e.d.  wrote What's interesting though is that every blocking method (for instance also an alert dialog) suspends the entire event chain, which in my view should not happen! When I dispatch an event before the blocking happens, it should be triggering the handler, shouldn't it? What are your thoughts on this? I am unclear as to what you specifically mean by "should be triggering the handler", but I will take a guess and say that you mean "calling a registered CEP listener when an ExtendScript CSXSEvent event is dispatched." To be honest: I have no idea. Whether the event is triggered immediately simply queued up for later delivery when you call CSXSEvent.dispatch() is an implementation detail. Based on your explanation, I would guess that the function queues up the event for delivery during a separate processing phase on the thread. This would be similar to the way that calling setTimeout(func, 0) in a browser does not immediately call the function, even though it should have a 0ms delay - it is put in a queue for processing during the next frame. In the case of the CSXSEvent class, this would depend on the underlying implementation to which we do not have any insight. Perhaps Bruce Bullis​ could offer a more definitive answer as to what's going on with CSXSEvent.dispatch under the hood. That said, my thoughts are that this is not-at-all surprising. You are likely adding an event to a queue but blocking the thread before the thread has a chance to process that queue. That would be my best guess. Basically: avoid blocking calls if you can! e.d.  wrote You're mostly right, one needs to specify the handler on removal as well, which is why it's not a good idea to use an anonymous function. Again, this seems to be mandatory, the object seems to be optional, considering the CSInterface.js implementation. Well, the first paragraph I wrote says basically the exact same thing, simply worded differently. The second paragraph was pointing out a potential option to try as do not like to assume I understand something in the CEP/Premiere SDK, even when there's documentation. The reason I wrote the second paragraph is because I could see a situation wherein Adobe implemented a way to "remove all event listeners for a given object and a given 'type' by calling cs.removeEventListener("someEvent", null, myObj);". I have actually written event systems that have just such a mechanism - even ones that support removing all registered listeners for a specified object, across all event "types". That said, I will admit now that this makes far less sense given that the setup is mirrored in the cs.addEventListener function parameters and I can't see a way that it makes sense to call cs.addEventListener("someEvent", null, myObj); in a useful way. I've still not tested anything along these lines but I'd be willing to bet that calling the add/removeEventListener functions without specifying a function and specifying an object will simply fail silently. Some error handling either way (in this case or the one you encountered, with an undefined function handler) would probably be a big help in the future... I'm glad my answer was helpful. I similarly hope that this one is. ... View more

e.d.  wrote What's going on? Why is Event 3 not completely dispatched when Event 2 part one is obviously finished? I took a look through the code and believe I've isolated the issue. The location at which things seem to break for you is the moment you call $.sleep(5000);. I think I understand your intuition here: sleep should emulate what the browser setTimeout function does. Unfortunately, sleep appears to completely pause processing of the ExtendScript thread. From the ESTK's Object Model Viewer: $.sleep (msecs: number ) Core JavaScript Classes Suspends the calling thread for a number of milliseconds. During a sleep period, checks at 100 millisecond intervals to see whether the sleep should be terminated. This can happen if there is a break request, or if the script timeout has expired. msecs: Data Type: number Number of milliseconds to sleep. The key part is highlighted in bold red. Whereas setTimeout in browsers schedules the function to be called after a given delay, the ExtendScript sleep function will pause it entirely. This means that the events you throw to the ExtendScript context will not have a chance to execute before the second call to dispatchEventCEP in your e_chain2 function. By the time the ExtendScript processing thread has a chance to process the queued callbacks, both are already there waiting (one for over 5 seconds, the other likely on the order of milliseconds). I should point out that all classes in the Premiere Pro ExtendScript API have an instance function called setTimeout with the following description: App.setTimeout (eventName: string , function:any, milliseconds: number ) Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2017 (11.0) Object Model eventName: Data Type: string function: Data Type: any milliseconds: Data Type: number Perhaps there's a way that you could use one of these functions to "schedule" your calls in the delayed fashion that it seems you intended? e.d.  wrote It gets even worse when I click the button once more: When you call cs.removeEventListener("EventName"), you are not actually removing the callback - it's most likely silently failing. You have to specify the function (and optionally the object) to remove the listener. To properly support this you should create named functions which you can specify in both add/removeEventListener calls, rather than anonymous inline functions. The documentation for add/removeEventListener specifies that you could specify an "object containing the method handler" as a third argument, but I'm not sure if the handler function must still be specified or not (I'm guessing yes)... I hope this is helpful! ... View more

For those trying to read over the unfortunately-formatted code in the currently accepted response, perhaps this may be of use: // Warning:  assumes the zero-th item in the project is footage. var item = app.project.rootItem.children[0]; if (item.canChangeMediaPath()) {     var replacement_media = File.openDialog("Choose new media file, for project item " +                                             item.name,                                             0,                                             false);     if (replacement_media != null)     {         item.name = replacement_media.name + ", formerly known as " + item.name;         item.changeMediaPath(replacement_media.fsName);         replacement_media.close();     } } else {     alert("Couldn't change path. replaceMedia() can't act on merged clips, or maybe the zero-th item isn't footage."); } ... View more

e.d.  wrote You said it, editing and outputting... I wonder why to perform review & approval in a craft editing app. My guess is "because". This is a little unfair, I think. To be sure, "review & approval" is part of the editing process, right? Some people may be lucky enough to have a director sit down with them and go over what they want as they work with the edit. Others must work remotely and are building workflows to support that approach. It is natural to want to respond to feedback directly within an application like this. Think of it this way: Adobe provides the Greatest Common Denominator of editing features to cover most of the bases, and then provides extensibility to allow users to enhance their workflow (as the OP is doing) by building off of a sturdy foundation. ... View more

Bruce Bullis wrote I'm not suggesting panel developers shouldn't want a transport control API; I'm just trying to understand the motivation, and what makes "how it works today" unworkable. My point wasn't to say "this is necessary because it doesn't work otherwise." My point was to highlight the pain that such a lack implies for your users. What I'm trying to point out is 100% analogous to the "lack of Premiere Pro API documentation" issue. To your point, this lack has not stopped people from creating extensions. That doesn't, however, imply that said lack isn't a significant source of pain for everyone who sets out to create an extension. The motivation is simple: make life easier for users by simplifying workflow and reducing frustration! ... View more

Bruce Bullis wrote What makes relying on PPro's own transport controls an untenable solution? Going out on a limb here but I would expect that they expect preview functionality while their extension panel is focused. As there is no fast way to switch between panels​​ (including OS-standard window-switching controls like [CMD+`] in macOS), it only makes sense that they would want to drive other features - think of it like a specialized, custom control deck for Premiere Pro. Without this, the user experience looks like this: Click custom extension for focus. Trigger commands. Move mouse to appropriate native panel and click. Trigger commands. Move mouse back to extension and click for focus. That's a lot of mouse movement, simply to switch contexts. My guess is that funkelodeon​ is simply looking for a way to simplify life for their user. Or... I'm way off the mark 😜 ... View more

justin2taylor wrote Seems strange since the CEP documentation shows that the MetaKey can be used, and it's even recognized in the CEP Test Panel. That test panel screenshot you took appears to look at metaKey usage while clicking, not responding to key events. Probably handled differently on the Adobe app side... Unless you've tested KeyCodes in that panel yourself? ... View more

justin2taylor wrote for some reason it's not recognizing my events. The commands are still going to Premiere and skipping my panel. Have you had success with this? There are several issues here of which you should be aware: CSInterface.registerKeyEventsInterest Takes a JSON String According to the documentation (as well as successful tests), you must pass a JSON stringified version of the keyEventsInterest object into the registerKeyEventsInterest function. This would turn your code into the following: var csInterface = new CSInterface(); var keyEvents = [{     "keyCode": 90,     "metaKey": true }]; // Pass a JSON-ified version. csInterface.registerKeyEventsInterest(JSON.stringify(keyEvents)); KeyCode Registration is Different Between Mac/Win The HTML key input events report identical KeyCodes regardless of the host OS. One list of KeyCodes for HTML callbacks can be found here. This is not the case for the registerKeyEventsInterest function, however! Rather annoyingly, KeyCodes sent to Adobe applications are platform-specific. A list of KeyCodes for MAC can be found here. A list of KeyCodes for WIN can be found here (I believe these are identical to the HTML spec). Thus, to register for both Windows and Mac platforms, your code would look like this: // Is Platform Mac or Win? var isMac = (navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Mac") != -1); // Register for interest. var csInterface = new CSInterface(); var keyEvents = []; if (isMac) {     keyEvents.push({         "keyCode": 6,   // Z - in hex: 0x06 (or 0x6).         "metaKey": true // WARNING: This is probably buggy.         //"ctrlKey": true // <-- SUGGESTION: Use this instead of metaKey.     }); } else {     keyEvents.push({         "keyCode": 90,  // Z - in hex: 0x5A.         "ctrlKey": true // Use CTRL on Windows.     }); } // Register with Premiere. Pass a JSON-ified version. csInterface.registerKeyEventsInterest(JSON.stringify(keyEvents)); // Register with HTML. $("#editor").on("keyup", function(e){     e.preventDefault();     if(e.keyCode == 90) // Z.     {         if ((isMac && event.metaKey) || // WARNING: This is probably buggy.            //((isMac && event.ctrlKey) || // <-- SUGGESTION: Use this instead of metaKey.             (!isMac && event.ctrlKey))         {             undoEdit();         }     } }); NOTE: You can use hexadecimal numbers in your JavaScript for both the HTML event handlers and the registerKeyEventsInterest function. You May Be Experiencing A Bug There are actually two possible bugs that are biting you right now. Panels Stop Registering Keys Altogether - I've had a rough go of it with getting keyboard input handling to work. The one thing I've yet to try is resetting my computer (or killing all Adobe processes...). EDIT: It turns out this was caused by a bug in my code. I'm leaving it here as a reference in case others encounter a similar issue by trying to use multi-line strings, rather than JSON.stringify-ing an object literal (or equivalent). CEP Fails to Register the Command Key on macOS - I've confirmed with the Adobe team that there is a bug with CEP failing to register key interest for the Command key on the mac - it simply fails to so. Apparently this is being tracked in their internal bug tracker as issue CEP-445. In the meantime, I would highly suggest using the ctrlKey rather than the metaKey on macOS as well (as suggested in the example code). I hope this is helpful. ... View more

