Modifying the Insert bar

You can move objects from one category to another, rename categories, and completely remove objects from the panel. To make the changes appear in the Insert bar, you must either restart Dreamweaver or reload extensions. For information on reloading extensions, see "Reloading extensions" on page 104.

To move or copy an object from one Insert bar category to another or to a new location within a category:

1.	Save a backup copy of insertbar.xml (with a name such as insertbar.backup.xml).
2.	Open the original insertbar.xml file.
3.	Find the button tag that represents the object you want to move or copy. For example, to move the Image object from its location in the Common category, find the button tag that has an id attribute of "DW_Image".
4.	Cut or copy the entire button tag.
5.	Find the category tag that represents the category in which you want to move or copy the object.
6.	Find the location within the category where you want the object to appear.
7.	Paste the copied button tag.
8.	Save the insertbar.xml file.
9.	Reload extensions.

To remove an object from the Insert bar:

1.	Save a backup copy of insertbar.xml (with a name such as insertbar.backup.xml).
2.	Open the original insertbar.xml file.
3.	Find the button tag that represents the object you want to remove.
4.	Delete the entire button tag.
5.	Save the insertbar.xml file.
6.	On your disk, move the object's HTML, GIF, and JavaScript files out of their current folder, and put them into a folder that isn't listed in the insertbar.xml file. For example, you can create a new folder in the Configuration/Objects folder named Unused, and move the object's files there. (If you're certain you want to remove the object, you can delete those files entirely; however, it's a good idea to keep backups of those files in case you need to restore the object later.)
7.	Reload extensions. To change the order of categories in the Insert bar:

1.	Save a backup copy of insertbar.xml (with a name such as insertbar.backup.xml).
2.	Open the original insertbar.xml file.
3.	Find the category tag that corresponds to the category you want to move, and select that tag, including all the tags it contains.
4.	Cut that tag.
5.	Paste the tag into its new location. Be sure to paste the tag in a location that isn't inside any other category tag.
6.	Save the insertbar.xml file.
7.	Reload extensions.

To create a new category:

1.	Save a backup copy of insertbar.xml (with a name such as "insertbar.backup.xml").
2.	Open the original insertbar.xml file.
3.	Create a new category tag, specifying the default folder for the category and a set of objects to appear in the category.
4.	For information on the syntax of the tags in insertbar.xml, see "Insert bar definition tags" on page 142.
5.	Save the insertbar.xml file.
6.	Reload extensions.

Adding objects to the Insert bar

You can add objects to the Insert bar. To make the changes appear in the Insert bar, you must either restart Dreamweaver or reload extensions. For information on reloading extensions, see "Reloading extensions" on page 104.

To add a new object to the Insert bar, do the following:

1.	Define the specific string of code for the user's document by using HTML and, optionally, JavaScript.
2.	Identify or create an image (18 x 18 pixels) for the button in the Dreamweaver interface. If you create a larger image, Dreamweaver scales it to 18 x 18 pixels. If you do not create an image for your object, a default object icon with a question mark (?) appears on the Insert bar.
3.	Add the new files to the Configuration/Objects folder.
4.	Edit the insertbar.xml file to identify the location of these new files and set attributes (see "The Insert bar definition file" on page 141) for the button's appearance.
5.	Restart Dreamweaver or reload extensions. The new object appears on the Insert bar in the specified location.

NOTE

Although you can store Object files in separate folders, it's important that each filename be unique. The dom.insertObject() function, for example, looks for files anywhere within the Objects folder without regard to subfolders (for more information about the dom.insertObject() function, see the Dreamweaver API Reference). If a file called Button.htm exists in the Forms folder and another object file called Button.htm is in the MyObjects folder, Dreamweaver cannot distinguish between them. If two separate instances of Button.htm exist, dom.insertObject() displays two objects called Button, and the user might not recognize any difference.

Adding objects to the Insert menu

To add or control the position of an object on the Insert menu (or any other menu), modify the menus.xml file. This file controls the entire menu structure for Dreamweaver. For more information about modifying the menus.xml file, see Chapter 8, "Menus and Menu Commands," on page 181.

If you plan to distribute the extension to other Dreamweaver users, see "Working with the Extension Manager" on page 109 to learn more about packaging extensions.