Professional Photoshop Scripting

[scotwllm]

I'm thinking about buying Professional Photoshop Scripting, by Davide Barranca. It's kind of expensive, but I prefer having a book and flipping through its pages over searching endlessly on the Internet. I also prefer printed books because they've been edited (usually) and have better grammar than much of what's available online. They're just easier to understand.
Do any of you have favorable or unfavorable opinions about this book? Do you recommend a different resource for in-depth info on using Javascript in Photoshop?

Scott

[jane-e]

@scotwllm 

I've moved this to the Photoshop forum and tagged it for Scripting.

Jane

[scotwllm]

Thanks, Jane.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

I wonder if you might not be better off focusing on UXP right away. 

At current it seems unclear to me if Adobe won’t eventually destroy Photoshop’s »classic/ESTK« Scripting capabilities. 

[Ciccillotto]

I share with c.pfaffenbichler if you have to invest do it with uxp which is the future of scripting.

[Signfeld]

It does seem you can already write and test such scripts, but when can we use them in actions? I don't think that's already the case? So if we have to wait one or more years for that, the person who wants a script now is kind of forced to learn the old ways...

[Ciccillotto]

uxp scripts cannot be used in actions, but you can convert actions to uxp if you want. Unfortunately, to use uxp in the future you have to learn the JavaScript language or buy Davide Barranca's book, I don't like this either, unfortunately it's like this. it is true that if one wants to use scripts today one has to take inspiration from the past, but if one wants to study and learn it is better to study uxp to be ready when adobe will only use uxp.

[Signfeld]

Wow, the whole joy and efficiency of my workflow heavily depends on (often smallish) helper scripts in actions, finetuned for years, "day by day"...  😞 😞  Some activated by extra mouse buttons every few seconds.

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I think they should still be possible when called from within UXP panels though. I mean, you may have to incorporate everything into the panel, or actions called from within a UXP panel may still be allowed to access a certain area with scripts maybe, if not, have it built in. In that case, you'll have know how to make them and recompile the whole panel for every small change? 😞

What an extreme downgrade if that would play out. The last working version is going to become very popular in the piracy world...

[scotwllm]

I'm thinking about buying Professional Photoshop Scripting, by Davide Barranca. It's kind of expensive, but I prefer having a book and flipping through its pages over searching endlessly on the Internet. I also prefer printed books because they've been edited (usually) and have better grammar than much of what's available online. They're just easier to understand.
Do any of you have favorable or unfavorable opinions about this book? Do you recommend a different resource for in-depth info on using Javascript in Photoshop?

Scott

[Stephen_A_Marsh · Accepted solution]

You can hopefully make some judgements from the free sample chapter. I haven't purchased, however, from memory it's an eBook.

[scotwllm]

By gum, you're right. 400 pages pdf.  The ad for the book has a mockup of what the book would look like if it was printed.  I totally thought it was a photograph of a real book.

[Signfeld]

Are you aware you may only have fun with those for, say, 2 to 5 years?

AFAIK, Adobe is dropping support when we get to matured UXP.

After that, you can hope they will let you keep installed a PS version that keeps working with old scripts, or you may have to become a pirate or learn UXP.

I hope some help will erupt somewhere on how to translate our old scripts to UXP somewhat smoothly (if possible), but the only thing I know so far is they advise to learn hardcore javascript, which will then help you understand UXP better.

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Even if you already try to use UXP for some small scripts, I'm clueless if you can already use these in actions. I would have expected a central topic for this long time ago, but still haven't found anything (neither on the dev forum). It seems some things may work somewhat similarly when using Batchplay in UXP. I'd love to get some clues, as my workflow joy depends on dozens of these smallish scripts.

BTW, I would guess Davide is in the Top 5 or Top 20 publicly visible PS scripting experts, so it's hard to go wrong with his stuff.

[Ciccillotto]

to convert actions to uxp you can use alchemist which also works as an event listener, However I can assure you that uxp is still full of bugs and in my opinion it will still take a long time to blossom.

[Signfeld]

Thx. Yeah, I've not installed that yet...

I think they will keep the current actions though?  It's the smallish .jsx scripts I make that I worry about.

I'd like to see a simple if / then script converted to UXP style and see/know if that already works. In that case, I could start tinkering.

[scotwllm]

I only have 2 to 5 more years left in me, so that's perfect.

I took a javascript class at a local community college about 10 years ago, but haven't used it. I still have the book (printed on paper!) for the course, "JavaScript and AJAX, 2nd Edition", (Patrick Carey and Frank Canovatchel). It's 794 pages plus multiple appendices, and weighs four pounds. It says "Comprehensive" on the book cover, so I'm guessing it's hardcore javascript. This was a real college class with homework and exams. I got an A, so I think it will come back to me fairly easily. 

I downloaded "Photoshop Scripting Guide 2020" and "Photoshop Javascript Reference 2020" from Github. I'll give them a try.

[Signfeld]

This has useful links/pdfs too (I've never read it).

Interactive ScriptUI Builder!

http://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/interactive-scriptui-builder/m-p/10931...

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I had seen this course recommended on the dev forum

www.udemy.com/course/the-complete-javascript-course

It often goes for very cheap.

Anyway, it was a side thought for me, should I want to get into UXP later.

[Signfeld · Accepted solution]

This was an actual book from 20 years ago that maybe you can still pick up somewhere.

https://www.abebooks.com/Adobe-Scripting-Chandler-McWilliams-John-Wiley/30158516601/bd

I've never seen someone recommend it though.

You may also know some things have changed through the years.

[scotwllm]

They have them on Amazon.com. They have a used one for <$10. It will arrive between June 6 - 9.

I'll let you know if it's any good.

[scotwllm]

I bought the book Signfeld recommended. It's exactly what I was looking for. I have to laugh, though, because it came with a CD! They're usually missing when you buy a used book. That's not the funny part. The funny part is that I just realized my PC doesn't have a CD drive!

[Chuck Uebele]

I had to buy an external CD player for my computer, to look at some of my old CDs.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

I only have 2 to 5 more years left in me, so that's perfect.

I hope that refers to the time your professional career is expected to last until retirement, not your life expectancy. 

[Brian S. Rasmussen]

If You havn't found it allready then have a look at this guide from Adobe:
AdobePhotoshopScriptingGuidePDF 
It is good to get you started for free.

[scotwllm]

You have all been so helpful, and this is how much I appreciate you:

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I ran across something that may be a simpler solution to what I want to accomplish -- Configurator Reloaded. Evidentally it used to come with Creative Cloud, but now it comes from a third party and costs around $55. 

Thoughts?

[Ciccillotto]

I used a uxp panel which is interesting, you create buttons with menu items, you can also select actions and jsx scripts, there is also a free version and 2 paid ones. the free version is already good and does everything, then the author has a few tutorials on YouTube.

https://www.pscustompanel.com/ 

[Chuck Uebele · Accepted solution]

I wish I had Davide's book, when I was starting scripting. There was no one great reference. He and I used to bounce ideas off each other, but he's far outpaced my understanding and ability in scripting. I have Davide's book now, and it's very good.