filsa.net: External Editing of Images

filsa.net: Frontier Scripting [ Script Archive | Ideas & Issues | Polyglot | Software | Projects ]

Monday, June 28, 1999

External Editing of Images

Now use command-E to edit images as well as text externally

Background
Sometime ago, Dave Winer and Rich Siegel got together to make their software, Frontier and BBEdit, work better together. They put together a simple, open protocol that allows Frontier to send data out to BBEdit to edited, and when it gets saved, get saved back directly into Frontier.
BBEdit gets to shine in its text management functions, while Frontier can do it's job managing the data objects. The users win, they get to use the best tools for the job.
A few other apps support this, PageSpinner and I think WebWarrior. It's also supported for editing Applescripts and MacBird cards. But so far graphic programs have not hooked into this protocol (or for that matter, scripting, with the exception of clip2gif).
These two subtables plug into Dave's odbEditor suite and enable you to edit images externally, just like you do with text. It's not perfect, because the graphics apps don't support the protocol, but it's pretty good.
Setting up
First download and unstuff the package from the Downloads page.
Click on the Installer and you're ready to go. That's it. There are no menus or dialogs or preferences. It's an invisible upgrade.
How this works
It's easy! Cool.
Once things are loaded and installed, go to any GIFf or JPEG object that's living in your root. (There might be some in user.html.images). Put your cursor on the image object you want to edit, press Command-E.
Magic.
Frontier looks for a compatible image editor (prompting you to find one if it can't), saves the image data to a temp file, then opens the temp file in that image editor.
Go ahead, edit your object. When you're done making changes to it, save it (Cmd-S).
Here's where things are different than text objects in BBEdit. Because graphics programs (so far) don't support the open protocol, the data doesn't get automatically saved back into Frontier. Here's what you have to do.
Go back to Frontier. Select the Main Menu; you'll see a new menu command at the bottom, called "Reload Edited Image". It got added to the menu when you pressed Command-E. Select it, and you'll be asked whether you want to reload the image. You can also choose to remove the menu command or cancel at this point. (You might want to remove the command if you make a change and don't like it. You keep the original unchanged in your root, and get rid of the menu item.)
Frontier tries to load the edited image back into the object database. When it's finished, it asks you if you want to keep the temporary file or put it in the trash. And, as it finishes, it removes the "Reload Edited Image" command from the Main Menu.
Notes
If you want to change image editors for a particular image, press Cmd-Shift-E. Hold down shift until you are prompted for the new editor. Be sure it can handle the type of image you're sending it! (Note: if the old editor is still running with a window of the same name, the new editor you select will be launched but the image may still be opened in the old editor. Just quit the old editor first to avoid this.)
I haven't tested this extensively, only with Graphic Converter, clip2gif, and PhotoShop. (I hear people have used this successfully with Deneba's Canvas as well.)
What you can do
Actually, this is somewhat of a hack. The best thing would be if your image software supported the protocol. I'd like for you to request, respectfully, to the authors of your favorite image editing program that they support scripting in general and this protocol in particular. Tell them to check the Frontier site for more info on making their app scriptable. I believe there is also more info on the Midas site about this.
I think reasoned, respectful requests from a broad community of users (especially registered ones) might persuade these guys to open up their software to scripters. That'd be great.
I'm thinking especially of GraphicConverter and PhotoShop.
Change Notes:
v1.0.1; Aug 23, 1997
Bug fix. When selecting the "Reload Edited Image" menu item, if you selected "Remove This Menu Item", the script removed the menu item properly but reported that the image had been reloaded. This has been corrected. No other changes have been made.
Thanks to Ricardo Davis for reporting this.
v1.0; June 8, 1997
Initial public release.
Credits
Many thanks to Dave Winer, for writing such nice code in the odbEditor suite, and every where else in the root.
Also to Nobumi Iyanaga, who suggested this, and has contributed lots of great tools to the community here.
Sun, Jun 8, 1997 at 6:47:57 PM by PS

This is Phil's Frontier Scripting Site. San Francisco, CA
Copyright © 1996-98, Phil Suh. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.filsa.net/frontier/software/externalImages.html
This page last built on 6/28/99; 11:12:21 PM

filsa.net: Frontier Scripting [ Script Archive | Ideas & Issues | Polyglot | Software | Projects ]


