User Guide

308 Chapter 17: Server Formats
How data formatting works
All format files reside in the Configuration/ServerFormats/currentServerModel folder. Each
subfolder contains one XML file and multiple HTML files.
The Formats.xml file describes all the choices in the Format menu. Dreamweaver automatically
adds the Edit Format List and None options.
The folder also contains one HTML file for each currently installed format type, which includes
AlphaCase, Currency, DateTime, Math, Number, Percent, Simple, and Trim.
The Formats.xml file
The Formats.xml file contains one
format tag for each item in the Format menu. Each format
tag contains the following mandatory attributes:
• The file=fileName attribute is the HTML file for this format type, such as "Currency".
• The title=string attribute is the string that appears in the Format menu, such as
"Currency - default".
• The expression=regexp attribute is a regular expression that matches the dynamic data
objects that use this format. The expression determines what format is currently applied to a
dynamic data object. For example, the expression for the
"Currency - default" format is
"<%\s*=\s*FormatCurrency\(.*, -1, -2, -2, -2\)\s*%>|<%\s*=\s*DoCurrency\(.*,
-1, -2, -2, -2\)\s*%>"
. The value of the expression attribute must be unique among all
format tags in the file; it must be specific enough to guarantee that only instances of this
format match the expression.
• The visibility=[hidden | visible] attribute indicates whether the value appears in the
Format menu. If the value of the
visibility attribute is hidden, the format does not appear
in the Format menu.
The
format tag can contain additional, arbitrarily named attributes.
Some data formatting functions require an argument,
format, which is a JavaScript object. This
object is the node that corresponds to the
format tag in the Formats.xml file. The object has a
JavaScript property for each attribute of the corresponding
format tag.
The following example shows the
format tag for the "Currency - default" string:
<format file="Currency" title="Currency - default" ¬
expression="<%\s*=\s*FormatCurrency\(.*, -1, -2, -2, -2\)\s*%>|¬
<%\s*=\s*DoCurrency\(.*, -1, -2, -2, -2\)\s*%>"
NumDigitsAfterDecimal=-1 IncludeLeadingDigit=-2 ¬
UseParensForNegativeNumbers=-2 GroupDigits=-2/>
The format type for this format is Currency. The "Currency - default" string appears on the
Format menu. The expression <%\s*=\s*FormatCurrency\(.*, -1, -2, -2,¬
-2\)\s*%>|<%\s*=\s*DoCurrency\(.*, -1, -2, -2, -2\)\s*%>
finds occurrences of this
format in the user’s document.
The
NumDigitsAfterDecimal, IncludeLeadingDigit, UseParensForNegativeNumbers, and
GroupDigits parameters are for the Currency format type and are not required. These
parameters appear in the Parameters dialog box for the Currency format type. The Parameters
dialog box appears when a user selects the
Currency format type from the Plus (+) menu of the
Edit Format List dialog box. The values that are specified for these parameters define the
new format.