Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: may be possible

Author:John Dowdell
Posted:1/24/1999; 7:03:25 PM
Topic:Frontier on MacOS X Server
Msg #:2433 (In response to 2309)
Prev/Next:2432 / 2434

Dave wrote "The app should support XML-RPC, so it can be integrated into a content management system."

I don't fully understand the context, but I think some of the pieces can be drawn together:

-- James has already demonstrated XML-RPC in Shockwave. (Note: you rock con mucho gusto.)

-- Dreamweaver 2.0 can not only render Netscape plugins in the design page, but can also do so in its HTML/JS-based objects, behaviors, inspectors, commands, and translators.

David Williamson and the folks at Spooky & The Bandit have already made a custom DW2 Property Inspector that is designed entirely in Flash... it gives a rich-media presentation for designer choices. It talks to Dreamweaver's JavaScript interpreter via "javascript://" protocol URLs within Flash. (iow, the plugin can talk to Dreamweaver.)

So, I suspect that James' existing XML-RPC work may be able to put into an HTML-based Dreamweaver component that connects across the net to a Frontier server, feeding data in to the current HTML document.

Hope I didn't misunderstand the need... sounds pretty exciting, but I've only seen proof-of-concept for parts of the solution yet, and haven't yet seen them assembled... hope I'm not missing something here.

Sidenote: Dreamweaver 2 has five basic types of HTML/JS components:

-- Objects: As in DW1, it inserts a configurable block of HTML into the page.

-- Behaviors: As in DW1, it inserts JS functions and configurable calls into the page.

-- Inspectors: Custom property inspectors, displayed as the current selection changes. (See in-the-box ColdFusion inspectors.)

-- Commands: Manipulates the document as a whole, using Dreamweaver's DOM and JavaScript. (See "Apply Source Formatting" or "Clean Up HTML".)

-- Translators: Uses HTML/JS and can call back-end DLLs or other native code. Translates between an HTML source representation and the visual display environment. (See the SSI rendering in the DW2... this would handle James' "clock" example, I believe.)

Anyway, with these extension mechanisms, and the ability to use plugin-based net processes in inspectors and commands, might we be able to achieve the desired goals...?

Regards, John Dowdell Macromedia Tech Support

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