How Behaviors Work - MACROMEDIA DREAMWEAVER 8-EXTENDING DREAMWEAVER Manual

How Behaviors work

When a user selects an HTML element in a Dreamweaver document and clicks the Plus (+)
button on the Behaviors panel, the following events occur:
1. Dreamweaver calls the
this action is appropriate for the document or the selected element.
If the return value of this function is
pop-up menu. (For example, the Control Shockwave action is dimmed when the user's
document has no SWF files.) If the return value is a list of events, Dreamweaver compares
each event with the valid events for the currently selected HTML element and target
browser until it finds a match. Dreamweaver populates the Events pop-up menu with the
matched event from the
match exists, the default event for the HTML element (marked in the Event file with an
asterisk [*]) becomes the top item. The remaining events in the menu are assembled from
the Event file.
2. The user selects an action from the Actions pop-up menu.
3. Dreamweaver calls the
size of the Parameters dialog box. If the
size is determined automatically.
A dialog box always appears, with OK and Cancel buttons at the right edge, regardless of
the contents of the
4. Dreamweaver displays a dialog box that contains the
the Action file's
BODY
5. The user fills in the parameters for the action. Dreamweaver executes event handlers that
are associated with the form fields as the user encounters them.
6. The user clicks OK.
7. Dreamweaver calls the
selected Action file. These functions return strings that are inserted into the user's
document.
8.
If the user later double-clicks the action in the Actions column, Dreamweaver reopens the
Parameters dialog box and executes the
inspectBehavior()
data that the user previously entered.
306 Behaviors
canAcceptBehavior()
false
canAcceptBehavior()
windowDimensions()
windowDimensions()
element.
BODY
tag contains an
onLoad
behaviorFunction()
onLoad
function in the selected Action file, which fills in the fields with the
function in each Action file to see whether
, Dreamweaver dims the action in the Actions
function at the top of the list. If no
function to determine the
function is not defined, the
elements of the Action file. If
BODY
handler, Dreamweaver executes it.
and
applyBehavior()
handler. Dreamweaver then calls the
functions in the