Customer Reviews

Building Dreamweaver 4 and Dreamweaver UltraDev 4 Extensions

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Having been building extensions myself for a good few years, I wish this book had been written sooner. Whereas the Macromedia extensibility docs offer a good reference to the Dreamweaver API, there is no teaching aspect to them. This is where Building Dreamweaver 4 & UltraDev 4 Extensions steps in and actually shows the reader how it's done.

Muck and West are excellent authors, making this an easy book to read. The pages are jam-packed with practical examples and code that can be used as a basis for your own work - again something the Macromedia documentation lacks. This is the perfect companion for existing extension writers, or those who want to learn. Highly recommended.

This book is a must have for all Dreamweaver users wanting to learn how to build extensions. I have learned alot in the last 5 days using this book then the last month reading Dreamweavers documentation on building extensions. This book is a giveaway at $....

Have fun... Rene'

This is a very useful book for those that are interested in extending Dreamweaver and UltraDev with their own objects, behaviors, commands, etc. You could find all the included information buried in the official Macromedia documentation, and amoungst the many excellent websites that deal with extensions, but for those of us that prefer an old fashioned book then this is the one for you!

So you might be wondering why I rated this book a 4 instead of a 5. While it is true that the content of the book is great, unfortunately I have a few minor niggles:

* There are typo's throughout the book (ie the word "it" when "is" was ment, "you" instead of "your", etc). While most books have typo's it is annoying.

* I wasn't overly impressed with the code samples. Don't get me wrong, I haven't found any actual bugs, but I don't like the way the code is layed out (ie indenting). For example, on page 44 there is an example that contains several JavaScript functions. Each function declaration starts in column one except for one (applyBehavior) which is indented underneath the code of the previous function. Sure, it doesn't affect the code, but it looks untidy. Maybe the authors should have run all their examples through a code beautifier.

I know that some people will think that my comments are needless and that I'm being overly picky; and to some extent I agree with that assesment. But it's these small things that have reduced what would have been a "great" book to just "good".

If you need the basics of how to approach extension design, get this book. It will teach you how to build working extensions.

However, it's very limited. In spite of their claim that it includes "Detailed coverage of DW and DW UD internals", it covers very few of them.

But, worth it for beginners.

After working with the book for only one day, I've created at least three time-saving extensions for use at work, and I've got all sorts of ideas for making more extensions to distribute to coworkers and customers alike.

The reading is easy, the information is to the point, but not staggeringly dull... at this price, it's the very best deal I've found on a computer book since _Pure_Javascript_.

Hello, its Wayne lambright, I run a small site called UltraDevExtensions.com, I have been looking forward to this books arrival for months now, Tom and raY have done all the hard work figuring out all the little details and tips to making extensions, although I have only had the book for five days now, I think this book is a must for anybody who wants to build extensions, and how can you beat the price.

Cheers

Wayne lambright ...

I was expecting a book that would cover Ultradev Extensions a little better, only 26 of the 218 pages covered Ultradev extensions the rest was dedicated to dreamweaver. The book really only covers the basics and does not dive too deep, if you have a lot of hand coded routines that you want to make into extensions, this is not the book for it. Perhaps I as a programmer was expecting more of a developers book as opposed to a Web Page book. However on a positive note, the book is fun to read and contains good examples.