cs6 - Photoshop Action to determine dimensions of layer

I'm wondering if there is a way to setup an Action in CS6 that would be able to determine the dimensions of an image or layer?

Ultimately, I'd like to create a watermark essentially which would stamp the image with its own dimensions.

Any help appreciated.

Answer

I'm not sure that an action is necessarily the best option for you. A script could do something like this fairly easily. This should give you some useful pointers as far as basic scripting goes..

Basically, the script has to do a few things. First, get the layer dimensions and save them as a variable. Then, make a new text layer, and use the variables as that text.

Below is the basic skeleton of the script:

function run(){
    var layer = activeDocument.activeLayer; //Grab the currently selected layer

    //Calculate length and width based on the rectangular bounds of the selected layer
    var length = layer.bounds[2]-layer.bounds[0]; //Grab the length
    var width = layer.bounds[3]-layer.bounds[1]; //Grab the width


    //Create a text layer
    var textLayer = activeDocument.artLayers.add(); //Make a new layer on the canvas
    textLayer.kind = LayerKind.TEXT; //Make that layer a text layer
    textLayer.name = "Dimensions"; //Name the layer "Dimensions"
    var textReference = textLayer.textItem; //Create a textItem which we'll use to fill the text layer
    textReference.contents = "Length: " + length + " Width: " + width; //Set the contents of that textItem to the length and width

}
run();

You can run this by copying and pasting this code into a file named "dimensions.jsx", then going to File->Scripts->Browse and navigating to that script.

Below is "proof" that this works - I created a new layer named Layer 1, and selected it. In the "Info" panel, you can see the length and width listed. I then ran the script, which created a new layer named Dimensions, whose text contents are the same length and width presented in the Info panel (without the rounding).

Let me know if you have any other questions!