Kenneth Newby

I'm trying to send a shell command that runs a Processing sketch. The command works in Terminal but not in shell. I'm wondering if anyone can help me understand why this doesn't work.

processing-java --sketch=/Users/kennethnewby/Documents/Processing/libraries/video/examples/Capture/GettingStartedCapture --run

I'm trying to send a shell command that runs a Processing sketch. The command works in Terminal but not in shell. I'm wondering if anyone can help me understand why this doesn't work. 

Greetings Hive Mind,
I'm trying to send a shell command that runs a Processing sketch. The command works in Terminal but not in shell. I'm w

launching-a-processing-sketch-with-shell

A little more information to share on this. If I send the processing.java part of the command by itself shell responds with: sh: processing-java: command not found. Terminal *does* find it however. What's the difference?

A little more information to share on this. If I send the processing.java part of the command by itself shell responds with: sh: processing-java: command not found.  Terminal *does* find it however. What's the difference?

you need to send full path to all non standard executables.

Like /Applications/Processing/xy/processing-java an than the rest

best use conformpath slash boot prepended to executable path.

you need to send full path to all non standard executables.
Like /Applications/Processing/xy/processing-java an than the rest
Shell needs slash based path to work.
best use conformpath slash boot prepended to executable path.


You probably have to write the full path of the processing-java exe. From what I found on the web, it is located in /usr/local/bin (I can't test myself), so your command should look like :

/usr/local/bin/processing-java --sketch=/Users/kennethnewby/Documents/Processing/libraries/video/examples/Capture/GettingStartedCapture --run

You probably have to write the full path of the processing-java exe. From what I found on the web, it is  located in /usr/local/bin (I can't test myself), so your command should look like :

/usr/local/bin/processing-java --sketch=/Users/kennethnewby/Documents/Processing/libraries/video/examples/Capture/GettingStartedCapture --run

The issue here is the PATH variable. When you type a command in a terminal, the shell (Bash in the case of MacOs's Terminal, sh in the case of [shell]) looks for it in the paths stored inside the PATH variable.

You can try sending the "echo $PATH" command to [shell] and you'll see the result is /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin 

processing-java is in /usr/local/bin. That's why [shell] can't find it.

In standard shells you can add a path to the PATH variable using the "export" command, but I tried it and it's not working with [shell].

So you just have to specify the full path for processing-java, which is /usr/local/bin/processing-java

The issue here is the PATH variable. When you type a command in a terminal, the shell (Bash in the case of MacOs's Terminal, sh in the case of [shell]) looks for it in the paths stored inside the PATH variable.
You can try sending the "echo $PATH" command to [shell] and you'll see the result is /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin 
processing-java is in /usr/local/bin. That's why [shell] can't find it.
In standard shells you can add a path to the PATH variable using the "export" command, but I tried it and it's not working with [shell].
So you just have to specify the full path for processing-java, which is /usr/local/bin/processing-java


The path to the processing-java executable is, indeed, /usr/local/bin/processing-java

The Processing IDE is currently broken with respect to sketches that need to access the camera. I've now got a simple drag and drop solution in Max to launch these sketches using Max.

Here's the solution for anyone else who uses the camera in their Processing sketches:

Thanks to all three of you for the help! 

Launching a Processing sketch with shell