Operation Manual

Designing dynamic pages
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Dreamweaver and dynamic page design
Dreamweaver and dynamic page design
Follow these general steps to successfully design and create a dynamic website.
1. Design the page.
A key step in designing any website—whether static or dynamic—is the visual design of the page. When adding dynamic
elements to a web page, the design of the page becomes crucial to its usability. You should carefully consider how users will
interact with both individual pages and the website as a whole.
A common method of incorporating dynamic content into a web page is to create a table to present content, and import
dynamic content into one or more of the table’s cells. Using this method you can present information of various types in a
structured format.
2. Create a source of dynamic content.
Dynamic websites require a content source from which to extract data before they can display it on a web page. Before you
can use content sources in a web page, you must do the following:
Create a connection to the dynamic content source (such as a database) and the application server processing the page.
Create the data source by using the Bindings panel; then you can select and insert the data source in the page.
Specify what information in the database you want to display, or what variables to include in the page by creating a
recordset. You can also test the query from within the Recordset dialog box, and make any needed adjustments before
adding it to the Bindings panel.
Select and insert dynamic content elements into the selected page.
3. Add dynamic content to a web page.
After you define a recordset or other data source, and add it to the Bindings panel, you can insert the dynamic content the
recordset represents into the page. The Dreamweaver menu-driven interface makes adding dynamic content elements as
easy as selecting a dynamic content source from the Bindings panel, and inserting it into an appropriate text, image, or form
object within the current page.
When you insert a dynamic content element or other server behavior into a page, Dreamweaver inserts a server-side script
into the page’s source code. This script instructs the server to retrieve data from the defined data source and render it within
the web page. To place dynamic content within a web page, you can do one of the following:
Place it at the insertion point in either Code or Design view.
Replace a text string or other placeholder.
Insert it into an HTML attribute. For example, dynamic content can define the src attribute of an image or the value
attribute of a form field.
4. Add server behaviors to a page.
In addition to adding dynamic content, you can incorporate complex application logic into web pages by using server
behaviors. Server behaviors are predefined pieces of server-side code that add application logic to web pages, providing
greater interaction and functionality.
The Dreamweaver server behaviors let you add application logic to a website without having to write the code yourself. The
server behaviors supplied with Dreamweaver support ColdFusion, ASP, and PHP document types. The server behaviors are
written and tested to be fast, secure, and robust. The built-in server behaviors support cross-platform web pages for all
browsers.
Dreamweaver provides a point-and-click interface that makes applying dynamic content and complex behaviors to a page as
easy as inserting textual and design elements. The following server behaviors are available:
Define a recordset from an existing database. The recordset you define is then stored in the Bindings panel.
Display multiple records on a single page. You select either an entire table or individual cells or rows that contain dynamic
content, and specify the number of records to display on each page view.
Create and insert a dynamic table into a page, and associate the table with a recordset. You can later modify both the
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