ScriptUI Photoshop Palettes

Question

I'm working on a photoshop script that contains a GUI for collecting information. This is my first time using Script UI and I'm running into 2 issues that I'm not sure how to address.

1. Issue 1, the palette is not the focus when I run my script. The user has to manually click on the palette in order to focus it and input their information. Not a super big deal, but is an extra step I'd like to avoid.
2. I'm writing this script for my team at work, most of us have multiple monitors all of varying resolution and sizes, in various configurations. In testing this, I'm currently running into an issue (Issue 2) where the palette pops up in the center of the primary monitor, and not the monitor where the photoshop window is (See attached screenshots). Is there a way to change this so the dialog appears on top of the photoshop window and not on some other monitor?

My code is as follows:

    #target photoshop
    var isDone, sTID, waitForRedraw, win, windowResource;
    windowResource = "palette";
    win = new Window(windowResource);
    var oldInputGroup = win.add("group");
    oldInputGroup.add("statictext", undefined, "Search for");
        var oText = oldInputGroup.add("edittext", undefined, "Search for");
        oText.characters = 25;
        oText.active = true;
    var newInputGroup = win.add("group");
        newInputGroup.add("statictext", undefined, "Replace with");
        var nText = newInputGroup.add("edittext", undefined, "Replace with");
        nText.characters = 25;
        nText.active = false;
    var caseCheck = win.add("checkbox", undefined, "Case Sensitive?");
    var bottomGroup = win.add("group");
        var btnOK = bottomGroup.add("button", undefined, "OK");
        var btnCancel = bottomGroup.add("button", undefined, "Cancel");

    main();

In main I have:

    isDone = false;

        win.onClose = function(){
            return isDone = true;
        };
        btnOK.onClick = function(){
            dataEntry = getInfo();
            return isDone = true;
        };
        btnCancel.onClick = function(){
            return isDone = true;
        };

        win.show();
        while (isDone === false) {
            try{
                app.refresh();
            } catch(e){
                isDone = true;
            };
        }
    //getInfo collects data from the window
    //then my script does its thing

Answer 1

If my guess is correct, this has more to do with general OS stuff and/or Photoshop behavior, rather than just scriptui dialogs. I believe you got two options.

Option 1:

Make that second screen your main screen in mac System Preferences > Displays > Arrangement by dragging the white bar on one of the displays to the other one.

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Option 2:

Turn on "Display have separate spaces" in mac System Preferences > Mission control > Displays have separate spaces checkbox.

I believe you already have that on, but when you have the application in the screen/space you want, right click the app icon in the dock and in Options below Assing to: choose Desktop on screen 2 or whichever screen it is. I'm pulling the wording from memory, but if that is not accurate, it's pretty self explanatory anyways once you see it.

I've noticed some weirdness with this myself, where window placement within the screen is kinda off. That's not a problem for most windows, like say PS preferences window, because you can just move them and next time you open that window, it opens up in the same location.

^{Unfortunately, scriptui dialogs don't retain last location (unless you enforce that perhaps?). I remember having this problem with dialogs that don't have a set location, so by default/normally they would be centered in the screen, but sometimes they just insist on hugging the right side of the screen every time I open a dialog. I'm not sure if setting a static location would help with that issue. But at the very least they will shop up in the secondary screen.}

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There's one more thing to consider. For some people this "Displays have separate spaces" setting is kind of a tradeoff. You get the menubar on each screen, separate backgrounds, fullscreen spaces are separate for each screen and you can solve window location issues like this, but just like the setting name implies, every screen has their own spaces. This isn't necessarily a big thing and can actually be pretty handy, but many are used to the default where all screens share the same space at all times.

If you want the other benefits of this setting but don't really care for the separate spaces, you can use TotalSpaces to sync them, essentially making sure every screen is on the same space number at all times. It has a checkbox in Preferences > Layout called Sync spaces, that is only visible when the "Displays have separate spaces" is on.

Answer 2

1. Do you have any particular reason why you want to use a palette and not a dialog? I find palettes very unstable in Photoshop, but I guess you've read about this.

2. As Joonas mentioned, by default scriptui windows don't retain position, but you can set win.location from win.onShow event and save location on panel close (win.onClose) for future use