Is it possible to open a Properties window?

Photoshop UXP Plugin API
1

I want to open Properties window (if not open) from a plugin. Alchemist gives me this:

const batchPlay = require("photoshop").action.batchPlay;

const result = await batchPlay(
[
   {
      "_obj": "invokeCommand",
      "commandID": 6478,
      "kcanDispatchWhileModal": true,
      "_isCommand": false,
      "_options": {
         "dialogOptions": "dontDisplay"
      }
   }
],{
   "synchronousExecution": false,
   "modalBehavior": "fail"
});

But getting error:

The command “<unknown>” is not currently available.

I assume it’s the wrong command ID :thinking:

Also tried "kcanDispatchWhileModal": false, but no luck :slightly_frowning_face:
Any advice? Or is this not possible at all?

2

The command ID is correct, you can execute menu items via
photoshop.core.performMenuCommand({ commandID });

You can read out the visible and obscured state from the app property panelList.

Btw, if you need to find the command ID for a dynamically added menu item (like a plugin), you can access it via the app property menuBarInfo, by traversing the submenus and matching by the panel titel.

3 Likes
3

Awesome. Thank you so much. That’s much more info than I asked, but was wondering about the other day :slight_smile: Will try to implement after work.

I guess it also answers this question I asked a while ago :slight_smile:

4

You’re welcome :slight_smile:
Ah, indeed! When I read the other post the first time I thought you were trying to click a button or run a function of another panel, which is not possible. But calling a menu command should work fine the way I’ve described above :+1:

1 Like
5

Where exactly is this panelList? require('photoshop').app doesn’t have such property :thinking: Same question for menuBarInfo

Also require('photoshop').core.performMenuCommand(6478); does not do anything for me :frowning:
I’m getting:

Error: Argument 1 has an invalid type. Expected type: object actual type: number

What kind of object should I pass?
Nevermind, figured the {} in your example was what I needed and not just a template-like syntax :sweat_smile:

Bonus question :slight_smile:
Is there a way to hide/close Properties window? Alchemist gives the exact same code snippet I posted initially, and in console it seems I can’t make it work at all… :confused:
image

Is there some decent documentation on photoshop?

1 Like
6

Try

const psCore = require('photoshop').core;
psCore.performMenuCommand({ "commandID": 6478 });

It’s a toggle :wink:

7

Aha, that works now in console and it toggles, but I can’t make it work in Ps via a menu plugin command. The Properties window opens the first time, but then it won’t close, but always keeps opening. I guess it’s because it’s not in focus when I click the menu.

Also I figured how to get panelList with Alchemist inspector, but for Properties I always get visible/obscured false. I guess this explains why window does not toggle, but always opens.

{
    ID: "panelid.static.smartbrush"
    name: "Properties"
    obscured: false
    visible: false
    _obj: "panelList"
}

Any suggested workaround?

Here’s the action. No matter if “Properties” window is closed or open, the result is always the same :frowning:

require('photoshop').action.batchPlay([
            {
                "_obj": "get",
                "_target": [
                    {"_property": "panelList"},
                    {"_ref": "application", "_enum": "ordinal", "_value": "targetEnum"}
                ]
            }
        ], {
        synchronousExecution: true,
        modalBehavior: 'execute'
    })[0].panelList[44]

Not sure if index is always 44, but seems like it

Also tried to get the state directly from core:

core.getMenuCommandState({"commandID":menuItem.command});

But this always returns [true]

Tried to get directly from menuBarInfo and see if menu is checked, but the result is always:

{
    "name":"Properties",
    "visible":true,
    "enabled":true,
    "checked":false
}
8

Anyone any ideas on how to get the correct status of the panel/window so I could toggle only if needed? :roll_eyes:

9

Could you summarize again, which behavior you’d like to see?
I just tested said menuCommand from

  1. the console
  2. inside a panel
  3. a plugin menu command

and in all cases it worked fine, by showing the properties window when it’s hidden and hiding it when it is shown.

10

The main question is - how do I prevent panel from hiding if it’s visible (or vice versa - prevent showing if it’s hidden). Or even bring it to front if it’s behind other panel? So basically I didn’t find a proper way to check the state, so that I could prevent a toggle if not needed

11

Hm, for my plugin this worked fine at least.

Here’s the relevant part:

 const panelState = getAppProperty('panelList').find(p => p.name === panelName)
  if (!panelState.visible || panelState.obscured) {
    performMenuCommand(panel.command)
  }

And when I test it with Alchemist specifically for the Properties Panel, I also seem to get the correct result:
Not opened:
image

opened:
image

Maybe I’m not seeing the issue yet, or it’s just a problem on your side :thinking:

12

That’s weird :thinking: I will re-check again, but when I tried, I had:

13

panelid.static.smartbrush is not really the panel that you want, is it

14

But it’s the only in list I see named “Properties” :confused:

15

You can find that out easily if you hide/show the properties panel and add the Application/panelList descriptor in Alchemist each time. If you then compare both for the differences, you should see which one you toggled.

1 Like
16

In the past i’ve used something like this:

function get_panelList() {
  return batchPlay(
    [{
      "_obj": "get",
      "_target": [{
          "_property": "panelList"
        },
        {
          "_ref": "application",
          "_enum": "ordinal",
          "_value": "targetEnum"
        }
      ]
    }], {
      "synchronousExecution": true
    })[0].panelList;
}

function showPropertiesPanel() {
  const panelStatus = get_panelList().find(panel => panel.name === "Properties")
  if (!panelStatus.visible || panelStatus.obscured) {
    require('photoshop').core.performMenuCommand({
      "commandID": 6478
    });
  }
}
1 Like
17

That’s exactly what I’ve posted above :smiley:

18

OK… So what’s the deal?
If I do const panelState = getAppProperty('panelList') and add a breakpoint, in console I find manually the Properties panel and it’s:

{
    ID: "panelid.static.smartbrush"
    name: "Properties"
    obscured: false
    visible: false
    _obj: "panelList"
}

But after .find(panel => panel.name === "Properties") I get:

{
    ID: "panelid.static.properties"
    name: "Properties"
    obscured: false
    visible: false
    _obj: "panelList"
}

How come in console it’s the different panel with the same name when whole list is expanded?
And I guess it’s better to search by ID, than by name (noticed name is different in other languages)

19

That’s weird indeed. And yes, matching by ID is always the better option. I only used it for panels of my own plugin, so matching by name works fine, too, in this case.