Adobe 38040334 - Dreamweaver CS3 User Manual page 76

Chapter 4: Extending
Dreamweaver
Typically, you create an Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 extension to perform one of the following
types of tasks:
• Automating changes to the user's current document, such as inserting HTML, CFML, or
JavaScript; changing text or image properties; or sorting tables
• Interacting with the application to automatically open or close windows, open or close
documents, change keyboard shortcuts, and more
• Connecting to data sources, which lets Dreamweaver users create dynamic, data-driven pages
• Inserting and managing blocks of server code in the current document
You might want to write an extension to handle a commonly used, and therefore repetitive, task.
Or you might have a unique requirement that you can satisfy only by writing an extension for
that specific situation. In both cases, Dreamweaver provides an extensive set of tools that you can
use to add to or customize its functionality.
When you create a Dreamweaver extension, you should follow the steps outlined in "Creating an
extension" on page 2.
The following features of Dreamweaver let you create extensions:
• An HTML parser (also called a renderer), which makes it possible to design user interfaces
(UIs) for extensions using form fields, absolutely positioned elements, images, and other
HTML elements. Dreamweaver has its own HTML parser.
• A tree of folders that organize and store the files that implement and configure Dreamweaver
elements and extensions.
• A series of application programming interfaces (APIs) that provide access to Dreamweaver
functionality through JavaScript.
• A JavaScript interpreter, which executes the JavaScript code in extension files. Dreamweaver
uses the Netscape JavaScript version 1.5 interpreter. For more information about changes
between this version of the interpreter and previous versions, see "How Dreamweaver
processes JavaScript in extensions" on page 74.