Novice questions - how to get started

General Discussion of Scripting for Flex, Flash & CS SDK

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kpt

Novice questions - how to get started

Post by kpt »

After a day of browsing I'm still not sure what I need to build more sophisticated panels for Photoshop CS5.

It seems like I need (1) Adobe's Flash Builder and (2) CS Extension Builder. If Adobe is selling CS Extension Builder they are doing a great job of not showing the price, or does one have to belong to a secret cult to use it?

Consider e.g. Adobe's Watermark Creator. Looks great. Just the type of stuff I'd like to do. I assume this was built with Flash Builder and the CS Extension Builder (?) Or am I completely missing something here?

I know that Configurator is a free alternative, but is possible to change the style of the buttons and not having the stupid scroll icon next to each label?
Mike Hale

Novice questions - how to get started

Post by Mike Hale »

Here is my understanding of the current panel creation APIs.

To create a Photoshop only panel you do not need Flash Builder or Extension Builder. You can use the free command line compiler. But having said that, it is much easier to create a panel using Flash Builder. Again for Photoshop only panels you can use the Photoshop Panel Guide( SDK ). The last time I looked at the watermark panel it was written by Tom Ruark and use the Photoshop Panel SKK ( CXSXLib ). The CSXSLib uses ExtendScript to drive Photoshop and ActionScript to drive the panel and XML to pass data between the two. The Photoshop Panel SDK can be used with CS4 or higher.

The CS-SDK is newer and is used to create cross-dom panels. It can also be use to create panels that only work with one app such as Photoshop. You can use Flash Builder or Extension builder with that SDK. One of the features of that SDK is all the code can be all ActionScript. CS-SDK can only be used with CS5 or higher.

Extension Builder is not really for sale. To get it you have to join a developer program, which I understand costs a good bit of money to join. But the bottom line is you do not need Extension Builder to create panels using the CS-SDK. I understand it just makes it a lot easier.

Again if you want to create something along the lines of the watermark panel you can use Flash Builder and the CXSXLib.

And with Configurator you can use one of the built-in commands like open then change the code and label. That way you can have a button without the stupid script icon.
kpt

Novice questions - how to get started

Post by kpt »

Thank you Mike, I will investigate! (Just donated $10, this forum is great)