open images in photoshop from c# application

Question

I'm developing an application in C# and want to open images in the installed photoshop and after editing files get save at the same location from where those opened.

Is there is any way to do that?

Answer 1

Here's my code that I use to apply actions using C#. (The first part will show you how to open a file in Photoshop)

It loads Photoshop, loads the image, applies an action and then closes.

    using Photoshop;  //Adobe Photoshop CC 2014 Object Library
    private void RunPhotoShopAction(string sFile,string ActionSet, string ActionName)
    {
        Photoshop.Application appRef = new Photoshop.Application();
        appRef.Open(sFile);
        appRef.DoAction(ActionSet, ActionName);   
        appRef.ActiveDocument.Close();
    }

More information can be found in this document:

https://www.adobe.com/content/dam/acom/en/devnet/photoshop/pdfs/photoshop-cc-scripting-guide-2019.pdf

You should be able to follow the examples for VBScript but just use the methods and properties provided by the Photoshop Object library instead. It's surprisingly straight forward. I was able to recreate just about all of the examples.

[Update] Added my modified code:

using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Collections;
using Photoshop;

namespace PhotoShopCSharp2019
{

public partial class Form1 : Form
{

    /// <summary>
    /// This file will contain methods to interface with Photoshop CC
    /// It uses the Adobe Photoshop CC 2014 Object Library
    /// Code was modified from the 
    /// 2019 Photoshop Scripting Guide and Photoshop CC VBScript reference
    /// https://www.adobe.com/devnet/photoshop/scripting.html
    /// The appRef object is global indicating a single instance of Photoshop.
    /// The docRef object will stay local to the methods 
    /// </summary>


    Photoshop.Application appRef = new Photoshop.Application();

    private void HelloWorld() // page 19
    {
        // Modified from Page 19 of Script
        PsUnits originalRulerUnits = appRef.Preferences.RulerUnits;
        appRef.Preferences.RulerUnits = PsUnits.psInches;
        Document docRef = appRef.Documents.Add(2, 4);
        ArtLayer artLayerRef = docRef.ArtLayers.Add();
        artLayerRef.Kind = PsLayerKind.psTextLayer; //Normal Layer
        TextItem textItemRef = artLayerRef.TextItem;
        textItemRef.Contents = "Hello World";
        appRef.Preferences.RulerUnits = originalRulerUnits;
    }

    private Document OpenDocument(string sFile) // Page 29
    {
        Document docRef = appRef.Open(sFile);
        return docRef;
    }


    private void SavePDFDocument(string pdfFilename) // Page 30
    {
        PsUnits originalRulerUnits = appRef.Preferences.RulerUnits;
        appRef.Preferences.RulerUnits = PsUnits.psPixels;
        // Create a PDF option object
        PDFOpenOptions pdfOpenOptionsRef = new PDFOpenOptions();
        pdfOpenOptionsRef.AntiAlias = true;
        pdfOpenOptionsRef.Mode = PsOpenDocumentMode.psOpenRGB;
        pdfOpenOptionsRef.Resolution = 72;
        pdfOpenOptionsRef.Page = 3;
        Document docref = appRef.Open(pdfFilename, pdfOpenOptionsRef);
        //Restore Units
        appRef.Preferences.RulerUnits = originalRulerUnits;

    }
    private void SaveJpegDocument(string jpgFilename) // Page 32
    {
        PsUnits originalRulerUnits = appRef.Preferences.RulerUnits;
        appRef.Preferences.RulerUnits = PsUnits.psPixels;
        JPEGSaveOptions myJPEGOptions = new JPEGSaveOptions();
        myJPEGOptions.EmbedColorProfile = true;
        myJPEGOptions.FormatOptions = PsFormatOptionsType.psStandardBaseline;
        myJPEGOptions.Matte = PsMatteType.psNoMatte;
        myJPEGOptions.Quality = 1;
        appRef.ActiveDocument.SaveAs(jpgFilename, myJPEGOptions, true, PsExtensionType.psLowercase);
    }


    private void SomePreferences() // Holding place for various settings
    {
        appRef.Preferences.RulerUnits = PsUnits.psInches; // page 32
        appRef.Preferences.TypeUnits = PsTypeUnits.psTypePixels; // pag32
        appRef.DisplayDialogs = PsDialogModes.psDisplayNoDialogs; // page 33
    }

    private void PhotoResizeExample(string sFile) // Document Object Example page 35
    {
        PsUnits startRulerUnits = appRef.Preferences.RulerUnits;
        appRef.Preferences.RulerUnits = PsUnits.psInches;
        Document docRef = appRef.Open(sFile); 
        docRef.ResizeImage(4, 4);
        docRef.ResizeCanvas(4, 4);
        docRef.Trim(PsTrimType.psTopLeftPixel, true, false, true, false);
        appRef.Preferences.RulerUnits = PsUnits.psPixels;
        int[] MyArray = { 100, 200, 400, 500 };
        docRef.Crop(MyArray, 45, 20, 20);
        docRef.FlipCanvas(PsDirection.psHorizontal);
        // Restore units
        appRef.Preferences.RulerUnits = startRulerUnits;
    }

    private void CreateArtLayer() // Page 37
    {
        // This is akin to creating a new layer and first determining the layer type

