Does anyone have any PS7 scripting resources, links, tips, tutorials, general wisdom, etc., to share?

Did you notice the PS7 scripting forum at Adobe.com? I glanced at it, but didn't read any of the threads.

I glanced at the Adobe PS7 scripting forum just a little while ago and I have to say that not one post made any sense to me at all. (Well, perhaps that's an over statement, but it made me realize that I have a HUGE learning curve.

A couple of people in that forum suggested looking at the Adobe documentation that comes with the plug-in for starters, but I haven't tried that yet. It all looks Greek to me! ;)

Jeanie

what does PS7 scripting do?

As I understand it, Photoshop scripting allows you to automate pretty much anything you want to in Photoshop, way beyond the boundaries of actions. You can even make calls to outside programs, OS funtions, etc.

The downside is its genuine, old-school coding. There are 3 flavors:

Visual Basic - Win-specific
Applescript - Mac-specific
Javascript - OS-independent (unless you call outside programs)

Since I know none of these (I did some VB programming several years ago, but I've forgotten all of it by now) I have the luxury of ignorance, and can say that the Javascript option sounds like the best option, since then you can share without having to specify how/where/and with what it will run.

Everything you need (yeah, right) is located here:
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/main.html

Scroll down to Photoshop, pick your OS, and download the scripting plugin and documentation.

From Adobe.com...

Photoshop 7.0 Scripting plug-in v.1.0.1

Automate repetitive tasks and key workflows in Adobe Photoshop using rich scripting support. Write [program] scripts using JavaScript or Microsoft Visual Basic.



It's like the next step up from Photoshop Actions, but more flexible and fewer limitations. If you can think it, you can probably program it. It would require a fair amount of programming skill.

If you're familiar with Microsoft Visual Basic (VB) or Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), it wouldn't be too big of stretch to get your arms around this functionality.

But I ask... "Who has the time?" "Who has the need?"

\\\\\\\
DOUG: Did you have some particular tasks in mind that you wanted to (fully) automate?

Dan: Yes, but for now I'll just have to keep attracting users and adding site features the old-fashioned way :)

Btw, I just read in the Adobe scripting forum that any COM-aware language can be used for Windows scripting, not just Javascript. Evidently this includes several, including Perl.

Jeanie:

Just downloaded the plugin. It includes a folder consisting of several .pdf documentation files. If you're up on Visual Basic or Javascript (or as Doug noted, possibly Perl), the docs would most likely include definitions of objects, layers, containers and all that sort of stuff specific to the PS7 environment.

They would be a gold mine to a good programmer, but a horror show to a programmer hack like me! :)

~Danny~

I can't even get my web site built using the easy tools, so I doubt I'll ever have a need for it.

Danny, I know the documentation is there, but I haven't programmed in seven years - and the last language I used was C (not even C++). Perl was just starting to become popular - and I hadn't even heard of Java Script. ;) So, if I decide to learn this, it will pretty much be from scratch. And I'm inclined to learn Java if for no other reason I can use it on websites too. (Oh, and it apparently uses C-like syntax.)

The only "downside" to using Java (from the Adobe forums) is:
Although Javascript does allow cross platform scripting it doesn't allow cross-application scripting so those groovy scripts to read in your Excel tables and draw graphs or scripts to integrate Photoshop and Illustrator will have to be done in Applescript and/or Visual Basic.
I don't think I have a need for that functionality, so I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Jeanie

JEANIE:

I know what you mean. The documentation in the PS7 script download is only 1/2 of the story. It would describe the PS7 environment, variables, parameters, etc.

The "rest of the story" would be the general programming / debugging skills (which you have) + deciphering / absorbing the specific syntax, testing, debugging skills and all that with yet another new language, Java, VB or Perl.

At the end of the tunnel would be ultimate flexibility, automation possibilities. 'Twould be a long, long road for me. Not sure I'd go there unless the pot of gold at the end wuz real big.

I'll most likely keep flailing with (and cussing at) actions.

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DOUG: Why would you want to engage in PS7 specific scripting if you're looking for site maintenance tools/automation.

I just found this thread by accident. I was going to post the same question Doug opened with.

I'm really surprised there isn't more out on the net regarding this.
I've been playing around with the Java scripts, but I have no programming knowledge. I would love to learn Java, but who has time?
Right now my style of learning is to experiment with the samples given and hack them to see what I can get them to do.

Anyone here using scripts?
I can't imagine that someone doing artwork or restorations would really need the automation....although, it would come in handy to frame and watermark a large number of files.

Anyone have any uses for scripting?
Vikki

Additional resources I'm aware of, plus a repost of the Adobe Scripting Forum link:

* Photoshop Scripting forum at Adobe.com www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx?13@171.HEX0aaMJaxN.3@.ef7f2cb

* Yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PS_scripting/

* Script Builder: http://www.imagefire.com/PSSB.htm (CS only)

* Adobe Scripting: Your Visual Blueprint to Scripting in Photoshop and Illustrator, ISBN: 0764524550.

Here's a couple example scripts I've read about. (Like Doug, I happily left VBA behind several years ago):
* Adding the filename, date, time and/or other info (e.g., EXIF data) to a batch of images

* Plowing through a folder of images and, depending on orientation, rotate portrait oriented pics 90 degrees so the resulting folder has all landscape images

* Adding photographer name, copyright, or other text and dynamically size it according to image size, e.g., 12 pt for 4"x6", 14 pt for 5"x7", etc.

~Danny~

Danny,
Do you have the script or link for the conditional Rotation of a folder of images?
Thanks,
Vikki

Vikki:

Check this thread from DPReview.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1006&message=5942896

Also: See my previous post. I updated it with a link to a "Yahoo scripting group" that I discovered today.

~Danny~

Ran across these scripting resources recently...

This tutorial is exceptional:
http://mlkdesign.online.fr/tutorials/scripting/scripting1.html

This tutorial will help connect a few dots: http://www.wdvl.com/Authoring/JavaScript/Tutorial/index.html

Adobe.com - Photoshop Scripting Adobe Applications forum:
(not the same as the general Photoshop Scripting forum)
http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx?14@@.eea5b36

There are a couple script related topics listed on the Actions/Scripts menu.
http://www.rogercavanagh.com/

~Danny~