Customizing the appearance of dialog boxes

The dialog box layouts for objects, commands, and behaviors are specified as HTML forms; they reside in HTML files in the Configuration folder within the Dreamweaver application folder. You edit these forms as you would edit any form in Dreamweaver. For more information, see Using Dreamweaver.

NOTE

 

Remember that in a multiuser operating system, you should edit copies of configuration files in your user Configuration folder rather than editing Dreamweaver configuration files. For more information, see Multiuser Configuration folders.

To change the appearance of a dialog box:

  1. In Dreamweaver, select Edit > Preferences, and then select the Code Rewriting category.
  2. Unselect the Rename Form Items when Pasting option.

    Unselecting this option ensures that form items retain their original names when you copy and paste them.

  3. Click OK to close the Preferences dialog box.
  4. On your disk, find the appropriate HTM file in the Configuration/Objects, Configuration/ Commands, or Configuration/Behaviors folder.
  5. Make a copy of the file somewhere other than the Configuration folder.
  6. Open the copy in Dreamweaver, edit the form, and save it.
  7. Quit Dreamweaver.
  8. Copy the changed file back to the Configuration folder in place of the original. (It's a good idea to first make a backup of the original, so you can restore it later if needed.)
  9. Restart Dreamweaver to see the changes.

You should change only the appearance of the dialog box, not how it works; it must still contain the same types of form elements with the same names, so that the information Dreamweaver obtains from the dialog box can still be used in the same way.

For example, the Comment object takes text input from a text area in a dialog box and uses a simple JavaScript function to turn that text into an HTML comment and insert the comment into your document. The form that describes the dialog box is in the Comment.htm file in the Configuration/Objects/Invisibles folder. You can open that file and change the size and other attributes of the text area, but if you remove the textarea tag entirely, or change the value of its name attribute, the Comment object does not work properly.

 

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