Chapter 17. Server Formats

Chapter 16, "Data Sources," on page 379, discusses how Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 inserts dynamic data into a user's document by adding a server expression at the appropriate location. When a visitor requests the document from the web server, that server expression is converted to a value from a database, the contents of a request variable, or some other dynamic value. The Dreamweaver server formats let you format how this dynamic value is presented to the visitor.

This chapter discusses the API that formats the dynamic data that is returned by the functions described in Chapter 16, "Data Sources," on page 379. The functions that are described in both chapters work together to format dynamic data. If the user selects a format for the dynamic data, Dreamweaver calls the data source function generateDynamicDataRef(), see "generateDynamicDataRef()" on page 394, to get the string to insert into the user's document. Before inserting the string into the user's document, Dreamweaver passes that string to the formatDynamicDataRef() function, which is described in this chapter. The string that the formatDynamicDataRef() function returns is the formatted dynamic data that is finally inserted in the user's document.

Dreamweaver users can format data with built-in formats, create new formats that are based on built-in format types, or create new formats that are based on custom format types.

The user can format dynamic data in several ways. By using the Format menu in the Dynamic Data or the Dynamic Text dialog box or in the Bindings panel, the user can format the data before inserting it into an HTML document. If the user wants to create a format, he or she can select the Edit Format List command from the Format menu and select a format type from the Plus (+) menu. The Plus (+) menu contains a list of format types. Format types are basic format categories, such as Currency, DateTime, or AlphaCase. Format types collect all the common parameters for a category of format, letting you streamline the work to create a new format.

One example might be to create a new currency format. Essentially, all currency formatting consists of converting a number to a string, inserting commas and decimal points, and inserting a currency symbol, such as a dollar ($) sign. The Currency format data type collects all the common parameters and prompts you for the required values.