User Guide

353

CHAPTER 21

C-Level Extensibility

The C-level extensibility mechanism lets you implement Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004

extensibility files using a combination of JavaScript and custom C code. You define functions

using C, bundle them in a dynamic linked library (DLL) or a shared library, save the library in the

Configuration/JSExtensions folder within the Dreamweaver application folder, and then call the

functions from JavaScript using the Dreamweaver JavaScript interpreter.

For example, you might want to define a Dreamweaver object that inserts the contents of a user-

specified file into the current document. Because client-side JavaScript does not provide support

file input/output (I/O), you must write a function in C to provide this functionality.

How integrating C functions works

You can use the following HTML and JavaScript to create a simple Insert Text from File object.

The

objectTag() function calls the readContentsOfFile() C function, which is stored in a

library named

myLibrary.

<HTML>

<HEAD>

function objectTag() {

fileName = document.forms[0].myFile.value;

return myLibrary.readContentsOfFile(fileName);

}

</SCRIPT>

</HEAD>

<BODY>

<FORM>

Enter the name of the file to be inserted:

</FORM>

</BODY>

</HTML>

The readContentsOfFile() function accepts a list of arguments from the user, retrieves the

filename argument, reads the contents of the file, and returns the contents of the file. For more

information about the JavaScript data structures and functions that appear in the

readContentsOfFile() function, see “C-level extensibility and the JavaScript interpreter”

on page 355.

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