Setting up Dreamweaver for Mac users in Java

Drawing QR in Java Setting up Dreamweaver for Mac users

Setting up a data connection on a Mac is a little more complicated because you can t run one of Dreamweaver s support Web servers or application servers locally unless you re running OS X; you must connect to a remote server Ideally, you can connect your Mac to an NT server with permission to browse the Mac After you re networked, make the data connection Dreamweaver includes information in its Help files that specifically covers this process for Mac users OS X users can alternatively download Apache s HTTP server from http://httpd apacheorg

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Taking a look at the panels Covering the recordset basics Getting dynamic with your data Creating master-detail page sets Looking at more ways to use database-driven sites

f you ve never used the dynamic development capabilities of Dreamweaver, get familiar with the windows and inspectors covered at the beginning of this chapter before you start creating your first project In the rest of this chapter, you find out how these elements work together to create a Web site with dynamic features For the purpose of illustration, I use a simple Contacts database file, created with Microsoft Access, that features information about a few people names, addresses, and pictures If your site features another type of data, such as product descriptions or articles, don t worry you ll add product names and descriptions to a Web page in much the same way I add names and titles from this Contacts database Consider this a simple introduction to Dreamweaver s dynamic site features and remember that you can use these same steps to create any kind of dynamic Web site

Make sure your test server is running and, because this chapter assumes that you re using Internet Information Server (IIS) or Peer Web Services (PSW) for Windows, make sure that you save all the pages as ASP pages (filename asp) so that the server parses the code correctly If you haven t already set up the application server and established a connection to your database in Dreamweaver, go to 14 and follow the instructions for these crucial preliminary steps before you do the exercises in this chapter

In Dreamweaver, the most fundamental elements of creating a dynamic Web site are in the Application panel, which includes the Databases, Bindings, Components, and Server Behaviors panels In this section, I introduce you to these panels to give you an overview of how these panels work together to help you create a dynamic site

The Databases panel lets you look at the databases on your application server In the Databases panel, you can view your entire database structure within Dreamweaver tables, fields, views, and stored procedures without needing to use separate database software You can find the Databases panel by choosing Window Databases In Figure 15-1, you see that a connection has been established to the Contacts database and that you can view all the fields in that database by clicking the plus (+) sign next to Contacts If you have not yet established a connection to a database, go to 14 where you find instructions for creating a connection with a Custom Connection String using the Databases panel

The Bindings panel enables you to add and remove dynamic content data sources from your document The number and kinds of available data sources can vary depending on whether you use ASP, JSP, or any other server technology A data source is where you get information to use on your dynamic Web page An example of a data source is a recordset from a database, which you explore further in the next few sections of this chapter A recordset is used to hold a collection of data from a database After you create a recordset, the data can be displayed on a Web page If you don t see the Bindings panel, you can open it by choosing Window Bindings With the Bindings panel, you can access data sources in several ways You can find out what data source objects you have available by clicking the plus sign (+) in the Bindings panel to display the Add Bindings pop-up menu (see Figure 15-2)