionGet(ref);
var layerSet = typeIDToStringID(layerDesc.getEnumerationValue(stringIDToTypeID("layerSection")));
var isBackground = layerDesc.getBoolean(stringIDToTypeID("background"));
var theName = layerDesc.getString(stringIDToTypeID('name'));
// if not layer group collect values;
if (layerSet != "layerSectionEnd" && layerSet != "layerSectionStart" && isBackground != true) {
var hasText = layerDesc.hasKey(stringIDToTypeID("textKey"));
if (hasText == true) {
var textDesc = layerDesc.getObjectValue(stringIDToTypeID('textKey'));
//checkDesc2 (textDesc)
var paragraphRangeList = textDesc.getList(stringIDToTypeID('paragraphStyleRange'));
var kernRange = textDesc.getList(stringIDToTypeID('kerningRange'));
var rangeList = textDesc.getList(stringIDToTypeID('textStyleRange'));
for (var o = 0; o < rangeList.count; o++) {
var styleDesc = rangeList.getObjectValue(o).getObjectValue(stringIDToTypeID('textStyle'));
//checkDesc2 (styleDesc)
var theSize = styleDesc.getUnitDoubleValue(stringIDToTypeID('size'));
// check for default font;
if (styleDesc.hasKey(stringIDToTypeID('fontPostScriptName')) == true) {var aFont = styleDesc.getString(stringIDToTypeID('fontPostScriptName'))}
else {
	var theDefault = styleDesc.getObjectValue(stringIDToTypeID('baseParentStyle'));
	var aFont = theDefault.getString(stringIDToTypeID('fontPostScriptName'));
	};
theFonts.push([aFont, theSize])
}
}
}
} catch (e) {};
}
return theFonts
};

[ajabon grinsmith]

@c.pfaffenbichler 

Thanks, I was on holiday and delayed confirmation.

I was able to get the postscript name of the selected layers.
However, the fonts defined in paragraph styles and/ or character styles were ignored.

I have confirmed this with versions of Photoshop 2021 through 2024.
Did this code work well in earlier versions?
Is ExtendScript no longer preferred to make it work in current versions..

[ajabon grinsmith]

I have tried to start past OS backups and run them in CS6, CC2017 and got nothing as well.
That's a shame.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

I did some tests but possibly not extensively enough. 

Please provide a sample file (with just the Type Layers). 

[ajabon grinsmith]

Okay, wait for half a day, please.

[ajabon grinsmith]

Now, we have a test document that is similar to the actual test data. Created in version 2023(24.7.2).
If we could get eight font names from this entire document, we would be satisfied.

Until the client pointed it out to me, I had not imagined that there would be cases where different fonts would be used from layers within a group or from the middle of a single text layer. It can actually happen..

thanks.

[c.pfaffenbichler · Accepted solution]

I am afraid there may be a more general bug. 

Even if I copy a word from a Type Layer (set up with a Paragraph Style) and paste it into a new Type Layer in a new document the font the Paragraph Style-Font appears to be disregarded and I get Myriad Pro-Regular. 

As I generally don’t do type-heavy work in Photoshop I hadn’t noticed so far. 

Maybe UXP Scripting can access the font properties in a »better« way than ExtendScript. 

[ajabon grinsmith]

Thanks for the verification. It seems that in the future, if I am lucky enough to achieve my goal, I will soon be faced with unknown problems.
I'm ready to give up, I need to learn UXP as soon as possible.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

An inconvenient work-around might be saving a pdf-copy of the file, then getting the fonts-list from some other application (Acrobat, Illustrator, …). 

@Davide_Barranca , please forgive another importunity, but do you know if UXP Scripting can retrieve the fonts (including those from applied Paragraph Styles) more reliably than ExtendScript code? 

[Davide_Barranca]

@Davide_Barranca , please forgive another importunity, but do you know if UXP Scripting can retrieve the fonts (including those from applied Paragraph Styles) more reliably than ExtendScript code? 

By @c.pfaffenbichler

Hiya,

it might be worth looking at the Layer.textItem.characterStyle.font property, docs here:
https://developer.adobe.com/photoshop/uxp/2022/ps_reference/classes/characterstyle/

Text stuff additions in the UXP DOM were my job when I worked with the PS team, so if something's missing or bugged, I am mostly to blame 😁
Just to let you know, despite the number of new features compared to JSX, targeting individual chars within a text block is unavailable due to the awfully complex descriptors involved vs. the amount of time allocated for the porting.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Thank you! 

I am not up to speed with UXP Scripting, so I’ll have to save the link for some other time. 

If I understand correctly the case the OP of this thread has (multiple fonts in one Type Layer with at least one based on Paragraph Styles) will not work out ideally? 

[Lumigraphics]

This is one of the problems with ExtendScript, is that its difficult to work with mixed attributes in the same text layer. There are some clunky workarounds with AM code and specifying character ranges but nothing easy to use.

[ajabon grinsmith]

>Would it be possible to change the approach and get the PostScript names of the fonts defined for all paragraph and character styles in the document?

>That is, even if those are not actually applied to the text layer.

Is there a way about my additional requirements? 

In ExtendScript if possible.

[Lumigraphics · Accepted solution]

The DOM is apparently buggy.

With this code you get different results depending on whether a paragraph style is applied. With a style, the DOM code returns an incorrect result. Without a style, the correct font is returned.

var a = app.activeDocument.activeLayer.textItem.font;
var b = app.fonts.getByName(a);
Window.alert(a + ' ' + b.postScriptName);

 

[ajabon grinsmith]

@Lumigraphics 

Thank you. I could not get the ".font" property on the text layer where the first character was not overwritten and I got an error.
Aside from that, I have confirmed that the phenomenon you mentioned is definitely the case.

[ajabon grinsmith]

Would it be possible to change the approach and get the PostScript names of the fonts defined for all paragraph and character styles in the document?

That is, even if those are not actually applied to the text layer.