This is probably the best "specification".. If they built an ZXP parser for it, you can probably get software to load stuff from there. Rest is trial and error Path tokens ... View more

It goes both ways, for example panels load from ...\roaming\Adobe\CEP\extensions but Generator Plugins just from PHOTOSHOPFOLDER\Plug-ins\Generator. Unfortunately if you found nothing, probably that's the case. It's the old stuff and it's only lately that Microsoft implemented special permissions on Program Files. It's not enough make a .cmd that copies files have user right click and "run as administrator", script still has insufficient permissions. One option is to package your scripts as a HTML panel (e.g. just buttons that run scripts) and that you can provision in the above place. Another options is package the scripts as an ZXP and use "$photoshopappfolder/where/you/need/to/put/them" as file destination. As might have noticed, it's a bit of a bazaar that's built over a few decades and takes some trial and error ... View more

@Chuck I think issues is that Javascript API is a bit incomplete/broken in this. I.e. there's no (DOM) API for accessing the transforms neither at doc or layer level and it's not consistent (or documented) whether the values passed in the API include the transforms or not. And of course having different behaviour accross platforms is universally bad thing. ... View more

Yes, it's one of the long lasting issues the Javascript API, basically Photoshop fails to apply transformations to the values. When you resize things you can have a transform either at the doc level or at the layer level. Also I think there was separately some issue in different behaviour of different versions with unit values. I.e. if you assign a number to .size some versions take it as pixel value and some as a point value. More problematically this behavior varies by CC version and win/mac. Here's the code I have on the topic, you have to basically retest every version (reminds I've not tested the latest). _getTextScale: function (direction) {   var ref = new ActionReference()   ref.putEnumerated( charIDToTypeID("Lyr "), charIDToTypeID("Ordn"), charIDToTypeID("Trgt") )   var desc = executeActionGet(ref).getObjectValue(stringIDToTypeID('textKey'))   //Photoshop._debugActionKeys(desc)   if (desc.hasKey(stringIDToTypeID('transform'))) {    var transform = desc.getObjectValue(stringIDToTypeID('transform'))   //Photoshop._debugActionKeys(transform)   var mFactor = transform.getUnitDoubleValue (stringIDToTypeID(direction))   return mFactor   }    return 1 }, getTextScaleVertical: function () {   return Photoshop._getTextScale('yy') }, getTextScaleHorizontal: function () {   return Photoshop._getTextScale('xx') }, getTextExtents: function (layer) {   if (layer && layer.kind == LayerKind.TEXT) {   app.activeDocument.activeLayer = layer   /*   var ext_2015v2 = Photoshop._getTextExtents2015v2(layer)   var ext_2015v1 = Photoshop._getTextExtents2015v1(layer)   var ext_2014v2 = Photoshop._getTextExtents2014v2(layer)   var ext_2014v1 = Photoshop._getTextExtents2014v1(layer)   */   // best results @ 2015.03.17   if ((Photoshop.isWindows() && (Photoshop.isCC2014() || Photoshop.isCC2015())) ||   (Photoshop.isMac() && Photoshop.isCC2012())) {   return Photoshop._getTextExtents2014v2(layer) // better choice   } else {   return Photoshop._getTextExtents2015v1(layer) // backup choice   }   } }, _getTextExtents2015v2: function (layer) {   var text_item = layer.textItem   var ref = new ActionReference()   ref.putEnumerated( charIDToTypeID("Lyr "), charIDToTypeID("Ordn"), charIDToTypeID("Trgt") )   var action = executeActionGet(ref)   //Photoshop._debugActionKeys(action)   var textKey = action.getObjectValue(stringIDToTypeID('textKey'))   var bounds = textKey.getObjectValue(stringIDToTypeID('bounds'))   var width = bounds.getUnitDoubleValue (stringIDToTypeID('right'))   var height = bounds.getUnitDoubleValue (stringIDToTypeID('bottom'))   var x_scale = 1   var y_scale = 1   return {   x: Math.round(text_item.position[0]),   y: Math.round(text_item.position[1]),   width: Math.round(width),   height: Math.round(height) } }, // few pixels off due to rounding error (layer bounds integer, text item bounds float), but works in CS6 also _getTextExtents2015v1: function(layer) {   var text_item = layer.textItem   var ref = new ActionReference()   ref.putEnumerated( charIDToTypeID("Lyr "), charIDToTypeID("Ordn"), charIDToTypeID("Trgt") )   var action = executeActionGet(ref)   var textKey = action.getObjectValue(stringIDToTypeID('textKey'))   //Photoshop._debugActionKeys(action)   // calculate the ratio of bounding box sizes reported for the layer and text item and is at scale   var text_bounding_box = textKey.getObjectValue(stringIDToTypeID('boundingBox'))    var text_bounding_width = Math.round(text_bounding_box.getUnitDoubleValue (stringIDToTypeID('right'))-text_bounding_box.getUnitDoubleValue (stringIDToTypeID('left')))   var text_bounding_height = Math.round(text_bounding_box.getUnitDoubleValue (stringIDToTypeID('bottom'))-text_bounding_box.getUnitDoubleValue (stringIDToTypeID('top')))   var x_scale = Photoshop.getLayerWidth(layer) / text_bounding_width   var y_scale = Photoshop.getLayerHeight(layer) / text_bounding_height   var width = text_item.width.as("px")    var height = text_item.height.as("px")   return {   x: Math.round(text_item.position[0]),   y: Math.round(text_item.position[1]),   width: Math.round(width*x_scale),   height: Math.round(height*y_scale)   } }, // gives pixel perfect results when working _getTextExtents2014v2: function (layer) {   var text_item = layer.textItem   var ref = new ActionReference()   ref.putEnumerated( charIDToTypeID("Lyr "), charIDToTypeID("Ordn"), charIDToTypeID("Trgt") )   var action = executeActionGet(ref)   //Photoshop._debugActionKeys(action)   var textKey = action.getObjectValue(stringIDToTypeID('textKey'))   var bounds = textKey.getObjectValue(stringIDToTypeID('bounds'))   var width = bounds.getUnitDoubleValue (stringIDToTypeID('right'))   var height = bounds.getUnitDoubleValue (stringIDToTypeID('bottom'))   var x_scale = 1   var y_scale = 1   if (textKey.hasKey(stringIDToTypeID('transform'))) {    var transform = textKey.getObjectValue(stringIDToTypeID('transform'))   x_scale = transform.getUnitDoubleValue (stringIDToTypeID('xx'))   y_scale = transform.getUnitDoubleValue (stringIDToTypeID('yy'))   }   return {   x: Math.round(text_item.position[0]),   y: Math.round(text_item.position[1]),   width: Math.round(width*x_scale),   height: Math.round(height*y_scale) } }, _getTextExtents2014v1: function(layer) {   var text_item = layer.textItem   var ref = new ActionReference()   ref.putEnumerated( charIDToTypeID("Lyr "), charIDToTypeID("Ordn"), charIDToTypeID("Trgt") )   var action = executeActionGet(ref)   var textKey = action.getObjectValue(stringIDToTypeID('textKey'))   //Photoshop._debugActionKeys(textKey)   var bounds = textKey.getObjectValue(stringIDToTypeID('bounds'))    var width = bounds.getUnitDoubleValue (stringIDToTypeID('right'))    var height = bounds.getUnitDoubleValue (stringIDToTypeID('bottom'))    var x_scale = 1   var y_scale = 1   if (textKey.hasKey(stringIDToTypeID('transform'))) {    var transform = textKey.getObjectValue(stringIDToTypeID('transform'))   x_scale = transform.getUnitDoubleValue (stringIDToTypeID('xx'))   y_scale = transform.getUnitDoubleValue (stringIDToTypeID('yy'))   }   x_scale *= width / text_item.width.as("px")   y_scale *= height / text_item.height.as("px")   return {   x: Math.round(text_item.position[0]),   y: Math.round(text_item.position[1]),   width: Math.round(width*x_scale),   height: Math.round(height*y_scale)   } }, getTextSize: function (layer) {   if (layer && layer.kind == LayerKind.TEXT) {   app.activeDocument.activeLayer = layer   var text_item = layer.textItem   var pixels = text_item.size.as("px")   var scale = Photoshop.getTextScaleVertical()   return Math.round(pixels * scale) // .size is a unit value and we want to round it first to a regular number   } }, setTextSize: function (layer, size) {   if (layer && layer.kind == LayerKind.TEXT && size) {   app.activeDocument.activeLayer = layer   var text_item = layer.textItem   var scale = Photoshop.getTextScaleVertical()   var unit_val = new UnitValue(size/scale+"px")   text_item.size = unit_val   } }, ... 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There's "two generators" (i.e. two node.js servers), one built into Photoshop (~production) and one you launch from command line (~development). When you close Photoshop your development server also closes because it loses connection to Photoshop and you need to start it again after starting Photoshop. The error you see could be coming from the internal generator for example if you have invalid files in ~Plug-ins/Generator (i.e. place where internal generator is looking for plugins as opposed to the -f parameter you give to development server). You can find logs from %appdata%\Adobe\Photoshop\Logs (or something). There's also the web server package that is a bit higher level in Node you can use    var _http = require("http")     var _url = require("url")     var _server = _http.createServer(onServerRequest)     _server.listen(8080)     function onServerRequest (request, response) {        var url = _url.parse(request.url, true, true)         response.setHeader("Access-Control-Allow-Origin", "*") // needed for browser debugging        if (url.pathname === "foo") {             // do something         } else {             response.writeHead(404, 'File not found', {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'})        }         response.end()     }, ... View more

