Can I call childProcess.exec()?

Photoshop UXP Plugin API
#1

Hi all,

I am starting with UXP Plugins in Photoshop, and I need to import node modules.

But for example, when I try to import child_process for call external app, it says:

Module not found: “child_process”. Parent module folder was: “./”.

I am not sure if is it possible.

My code is:

const { exec } = require(“child_process”);

Is it already available?

Thanks!

#2

UXP does not provide a full Node environment. Calling out to a child process is not currently possible. We are adding support for launching external apps, but this won’t be quite the same as a child process (no watching stdout, for example). Any interprocess comms would have to be negotiated between plugin and launched app.

#3

We were facing the same issue with our plugins which relied heavily on a full Node environment. Our solution was to build a Node application that runs aside from the plugin.

To communicate with the Node application we use WebSockets but you could also use XMLHttpRequests. It’s a bit of a drag but we managed to rebuild all features that we used to have in the old environment.

#4

Thanks for the reply @kerrishotts , but then I have more questions:

When will be available this? Is there more information about how it will work?

And thanks a lot for the solution @jjdenhertog, may be is a stupid question, but how do you launch this “backend” Node application that runs aside?

#5

Currently it’s not possible to launch an application from UXP. So we add instructions to run an application besides the extension. We make a request to verify if the application is running, and display a message if it’s not the case.

As soon as there is an option to launch an external app we will probably simply show a button to launch the app.

1 Like