	Monday, June 28, 1999 External Editing of Images Now use command-E to edit images as well as text externally
	Background Sometime ago, Dave Winer and Rich Siegel got together to make their software, Frontier and BBEdit, work better together. They put together a simple, open protocol that allows Frontier to send data out to BBEdit to edited, and when it gets saved, get saved back directly into Frontier. BBEdit gets to shine in its text management functions, while Frontier can do it's job managing the data objects. The users win, they get to use the best tools for the job. A few other apps support this, PageSpinner and I think WebWarrior. It's also supported for editing Applescripts and MacBird cards. But so far graphic programs have not hooked into this protocol (or for that matter, scripting, with the exception of clip2gif). These two subtables plug into Dave's odbEditor suite and enable you to edit images externally, just like you do with text. It's not perfect, because the graphics apps don't support the protocol, but it's pretty good. Setting up First download and unstuff the package from the Downloads page. Click on the Installer and you're ready to go. That's it. There are no menus or dialogs or preferences. It's an invisible upgrade. How this works It's easy! Cool. Once things are loaded and installed, go to any GIFf or JPEG object that's living in your root. (There might be some in user.html.images). Put your cursor on the image object you want to edit, press Command-E. Magic. Frontier looks for a compatible image editor (prompting you to find one if it can't), saves the image data to a temp file, then opens the temp file in that image editor. Go ahead, edit your object. When you're done making changes to it, save it (Cmd-S). Here's where things are different than text objects in BBEdit. Because graphics programs (so far) don't support the open protocol, the data doesn't get automatically saved back into Frontier. Here's what you have to do. Go back to Frontier. Select the Main Menu; you'll see a new menu command at the bottom, called "Reload Edited Image". It got added to the menu when you pressed Command-E. Select it, and you'll be asked whether you want to reload the image. You can also choose to remove the menu command or cancel at this point. (You might want to remove the command if you make a change and don't like it. You keep the original unchanged in your root, and get rid of the menu item.) Frontier tries to load the edited image back into the object database. When it's finished, it asks you if you want to keep the temporary file or put it in the trash. And, as it finishes, it removes the "Reload Edited Image" command from the Main Menu. Notes If you want to change image editors for a particular image, press Cmd-Shift-E. Hold down shift until you are prompted for the new editor. Be sure it can handle the type of image you're sending it! (Note: if the old editor is still running with a window of the same name, the new editor you select will be launched but the image may still be opened in the old editor. Just quit the old editor first to avoid this.) I haven't tested this extensively, only with Graphic Converter, clip2gif, and PhotoShop. (I hear people have used this successfully with Deneba's Canvas as well.) What you can do Actually, this is somewhat of a hack. The best thing would be if your image software supported the protocol. I'd like for you to request, respectfully, to the authors of your favorite image editing program that they support scripting in general and this protocol in particular. Tell them to check the Frontier site for more info on making their app scriptable. I believe there is also more info on the Midas site about this. I think reasoned, respectful requests from a broad community of users (especially registered ones) might persuade these guys to open up their software to scripters. That'd be great. I'm thinking especially of GraphicConverter and PhotoShop. Change Notes: *v1.0.1; Aug 23, 1997* Bug fix. When selecting the "Reload Edited Image" menu item, if you selected "Remove This Menu Item", the script removed the menu item properly but reported that the image had been reloaded. This has been corrected. No other changes have been made. Thanks to Ricardo Davis for reporting this. *v1.0; June 8, 1997* Initial public release. Credits Many thanks to Dave Winer, for writing such nice code in the odbEditor suite, and every where else in the root. Also to Nobumi Iyanaga, who suggested this, and has contributed lots of great tools to the community here. Sun, Jun 8, 1997 at 6:47:57 PM by PS

	This is Phil's Frontier Scripting Site. San Francisco, CA Copyright © 1996-98, Phil Suh. All Rights Reserved. http://www.filsa.net/frontier/software/externalImages.html This page last built on 6/28/99; 11:12:21 PM