Playback from CEP panel

[tonyac55643645]

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?

[Bruce Bullis]

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?

[tonyac55643645]

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.

[Bruce Bullis]

Yes, makes sense; glad you found a solution that works for you.

[Justin Taylor-Hyper Brew · Accepted solution]

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...

[tonyac55643645]

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.

[Justin Taylor-Hyper Brew]

Great find!