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Nicolas.k
Known Participant
February 27, 2013
Question

python : get all selected layers

  • February 27, 2013
  • 1 reply
  • 5452 views

Hi,

I actually use python com to do some stuff in photoshop cs6.

The problem is I can get activelayer :

The problem is in actually being able to get the names of the currently selected layers

from win32com.client import Dispatch

psApp = Dispatch("Photoshop.Application")

doc = psApp.Application.ActiveDocument

print "ActiveLayer:", doc.ActiveLayer.name

But I can't find a way to get the name of all selected layers ! is there a isSelected state, or any function to get the list of all selected layers ?

Thanks

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

Paul Riggott
Paul Riggott
Inspiring
February 27, 2013

Sorry I don't know python, but with JavaScript you can do this...

var sLayers = getSelectedLayersIdx();
var Names = new Array();
for (var a in sLayers){
    Names.push(getLayerNameByIndex( Number(sLayers) ) );
    }
alert(Names.join('\n'));

function getLayerNameByIndex( idx ) { 
    var ref = new ActionReference(); 
    ref.putIndex( charIDToTypeID( "Lyr " ), idx );
    return executeActionGet(ref).getString(charIDToTypeID( "Nm  " )); 
};
function getSelectedLayersIdx(){ 
      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 vis = app.activeDocument.activeLayer.visible;
        if(vis == true) app.activeDocument.activeLayer.visible = false;
        var desc9 = new ActionDescriptor();
    var list9 = new ActionList();
    var ref9 = new ActionReference();
    ref9.putEnumerated( charIDToTypeID('Lyr '), charIDToTypeID('Ordn'), charIDToTypeID('Trgt') );
    list9.putReference( ref9 );
    desc9.putList( charIDToTypeID('null'), list9 );
    executeAction( charIDToTypeID('Shw '), desc9, DialogModes.NO );
    if(app.activeDocument.activeLayer.visible == false) selectedLayers.shift();
        app.activeDocument.activeLayer.visible = vis;
      } 
      return selectedLayers; 
};
N
Nicolas.kAuthor
Known Participant
February 27, 2013

Thanks Paul, I've seen this function looking for my problem but can't manage to transform it to python.

Really strange there isn't a simple way to get this, this is really something basic and usefull ...

N
Nicolas.kAuthor
Known Participant
February 28, 2013

There is no clean way of doing this as the numbers come from the document descripter.

The only thing you could do is call a function to get the ID ....

alert(getSelectedLayersIdx().join('\n'));
 
function getSelectedLayersIdx(){ 
      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(getLayerIDfromIDX(  desc.getReference( i ).getIndex() )); 
            }catch(e){ 
               selectedLayers.push(getLayerIDfromIDX(  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(getLayerIDfromIDX( executeActionGet(ref).getInteger(charIDToTypeID( "ItmI" ))-1)); 
         }catch(e){ 
            selectedLayers.push( getLayerIDfromIDX(executeActionGet(ref).getInteger(charIDToTypeID( "ItmI" )))); 
         } 
     var vis = app.activeDocument.activeLayer.visible;
        if(vis == true) app.activeDocument.activeLayer.visible = false;
        var desc9 = new ActionDescriptor();
    var list9 = new ActionList();
    var ref9 = new ActionReference();
    ref9.putEnumerated( charIDToTypeID('Lyr '), charIDToTypeID('Ordn'), charIDToTypeID('Trgt') );
    list9.putReference( ref9 );
    desc9.putList( charIDToTypeID('null'), list9 );
    executeAction( charIDToTypeID('Shw '), desc9, DialogModes.NO );
    if(app.activeDocument.activeLayer.visible == false) selectedLayers.shift();
        app.activeDocument.activeLayer.visible = vis;
      } 
      return selectedLayers; 
};
function getLayerIDfromIDX(idx) {
var ref = new ActionReference(); 
ref.putIndex( charIDToTypeID( "Lyr " ), idx ); 
return executeActionGet(ref).getInteger(stringIDToTypeID( "layerID" ));
};

Yes it's exactly what I do actually. Not very clean, but fast anyway so yes, I will keep it like that.

I'm testing all this and will post code soon.

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