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• • October 20, 2019 at 3:59 am #1192133
    Terre Spencer

    Member

    Is anyone writing on this anywhere? This will really change scripting and I am not finding many resources.

    Thanks,
    Terre

  • October 20, 2019 at 4:14 am #14323899
    Robert Ploch

    Member

    Hi Terre,
    I’m using VS Code + Extendscript debugger since 1 month, but still on macOS 14. In my opinion such tandem is much better than old good ExtendScript by Adobe. It looks better and works very smoothly … and is full of customization possibilities :)
    Best regards
    Robert

  • October 20, 2019 at 4:18 am #14323898
    Terre Spencer

    Member

    Hi Robert,

    Thanks, I have downloaded both and am a little lost.

    Can you recommend books/articles, etc. that explain differences in terminology/usage?

    Thanks,
    Terre

  • October 20, 2019 at 4:26 am #14323897
    Robert Ploch

    Member

    It is not nesecesary, I think. Try to read and watch the instructions on VS and Adobe Debugger sites … For me it was enough !
    In my opinion nothing importatnt has changed in scripts writing and it is more simple now becouse of e.g. code completion, color shemes etc :)

    regards
    Robert

  • October 20, 2019 at 4:31 am #14323896
    Terre Spencer

    Member

    Thanks, I will research Adobe Debugger sites. All links welcome. :)

  • October 20, 2019 at 4:31 am #14323895
    Robert Ploch

    Member

    here are some basic things:
    0. install debugger
    1. first of all always save the script in case of proper code completion and code colorization
    2. on the bottom right stripe of VS select Target Application (the same in ExtendScript on upper left par )
    3. to run the script use F5

    If you will have questions don’t hasitate to write : ploszek@me.com. I will try to help :)

    regards
    Robert

  • October 20, 2019 at 4:34 am #14323894
    Terre Spencer

    Member

    Thanks, I felt like I was out over my skis BEFORE the change to VSC + Debugger. Thanks for the offer to help. Let me get more familiar with VSC. :)

  • October 20, 2019 at 3:56 pm #14323892
    Jeremy Howard

    Participant

    The main thing that we are missing in Visual Studio is the object model viewer. Without that, you need to use clunky online alternatives that are hard to navigate (especially for beginners)

  • October 20, 2019 at 9:19 pm #14323891
    Robert Ploch

    Member

    The OMV from ESTK is not very helpfull not only in my opinion :)

    I like this by Gregor Fellenz very much and I’m using it every day, insted of OMV from ESTK

    https://www.indesignjs.de/extendscriptAPI/indesign14/#about.html

    redgards
    Robert

  • October 21, 2019 at 6:08 am #14323890
    Jeremy Howard

    Participant

    Oh man, I hadn’t seen this before. This is the best OMV that I have seen online, by far.

    Thanks!

  • October 29, 2019 at 9:08 am #14323843
    Theunis De Jong

    Member

    Jeremy, do you have suggestions for improvements?

    I agree fully with Robert: the local Object browser of the ESTK editor is *worthless*. Especially, double so much, for beginners, but you gotta admit that even an experience script writer will only be able to find something in there if s/he knows in advance what to look for (which is, uh, contradictory to the general idea of an online Help, which you’d typically only use if you do not know what to look for).

    I find myself wondering what that online version is you are referring to as “clunky” and “hard to navigate”.

    For older versions of InDesign, I use my own HTML-ized versions of the original DOM help data. It has additional (very extensive) interlinking and cross-referencing, and a quick view of the local hierarchy for every main object. The Windows Help versions are most useful for me, as it has a free text search option and a full index, but in absence of that, the online browse-only versions are good enough.

    The same is true for the latest, Gregor’s versions; even though they are organized ever so slightly different, the huge index and a search box on the main page is enough for me to be able to find what I need, and all data seems sorted correctly by property, method, and what-not — nothing seems missing, nothing more to desire.

  • October 30, 2019 at 2:03 am #14323835
    Peter Kahrel

    Participant

    You may think of the ESTK’s OMV what you will, but it’s the only one that shows the properties of scriptable plug-ins. Gregor’s OMV is a reflection of his computer. Theunis’s OMV shows whatever he has installed. If I want an OMV like theirs that shows my scriptable plug-ins as well, I have to build it myself using their tools. But I don’t have to, because the ESTK does it all for me! (For the time being, anyway.)

  • October 30, 2019 at 2:39 am #14323831
    Terre Spencer

    Member

    Thanks, Peter. That is a very important distinction. I will not be upgrading to Catalina on one machine. Adobe, are you listening? Do you plan on updating ESTK?

  • October 30, 2019 at 10:32 am #14323826
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    No, I don’t think there’s much of a chance that Adobe will change their mind and update ESTK. That’s old technology to them.

    Peter wrote a very good book about JavaScript in InDesign, which you can find here: https://indesignsecrets.com/shop

  • October 30, 2019 at 10:37 am #14323825
    Terre Spencer

    Member

    Thanks, David. I have the book, but it does not deal much with graphic objects and what I am trying to do. The lack of documentation is really frustrating.

    Thanks,
    Terre

  • October 30, 2019 at 2:49 pm #14323824
    Tobias Wantzen

    Participant

    I found this video quite helpful:
    

    It’s on Premiere and VSCode with ExtendScript plugin, but quite useful for the process.

    Thanks, Tobias

  • October 31, 2019 at 12:59 am #14323823
    Peter Kahrel

    Participant

    Terre — That book’s main purpose is to help people get a start with using the ESTK and the object model. And since I’m primarily a text-oriented person, that’s what most of the examples tended to be. The purpose of user forums is to get information about specific topics, so if you have any queries, please post them here. Another place to go to is Adobe’s forums (Adobe’s forums are still recovering from a Grand Forum Upgrade so for the moment they’re not as hospitable as they used to be).

    P.

  • October 31, 2019 at 1:17 am #14323821
    Terre Spencer

    Member

    Thanks, Tobias. Re-watching now. I learn best with books/articles, but seems everything is going to the dreaded videos.

    Peter, your book is very good for text! :) I have asked for help here and at Adobe. No responses, so I struggle alone.

    Thanks,
    Terre

  • October 31, 2019 at 4:40 am #14323819
    Tobias Wantzen

    Participant

    I understand that very good. It would be great to have a good resource/article, that exactly describes how to work with VSCode and ExtendScript efficiently for simpler scripting (one script with few options) and complex scripting (big scripts with many options or maybe even scripts, that are built of multiple modular script files etc.).

    Furthermore there is a gap between scripting beginners, which can find quite useful resources in books or web, and advanced scripting for larger scripting projects. For the latter there are no really useful resources.

    Thanks, Tobias

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