What type of extension would this be?

[ac361]

Hi. I'm building an extension that will allow the user to insert an HTML5 video tag on the page along with a JavaScript script tag pointing to a library file. Here's what the user needs to be able to do:

1. See a dialog box that allows the setting of any number of SOURCE tags. Each source tag can be of a number of types (MOV, MP4, OGG, WEBM). As a SOURCE tag is added, the dialog has option to add another blank one so the user can fill it out.
2. For each SOURCE tag, the user can "Browse" and attach a video file of those formats.
   
3. User can "Browse" for an optional POSTER image.
4. User can set the width, height, LOOP property, CONTROLS property, AUTOPLAY, PRELOAD ("none", "metadata", "auto").
5. Or the user can set the video tag's SRC property directly without setting any SOURCE tags.
6. The user can insert any number of these video tags and then be able to select them and edit them via the dialog box later.

Would this be of the Behavior extension type or of the Insert type? I'm trying to look for a tutorial that will help in creating this. If someone knows of an extension tutorial for something similar to what I'm trying to create here, that will be much appreciated. Thanks.

[Randy Edmunds]

Hi. I'm building an extension that will allow the user to insert an HTML5 video tag on the page along with a JavaScript script tag pointing to a library file.

Inserting an object is an Insert type extension. Behavior type extensions apply a behavior to an existing object.

HTH,

Randy

[ac361]

Thanks, Randy. I'm still looking for examples of how to do this extension and best practices.

[Randy Edmunds]

I'm still looking for examples of how to do this extension and best practices.

Be sure to start by looking in the Configuration/Objects folder for examples of how DW builtin objects are defined.

HTH,

Randy

[ac361]

Thanks, Randy. Where do the custom extensions get installed? I just installed the Easy Player extension but can't figure out where the files are for it. I want to look at the files as they are in Dreamweaver to see how this extension works. Thank you.

[Randy Edmunds]

Where do the custom extensions get installed?

The first thing you need to know about extending Dreamweaver is the difference between the Application Configuration folder (where DW config files are installed) and the User Configuration folder (where new config files are added and standard files are overridden). See this TechNote for more info:

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/164/tn_16420.html

Note that this TechNote is old (sorry, I could not find an up-to-date one), but the concepts still apply.

To answer your question, look in the User Configuration folder in the Extensions sub-folder. There will be a .mxi file for every installed extension. This file lists all of the changes made by the extension. You'll need to create one of these when you're done developing your extension and want to package it for distribution.

HTH,

Randy

[Randy Edmunds]

Note that this TechNote is old (sorry, I could not find an up-to-date one), but the concepts still apply.

I found this updated one:

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Dreamweaver/10.0_Using/WScbb6b82af5544594822510a94ae8d65-7f72a.html

Randy

[ac361]

Thanks again, Randy. Can we use jQuery inside an extension? For example, if you want to access a specific element by ID in an extension, you can use $("#myElement") in jQuery; or can we only use basic JavaScript? Thanks.

[Randy Edmunds · Accepted solution]

Can we use jQuery inside an extension? For example, if you want to access a specific element by ID in an extension, you can use $("#myElement") in jQuery; or can we only use basic JavaScript?

The DOM and JS API that DW provides for writing extensions is a subset of that available in browsers, so I suspect you'll eventually run into problems, but it's worth a try.   If not, you can probably tweak jQuery to get it to work in DW. Please let us know if it works because I suspect that many other extension authors would like to try it.

Randy

[ac361]

Thanks, Randy. I'm sure there'll be more questions as I progress with the development of this extension. By the way, I've tried to locate a CS5 version of "Extending Dreamweaver" documentation, but there doesn't seem to be one. Is the CS4 docs the latest and greatest? Thanks again for all your help

[Randy Edmunds]

I've tried to locate a CS5 version of "Extending Dreamweaver" documentation, but there doesn't seem to be one.

The CS5 docs are being finished up and will be posted soon.

Randy

[ac361]

Thanks. For now, I'll use the great documentation for the CS4 version.