As for scripting, VBScript, JScript, Perl and some other scripts require only a scripting host running on your machine in order to be executable. That means that if you have a proper host, you can treat those scripts as executable files. VBScript and JScript are treated as Windows native, so there's no need to install anything separately.

What I do is I fire up notepad, write the script and then save it as Unicode text file with .vbs or .js extension, thus making it executable. If you copy this script into the "Scripts" folder of any Adobe product, it can be exec'ed from the script pallette or whatnot.

I find that scripts (as opposed to full apps that you make with VB6 or VB.NET) are much faster and allow many functions that are WSHost-based (supported natively by the scripting host) and not available implicitly in the VStudio package. (Like RegExps.)

InDesign, Illustrator, InCopy, and Acrobat are fully scriptable. You can address all aspects of the apps from the scripts. But Photoshop seems to allow access only to the actions "engine", which is, IMO, enough to allow you much flexibility.

What can you do?

You can put the reference to the Photoshop app:

Dim aaa As New PhotoshopTypeLibrary.PhotoshopApplication()

i.e., "aaa" variable into Watch list. Place a break point just after the line I cited above. This will halt the execution when the parser reaches the line after this one, and you'll be able to view the contents of the "aaa" variable through the Watch window. I don't know about Photoshop, but when I was writing simple apps for InDesign, I used to be able to see the entire object model "live" (that is, with all the variables set and documents loaded, etc) through the Watch list.

Hey, this is getting quite OT, don't you think? E-mail me at I'll install the VStudio 98 in meantime and see
what's in it.

"Michael Fuchs" wrote in message

Thanks for your reply!

The code I posted is not really well structured in terms of OO programming, I know. (And there is a lot of overhead in it as this displays a form with two buttons and stuff.) I am using Visual Studio .NET (and VB.NET). The object browser [1] in VS.NET gives you information on which methods, properties, constants etc. are declared in those millions of class libraries you find in the .NET environment and other refereced libraries like the PhotoshopTypeLibary.

The code I tried works for Photoshop 7.0, and the objects for Photoshop CS are pretty well documented on the Adobe website. But 7.0 seems to be different, and I can't find any reference guide.

My problem now is, that I have no idea on how to address the layers in the file I opened. (I would like to get a text layer and change the text in there to automate the process of making lots of gifs or jpgs from a psd template which look the same but have different text on them.)
I am now trying microsoft.public.vb.com, maybe someone over there can help. I am just wondering that this does not seem to be a standard problem on the web.

When you're scrpting in InDesign, where do you "run" your scripts? (I figured that PS CS provides the possibility to execute scripts via the File>Scripts menu which I cannot find in 7.0.)

Thanks,
Michael

PS: Maybe I am just thinking too complicated. Is there another approach to my problem???

[1]

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/productinfo/overview/acade mic/overview/def ault.aspx

Object Browser Window

Similar to the Class View window, the Object Browser dialog box shows you a list of classes and their respective properties and methods. The main difference between these two tools is the Object Browser allows you to browse all referenced components, not just the components for the current project like the Class View window does. A nice feature of the Object Browser is that it also shows you the full declaration for the method or property. To bring up the Object Browser, on the View menu, click Other Windows and then Object Browser.

Tip If you wish to see components that are not referenced by your projects, you can add them using the "customize" button on the toolbar. They will not be added as references, only shown in the Object Browser for your convenience

drdavid32

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