Not sure if this is related, but I'm finding in 2017.1.1 that if a bin is not expanded in the Project view then it won't be found by ProjectItem.getInsertionBin()... If I expand the bin, then it will will be properly returned by that function. This occurs whether selection was performed by the user or by using the ProjectItem.select() function. Known issue? Same issue? New issue? Is there a way to expand a ProjectItem in the Project view programmatically? ... View more

Bruce Bullis​, two follow-up questions: Does it matter what ProjectItem is used to invoke this function? Does this function work for ProjectItem's with type FILE? Thanks! ... View more

Bruce Bullis wrote stringToFind = looks through each projectItem's path, to detect string return value = potentially empty array of projectItems, whose paths contain stringToFind. Woah. So the string you send in is really any part of the file system path? It's basically doing something like: if (projectItem.mediaPath.indexOf(stringToFind) !== -1) {     returnItems.push(projectItem); } ? ... View more

meett9325076​, if you're willing to enable the NodeJS context in your panel, you could do the following: var process = require('process'); var path = require('path'); var basePath = process.env.WINDIR; if (basePath !== undefined) {     var path = basePath + path.sep + "explorer.exe";     window.cep.process.createProcess(path, 'yourAbsoluteFolderPathAsString'); } else {     // Handle with fallback or error. } See the NodeJS documentation for process.env for more. How you handle the paths and error conditions is, of course, up to you! ... View more

Bruce Bullis wrote You already have; I maintain the PPro API backlog. B-124739. Cool! Thanks! I take it that is an internal tracking number? Bruce Bullis wrote PPro API expansion is driven directly by requests from our partners, and customers. Deletion had not been requested. What, then, is the best way to request an API addition? This thread was originally open on Aug. 29th and specifically asked if an API existed to "delete/ripple delete clips". Generally, I would perceive that to be a request but it seems that it never got added to the backlog...? ... View more

Bruce Bullis wrote SuppressUI hides warnings and non-threatening notifications; it does not suppress error reporting. Can you please describe or otherwise provide examples of which warnings and non-threatening notifications are suppressed with this switch? It is really hard to know how to properly use the flag without more specific information. Also, to be clear, this does not suppress the "Importing" pop up, correct? It was my assumption that suppressing that UI was the job of that flag. I mean, the flag is called "suppressUI", right? Not "suppressWarnings"...? ... View more

Bruce Bullis wrote There is still no API for clip removal. Where is the best place to put in a feature request? It seems a little odd that we can insert/overwrite clips in tracks willy-nilly but cannot really reverse those actions. ... View more

Bruce Bullis wrote There are other possible errors, which are being suppressed. I'll look for some specifics. I take it, then, that "suppressUI" does not allow you to hide all UI and run an operation "as though" it were in the background? If that's the case, then it seems there are multiple "classes" of UI. Is that what you're off looking for? ... View more

Bruce Bullis wrote There is no supported DOM that allows for the deletion of clips within a sequence. Is this still the case? We now have Track.insertClip and Track.overwriteClip. Is there no way to programmatically remove a clip? For reference, we're not trying to remove a bunch of user-placed clips. We're trying to programmatically remove clips that were [likely] programmatically added to the track. Think of this as Track.overwriteClip except that overwriting a clip in this manner would not leave part of the pre-existing clip hanging around in the case that the overwritten/removed clip was longer than the one being added. ... View more