        Document docref = appRef.Documents.Add();
        ArtLayer layerObj = appRef.ActiveDocument.ArtLayers.Add();
        layerObj.Name = "MyBlendLayer";
        layerObj.BlendMode = PsBlendMode.psNormalBlend;
        appRef.ActiveDocument.Selection.SelectAll();
        SolidColor ColorObj = new SolidColor();  // Color to be used with the fill command
        ColorObj.RGB.Red = 255;
        ColorObj.RGB.Green = 0;
        ColorObj.RGB.Blue = 0;

        // fill selection
        appRef.ActiveDocument.Selection.Fill(ColorObj);

    }

    private void CreateLayerSet() // page 38
    {
        appRef.Documents.Add();
        appRef.ActiveDocument.ArtLayers.Add();
        ArtLayer layerRef = appRef.ActiveDocument.Layers[1];
        // Create a new layer set
        LayerSet newLayerSetRef = appRef.ActiveDocument.LayerSets.Add();
        // Move the new layer to after the first layer
        newLayerSetRef.Move(newLayerSetRef, PsElementPlacement.psPlaceAfter);
    }

    private void DuplicateAndPlaceLayer() // Page 39
    {
        Document docref = appRef.Documents.Add();
        appRef.ActiveDocument.ArtLayers.Add();
        LayerSet layerSetRef = docref.LayerSets.Add();
        ArtLayer layerRef = docref.ArtLayers[1].Duplicate(layerSetRef, 2);
    }

    private void LinkingLayes() // Page 40
    {
        Document docref = appRef.Documents.Add();
        ArtLayer layer1Ref = docref.ArtLayers.Add();
        ArtLayer layer2Ref = docref.ArtLayers.Add();
        layer1Ref.Link(layer2Ref);

    }

    private void ApplyLayerStyle(Document docRef,string LayerName, string CaseSensitiveStyleName) // page 40
    {
        // Example uses a layer name of "L1" and a style named "Puzzle (Image)"
        LayerName = "L1";
        CaseSensitiveStyleName = "Puzzle (Image)";
        docRef.ArtLayers[LayerName].ApplyStyle(CaseSensitiveStyleName);
    }

    private void CreateTextLayer(Document docRef,string texLayerName, string MyText) // Page 41
    {
        ArtLayer newLayerRef = docRef.ArtLayers.Add();
        newLayerRef.Kind = PsLayerKind.psTextLayer;
        newLayerRef.Name = texLayerName;
        TextItem textItemRef = docRef.ArtLayers[texLayerName].TextItem;
        textItemRef.Contents = MyText;
        textItemRef.Justification = PsJustification.psRight;
    }

    private void MakeSelection() // Page 43
    {
        // Top Left ==> Origin
        // Ruler set to Pixels
        Document docRef = appRef.Documents.Add();
        int[,] shapeRef = { { 0, 0 }, { 100, 0 },{ 0, 100 },{ 100, 100 } };
        docRef.Selection.Select(shapeRef);
    }

    private void StrokeSelection() // Page 44
    {
        SolidColor strokeColor = new SolidColor();
        strokeColor.CMYK.Cyan = 20;
        strokeColor.CMYK.Magenta = 50;
        strokeColor.CMYK.Yellow = 30;
        strokeColor.CMYK.Black = 0;
        appRef.ActiveDocument.Selection.Stroke(strokeColor, 5, 1, 15, 75, false);
    }

    private void InvertExpandContractFeatherSelection()
    {
        Selection MySelection = appRef.ActiveDocument.Selection;
        PsUnits startRulerUnits = appRef.Preferences.RulerUnits;
        appRef.Preferences.RulerUnits = PsUnits.psPixels;
        MySelection.Invert();
        MySelection.Expand(5); //  5 pixels
        MySelection.Feather(5); // 5 pixels
        appRef.Preferences.RulerUnits = startRulerUnits;
    }


    private void FillSelection()  // Page 45
    {
        SolidColor fillColor = new SolidColor();
        fillColor.RGB.Red = 255;
        fillColor.RGB.Green = 0;
        fillColor.RGB.Blue = 0;
        Selection MySelection = appRef.ActiveDocument.Selection;
        MySelection.Fill(fillColor, 15, 25, false);
    }

    private void FillSelectionWithHistory(Document docRef, int myHistoryState)  // Page 45
    {
        Selection MySelection = appRef.ActiveDocument.Selection;
        MySelection.Fill(docRef.HistoryStates[myHistoryState]);
    }

