Adobe 38040334 API Reference - Page 78

DREAMWEAVER CS3 73 API Reference The Connection API To create a new type of connection, including the dialog box with which users interact, you must implement the following three functions: findConnection(), inspectConnection(), and applyConnection(). You write these three functions and include them in the JavaScript implementation file that is associated with your new connection type (see Step 2 "Create a JavaScript file that implements at least the following elements:" on page 72). The applyConnection() function returns an HTML source within an include file. You can see examples of the HTML source in "The generated include file" on page 75. The findConnection() function takes the HTML source and extracts its properties. You can implement findConnection() to use the search patterns in XML files to extract the information that returns from applyConnection(). For an example of such an implementation, see the following two JavaScript files: • connection_ado_conn_string.js is located in Configuration/Connections/ASP_Js folder. • connection_common.js is located in Configuration/Connections/Shared folder. When the user opens a site, Dreamweaver goes through each file in the Connections folder, opens it, and passes the contents to findConnection(). If the contents of a file match the criteria for a valid connection, findConnection() returns a connection object. Dreamweaver then lists all the connection objects in the Database Explorer panel. When the user opens a connection dialog box and selects to create a new connection or duplicate or edit an existing connection, Dreamweaver calls the inspectConnection() function and passes back the same connection object that findConnection() created. This process lets Dreamweaver populate the dialog box with the connection information. When the user clicks OK in a connection dialog box, Dreamweaver calls the applyConnection() function to build the HTML, which is placed in the connection include file that is located in the Configuration/Connections folder. The applyConnection() function returns an empty string that indicates there is an error in one of the fields and the dialog box should not be closed. The include file has the default file extension type for the current server model. When the user adds to the page a server behavior that uses the connection, such as a recordset or a stored procedure, Dreamweaver adds a statement to the page that includes the connection include file. findConnection() Availability Dreamweaver UltraDev 4. Description Dreamweaver calls this function to detect a connection in the specified HTML source and to parse the connection parameters. If the contents of this source file match the criteria for a valid connection, findConnection() returns a connection object; otherwise, this function returns a null value. Argument htmlSource The htmlSource argument is the HTML source for a connection. Returns A connection object that provides values for a particular combination of the properties that are listed in the following table. The properties for which this function returns a value depend on the document type.