User Guide

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CHAPTER 17

Code

The Code functions let you perform operations on a document that appears in Code view.

These operations include adding new menu or function tags to a Code Hints menu, finding

and replacing string patterns, deleting the current selection from a document, printing all or

selected code, editing tags, or applying syntax formatting to selected code.

Code functions

Code Hints are menus that Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 opens when you type certain

character patterns in Code view. Code Hints provide a typing shortcut by offering a list of

strings that potentially complete the string you are typing. If the string you are typing appears

in the menu, you can scroll to it and press Enter or Return to complete your entry. For

example, when you type <, a pop-up menu shows a list of tag names. Instead of typing the rest

of the tag name, you can select the tag from the menu to include it in your text.

You can add Code Hints menus to Dreamweaver by defining them in the CodeHints.xml file.

For information on the CodeHints.xml file, see Extending Dreamweaver.

You can also add new Code Hints menus dynamically through JavaScript after Dreamweaver

loads the contents of the CodeHints.xml file. For example, JavaScript code populates the list

of session variables in the Bindings panel. You can use the same code to add a Code Hints

menu, so when a user types Session in Code view, Dreamweaver displays a menu of session

variables.

The CodeHints.xml file and the JavaScript API expose a useful subset of the Code Hints

engine, but some Dreamweaver functionality is not accessible. For example, there is no

JavaScript hook to open a color picker, so Dreamweaver cannot express the Attribute Values

menu using JavaScript. You can only open a menu of text items from which you can insert

text.

000_DW_API_Print.book Page 489 Wednesday, July 20, 2005 11:58 AM