types-for-adobe

TypeScript types for Adobe Products

Repository for typedef files for various Adobe Creative Cloud products.

Prerequisites

• Node.js
• TypeScript
• git

Your first script for eg. Adobe Illustrator

# create new folder
mkdir my-script
cd my-script

# install types-for-adobe
npm init -y
npm i types-for-adobe

# create tsconfig.json
printf '{"compilerOptions":{"module":"none","noLib":true}}' > tsconfig.json

# create index.ts and change reference types to Adobe product you're targeting
printf '/// <reference types="types-for-adobe/Illustrator/2015.3"/>\nalert(String(app));\n' > index.ts

# compile typescript files
tsc

# open Adobe Illustrator -> File -> Scripts -> Other Script -> and open index.js

FAQ

Where do these typedefs come from?

Everything in this project was generated through one of the following methods:

• Using this extendscript-xml-to-typescript converter tool to convert scripting dictionaries to typedef format
  • note that this only works for a few select apps, and has been found to generate incorrect data in some cases
• By hand, through referencing Adobe's official release announcements & developer exploration through the API.

Why are there different versions of docs per version of each host app?

This repo aims to maintain a history of typedefs for each given version of each hostapp.

This way, if you're developing a tool aimed at, say, Adobe After Effects v18.0, you can have your tool specifically use those typedefs, and know that you're not using features that were introduced in a later version.

Why does this matter?

For public, commercial tools: with some hostapps, it's generally accepted that the app's user base will be spread out among multiple versions of the software. Targeting a slightly older version ensures wider adoption than focusing solely on the latest version.

For internal, proprietary tools: some companies mandate that all artists use a specific (older) version; having separate definitions for that version allows for this specific targeting.

Which should I use?

This really depends on your needs; if you're hoping to release a commercial tool and assume that all users are using a specific version or newer, use that! If you need to leverage a feature added at a specific point, use those typedefs instead & let your users know this is the minimum supported version.

Why are some release versions missing?

Two possible answers! Either

• There haven't been any API changes for that given version, or
• Nobody's taken the time to add typedefs for that version; feel free to open a PR!

Contributors

Thanks to all of our contributors for helping make this project succeed!

Have something to add? Please open a PR!

Publish New Versions

To publish a new version of this project on npm for use in projects, please follow the steps below:

1. Auth and Access

• Ensure you are logged in to your npmjs.com account with npm login and follow the prompts to complete your login
• Ensure your npmjs.com account has access to publish to the npm package, if not, reach out to an admin for access

2. Version and Publish

• Version up the package.json
• Run npm publish
• Push the commit with the new version to GitHub

More typings

• Adobe's offical typings
• BrightShadow/CSInterface-TS