Right now I am using the prompt command as a workaround to copy arbitrary text out of my JSX script in Photoshop.
prompt("to copy",(horizontalcenter.toString()) + ", " + verticalcenter.toString());
And that is giving me the information that I want. The "to copy" just gives the title, then the information I want to copy out of Photoshop is in the prompt box already selected. So all I have to do is hit control C, go to Notepad++ where I need this information, and hit control V.
It works, but it could be faster. There has to be a way to copy this information out of Photoshop straight to the clipboard, no?
Photoshop 13.1 (the latest Creative Cloud release of Photoshop CS6) now has a hook allowing you to do this directly. Here's a sample function:
function copyTextToClipboard( txt )
{
const keyTextData = app.charIDToTypeID('TxtD');
const ktextToClipboardStr = app.stringIDToTypeID( "textToClipboard" );
var textStrDesc = new ActionDescriptor();
textStrDesc.putString( keyTextData, txt );
executeAction( ktextToClipboardStr, textStrDesc, DialogModes.NO );
}
Please note this won't work in versions of Photoshop prior to 13.1
Found the answer on a Photoshop scripting forum.
http://ps-scripts.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3097&p=15324&hilit=clipboard&sid=1b1cc023023b9f91ab46e30e48e2ab53#p15324
function copyTextToClipboard(text)
{
var folderForTempFiles = Folder.temp.fsName;
// create a new textfile and put the text into it
var clipTxtFile =new File(folderForTempFiles + "/ClipBoard.txt");
clipTxtFile.open('w');
clipTxtFile.write(text);
clipTxtFile.close();
// use the clip.exe to copy the contents of the textfile to the windows clipboard
var clipBatFile =new File(folderForTempFiles + "/ClipBoard.bat");
clipBatFile.open('w');
clipBatFile.writeln("cat \"" + folderForTempFiles + "/ClipBoard.txt\"|clip");
clipBatFile.close();
clipBatFile.execute();
}
It's placing the text you want to copy in a temp text file, then copying it from that text file. I didn't even know you could place text into a text file. Apparently the javascript capabilities in Photoshop are much more powerful than I realized!