Where is the API Documentation for the Premiere Pro Panel SDK?

[akoumjian]

I see the links to the sample application and the getting started guide, but where is the actual SDK documentation?

Where is the documentation that describes the options of manifest.xml?

Where is the documentation for the the PPRO javascript API for the type of functions used in the sample application (ie: "$._ext_PPRO.importFiles()")

How about documentation for this global "__adobe_cep__" object that I see in CSInterface.js in the example?

Thank you

[Bruce Bullis · Accepted solution]

There is no documentation for the PPro ExtendScript API; the working sample code is the right place to start. Feel free to ask questions.

For the rest: Adobe-CEP/CEP-Resources · GitHub

[akoumjian]

Okay so to clarify, you can find general extension documentation here: CEP 6 HTML Extension Cookbook for CC 2015 · Adobe-CEP/CEP-Resources Wiki · GitHub

But as far as PPro specific bindings go, there is no documentation. You can see some simple uses in the example extension but no where does there exist a place to read about what the bindings are and how to use them.

[Bruce Bullis]

Alec Koumjian wrote:

But as far as PPro specific bindings go, there is no documentation.

Correct, nor has there ever been any. This hasn't yet been a barrier for the dozens of panels created, so far.

Let us know if you have a specific question, not addressed by the sample code.

[akoumjian]

Okay, but let's be honest here, APIs without documentation are no fun. I don't really appreciate the attitude that it's an unreasonable thing to expect. I'm sure I can stumble my way through the functions I need to use, it's just not what I would expect from such a large software company.

[Bruce Bullis]

I disagree—we find the PPro API quite fun.

In a previous Adobe life I wrote/maintained the After Effects SDK Guide, a >350-page behemoth FrameMaker publication with many thousands of manually hyper-linked cross-references, thorough overview sections in each chapter, version differences, and all available information one might need to write a plug-in...all of which everyone promptly ignored, and just asked me about the API.

Now, for PPro panel integration, I provide a working sample that exercises the important bits, and encourage people to ask us about the API. Any question we answer too often goes into the sample. And, as previously mentioned, the absence of documentation hasn't been a blocker.

We're happy to help; happier than you might expect from such a large software company.

[akoumjian]

The API is great and I'm glad it exists, thank you!

All most people ever really want is a high level overview of available methods with their input and output. Something in this vein: https://stripe.com/docs/api

[Bruce Bullis]

Agreed, it's probably about time we offered something similar...

[I'll put you on the review list.]

[akoumjian]

Thanks. I'll guess I'll start with these questions:

1. What, if any, parameters go into "$._ext_PPRO.replaceMedia()" ?
2. Are the examples here the exhausted list of functions? Samples/index.html at master · Adobe-CEP/Samples · GitHub

[Bruce Bullis]

1. None; see function definition on /PProPanel/jsx/Premiere.jsx, lline 283.

2. The examples there provide usage examples for most common functions.

[akoumjian]

Okay, now I am simply looking for general advice.

Let's say my app generates a download link to a proxy video file. What is the recommended way to fetch that file and insert it into the current project?

Would you use cep.process.createProcess to use a utility like curl to fetch the file?

I'm taking a look at this: Samples/Premiere.jsx at master · Adobe-CEP/Samples · GitHub

I'm not seeing where in the sample project the app or app.project objects are initialized, which would be a big help.

[Bruce Bullis]

curl should work fine to download the file; you can use any mechanism you like.

Broadly, I'd download the proxy to the same directory as the project (or offer a download directory pref in your panel), and once download succeeds, use importFiles() to bring it into the project.

[akoumjian]

Where and how is this getting defined? Samples/Premiere.jsx at 8e029cb74bfa01d3a8b1925c42263756820ae049 · Adobe-CEP/Samples · GitHub

[Bruce Bullis]

I think you're referring to app.project.importFiles()...?

You can see the DOM in the ExtendScript Toolkit; PProPanel further exercises importFiles() further on from that snippet, from within the 'importFiles' function.