Overview

Read-Eval-Print-Loop (REPL) for ExtendScript via Apple Javascript for Automation.

Requirements

1. macOS supporting JavaScript for Automation
1. Valid license for Adobe products that use ExtendScript. Currently supports Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign.
1. Ruby
1. Handy ExtendScript reference

Installation

Clone and use directly:

``sh
git clone https://github.com/theasci/extendscript-repl
cd extendscript-repl
./run.rb -h
`

Or, add as development dependency in your package.json file.
`json
"devDependencies": {
"extendscript-repl": "^0.0.1"
}
`

Install with npm install. You should now be able to create a script (repl.sh) that loads your bootstrap JSX, if desired.

`sh
#!/bin/bash
DIRECTORY=$(cd dirname $0 && pwd)
"$DIRECTORY/node_modules/extendscript-repl/run.rb" -b "$DIRECTORY/bootstrap.jsx"
`

run.rb

`sh
me@host$ ./run.rb -a photoshop
ExtendScript REPL - photoshop
Type 'help' to get started.
jsx> app.name
Adobe Photoshop
jsx> app.version
21.0.3
jsx> exit

me@host$ ./run.rb -a indesign
ExtendScript REPL - indesign
Type 'help' to get started.
jsx> app.properties.name
Adobe InDesign
jsx> app.properties.version
15.0.1.209
jsx> app.activeDocument.stories[0].texts.firstItem()
Application("Adobe InDesign 2020").documents.byId(510).stories.byId(216)
jsx> app.activeDocument.stories[0].texts.firstItem().toSpecifier()
/document[@id=510]/story[0]/text[@location=first]
jsx> quit

me@host$ ./run.rb -b lib/bootstrap.jsx
jsx> Global.toSource()
({rootPath:new Folder ("~/projects/extendscript-repl")})
jsx> Global.rootPath
Path("/Users/me/projects/extendscript-repl")
`

Gotchas


1. Backslashes (\\) need to be escaped. jsx> 'test'.match(/\\w/)

NPM Release Tasks

1. Update package.json version number
1. npm install to update package lock.
1. Ensure tests pass: npm test
1. Update CHANGELOG.md with changes since last release.
1. Check them all into the repository.
1. git tag -a -m ; git push --tags
1. npm publish` to deploy the release to npm.

TODO

1. ExtendScript session to handle variables introduced. Not sure how this would be done.
1. History writes to a file so they exist beyond a single Session
1. Handle multiline commands