(Photoshop) Save action scripting

thomasp

Hi,

I'm looking for a way to overwrite a specific file on my filesystem, saving as a copy when necessary even if the file is open and the active document - but without any user intervention. This is something that used to be easy but no longer seems possible with an action (something they changed in newer versions of CC?).

What I have right now is just taken from their reference (Apple script):

tell application "Adobe Photoshop CC 2019"<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; set myDocument to current document<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; set myFile to "System:Users:thomaspecht:2D:bitmaps:tmp.bmp" as string<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; set myOptions to ¬<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; {class:BMP save options, bits per sample:twenty four, save alpha channels:false, target operating system:Windows}<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; save myDocument in file myFile as BMP with options ¬<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; myOptions appending no extension without copying<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br>end tell

When I run this it gives me a file dialog, tells me that I need to save with copy, then I have to click away the file overwrite confirmation and finally it presents me with the file options which I thought would be taken care of with the 'set myOptions to' paragraph. Worst of all worlds combined, yeah!

Is it possible to condense this into a simple no-questions-asked affair?

Edit: can't seem to find anything in the scripting reference for that 'without copying' part. No difference either way when run though.

poopipe

Could it be the same issue as  when you try to do this manually and it gets pissy if you have unmerged layers? 

thomasp

Well it's the same if you do it manually, correct - if the file isn't in a BMP compatible format then you have to deal with dialog boxes. My old action did force its way through without nagging me though.

Anyway I found out that Apple Script isn't going to work for what I require, which is to trigger this function through a hotkey. To achieve that, I had to rewrite it in Javascript and it appears to work as intended now:

<div>#target photoshop<br><br>var myBMP = File("/Users/thomaspecht/2D/bitmaps/tmp.bmp"); <br><br>function bmpExport(saveFile) {<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; var bmpOptions = new BMPSaveOptions();<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; bmpOptions.alphaChannels = false;<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; bmpOptions.flipRowOrder = false;<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; bmpOptions.rleCompression = false;<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; bmpOptions.osType = OperatingSystem.WINDOWS;<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; activeDocument.saveAs(saveFile, bmpOptions, true, Extension.LOWERCASE);<br>}</div><div><br>bmpExport(myBMP);</div>

Now I'm looking at getting a check in there to retrieve the active document's bit depth and save it out as BMP if it's in 8 bits per channel. However if found to be in 16 bits I'd like to convert that to 8 bits and then overwrite my bmp file (without affecting the active document).

Something like: if bit depth equals 16 then write out TIFF file, load it back in again, convert down to 8 bits and finally save out as BMP using the existing function. TIFF export might look like this (untested so far):

<div>function tiffExport(saveFile) {<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; var tiffOptions = new TIFFSaveOptions();<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; tiffOptions.alphaChannels = false;<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; tiffOptions.byteOrder = ByteOrder.IBM;<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; tiffOptions.imageCompression = TIFFEncoding.NONE;<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; tiffOptions.layers = false;<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; tiffOptions.transparency = false;<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; app.activeDocument.saveAs(saveFile, tiffOptions, true, Extension.LOWERCASE);<br>}&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br></div><div></div>

Any ideas how to test for document bit depth and convert it?

kio

a photoshop document has a bitsPerChannel value which you could test.

not sure what happens if you just set it with something like this:

doc.bitsPerChannel = BitsPerChannelType.EIGHT;

but you need to restore the history state after that so your document doenst get changed.

thomasp

With Easter out of the way I'm finally back at this. I think creating a flattened copy of the document and simply converting that to 8 bits no matter what will be the approach going forward. Wouldn't want to screw with the layered work-file and all.