Making text dynamic

You can replace existing text with dynamic text, or you can place dynamic text at a given insertion point on the page.

To add dynamic text:

1. Open the Bindings panel by choosing Window > Bindings.
2. Make sure the Bindings panel lists the content source you want to use.

   The content source should contain plain text (ASCII text). Plain text includes HTML. If no content sources appear in the list, or if the available content sources don’t meet your needs, click the Plus (+) button to define a new content source. (See Defining Sources of Dynamic Content.)

3. In Design view, select text on the page, or click where you want to add dynamic text.
4. In the Bindings panel, select a content source from the list. If you select a recordset, specify the column you want in the recordset.

   

5. Click Insert, or drag the content source onto the page.

The dynamic content appears on the page if you’re working in Design view with Live Data turned on (View > Live Data).

If Live Data is turned off, a placeholder appears instead. (If you selected text on the page, the placeholder replaces the text selection.) The placeholder for recordset content uses the syntax {RecordsetName.ColumnName}, where Recordset is the name of the recordset and ColumnName is the name of the column you chose from the recordset.

Sometimes, the length of the placeholders for dynamic text distorts the page’s layout in the Document window. You can solve the problem by using empty curly braces as placeholders.

To create dynamic text placeholders:

1. Select Edit > Preferences > Invisible Elements (Windows) or Dreamweaver > Preferences > Invisible Elements (Macintosh).
2. In the Show Dynamic Text As pop-up menu, select { }.
3. Click OK.

Related topics

• About adding dynamic content
• Dynamic text