Scripting Photoshop Event IDs for Scripts Event Manager

[thebestcpu]

I have rarely used Photoshop's Scripts Event Manager, which can be found under Command File > Scripts > Script Events Manager.
This command/tool monitors events in Photoshop (e.g. Open a file, Save File, and about any step Photoshop can do), and, upon incurring this "Event," triggers the running of a Script or an Action.
A simple use would be if you wanted to Open a File a particular way or screen view without going through several manual steps yet have it done automatically upon Opening.

My post is not about using the Script Events Manager, yet I have always wondered how many Photoshop Events could be monitored to launch an Action or a Script.
I found a script to enumerate all the Event IDs and store them in a text file on your Desktop.
I downloaded the Script and ran it in Photoshop and was surprised to find the list of Event IDs as of the date of this post to be over 4000

I have attached the script JSX file that will create the text list and an Excel file listing all the Event IDs in order of number in the first tab and alphabetically in the second tab.

Now, the only question, is there anyone else in the world besides myself and the writer of the EventID extraction script who cares about this information
John Wheeler

Note: To use the "extract_event_ids" file, you need to resave it with the file extension set to "jsx"

 

[IamSam]

Now, the only question, is there anyone else in the world besides myself and the writer of the EventID extraction script who cares about this information
John Wheeler

Interesting!

It's not that I don't care as much as it is that I've never really had a need for the information. In all my time using Ps, I've only used a few scripts and several actions that I run on a regular basis, but that's all I've ever needed. Writing scripts is certainly not in my skill set, but if I had the desire, I would probably be a little more interested in having this type of information. I fear that I really don't have the time to devote to learning something relatively new and that I may only have a limited use for. I'll leave that to others and keep my nose to the grinding stone for as long as I can!! Maybe when I retire!!

 

[thebestcpu]

Hi @IamSam
When I retired, there were many things I could do, yet never all of them, so I still had to choose where to spend my time. As far as scripts, I only learned enough to know that I did not want to spend the time on having that expertise. The Scripts Event Manager, in my opinion, is a misnomer. It's just an Event Handler. In software, all that is is an alert that a certain System/Software Event occurred so it can be intercepted with the option of executing additional user steps. When I need that capability, I almost invariably run an Action, not a Script. There is a default Event dropdown list that is provided as shown here:


Those would satisfy many needs. It also lets you "Add Events." There are no real pointers for what events are available and the magic code or text to use when adding one. I wondered about that long ago, and a recent post made me think about it again. Most lists were woefully outdated, and some scripts that indicated they could list them did not.

I certainly was not going to write a script, so I was about to put that curiosity back on the shelf (probably forever). Then, I thought I would ask ChatGPT for a script to enumerate Photoshop's Event IDs. It instantly listed out a script, which I copied and pasted into a file, and I ran it from Photoshop. That is the extent of my scripting skills.

So, if I ever had a major batch job that could not be satisfied by an Action yet would work by recognizing a Photoshop Event, I would know I could go back to this post as a resource to look for an appropriate Event (in theory, at least).

It was mostly an effort to satisfy my curiosity and document my findings rather than any "Aha" about its broad usage or utility.
John Wheeler

 

[MarshySwamp]

Now, the only question, is there anyone else in the world besides myself and the writer of the EventID extraction script who cares about this information
John Wheeler

John, thanks for your post and samples.

I cared enough to attempt to write "the concise missing manual":

https://prepression.blogspot.com/2021/10/photoshop-script-events-manager.html

 

[thebestcpu]

That's great @MarshySwamp. I will give it a read!
John Wheeler