adobe-scripting | write scripts for use in Adobe Illustrator | Image Editing library

There are two ways to write scripts for Adobe Illustrator: 1) Use the ExtendScript Toolkit.app or 2) Use a text editor and custom workflow (ie. Atom). Both workflows are described below. Recommendation: If you are new to scripting or coding in general, I suggest starting with the standard Extendscript Toolkit.app to get familiar with the language, syntax, and DOM before moving onto a different editor and workflow (ie. Atom or VSCode). Pro Tip: As you become experienced you may find that its beneficial to use both IDEs at times since (in my opinion) Atom (or VSCode) is much nicer to look at / use and ExtendScript Toolkit has a built in Data Browser for learning the API and a JavaScript Console for debugging.
At this point you are ready to write scripts! Keep reading for alternative workflows with Atom or VSCode text editors. Both are free and open source and provide many built in features and packages to customize your workflow.
Launch Adobe CC and look for "Extendscript Toolkit CC" in the list of available applications. If it isn't shown in the list goto Preferences > Creative Cloud > Check "Show Older Apps" to reveal it in the list of available applications. If needed, the direct download link can be found here.
Click Install
After installing the toolkit you should see a folder called "Adobe ExtendScript Toolkit CC" under Applications. Locate the folder and launch "ExtendScript Toolkit.app".
Set the Target application to "Adobe Illustrator CC 2017". If Illustrator is not open, open it and click the small broken red "chain link" icon in the scripting application to change it green and connect to Illustrator. If Illustrator closes the chain link icon will change back to a broken red link.
(Optional) The default settings are much to small for a Macbook Pro with Retina Screen on the highest resolution setting. Change the font to 'Consolas' or 'Monaco' and font size to '16'.
As of September 2018, I have shifted the workflow to using Adobe Script Runner. Good news! There is a version for both Atom and VSCode (keep reading). It essentially replaces the Process Palette workflow above (Yay!). Which means it works with any kind of file/folder path including spaces or not. By default, it contains a key command setup for After Effects so you will need to do the following to setup a key command for Illustrator.
Install Atom IDE
Install process-palette atom package.
Add a new global command to the process-palette.json file by going to the package setup options and adding the following. Give it a namespace of "ai" An action name of "run-current-script" A keystroke of "cmd-ctrl-r" (You can set this to anything you want) A shell command of osascript -e 'tell application "Adobe Illustrator"' -e 'activate' -e 'do javascript "#include '{fileAbsPath}'"' -e 'end tell'
Load a new .jsx file and run it via "cmd + ctrl + r" or by right clicking on the file in the sidebar and choosing "Run With" > Run Current Script.
Make sure Adobe Illustrator is open and you should see the results when running the script.
Enable keybindings in the package settings.
Open up Atom > Keymap. The file keymap.cson will open in the editor.
Add the following key binding for Adobe Illustrator. This one replaces the default AE keybinding. If you want to keep it, just use a different keybinding. '.platform-darwin atom-workspace': 'alt-cmd-r': 'adobe-script-runner:Adobe Illustrator'
Now you can run scripts with the specified key command as before. If you don't have Illustrator open it will automatically launch it.
Install VSCode IDE
Install Adobe Script Runner and ExtendScript Syntax Highlighting. This second extension will ensure syntax highlighting and that you don't get unnecessary errors when running a .jsx file.
Load a new .jsx file and run it via "cmd + shift + p" and selecting Adobe Illustrator. Similarily you could run other Adobe applications the same way.
If you would like to customize the key command to be the same as Atom or different than the default, follow the remaining steps.
Goto Code > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts
Search for adobeScriptRunner.ai and add a new key command to this by editing the keybindings.json file or clicking on the pencil next to the item. Add the following keybinding for Adobe Illustrator: { "key": "ctrl+cmd+r", "command": "adobeScriptRunner.ai", "when": "editorTextFocus" }
Run using the new key command and you should see the results in Illustrator.
In general, you want to Setup Atom (one time) and make a new Illustrator document. It is possible to generate new documents using the app.documents.add() function. We will cover more of this method later. At this point you should have an empty document in Illustrator with 1 empty layer and a project folder to store scripts in.
Setup Atom to be your primary editor. Trust me, it just works better.
Open Up Illustrator Create an Illustrator file with mm as the default units. New Document > Width: 100, Height: 100, Millimeters, RGB Color > Create Setup Grid & Rulers Preferences > Guides & Grid > Gridline every: 1 mm, Subdivisions: 1 Show Grid (View Menu or CMD + ') Show Ruler (View Menu > Rulers or CMD + r)
Open Up Atom Make a new directory called "scripts". Make a new file called "script.jsx" in your scripts folder. This and other scripts will be used for writing code and running from within Atom via the process-palette package you setup previously.