I've experienced font properties "getting broken", i.e. trying to access them gives an error. For example I've had cases where the justification value just gives an error until you set it to something else and back, but it seems to be quite rare. I've also taken the habbit of wrapping those access methods in try-catch-finally. Try changing font or recreating the layer. ... View more

Two ways should be doable: If you can convince the user to keep panel expanded, for example drag it below/next to layers panel, you can put the timer the javascript of the HTML Photoshop Generator allows you to run background tasks and export layers in totally seamless manner, but it's a bit more to get started. See Script your first Adobe Generator plugin for Photoshop - Tom Krcha ... View more

Multithreading is basically impossible with scripts, it blocks the whole app. But you should be able to basically wrap your script with var n = app.documents.length for (var i=0; i<n; i++) {   // initialize any variables you assumed to null   app.activeDocument = app.documents   // your script } ... View more

Not sure either anymore. My understanding was that your JSX is changing/creating docs that causes issue for your Generator plugin that would think user is doing something and would need to fire the JSX again. Because of that my suggestion was that you need logic to detect if doc changes are caused by your jsx or by the user. But I don't understand why JSX needs to ignore active doc changes since it's the cause of the changes, right? While jsx is running, user can't change anything. ... View more

"Should work" Try putting the opening on a short timer so the closedown gets to finalize like "setTimeout(connectOuDlg, 200)". ... View more

Basically you should keep track of document id's either by allowing user to explicitly select documents you manage store ids of open documents (see Generator.getOpenDocumentIDs()) at the time of starting your jsx keep track of new documents from the delta having added=true Then ignore all events from documents created during your jsx ... View more

"Right" answer should be to have layers in group and translate the group. What happens when you did that? Alternative is to just loop through all layers and translate them one by one. I suggest you don't change active layer (translate does not require it) as that slows it down. ... View more

Don't remember exactly why I ended up with that, but I think there was some different behaviour between Win & Mac. So if you experience issues try the other. ... View more

