How Can I Automate My Dreamweaver Workflow?

It's actually a little simpler than that. I have an HTML file I use to update the front page of a website every day. In the feed, there is a spot for each news story that has a link line, a line for the link text and the thumbnail location. All three of these URLs are pulled from another site.

So what I would like to do is to gather all my links I need for the day, drop them into some type of document or HTML file then run my automated batch that will open the front page HTML and update with the new links. Recoloring actions in Photoshop is super easy, as you just hit record and do your work-flow and it remembers it. I need something similar to that, or at least without a ton of custom coding. Any suggestions?

After a bit more experimenting and research, it's clear that what I'm looking to do can not be done within Dreamweaver itself (unlike Photoshop's actions that are great and can be combined with batch processing with great success). I'll break down my work flow a little more and perhaps you all can point me in the right direction of what my next step should be.

Let's say I want to open HTML A and copy the information found on line one. Then I open HTML B, highlight line one there and replace it with the information I just copied. Then I return to HTML A, copy line two, open HTML B, highlight line 2, replace, etc, etc.

What would I need to automate this process so it goes through several repetitive steps like this and spits the final product out at the end? Some type of script or some other process I have to create? Are there coding forums I can do more research and get better direction there? I honestly don't know where to start on that front, but I'm convinced I can automate this in some fashion.

Thanks!

rotoscopels wrote: Hello all, I have a question about automation. I've read that Dreamweaver has some degree of recordable functionality for tasks that must be repeated over and over, and I need some info regarding it's limitations. I love the actions you can setup in Photoshop, which greatly cut down on the repetitiveness of having to do the same thing over and over. I need a similar solution in Dreamweaver. For instance. Every day I update a HTML where I have to take lines 1-10 and move them down. Then I copy and paste those lines and put them at the top (which will be my new entry for the day) then delete the bottom few lines (which is removing the old content). It would save huge amounts of time if I could hit a button and Dreamweaver knew where to move these lines on its own (since this is the exact same steps every day and never change). How can this be done? Does Dreawweaver have this built in function like the Photoshop automated actions? If not, what kind of script can I use via a 3rd party to accomplish this. I'm on Dreamweaver CS4 in Windows 7, but will upgrade if I need to. Thanks!

I dont udertsand the workflow.

You say you take lines 1-10 and move them down and then copy those lines and paste them before the lines you move down?

Why cant you just paste the new lines at the start so the 10 lines move down of their own accord, that's one less cut and paste job you need to do?

Whatever, to get new content into a page you have to paste it somewhere, whether that be in a database, an xml file or directly in the page itself. It doesnt sound to me as though you will save much time unless what you are doing is more complex than you are describing.

Older versions of DW did have a Macro feature but that's gone as is the History Panel.

If your news is on an RSS feed (XML file), you could parse the feed into your web page with some server-side code.   Newest items always appear on top.  Old items drop off.

Nancy