using CLI from extendscript

[nylam73888815]

Hello,

I've written a python library that'd be useful in a PPro panel. If I turn this library into a command line tool, would I be able to access it via extendscript?

I assume a plug-in written in C could access the command line otherwise, but I'm unable to find any info on how to start writing plugins for PPro.

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

[Justin Taylor-Hyper Brew · Accepted solution]

You can access the command line from PPRO through Node.js child process exec and execSync. You'll need a CEP panel with Node.js enabled, and then you can run commands like this:

// async method
var exec = require('child_process').exec;
exec('run myCommand', {encoding: "UTF-8"}, function (err, stdout, stderr) {
    console.log(stdout);
    console.log(stderr);
    console.log(err);
});
// or
// sync method
var execSync = require('child_process').execSync;
var res = execSync('run myCommand', {encoding: 'UTF-8'});

[Bruce Bullis]

That would definitely work.

Actually, node.js usage is not required; CEP provides access to command lines. [Unlike AE's ExtendScript API, PPro's ExtendScript API offers no direct command line access.]

Here's a snippet of JavaScript that has the user choose a .mogrt, then builds a command line string invoking a .py script within the panel's package, and passing it the selected file path.

function processMoGRT (){

   var csInterface = new CSInterface();

   var OSVersion  = csInterface.getOSInformation();

   var filetypes = new Array();

  filetypes[0] = "mogrt";

   var result = window.cep.fs.showOpenDialog(false,false,"Select a .mogrt file", "~/Desktop",filetypes);

   var mogrtPath = result.data[0];

   var extPath  = csInterface.getSystemPath(SystemPath.EXTENSION);

   var sep  = "/";

   if (OSVersion.indexOf("Windows") > 0){

  sep = "\\\\";  

   }

   var mogrtParentPath = mogrtPath.substring(0, mogrtPath.lastIndexOf(sep));

   var pyPath = extPath + sep + 'Foiltop.py';

   var processResult = window.cep.process.createProcess("usr/bin/python", pyPath, mogrtPath);

   if (OSVersion.indexOf("Windows") >=0){

  window.cep.process.createProcess("C:\\Windows\\explorer.exe", mogrtParentPath);

   } else {

  window.cep.process.createProcess("/usr/bin/open", mogrtParentPath);

   }

   var resultFileName = mogrtParentPath + sep + "Foiltop_results.txt";

   var resultFileContents = window.cep.fs.readFile(resultFileName);//, cep.encoding.Base64);

   if (0 === result.err) {

   alert(resultFileContents.data);

   } else {

   alert("Failed to read results file.");

   }

}