Adobe Development Utils

This toolkit extension for Visual Studio Code provides several utilities for developing Adobe scripts & extensions and working with After Effects expressions.

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Script Build

Pack your script into a single file, with the following options:

• script obfuscation (see JS Obfuscation)
• script JSXBIN encoding (see JSXBIN Encoding)
• script header (script name, description, version, build date, license, author, author webpage)

Check the extension's settings (adobeDevUtils.build) for more.

Script Build - Notes

This feature does not replace a proper building tool such as gulp, grunt etc. It's just a quick way of delivering your scripts.

After Effects Expressions

Send and receive After Effects expressions to / from the selected properties.

SEND

From VS Code

To After Effects

After Effects Expressions | Send - Usage

• In After Effects, select the properties on which you want to apply the expression.
• In VS Code, select the JS lines you want to apply as an AE expression (the entire lines will be selected automatically); if no code is selected the entire document will be sent to After Effects.
• Then do one of the following:
  • Press Alt + E.
  • Right-click and choose Adobe Dev Utils: Send AE expression.

After Effects Expressions | Send - Notes

• In Windows: make sure the After Effects installation path is correctly set-up in the extension's settings adobeDevUtils.ae.expression.aePath.

RECEIVE

After Effects Expressions | Receive - Usage

• In After Effects, select the properties having the expressions you want to send to VS Code.
• In VS Code do one of the following:
  • Press Alt + I.
  • Right-click and choose Adobe Dev Utils: Receive AE expressions.

After Effects Expressions | Receive - Notes

• In Windows: make sure the After Effects installation path is correctly set-up in the extension's settings adobeDevUtils.ae.expression.aePath.

JS selection to String

Converts the selected lines to JS string (single-line / concatenated / multi-line).

Single-line

Concatenated

Template literal

JS selection to String - Usage

• Make a selection (the entire lines will be selected automatically).
• Then do one of the following:
  • Press Alt + D.
  • Right-click and select Adobe Dev Utils: JS selection to String.

JS selection to String - Notes

• If adobeDevUtils.jsToString.string.stringStyle is set to concatenated / multi-line and adobeDevUtils.jsToString.string.quotesStyle is set as template literal, the extension will generate a multi-line template literal.
• Check the extension's settings for other options.

JS Obfuscation

Obfuscate and protect the selected JS lines. Uses javascript-obfuscator.

JS Obfuscation - Usage

• Make a selection (the entire lines will be selected automatically).
• Then do one of the following:
  • Press Shift + Alt + D.
  • Right-click and select Adobe Dev Utils: obfuscate JS selection.

JS Obfuscation - Notes

• Check the extension's settings to modify the obfuscator's options.

JSXBIN Encoding

Encodes the selected JSX lines to JSXBIN. it uses the @esdebug module from ExtendScript Debugger.

JSXBIN Encoding - Usage

• Make a selection (the entire lines will be selected automatically).
• Then do one of the following:
  • Press Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E on Windows or Cmd + Shift + Alt + E on Mac.
  • Right-click and select Adobe Dev Utils: encode JS selection to JSXBIN.

JSXBIN Encoding - Notes

• Check the extension's settings.
• The JS lines can be obfuscated first before they are encoded to JSXBIN by doing one of the following:
  • Press Ctrl + Shift + Tab on Windows or Cmd + Shift + Tab on Mac.
  • Right-click and select Adobe Dev Utils: obfuscate + encode JS selection to JSXBIN.

Conversion

HEX

• Escape (shortcut Alt + H)
• Unescape (shortcut Alt + U)

Installation

• From VS Code
  • Open Extensions and type adobe-dev-utils.
  • Click Install and reload window.
• From GitHub
  • Download the repository and unzip the package.
  • Copy VS-Code-Adobe-Development-Utils-master to /Users/YOURUSER/.vscode/extensions folder.
  • Run npm install.
  • Reload VS Code.

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