Is it possible to use Javascript to select groups by name and nest them within other groups?

Question

I've been trying to write a javascript to organize groups that runs on a PS file containing dozens of groups.

It needs to scan through to see wether the specific named groups exist and if so select these groups and nest them into another specific named parent group. If the groups don't exist the script should simply move on. I have been able to make bits and peices of this work but I've completely hit a wall.

I can write code to select the groups by name and even sort them to the top of the layers pallette but haven't figured out the method for how to then move and nest these groups into another already existing named group. To make things more complicated these groups all contain layer masks so it's not enough to use javascript to simply generate the groups and their parent children relationships.

Ideally the script will be able to be run once the parent children relationships have been defined otherwise the group nesting all has to be done manually.

Stephen Marsh · Accepted Answer

I can write code to select the groups by name and even sort them to the top of the layers pallette but haven't figured out the method for how to then move and nest these groups into another already existing named group.

By @Wrendering

You should be able to use either DOM or AM code. Here is the DOM:

https://theiviaxx.github.io/photoshop-docs/Photoshop/Layer/move.html

https://theiviaxx.github.io/photoshop-docs/Photoshop/ElementPlacement.html

EDIT:

You can try the following – I wasted a lot of time not knowing of this bug!

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/38307871/photoshop-scripting-move-one-group-inside-of-other

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/how-to-place-layersets-into-layersets/m-p/8853221

var actLayer = activeDocument.activeLayer;
var sourceGroup = activeDocument.activeLayer = activeDocument.layerSets.getByName('Source');
var targetGroup = activeDocument.activeLayer = activeDocument.layerSets.getByName('Destination');
var tempGroup = targetGroup.layerSets.add();
sourceGroup.move(tempGroup, ElementPlacement.PLACEBEFORE);
tempGroup.remove();
activeDocument.activeLayer = actLayer;

It works correctly when moving a layer into a layer group:

activeDocument.layers.getByName("Layer 1").move(activeDocument.layerSets.getByName("Group 1"), ElementPlacement.INSIDE);

Keep in mind that "getByName" ideally relies on having unique layer names to work as expected.

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