    private void LoadAndStoreSelection(Document docRef) // Page 46
    {
        Channel chanRef = docRef.Channels.Add();
        chanRef.Name = "My Channel";
        chanRef.Kind = PsChannelType.psSelectedAreaAlphaChannel;
        docRef.Selection.Store(docRef.Channels["My Channel"], PsSelectionType.psExtendSelection);
    }

    private void RestoreSelection(Document docRef) // Page 46
    {
        Selection selRef = appRef.ActiveDocument.Selection;
        selRef.Load(docRef.Channels["My Channel"], PsSelectionType.psExtendSelection);
    }

    private void ChangeChannelType(Channel chanRef)  // Page 47
    {
        // Change to SpotColorChannel for example
        chanRef.Kind= PsChannelType.psSpotColorChannel;
    }

    private void DocumentInfo(Document docRef) // Page 47
    {
        DocumentInfo docInfoRef = docRef.Info;
        docInfoRef.Copyrighted = PsCopyrightedType.psCopyrightedWork;
        docInfoRef.OwnerUrl = "http://www.adobe.com";
    }

    private void MakeActiveHistoryState(Document docRef, int myHistoryState) // Page 48
    {
        docRef.ActiveHistoryState = docRef.HistoryStates[myHistoryState];
    }

    private void SaveCurrentFilter_HistoryState(Document docRef)
    {
        HistoryState savedState = docRef.ActiveHistoryState;
        docRef.ArtLayers[1].ApplyMotionBlur(20, 20); // Angle,Radius
        docRef.ActiveHistoryState = savedState;
    }


    private void Notifier()  // Page 49
    {
        appRef.NotifiersEnabled = true;
        string eventFile = appRef.Path + @"Presets\Scripts\Event Scripts Only\ Welcome.jax";
        appRef.Notifiers.Add("OPN ", eventFile);
    }

    private void PathObject() // Page 50
    {

        ArrayList lineArray = new ArrayList();
        int[] Point1 = { 100, 100 };
        int[] Point2 = { 150, 200 };
        Document docRef = appRef.Documents.Add(5000, 7000, 72, "Simple Line");
        PathPointInfo LineArray0 = new PathPointInfo();
        LineArray0.Kind = PsPointKind.psCornerPoint;
        LineArray0.Anchor = Point1;
        LineArray0.LeftDirection = LineArray0.Anchor;
        LineArray0.RightDirection = LineArray0.Anchor;
        PathPointInfo LineArray1 = new PathPointInfo();
        LineArray1.Kind = PsPointKind.psCornerPoint;
        LineArray1.Anchor = Point2;
        LineArray1.LeftDirection = LineArray1.Anchor;
        LineArray1.RightDirection = LineArray1.Anchor;
        lineArray.Add(LineArray0);
        lineArray.Add(LineArray1);
        SubPathInfo LineSubPathArray0 = new SubPathInfo();
        LineSubPathArray0.Operation = PsShapeOperation.psShapeXOR;
        LineSubPathArray0.Closed = false;
        LineSubPathArray0.EntireSubPath =lineArray;
        PathItem myPathItem = docRef.PathItems.Add("A Line", LineSubPathArray0);
        myPathItem.StrokePath(PsToolType.psBrush);

    }


    private void SetColor()  // Page 51
    {
        SolidColor solidColorRef = new SolidColor();
        solidColorRef.CMYK.Cyan = 20;
        solidColorRef.CMYK.Magenta = 90;
        solidColorRef.CMYK.Yellow = 50;
        solidColorRef.CMYK.Black = 50;
        appRef.ForegroundColor = solidColorRef;

    }

    private void ApplyGaussianBlur(Document docRef, int radius)
    {
        ArtLayer myLayer = docRef.ActiveLayer;
        myLayer.ApplyGaussianBlur(radius);
    }


    private void CopyMerged(Document docRef)
    {
        docRef.Selection.Copy(true);  // true ==> Merged
    }

    private void RunPhotoShopAction(string sFile,string ActionSet, string ActionName)
    {

        appRef.DisplayDialogs = PsDialogModes.psDisplayNoDialogs;
        appRef.Open(sFile);
        appRef.DoAction(ActionSet, ActionName);   // ActionSet,Action
        SaveJpegDocument(@"C:\Images\SavedFile.jpg");
        appRef.ActiveDocument.Close();
        //appRef.Quit();
        //appRef = null;
    }

}

}

Answer 2

You can use System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(@"ImagePath"); to open an image with the default viewer.

If you want to open the image with a custom viewer then you can use the following:

Process photoViewer = new Process();
photoViewer.StartInfo.FileName = @"PhotoshopPath";
photoViewer.StartInfo.Arguments = @"ImagePath";
photoViewer.Start();