Running CS and CS2 on the same PC - XP Win

Discussion of Photoshop Scripting, Photoshop Actions and Photoshop Automation in General

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Andrew

Running CS and CS2 on the same PC - XP Win

Post by Andrew »

Are there going to be any problems, particularly with regard scripting? I really don't want to lose the ability to use and develop further my existing CS scripts.

Andrew
MickM

Running CS and CS2 on the same PC - XP Win

Post by MickM »

I've been running them side by side since CS2 came out and have had no problems. The only tiny glitch is in running VB.NET apps which need to be compiled specially for the target program. If I forget and use an app compiled for CS with CS2, it hangs for half a minute before giving an error message. Obviously this won't affect JS users.

I can't imagine how you would lose the ability to use and develop your CS scripts. In CS2, JS scripts use a .jsx extension and can be double clicked from the desktop or explorer to run directly in PS. In other words, they don't have to be in the scripts folder. I like the convenience of this when I'm playing with JS.

Bridge has a lot of potential despite various minor bugs being reported. I've not had time yet to investigate Bridge scripting, partly because I would need to learn JS properly before starting but it looks very powerful. I think the file browser will become a distant memory when you start using it (despite your obvious attachment to the FB).

I love CS2 overall but did find the numerous scripting bugs very disappointing. It seems like they just dumped it out despite a load of bugs. In fact, most of the new scripting features don't work. That aside, it's a lot better than CS I think.
xbytor

Running CS and CS2 on the same PC - XP Win

Post by xbytor »

To add to what Mick said...

The ExtendScript debugger/editor is sweet. There are just some quirks WRT how it interacts with CS2 in terms of focus and refresh. Some of this may be to some XP UI tweaks I have for X-Windows style focus modes but some of the problem is definitely CS2 thinking it owns my desktop.

I have PS7, CS, and CS2 on XP and constantly move back and forth between the different versions. Some of my code needs to be portable across all three environments and I haven't had any real conflicts between PS versions on the same computer.
Larry Ligon

Running CS and CS2 on the same PC - XP Win

Post by Larry Ligon »

Xbytor,
Does the debugger work for you? When you hover your cursor over a variable does it show its value? I'm using Windows 2000 Professional.

I have 7, CS and CS2 installed and no problems.

Larry
xbytor

Running CS and CS2 on the same PC - XP Win

Post by xbytor »

Larry Ligon wrote:Xbytor,
Does the debugger work for you?
For the most part. The debugger will sometimes appear to lockup, but this seems to only occur when it's waiting on PS for something. If I give PS focus momentarily the debugger unblocks and everything is back to normal. I was mega-upset thinking the debugger was freezing completely 'til I figured out it was a focus/messaging issue.

I've also used it for Bridge<->PS script debugging with some code running in Bridge and some running in PS. It seems to be a reasonable approach to debugging multi-app scripting programs.

Writing scripts for this programming model is very different than writing scripts for either Bridge or PS in isolation. There are still a couple of issues that are not yet clear to me.

For instance:
If I have a startup script loaded automatically by PS when it launches, the script is evaluated. Does that interpreter and its state remain persistent for the entire PS session? What about scripts that are launched via File->Scripts or Actions? Do they get a fresh interpreter context, a dupe of the startup context, or do the run directly in the startup context?Is there a mechanism for restarting the startup JS context or do I need to restart PS completely?Larry Ligon wrote:When you hover your cursor over a variable does it show its value?
Didn't notice and didn't know it was supposed to. Time to RTFM, I guess, and find out what other goodies are there. The data browser rox, though.
Larry Ligon

Running CS and CS2 on the same PC - XP Win

Post by Larry Ligon »

I really haven't looked at the Bridge scripting yet. I tried using the debugger but when it didn't do what I wanted I stopped using it. Let me know if the cursor over the variable shows the value for you. This feature is available in my Visual Basic IDE and I really use it a lot.

Larry
xbytor

Running CS and CS2 on the same PC - XP Win

Post by xbytor »

I didn't get any help tips or JS vars displayed at all when debugging PSCS2. I'll try to check Bridge later today.