Adobe photoshop cs 2.0 User Guide

 Introduction     4

You can write JavaScripts on either the Mac OS or Windows platform using any text editor. You must save 
JavaScript files as text files with a .jsx extension.

For more information, see 

Your choice of scripting language is determined by two trade-offs:

1. Do you need to run the same script on both Macintosh and Windows computers?

If yes, you must create a JavaScript. See 

.

2. Does the task you are scripting involve multiple applications (such as Photoshop CS2 and Illustrator 

CS2 or a database program)? 

If yes, you must create an AppleScript if you are using a Macintosh; you must create a VBScript script if 
you are using Windows. See 

.

You can combine JavaScript’s versatility with the platform-specific advantages of using either 
AppleScript or VBScript by executing JavaScripts from your AppleScripts or VBScript scripts. See 

 for more information. 

You can use other scripting languages, although they are not documented in this manual. 

●

On Mac OS, you can use any language that allows you to send Apple events.

●

On Windows, you can use any OLE Automation-aware language.

Photoshop CS2 supports legacy Automation scripting as long as you modify the way that you refer to the 
Photoshop CS2 Application object in your scripts. For example, instead of saying: 

Set appRef = CreateObject("Photoshop.Application")

you must change the above code to read: 

Set appRef = CreateObject("Photoshop.Application.9.1") 

No other change is necessary for legacy COM scripts to run under Photoshop CS2. 

Because JavaScripts performs identically on both Windows and Macintosh computers, it is considered a 
cross-platform scripting language. 

You run a JavaScript from within Photoshop CS2 by storing the script in the ...Presets\Scripts folder of your 
Photoshop CS2 installation and then selecting the script from the File > Scripts menu. 

Running JavaScripts from within Photoshop CS2 eliminates the scripts’ facility to directly address other 
applications. For example, you cannot easily write a JavaScript to manage a workflow that involves 
Photoshop CS2 and a database management program.