Macromedia Dreamweaver UltraDev- Building a simple database search feature: Adding dynamic content to the HTML table

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Adding dynamic content to the HTML table

The next step in displaying records on a results page is to add dynamic content to the HTML table.

To add dynamic content to the HTML table:

1	Choose Window > Data Bindings to open the Data Bindings panel.
2	In the Data Bindings panel, select a recordset column and drag it into a table cell.
	For example, here's what the HTML table looks like after dragging the FIRSTNAME and LASTNAME columns from the Data Bindings panel into a table cell.

3	Repeat step 2 for all the recordset columns you want to display on the page.

At design time, the size of the placeholders used to represent dynamic content may distort the appearance of your table by stretching the table cells. Viewing the page in the UltraDev Live Data window eliminates this problem and gives you a more accurate view of how the page will look in a browser.

Before you can view the results page in the Live Data window, you must provide the page with search parameters expected from the search page. The results page needs the parameters to search the database and create a recordset to display in the Live Data window.

Providing the results page with expected search parameters is a one-time-only requirement.

To provide the results page with expected search parameters:

1	In the Document window, choose Live Data Settings from the View menu.
	The Live Data Settings dialog box appears.
2	Click the URL Request plus (+) button to define a simulated search parameter.
3	In the Name column, enter the name of a form object on the search page.
4	In the Value column, enter a value a user might enter as a search parameter.
	The value should give search results.
	The following example displays the name of the list/menu object on the search page as listDept. You can see that the Web application developer knows that the DEPARTMENT column in the database table contains several instances of the value Trip Staff.

5	Make sure the Save Settings for This Document option is selected so you don't need to define the search parameters again.
6	Click OK to close the Live Data Settings dialog box.
7	Choose View > Live Data to display the page in the Live Data window. The Live Data window shows the first record in the recordset, as follows:

Note: If live data does not immediately replace your placeholders, click the Refresh button (the circle arrow) on the toolbar.

By default, a dynamic page displays only a single record. The next step is to modify the table to show all the records found.