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Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 1.3 Export SDK

Welcome to the Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom™ Export SDK preview release on Adobe Labs. This public prerelease provides a Software Development Kit that will allow developers to enable communication from the Lightroom 1.3 Export Dialog to third party tools, web sites or devices. Using the SDK and an IDE of your choice will allow you to create Export plug-ins that further streamline the photographic workflow. This SDK, based on the open source Lua language, includes plug-in sample code for a Flickr and FTP plug-in that demonstrate how to extend the Export dialog interface for specific tasks.

The Lightroom Export SDK preview is the Lightroom product team's first opportunity to engage the developer community. While this preview SDK functionality is limited to the Export dialog, the discussion should be expanded to include any functional area that a developer would like to build upon.

Included in the SDK:

  • API Reference Documentation
  • SDK Guide
  • Sample Code

Download and Discuss


Getting Started

Follow these steps to get started with the Lightroom 1.3 Export SDK:

  1. Download the Lightroom Export SDK preview
  2. Read the SDK Guide, included within the download, for information regarding the development environment.
  3. Download and try or purchase Adobe Photoshop Lightroom

  4. Ask questions and share your feedback in the Labs forum for the Lightroom SDK

    Please note that your submission of comments, ideas, feature requests and techniques on this and other Adobe maintained forums, as well as Adobe's right to use such materials, is governed by the Terms of Use.

Community

Below you'll find references and links to help you participate in Lightroom communities.

Online Forum

Ask questions, discuss, and share feedback with other developers in the online forum.

Please note that your submission of comments, ideas, feature requests and techniques on this and other Adobe maintained forums, as well as Adobe's right to use such materials, is governed by the Terms of Use.

Resources

If you want to learn more about releases on Labs as well as other Adobe technologies, visiting a user group or connecting with an Adobe Community Expert is a great place to start.

Product Details


FAQ

What is the Lightroom Export SDK?
The Lightroom Export SDK provides developers with the ability to create Export plug-ins that will connect Lightroom with other tools and services. One example would be a Flickr plug-in that would authenticate and upload images to Flickr directly from the Export dialog. Sample code for this plug-in is included in the SDK.
How do I create an Export Plug-in?
Follow the documentation found in the SDK package provided on this web site. The Lightroom APIs are accessible through the Lua open source scripting language and plug-ins can be created using a basic text editor.
Do I need to buy Lightroom to create an Export Plug-in?
It’s not a requirement but it will certainly help in testing your plug-in. A 30-day trial of Lightroom is also available from Adobe.com.
Where can I find more information on Lua?
The Lua web site is a good place to start. I’ve also seen the Programming in Lua book by Roberto Ierusalimschy in more than a few offices. There's also a printed version of the Lua reference manual, which is online.
What does Lua mean? Is it an acronym?
‘Lua’ is Portuguese for moon.
Do you recommend any specific text editors for writing Lua code?
Some members of the Lightroom engineering team recommend Scite for Windows and TextMate for the Mac Platform as good starting points.
Where can I find other Lightroom Export plug-ins? Where can I post my own plug-ins?
Developers can post their Export Plug-ins to the Lightroom Exchange site directly or include a link to their own site from the Lightroom Exchange. The sample plug-ins are provided in plain text.
Is this how I should distribute my plug-ins?
Yes, for the purposes of the Lightroom Export Preview release on Adobe Labs, the SDK does not provide any official support for compiled or ‘byte code’ plug-ins.
Where do I place my completed plug-ins?

Lightroom looks for plug-in folders in the following directories:

  • On Mac OS: ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom/Modules /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom/Modules
  • On Windows:
    • Windows XP: C:\Documents and Users\username\Application Data\Adobe\Lightroom\Modules
    • Windows Vista: C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Lightroom\Modules
Where do I go if I’m unable to develop a functioning plug-in?
While there is no official developer support for this preview SDK, you can ask other developers on the Labs forum for assistance.
What do I do if the API I need is not available through the Lightroom Export SDK?
Ask about the functionality you need on the Lightroom SDK forum. This is how we will gather requests for additional SDK enhancements.
Why is Adobe releasing the Lightroom Export SDK as a preview technology?
Similar to the Lightroom application itself, there is a great deal of value in sharing the basic functionality with the community for feedback prior to “baking” the APIs. In this case, we’re sharing our ideas with the developer community similar to how we shared the Lightroom application during beta program.
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System Requirements

To make use of the Lightroom 1.3 Export SDK, you only need to have access to a simple text editor. To test your plug-ins you will need to have Lightroom installed.

See the system requirements for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom

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Release Notes

Lightroom 1.3 Export SDK is a preview technology. Not all features are complete and the technology is still considered in development.

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