Macromedia -Editing Referenced Files in HomeSite and ColdFusion Studio

Editing Referenced Files in HomeSite and ColdFusion Studio
Dennis Carothers
Sr. Technical Writer
Macromedia

New and existing features make editing complex documents easier.

Editing included files
A new feature in HomeSite 5 and ColdFusion Studio 5 is the ability to open and edit included files from the tag that references them. The file reference in the calling tag must use an absolute or relative path to a drive or to a server accessible via Macromedia FTP&RDS. A virtual path, such as a mapped drive, will not work, so you may have to edit existing reference code in tags to take advantage of this feature.

Following is a list of supported tags with a brief description of their use. All these tags, except SSI/ASP, can be inserted from the Tag Chooser (Ctrl+E). Click the Help icon in a tag editor to view syntax and usage information.

You can also create a custom toolbutton or shortcut key combination to quickly enter these or other tags; see Using HomeSite for details.

<cfinclude template="template_name">	ColdFusion tag lets you embed references to a CFML or HTML file in a ColdFusion application page.
<cfmodule template="template"…>	Similiar to <cfinclude>, this ColdFusion tag invokes a custom tag for use in application pages.
<script…></script>	HTML element for placing a script within a document.
<jsp:include page="path"…/>	JavaServer Pages tag that calls one page from another. When executed, the returns control to the calling page.
<jsp:forward page="path" />	Similar to <jsp:include> except that it terminates the calling page when executed.
<vtinclude file= "file path ">	Visual Tools Markup Language (VTML) tag lets you reference a VTML file from within a VTML file.
<wizinclude template="template_file_name">	Wizard Markup Language (WIZML) tag that defines a file containing WIZML code to be executed.
<%@include file="path"…%>	Inserts the contents of the included file into a JSP page.
<!--#include file="FileName"…>	Server-Side Include (SSI) and ActiveServer Pages (ASP) tag that inserts a file into the current document.

To open an included file for editing, right-click in the tag and select the Edit Include File command from the context menu. The file, template or page that is referenced in the include tag opens in the editor. No error message displays if the include file is not found; the file just does not open.

Editing other types of referenced files

Cascading Style Sheets
Integration of TopStyle makes it easy to open referenced style sheets for editing. Simply right-click in the <link…> tag in your document and select the Edit Linked Style Sheet command. TopStyle works great for editing inline and embedded style blocks, too.

Image files
Another new 5.0 feature is integration with Macromedia Fireworks for editing web images. Right-click in an <img…> tag and select the Edit in Macromedia Fireworks command to open the image source file. You can then use the powerful graphics tools in Fireworks to modify the image.

Comments?
Please send your thoughts on this article and suggestions for future HomeSite/ColdFusion Studio articles that you would like to see in DevCenter News to me at dcarothers@macromedia.com.