Specifications

CHAPTER 6

Commands

Commands can be used to perform almost any kind of edit to a user’s current document, other

open documents, or to any HTML document on a local drive. Commands can insert, remove, or

rearrange HTML tags and attributes, comments, and text.

Commands are HTML files. The

BODY of a Command file can contain an HTML form that

accepts options for the command (for example, how a table should be sorted and by which

column). The

HEAD of a Command file contains JavaScript functions that process form input

from the

BODY and control what edits are made to the user’s document.

How commands work

When a user clicks a menu that contains a command, the following events occur:

1 Dreamweaver calls the canAcceptCommand() function to determine whether the menu

item should be disabled. If

canAcceptCommand() returns false, the command is dimmed

in the menu, and the procedure stops. If

canAcceptCommand() returns true, the procedure

can continue.

2 The user selects a command from the menu.

3 Dreamweaver calls the receiveArguments() function, if defined, in the selected Command

file to let the command process any arguments that are passed from the menu item or from the

function “dreamweaver.runCommand()” on page 400.

4 Dreamweaver calls the commandButtons() function, if defined, to determine which buttons

appear on the right side of the Options dialog box and what code should execute when the user

clicks the buttons.

5 Dreamweaver scans the Command file for a FORM tag. If a form exists, Dreamweaver calls the

windowDimensions() function, which sizes the Options dialog box that contains the BODY

elements of the file. If

windowDimensions() is not defined, Dreamweaver automatically sizes

the dialog box.

6 If the Command file’s BODY tag contains an onLoad handler, Dreamweaver executes it (whether

or not a dialog box appears). If no dialog box appears, the remaining steps do not occur.

7 The user selects options for the command. Dreamweaver executes event handlers that are

associated with the fields as the user encounters them.

8 The user clicks one of the buttons that is defined by commandButtons().

9 Dreamweaver executes the associated code. The dialog box remains visible until one of the

scripts in the command calls

window.close().