Viewing Live Data

If you defined a testing server when you set up your Dreamweaver site, you can use the Live Data View feature in Dreamweaver to preview dynamic content in Design view.

Live Data is a way to preview dynamic pages without using a browser. The advantage of not using a browser is that you can change the page layout and formatting, and add, edit, or delete dynamic content, while Live Data is turned on. You can then just click the Refresh button on the Live Data toolbar to view the changes to your page and its dynamic content (Figure 7.41). You can also select the Auto Refresh check box on the Live Data toolbar to refresh the page automatically whenever a change is made.

Figure 7.41. Dynamic content is displayed in the Document window in Design view when using Live Data.

To view live data in Design view:

1.	Open a dynamic page in Design view.
2.	To view live data, do one of the following: From the main menu bar, choose View > Live Data. On the Document toolbar, click the Live Data View button (Figure 7.42). Figure 7.42. Click the Live Data View button on the Document toolbar to preview dynamic content in Design view. The dynamic content is displayed in the Document window in Design view (Figure 7.41).

Tips

• Links don't work in Design view. To test links, preview the page in a browser (File > Preview in Browser).

• If your dynamic page needs other files, such as server-side include files or image files, make sure these files are available in the designated testing server folder.

• If you're having problems viewing Live Data, check the Testing Server category in the Site Definition dialog. Make sure you've specified the correct folder as the Testing Server folder and that your URL prefix is correct. If you're using an application server as a Windows service, make sure the appropriate services are turned on and off in the Services window (Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services).