Adobe Extending Dreamweaver CS4 - Manual (Page 310)

304 EXTENDING DREAMWEAVER CS4
Server formats
• 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:
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.
The Edit Format List Plus (+) menu
If you do not want a file in the ServerFormats folder to appear in the Edit Format List Plus (+) menu, add the following
statement as the first line of the HTML file:
To determine the contents of the menu, Dreamweaver first searches for a ServerFormats.xml file in the same folder as
the data formats (for example, in Configuration/ServerFormats/ASP/). The ServerFormats.xml file describes the
contents of the Edit Format List Plus (+) menu, and it contains references to the HTML files that it lists in the menu.
Dreamweaver checks each referenced HTML file for a title tag. If the file contains a title tag, the content of the title
tag appears in the menu. If the file does not contain a title tag, the filename is used in the menu.
After Dreamweaver finishes searching for the file, or if the file does not exist, Dreamweaver scans the rest of the folder
to find other items that should appear in the menu. If Dreamweaver finds files in the main folder that aren’t already in
the menu, it adds them. If subfolders contain files that aren’t already in the menu, Dreamweaver creates a submenu
and adds those files to it.