Extension Apis - Adobe 38040334 - Dreamweaver CS3 User Manual

Reloading extensions
If you make a change to an extension while you are working in Dreamweaver, you can reload the extensions so that
Dreamweaver recognizes the change.
To reload extensions
Control-click (Windows) or Option-click (Macintosh) the Categories menu in the Insert bar's title bar.
1
Select Reload Extensions.
2
Note: Remember that in a multiuser operating system you should edit copies of configuration files in your user Config-
uration folder rather than editing master configuration files. For more information, see "Configuration folders and
extensions" on page 72.

Extension APIs

The extension APIs provide you with the functions that Dreamweaver calls to implement each type of extension. You
must write the bodies of these functions as described for each extension type and specify the return values that
Dreamweaver expects.
If you are a developer who wants to work directly in the C programming language, there is a C extensibility API that
lets you create dynamic link libraries (DLLs). The functionality that is provided in these APIs wraps your C DLLs in
JavaScript so that your extension can work seamlessly in Dreamweaver.
The documentation of extension APIs outlines what each function does, when Dreamweaver calls it, and what value
Dreamweaver expects it to return.
See the Dreamweaver API Reference for information about the Utility API and the JavaScript API, which provide
functions that you can use to perform specific tasks in your extensions.
How Dreamweaver processes JavaScript in extensions
Dreamweaver checks the Configuration/extension_type folder during startup. If it encounters an extension file
within the folder, Dreamweaver processes the JavaScript by completing the following steps:
• Compiling everything between the beginning and ending
• Executing any code within
Note: This procedure is necessary during startup because some extensions might require global variables to initialize.
Dreamweaver performs the following actions for any external JavaScript files that are specified in the
of tags:
SCRIPT
• Reads in the file
• Compiles the code
tags that is not part of a function declaration
SCRIPT
tags
SCRIPT
DREAMWEAVER CS3 74
Extending Dreamweaver
attributes
SRC