Macromedia dreamweaver 8-extending dreamweaver User Manual

Using custom UI controls in extensions

113

In most cases, 

DOCTYPE

 statements must go on the first line of a document. However, to avoid 

conflicts with extension-specific directives that, in previous versions, were required to be on 
the first line of a file (such as the comment at the top of a Property inspector file, or the 

MENU-

LOCATION=NONE

 directive in a command), 

DOCTYPE

 statements and directives can now be in 

any order as long as they appear before the opening 

html

 tag.

In addition to letting you make extension UIs more closely match the built-in dialog boxes 
and panels, the new 

DOCTYPE

 statements also let you view your extensions in the 

Dreamweaver Design view so that you can see them as they would appear when viewed by 
users. 

The following examples show the Base Property inspector without the 

DOCTYPE

 statement, 

which improves form-control rendering, and then with the 

DOCTYPE

 statement.

Using custom UI controls in extensions

 

In addition to the standard HTML form elements, Dreamweaver supports custom controls to 
help you create flexible, professional-looking interfaces, as described in the following list: 

■

Editable select lists (also known as combo boxes) that let you combine the functionality of 
a select list with that of a text box

■

Database controls that facilitate the display of data hierarchies and fields

■

Tree controls that organize information into expandable and collapsible nodes

■

Color button controls that let you add color picker interfaces to your extensions