The definition file for your connection type

For each server model, there is a connection_includefile.edml file that defines the connection type and maps the properties that are defined in the include file to elements in the Dreamweaver interface.

Dreamweaver provides seven default definition files, one for each of the predefined server models, as listed in the following table.

Server model	Subfolder within the Configuration/Connections folder
ASP JavaScript	ASP_Js
ASP.NET CSharp	ASP.NET_Csharp
ASP.NET VBScript	ASP.NET_VB
ASP VBScript	ASP_Vbs
ColdFusion	ColdFusion
JavaServer Page	JSP
PHP MySql	PHP_MySql

Dreamweaver uses the quickSearch and searchPattern parameters to recognize connection blocks and the insertText parameter to create connection blocks. For more information on EDML tags and attributes, and regular expression search patterns, see "Server Behaviors" in Extending Dreamweaver.

NOTE

If you change the format of your include file or define an include file for a new server model, you need to map the connection parameters with the Dreamweaver UI, Live Data, and Preview In Browser. The following sample EDML file, which is associated with the default ASP JS server model, maps all connection page variables with their respective live values before sending the page to the server. For more information on EDML and regular expression search patterns, see "Server Behaviors" in Extending Dreamweaver.

 <participant name="connection_includefile" version="5.0">   <quickSearch>     <![CDATA[// HTTP=]]></quickSearch>   <insertText location=""> <![CDATA[<% // FileName="@@filename@@" // Type="@@type@@" @@designtimeString@@ // DesigntimeType="@@designtimeType@@" // HTTP="@@http@@" // Catalog="@@catalog@@" // Schema="@@schema@@" var MM_@@cname@@_STRING = @@string@@ %> ]]>   </insertText>   <searchPatterns whereToSearch="directive">     <searchPattern paramNames="filename">       <![CDATA[/\/\/\s*FileName="([^"]*)"/]]></searchPattern>     <searchPattern paramNames="type,designtimeString">       <![CDATA[/\/\/\s+Type="(\w*)"([^\r\n]*)/]]></searchPattern>     <searchPattern paramNames="designtimeType" isOptional="true">       <![CDATA[/\/\/\s*DesigntimeType="(\w*)"/]]></searchPattern>     <searchPattern paramNames="http">       <![CDATA[/\/\/\s*HTTP="(\w+)"/]]></searchPattern>     <searchPattern paramNames="catalog">       <![CDATA[/\/\/\s*Catalog="(\w*)"/]]></searchPattern>     <searchPattern paramNames="schema">       <![CDATA[/\/\/\s*Schema="(\w*)"/]]></searchPattern>     <searchPattern paramNames="cname,string">       <![CDATA[/var\s+MM_(\w*)_STRING\s*=\s*([^\r\n]+)/]]></searchPattern>   </searchPatterns> </participant> 

Tokens in an EDML file such as @@filename@@ in this example map values in the include file to properties of a connection object. You set the properties of connection objects in the JavaScript implementation file.

All the default connection dialog boxes that come with Dreamweaver use the connection_includefile.edml mapping file. To let Dreamweaver find this file, its name is set in the JavaScript implementation file, as shown in the following example:

 var PARTICIPANT_FILE = "connection_includefile"; 

When you create a custom connection type, you can use any mapping file in your custom dialog boxes. If you create a mapping file, you can use a name other than connection_includefile for your EDML file. If you use a different name, you need to use this name in your JavaScript implementation file when you specify the value that is assigned to the PARTICIPANT_FILE variable, as shown in the following example:

 var PARTICIPANT_FILE = "myConnection_mappingfile";