Trying to create an action that will fill shape with colour automatically sampled from layer below.

Thank you @Bojan Živković11378569!

I tend to think of this option for recording brush strokes... however, it can obviously do more! I just tested and it took around 14 seconds – but at least this is possible with only an action!

I hacked some other script code and this takes less than 1 second... So if time is of the essence the script would be better from a speed perspective:

// Set the foreground colour to the centre of the document

fgColorFromDocCenterSampler();


function fgColorFromDocCenterSampler() {
    var savedRuler = app.preferences.rulerUnits;
    app.preferences.rulerUnits = Units.PIXELS;
    var docHcenter = activeDocument.width / 2;
    var docVcenter = activeDocument.height / 2;
    var colorSampler = app.activeDocument.colorSamplers.add([docHcenter, docVcenter]);
    var solidColorValue = new SolidColor();
    solidColorValue.rgb.red = Math.round(colorSampler.color.rgb.red);
    solidColorValue.rgb.green = Math.round(colorSampler.color.rgb.green);
    solidColorValue.rgb.blue = Math.round(colorSampler.color.rgb.blue);
    app.foregroundColor = solidColorValue;
    colorSampler.remove();
    app.preferences.rulerUnits = savedRuler;
}

This simple script samples from the middle of the document.

I'll post a version that samples from the middle of the active layer bounds which may be more appropriate for this use case.

Edit: here is a version from the layer content centre:

// Set the foreground colour to the centre of the active layer bounds

fgColorFromLayerBoundsCenterSampler();


function fgColorFromLayerBoundsCenterSampler() {
    var savedRuler = app.preferences.rulerUnits;
    app.preferences.rulerUnits = Units.PIXELS;
    var layerBounds = activeDocument.activeLayer.bounds;
    var layerWidth = layerBounds[2] - layerBounds[0];
    var layerHeight = layerBounds[3] - layerBounds[1];
    var layerXcenter = layerBounds[2] - layerWidth / 2;
    var layerYcenter = layerBounds[3] - layerHeight / 2;
    var colorSampler = app.activeDocument.colorSamplers.add([layerXcenter, layerYcenter]);
    var solidColorValue = new SolidColor();
    solidColorValue.rgb.red = Math.round(colorSampler.color.rgb.red);
    solidColorValue.rgb.green = Math.round(colorSampler.color.rgb.green);
    solidColorValue.rgb.blue = Math.round(colorSampler.color.rgb.blue);
    app.foregroundColor = solidColorValue;
    colorSampler.remove();
    app.preferences.rulerUnits = savedRuler;
}

Hey Chuck,

thanks for the speedy response. That's good to know it's possible. Can I ask if you know of the best resources to start learning how to make these? 
cheers,

bett