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Property group

PropertyGroup

Bases: PropertyBase

The PropertyGroup object represents a group of properties. It can contain Property objects and other PropertyGroup objects. Property groups can be nested to provide a parent-child hierarchy, with a Layer object at the top (root) down to a single Property object, such as the mask feather of the third mask. To traverse the group hierarchy, use PropertyBase methods and attributes; see PropertyBase.propertyGroup(). For examples of how to access properties and property groups, see PropertyBase object.

Example 
from py_aep import parse

app = parse("project.aep")
comp = app.project.compositions[0]
effects = comp.layers[0].effects
if effects is not None:
    for effect in effects:
        ...
Info

PropertyGroup is a subclass of PropertyBase. All methods and attributes of PropertyBase are available when working with PropertyGroup.

Info

PropertyGroup is a base class for Layer and MaskPropertyGroup. PropertyGroup attributes and methods are available when working with layer or mask groups.

See: https://ae-scripting.docsforadobe.dev/property/propertygroup/

Attributes

active 

active: bool

Same as enabled.

auto_name 

auto_name: str

The automatic (display) name derived from match_name.

can_set_enabled 

can_set_enabled: bool

True if the enabled attribute value can be set.

This is True for all layers, effect property groups, shape vector groups, and text path options. Read-only.

elided 

elided: bool

When True, the property is not shown in the UI. An elided property is still present in the timeline but hidden from view. Read-only.

enabled 

enabled = ChunkField[bool](
    "_tdsb",
    "enabled",
    default=True,
    validate=_validate_enabled,
)

Corresponds to the setting of the eyeball icon. Read / Write.

is_effect 

is_effect: bool

When True, this property is an effect PropertyGroup. Read-only.

is_mask 

is_mask: bool

When True, this property is a mask PropertyGroup. Read-only.

is_modified 

is_modified: bool

True if any child property is modified.

For indexed groups (such as Effects or Masks parades), the group is considered modified when it has any children - adding items to an indexed group is itself a modification. Shape vector groups (value) follow the same rule.

is_name_set 

is_name_set: bool

True if the name has been explicitly set by the user. Read-only.

match_name 

match_name: str

A special name for the property used to build unique naming paths. The match name is not displayed, but you can refer to it in scripts. Every property has a unique match-name identifier. Read-only.

name 

name: str

Display name of the property. Read / Write.

num_properties 

num_properties: int

The number of child properties in this group.

Equivalent to ExtendScript PropertyGroup.numProperties.

parent_property 

parent_property: PropertyGroup | None

The parent PropertyGroup of this property, or None for top-level layer property groups. Read-only.

properties 

properties: list[Property | PropertyGroup]

List of properties in this group. Read-only.

property_depth 

property_depth: int

The number of levels of parent groups between this property and the containing layer. The value is 0 for a layer. Read-only.

property_index 

property_index: int | None

The 0-based position of this property within its parent group.

Returns None for layers (property depth 0).

Warning

Unlike ExtendScript (1-based), this uses Python's 0-based convention so that group.properties[prop.property_index] works directly.

Read-only.

property_type 

property_type: PropertyType

The type of this property. One of PropertyType.PROPERTY, PropertyType.NAMED_GROUP, or PropertyType.INDEXED_GROUP. Read-only.

selected 

selected: bool

When True, the property is selected. Read / Write.

Note

Property selection is stored in the .aep binary format but very complex. Parsed projects report False for now.

Functions

can_add_property 

can_add_property(name: str) -> bool

Check whether a property with the given name can be added.

Returns True if this group is an indexed group and name is a valid match name or display name for the group type. For the Effect Parade, any non-empty string is accepted (actual effect availability is validated at add time).

Parameters:

  • name (str) –

    A match name or display name to check.

duplicate 

duplicate() -> PropertyBase

Duplicate this property within its parent group.

The duplicate is inserted immediately after the original. Only valid for children of indexed groups (see PropertyType).

Returns:

Raises:

  • ValueError –

    If this property is not in an indexed group.

move_to 

move_to(new_index: int) -> None

Move this property to a new 0-based index within its parent group.

Only valid for children of indexed groups.

Parameters:

  • new_index (int) –

    The target 0-based position.

Raises:

  • ValueError –

    If this property is not in an indexed group.

  • IndexError –

    If new_index is out of range.

property 

property(key: int | str) -> Property | PropertyGroup

Look up a child property by index or name.

Mirrors ExtendScript PropertyGroup.property(indexOrName). Delegates to __getitem__.

Parameters:

  • key (int | str) –

    An int index or a str display name / match name.

remove 

remove() -> None

Remove this property from its parent group.

Only valid for children of indexed groups (effects, masks, shape contents, text animators).

Raises:

  • ValueError –

    If this property is not in an indexed group.