Permanent display of XMP File Info

[Gary Anthes]

How can I have an XMP File Info window stay open in PS so I can see file info immediately and continuously for every photo I edit? Seems like there should be this option under the Window tab, but no.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Why does it seem like the option should exist? 

You could post a Feature Request over on 

PS-Scripts

I suspect it should be possible to create such a Panel in UXP. 

@DavideBarranca  seems like the authority on the issue to me (please forgive the intrusion), maybe he could confirm whether it’s possible indeed. 

Then you could either dig into the issue yourself or contract someone. 

[Davide_Barranca]

As far as I remember (but I'm always on a Mac, so I don't know if this holds true on the other side of the fence), the File Info has always been a modal dialog, hence preventing any other user interaction but with the dialog itself. That is to say, you cannot operate Photoshop until it's closed.

I suppose a third-party developer could build a modeless (opposite of modal) UXP plugin showing XMP metadata, either at the File or Layer level. To the best of my knowledge, the XMP support in the new Photoshop API in use with UXP is not yet at the DOM level (in layman terms: it's still unnecessarily harder to get it, compared to how it was with the "old" engine). 

TL;DR I'd say it could be done, but it's not something that Photoshop has built-in support for; someone must step in and build it from scratch.

Shameless plug: if anyone is interested in UXP development I'm currently writing a book on it, to be released in the next few months provisionally titled "Adobe UXP plugin development with React.js". In the meantime I've published a free 11 videos/3h playlist on youtube on the subject here.

Davide

[Gary Anthes]

File Info has always been a modal dialog, hence preventing any other user interaction but with the dialog itself.

Yes, that's exactly how it behaves. Thanks for the explanation, Davide.

Gary

[c.pfaffenbichler]

As far as I am converned: Plug away! 

The documentation provided by Adobe sometimes seems pretty »dry« so if someone else steps in that seems like a positive.