Expressions that work in all languages, best practises

[Dan Ebberts]

I think it’s safe to use the name of anything that’s been re-named, so in your example I think you’d be OK using “myCtrl 1”.

[Yoan Boisjoli]

What I do is hold ‘Alt’ while pickwhipping a property, which makes it universal by addressing the index. However, at the end of a project, when I need to make it available in any language, I use the script Expression Universalizer.

[Terje Lundgren]

@Yoan Boisjoli Interesting. Your option produces the second line below.

The “effect()” call will probably break, though, as I think it might translate to “effet()” in French.

Expression Universalizer is a safe bet, but I want to understand the underlying principles.

effect("myCtrl 1")("Slider")
effect("myCtrl 1")(1)
thisLayer("ADBE Effect Parade")("myCtrl 1")(1)
thisLayer("ADBE Effect Parade")("myCtrl 1")("ADBE Slider Control-0001")

[Terje Lundgren]

@Dan Ebberts: Thanks, that is promising.

I guess I will have to install a foreign language version on a spare computer to be sure, though. 🙂

[Terje Lundgren]

Ok, tested in Spanish language AE. Here are results for future reference and anyone interested:

// English version (breaks in Spanish AE)
comp("Comp 1").layer("myLayer")("Effects")("myCtrl 1")("Slider")

// Spanish version 
comp("Comp 1").layer("myLayer").effect("myCtrl 1")("Deslizador")

// Works
comp("Comp 1").layer("myLayer").effect("myCtrl 1")(1)

// Also works
comp("Comp 1").layer("myLayer")("ADBE Effect Parade")("myCtrl 1")("ADBE Slider Control-0001")

[Yoan Boisjoli]

Yes, as you can see, the word “effect” is not changed. By holding “Alt” while dragging, or simply using the effect’s index, you make it universal. When I do this, the Expression Universalizer script doesn’t change it. I guess it recognizes that it’s already compatible.

So in the Spanish version, it looks like this:

// Native languagethisComp.layer("myLayer").effect("myCtrl 2")(1);

[Terje Lundgren]

@Yoan Great. Thanks for confirming using the Expression Universalizer as well. 👍