Thanks Bruce Bullis​! Very clear summary! (Special shout-out to e.d.​ for the further help and distinctions!) ... View more

meett9325076 wrote Thanks sberic . I have checked stat() method, but unfortunately it fails in below condition: If a directory contains both file and folder with the same name, then isDirectory() returns true and isFile() returns false. This is because isFile() returns reverse the value of isDirectory() Is this really a problem? I tested this locally on my machine (macOS - a Unix flavor) and on a Windows 10 VM. I could not create a file with the same name as a pre-existing directory, nor vice-versa. Indeed, this would break a lot of assumptions with path handling for just about every file system I'm aware of. Do you have an example where a file and directory at the same path location? Were you able to actually test this? An alternative to the CEP options I listed would be to use the NodeJS APIs (here is the documentation for the specific version of Node used in CEP 6.1 and 7). Specifically you should look at the File System module. As you will see, it contains wrappers for most Unix file-related APIs. I am also willing to bet that it is what the cep.fs system refers to internally, making the cep.fs.stat call the same as this one​ (except that you wouldn't require enabling NodeJS). Either way, I can't see a way to deal with the situation you describe (although I do believe it is an impossible scenario). ... View more

e.d. wrote Well this doesn't counter what I have said, does it? 😉 Haha! Weeeeellllll, if we're being pedantic about it, you did mention the parent/child relationship. Clips can have sub-clips, I guess... although, I've honestly no idea at all how that works out within the ProjectItem hierarchy... 😜 e.d. wrote My (incomplete) test run makes me think all projectItems are created equal but depending on their type some methods and properties will not be available, or return false or null (undefined). Yeah. Some documentation on the APIs as to which work with which type would save everyone from having to conduct the same tests 😜 Thanks for the help! ... View more

andymees@aje wrote Hey sberic, am I right in guessing you are not a video editor? You are correct. I'm not a video editor by trade, no; more of a hobbyist. I first used Premiere Pro back in 2001 but it has never been my primary focus at work. andymees@aje wrote In NLE terms, an insert operation adds new media, starting at the specified frame, and retains all existing media by moving it after the newly inserted media. An overwrite operation adds new media, starting at the specified frame, and replaces (overwrites) any existing media that previously occupied that space. So with respect to your question, the existing clip gets truncated at the point specified, as will any following clips that also intersect in whole or in part with the new media added to that track. Awesome. Thanks so much for the explanation! That is very clear and helpful! ... View more

e.d.  wrote check this out: CC Extension SDK manual Woah. It's too bad Adobe didn't keep that manual up-to-date. It's got such a thorough and clear explanation of what's going on with these extensions. It just needs a bit of updating... @meett93 wrote IsDirectory() is nativ function which can't be called from cep.fs object. It appears that the CEP API has changed since the document e.d.​ referenced was last updated. I poked around in the debugger and found something that works for me. Try the following: window.cep.fs.stat(path).data.isDirectory();  // Returns 'true' if 'path' is a directory. window.cep.fs.stat(path).data.isFile();       // Returns 'true' if 'path' is a file. window.cep.fs.stat(path).err != window.cep.fs.ERR_NOT_FOUND;  // Returns 'true' if 'path' exists. The key is that the stat() function returns an object with two properties: data and err. You can wrap the above checks into your own utility functions like this: function PathExists(path) {     return window.cep.fs.stat(path).err != window.cep.fs.ERR_NOT_FOUND; } function IsDirectory(path) {     return window.cep.fs.stat(path).data.isDirectory(); } function IsFile(path) {     return window.cep.fs.stat(path).data.isFile(); } I hope this helps! ... View more

e.d.  wrote rootItem is a special projectItemObject, the difference being it only exists once (and I would think it must only exist once) in a project's hierarchchy. But basically any projectItem has the same set of methods and properties, only with different results (for instance, for a bin canChangeMediaPath = false, for a clip it's true). The only difference between a clip and a bin is a bin can have child items, whereas a clip doesn't. That's not the only difference. See: ProjectItem.createBin/deleteBin probably don't work on ProjectItems with type CLIP or FILE. ProjectItem.createSubClip probably only works on ProjectItems with type CLIP. ProjectItem.setOverridePixelAspectRatio probably only works on ProjectItems with type CLIP. Also, this is probably restricted to video clips. ProjectItem.children is, according to the documentation, "only valid for bins". That said, it is also valid for the ROOT ProjectItem. e.d. wrote So in terms of development, I can only give you the unasked-for advice of double checking (programmatically) the object you're currently accessing is really what you think it should be before performing further actions. Given the structure, this is the only real valid way of handling things (e.g. ProjectItem.type checks before making use of the APIs listed above). I guess I wish that there was more documentation on what each type represented and then better documentation for each of the ProjectItem APIs for which types were supported for any given function/property... ... View more