Try adding following in the while loop, that probably locks up everything, i.e. your onClick never gets called. optionWin.update() app.refresh() For #2 change the while condition to be "(foo == true) && (new Date().getTime() - startTime < 5000)" so it breaks when variable changes ... View more

This is a scripting forum with most discussion revolving around different flavors of Javascript. Never seen a discussion about the file format around here since you typically worry about what to do with the content after it's opened. You could try the SDK forum Photoshop Plugin and Companion App SDK ... View more

The layers.length was the biggest single optimization I found in my code in a quick optimization. Also using .layers instead of .artLayers and filtering in your code was noticeable. For generator it's not a huge effort to get the basic stuff going (~reading document info). I think I had Tom's sample running in a day or so (see here for some problems encountered Generator guidelines/howto/getting started questions). Harder part was trying to keep 100% in sync with document updates as the delta info has a few holes in it and you end up doing workarounds (see Google Groups for some of my reports). But doing e.g. a web server for fetching doc details to be used in panel should not be big effort and it allows you to do some really cool things. For example my generator plugin keeps track of the selected doc&layer and offers this info with layer detail data in 127.0.0.1:8080/selection that I poll in the panel every ~.5 sec updating the panel content. Not saying it's an immediate solution to your problems, but considering how much time you spend on scripting you'll probably have to bite the bullet at some point ... View more

A mixed collection of thoughts in no particular relevance, pick the ones that make sense: In your DOM-code, optimize the layers.length in the for-loop. It's not a real property like a javascript array but value gets counted every time (don't ask how). In your DOM-code, do you really need to set .activeLayer? It's quite slow in my experience Truly faster way is to use Generator, you get full doc JSON in less than a second for normal size docs, probably "~few secs" in most cases. JSON event format · adobe-photoshop/generator-core Wiki · GitHub ... View more

Good point, supported. In the sentiment, also submitted one of my long time griefs: Formal API / SDK / developer bug reporting tool ... View more

Thanks. Amazingly I've managed to (unintentionally) avoid this issue so far by always moving layers to document root. But now with Artboards can't be avoided ... View more

I've noticed that creating a document with high resolution in Javascript can fail even if you can create same doc from the menu. I think I tried to create a 4096x4096@300PPI and had to drop to 72 PPI. ... View more

Once you get everything going and your HTML panel running in Photoshop, you can basically Google any HTML/CSS tutorial for creating a tabbed interface. My solution was to define CSS classes "tab" and "hidden" (basically 'display: none') and then in tab buttons remove that class from chosen add to others. Basically add an onClick="showTab('#this_tab_id')" and using jQuery function showTabs(tab_id_array) {   $('.tab:not('+tab_id_array+')').addClass("hidden");   $('.tab'+tab_id_array).removeClass("hidden"); } One issue is supporting all Photoshop UI color modes, but Davide had a good tutorial for that. ... View more

+1 On Davides site and motivational wish that once you get over the initial problems, HTML really does offer so much that it is worth the effort. ... View more

Well, it's relatively complex. Even though "it's all javascript", you really three totally separate things with "ESTK/Photoshop DOM", Photoshop panels/Chrome and Node.js running that javascript. So it's not just calling a function but more "let me send a message to that program and ask them to call a function".  Also since the browser roots, there is no "inter-script-communications", so no standard way of sending a script data. ... View more

Wow, had no idea OMV existed, looks useful.. For me it's the same as JJMack, likely a new version of ESTK needs to be published since it seems to contain static documentation. ... View more

In addition to using previous versions, if you have the CS6 license key, you can just download the trial image and enter license key Download Creative Suite 6 applications ... View more

In DOM artBoards are just the top level groups in document.layerSets. What you really need is a) method of checking if the layerSet is an artBoard or not b) method of getting artBoard rectangle so you can adjust coordinates (and maybe adjusting it). So the layerSet bounds/coordinates will in full document coordinates and if you want/need to use the artBoard "as a doc" with top left in (0,0) then you need to do adjustments  But for that we'll need to wait I guess.. ... View more