CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptscalaadobescala.js
composerMike
composerMike

Reputation: 1116

What is involved in using Scala.js for non-web, non-Node.js applications?

I've used Scala.js, and enjoyed it, for writing web page functionality.

I wrote some graphics-related functions that draw pictures on the Canvas, for instance. I'm interested in porting some of that code to Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. They offer scripting in three languages: (1) AppleScript, (2) JavaScript, and (3) Visual Basic. Of course the API is quite different than the Canvas and will offer many specific, powerful functions that I would like to take advantage of.

My program will be rewritten and expanded considerably, so development will continue. What I wonder is whether I can continue to develop in Scala and if Scala.js can be used to write code for Adobe software, or really any software that scripts with JavaScript.

I figure that I have to create some kind of interface to the Adobe API. What would that involve? Would that code be written in Scala? Would it be a plugin to sbt? How much would I have to learn about the internals of the Scala compiler?

Is it worth doing this, or should I choose instead to develop in JavaScript? (I don't really want to write in JavaScript directly because I've had bad experiences with it in the browser, but I can't say I'm an expert in it.)

(Note that I'm not familiar with much of the Adobe API yet... I'm just investigating now.)

Upvotes: 1

Views: 75

Answers (1)

Justin du Coeur
Justin du Coeur

Reputation: 2659

Should be pretty straightforward. The key is that you'll need to build facades -- strongly-typed Scala descriptions -- for the APIs you care about in Illustrator and Photoshop. This isn't particularly hard: you only have to worry about the functions you actually want to call, and you describe the function signatures in Scala. With a little practice, this becomes pretty easy -- it typically takes a minute or less per function once you have the hang of it. (I maintain the jQuery facade, which is one of the larger ones, and banged out most of it in an afternoon once I was in practice.)

Assuming that they are using reasonable standard JavaScript, that's probably most of it -- you define those facades, write Scala.js code to use them, and plug the compiled JavaScript into the tools...

Upvotes: 1

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