cep-spy

Slim, no-dependency utility to dynamically reveal all information about current Adobe host application, active panel using it and even it's sibling CEP extensions, all without needing CSInterface.

Installation

npm install cep-spy

Usage

// Via import:
import spy from "cep-spy";

// Via require:
const spy = require("cep-spy").default;

Examples:

CEP-Spy returns as an object with various pre-calculated values and helper functions:

import spy from "cep-spy";
console.log(spy);

Some are simple wrappers around CSInterface's functions but returning more useful formats (no need to always JSON.parse), some return values that CSInterface doesn't even offer but are useful (localhost port, extension version, environment, etc)

Launch the current localhost of the panel without knowing the app, panel, or localhost:

import spy from "cep-spy";

spy.launchLocalhost(); // Launches in default browser

console.log(spy.localhost); // Returns `http://localhost:####`

Easily get absolute values about your panel/environment regardless of OS:

const spy = require("cep-spy").default;

console.log(spy.path.root); // Returns 'C:/Users/.../[your-panel-root]'
console.log(spy.extVersion); // Returns '1.0.0', as defined in manifest.xml
console.log(spy.isDev); // Returns BOOL true if bombino and while hot reloading
console.log(spy.appName); // Returns 'ILST' or current <HostList> param of host app

Spy on all your colleagues:

import spy from "cep-spy";

let siblings = spy.getAllExtensions();
console.log(siblings);

API

Static values

• path.root [STRING]: The absolute path (pre-treated) of the current extension
• path.userData [STRING]: The absolute path (pre-treated) to CS's userData
• path.commonFiles [STRING]: The absolute path (pre-treated) to CS's commonFiles
• path.myDocuments [STRING]: The absolute path (pre-treated) to CS's myDocuments
• path.hostApplication [STRING]: The absolute path (pre-treated) to the app's hostApplication executable
• package [OBJECT]: The JSON-parsed contents of the panel's root package.json file
• extID [STRING]: id of the current extension as seen in manifest.xml (eg com.adobe.panel)
• author [STRING/OBJECT]: Returns the author parameter of package.json, either as a string or an Object with name, email, and url key-values.
• extName [STRING]: Proper name as displayed in Menu of the current extension
• extVersion [STRING]: The major, minor, micro versioning of the extension (eg 1.x.x) in manifest.xml
• ext [OBJECT]: Object containing CSInterface data for current extension (height, mainPath, width, windowType, etc.)
• localhost [STRING]: The direct URL including "https://localhost:" of the current extension
• isDev [BOOL]: True if extension"s document.location contains "localhost" (if bombino panel during hot reload for development)
• appName [STRING]: The 4-letter app identifier from <HostList> (eg "ILST", "AEFT")
• appLocale [STRING]: The language/region locale identifier (eg "en_US")
• appVersion [STRING]: The major/minor/micro of the host app (eg 24.0.0)
• userAgent [STRING]: If OS is Windows or Mac
• cepVersion [STRING]: The major/minor/micro of CEP engine
• hostCapabilities [OBJECT]: The extended parameters for host under the same name in CSInterface
• userId [STRING]: CSInterface.getCurrentImsUserId() wrapper (returns null often)
• exts [ARRAY]: Array of all CEP extensions (as objects with base data) in current host app.

Functions

• getAllExtensions(): Returns array of all extension data including version from each manifest.xml
• getExtData(id): Returns extension data object of matching id
• openExtension(ext): Requests a given extension launch by extension data object
• getVersion(ext): Returns a major/minor/micro from given extension data object
• launchLocalhost(): Launches any given localhost or the current extension's localhost if none
• launchHomepage(): Launches the homepage given in package.json's homepage attribute
• launchGitRepo(): Launches the GitHub repo link given in package.json's repository attribute