aenhancers

Hi.
I have two reasons for asking who else is using jEdit (http://www.jedit.org) to write JS code.

• 1. I'm just dang curious. It's a great tool.
  
  2. If you're using it on OSX, I've created a beanshell macro script that sends the script in the current 'buffer' (frontmost document) to After Effects. This can be easily configured to activate via keyboard shortcut and contextual menu, btw. I'm guessing a Windows version would be pretty easy to implement, too (although a little difficult for me since I don't normally find myself in front of a Windows box). I'd be happy to share it.

Happy Warm January

CG

I use TextPad (from Helios Software).

Works pretty well for me

I'm on TextPad too, someone wrote an AE syntax file for it so that makes it worth it for me. Now if only I could get an XSI syntax file I'd be golden.

Crimson Editor currently does it for me...

I've enjoyed using TextPad on Windows and Emacs under Linux for years. However, I've been meaning to try jEdit for some time. The next time I have a lull in my work, I'll give it a go.

Does jEdit have an IntelliSense-like autocompletion feature, as in Visual Studio? Even if it doesn't reflect the structure of the program, if it had a fluid facility for autocompletion of language keywords, that would be useful when coding in languages that I don't use often.

It looks like the choice is less of an issue now. AE7 has an integrated script editing environment. The syntax highlighting seems rather basic, though.

Hey Vidpat,

I've scoured the AE7 pages on Adobe.com but can't find any mention of AE7's JavaScript capabilities.

Where did you hear about this?

Just found this page, it has an image of the script editor.

http://www.creativemac.com/articles/vie ... id=36827-4

Damn... its like being 5 again and waiting for Christmas morning!

I just found this in the "What's New" document as well:

http://www.adobe.com/products/aftereffe ... ts_new.pdf

Page 7...

And I googled "Adobe Script Toolkit" to find this about PS CS2 scripting. I guess they're pretty much the same thing (no sense re-inventing the wheel, right?)

http://photoshopnews.com/2005/04/20/wha ... scripting/

I'm a long-time TextPad user as well, although I've transitioned (mostly) to the new ExtendScript Toolkit (ESTK for short) in AE 7. The integrated JavaScript Console is very handy for doing one-off tests and viewing output (i.e., less use of alert() boxes), and the Data Browser is handy for viewing the structure/values of an object. Basic text editing is still a little faster in TextPad, at least for me, but the integrated debugging capabilities makes me more efficient in ESTK.

As for Photoshop CS2's ScriptUI controls, the icon, image, and progress bar controls are not available in AE 7, but the others are. I'm especially happy to have access to list box and drop-down list controls, and have started using them in my newest scripts (see http://www.redefinery.com/ae/).

Jeff

vidpat wrote:Does jEdit have an IntelliSense-like autocompletion feature, as in Visual Studio? Even if it doesn't reflect the structure of the program, if it had a fluid facility for autocompletion of language keywords, that would be useful when coding in languages that I don't use often.

OOPS, sorry, vidpat - I forgot to reply to this one.

The closest jEdit has to this (as far as I can tell) are Abbreviations, which you can define yourself, so that you can, for example, type "ams", hit the space bar, and "ADBE Mask Shape" is instantly entered for you. You can also specify what is entered before and after the caret. jEdit comes with a boat load of abbreviations globally, and another bunch for when working in the Java language, but JavaScript is a clean slate, as far as this feature is concerned, so you define your own as you go.