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I've written a CEP panel that needs to retain focus. I'd like a way to start/stop playback of the active sequence without having to select the timeline or program windows (causing the CEP panel to lose focus).
I thought I would be able to find a command in ExtendScript to start or stop playback, but I can't find anything. Does such a command exist?
Not in the offical API, but in the undocumented QE Dom you can.
app.enableQE();
qe.startPlayback();
qe.stopPlayback();
Some more info here: https://github.com/aenhancers/types-for-adobe-extras/blob/3bc960265b61830b07193b27d4e48304e9352542/Premiere/12.0/qeDom.d.ts#L43
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There is nothing in PPro's ExtendScript API to control Program monitor playback; just Source monitor.
Please explain more about "needs to retain focus"; from a user's perspective, what's the workflow you're trying to support?
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Sorry, Bruce. Just noticed your question. The reason the panel needs to retain focus is that it utilizes key bindings to perform some actions (so if I press "a", my script does something; if I press "b", it does something else, etc.). Those key bindings only work if the panel has focus. If I can't control playback from my panel, I have to switch back and forth between the timeline and my panel - which is annoying. The spacebar key to start/stop play works from within the panel, but I normally want the sequence to play at double speed so I can quickly work through the entire sequence. To do that, I have to click on timeline, start it at doublespeed, then quickly switch back to my panel before any keys need to be pressed. Make sense?
The solution I found below works great. I just added some additional key binds to emulate the J, K, and L key actions (backward, stop, forward, etc.). Now I never have to leave my panel and my custom key binds always work.
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Yes, makes sense; glad you found a solution that works for you.
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Not in the offical API, but in the undocumented QE Dom you can.
app.enableQE();
qe.startPlayback();
qe.stopPlayback();
Some more info here: https://github.com/aenhancers/types-for-adobe-extras/blob/3bc960265b61830b07193b27d4e48304e9352542/P...
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Thanks, Justin. I assumed it was in QE somewhere.
startPlayback and stopPlayback currently do the same thing - toggle playback. Basically, it's like pressing the spacebar.
I found something that works a bit better, at least for my purposes:
qe.project.getActiveSequence.player.play(1)
This is exactly what I was looking for. You can set the playback speed using the single parameter:
1 = normal speed
0.5 = half speed
-1 = reverse
0 = stop
There's also a stop() method that does the same thing as play(0).
Posting all this for any future visitors.
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Great find!