Pimp My Bridge

As you probably know, Photoshop CS2 and the other Creative Suite apps ship with Adobe Bridge, the browsing and workflow management hub of the Suite. What you may not know is that Bridge has been designed with extensibility in mind. The app’s JavaScript extensibility layer enables everything from tiny widgets to services like Adobe Stock Photos. So, I thought it would be useful to link to some resources and examples:

  • The
    Bridge scripting guide
    documents the app’s JavaScript extensibility layer. You can write and debug these scripts using the ExtendScript toolkit that ships with all the CS2 apps, and you can discuss script development with others on the Bridge scripting forum.

  • Adobe Studio Exchange features a set of Bridge scripts, including Import from Camera. You can of course upload your own scripts to share with community.
  • The Adobe Solutions Network (ASN) offers a variety of Bridge extensions. For various accounting reasons, we can’t just give these away (believe me, we’ve looked into it), but paying ASN developers can incorporate this code into their own scripts, then redistribute them.
  • Peter Krogh’s DAMUseful.com (from which I stole the title of this entry) features the Pimp My Bridge page, as well as Peter’s Rank and File script for facilitating interoperability with iView Media Pro and other apps.
  • BarredRock Software offers a variety of scripts, including one that offers much-requested extraction of metadata to a spreadsheet.
  • PhotoshopNews.com offers a favorite to display PhotoshopNews in Bridge using the on-board Opera browser engine. Other developers have used this capability to tie Bridge into asset management systems.
  • Jakub Kozniewski offers the Flash-based CS UI builder, a visual way to assemble JavaScript interfaces for Bridge and the other CS2 apps. [via Jeff Tranberry]

I plan to update the list as more examples and resources become available. In the meantime, if you have others to share, please send ’em our way.

0 thoughts on “Pimp My Bridge

  1. Why no Applescript Guide for Bridge? Applescript is something us mere mortals can master. Javascript? Forget it. I’m a photographer, not a programmer. Please give us an Applescript Guide (and Applescript support if it’s not in there). Thanks!

  2. Sorry, AppleScript support didn’t make the cut for Bridge 1.0. It’s a good request, though. FWIW, AppleScript is supported in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and other Adobe tools.

  3. So do this mean we can’t even run an AppleScript ‘do javascript’ command to control Bridge in any way?
    [Yes, that is correct –J.]

  4. No applescript means no external application integration– for those of us who do serious workflow automation on OS X (90% of which is done through applescript), this makes Bridge a WHOLE lot less useful. Any ETA for applescript support?
    I do a lot of integration with Applescript to do communication between Filemaker and PS. I had hoped to do the same with Bridge. Now do I have to tell my client they need to go out and buy everyone in the production department licenses for iView?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *