Tim Carden

23rd April 2001

It seems like Macromedia released Ultradev 1 (based on Dreamweaver 3) only months ago and already we have the next version. It makes sense though, software in this field must be constantly changing to reflect updates in Internet standards, and a version 1 product normally has a lot to add once the users find out what is missing. Fireworks 3 is also not that old. Fortunately I found that in both pieces of software the additions and enhancements are just what web developers are asking for.

If you are new to Dreamweaver and especially Ultradev you may be wondering what the fuss is all about. For me (a Dreamweaver user since 1.2) it was the first visual HTML that didn't ruin my custom code AND showed me a source view at the same time as a visual view. Well, Macromedia has come a long way since then including the powerful Ultradev extensions to Dreamweaver to make it a full web application development environment as well as specializing in static HTML. Ultradev 4 is the ASP, JSP and CFML aware version Dreamweaver 4 (the best visual HTML editor) with Server Behaviors and data bindings. Server Behaviors are pre-defined server-side operations such as insert a database record that allow you to drag and drop dynamic functionality into your page. Data Bindings define the actual data sources such as cookies, session variables and database tables the server behaviors relate to, and also let you insert data from these data sources.

The biggest jaw-dropper for me was the fact that you can tell Ultradev where your local web server is and it will save the file there, then display the page with you data in it—and it's fully editable!

For more information about what was in Ultradev before, check out our review of version 1 [insert link here].

New Features from Dreamweaver 4

As stated, Ultradev 4 is based on Dreamweaver 4. This means everything that was added to Dreamweaver 4 is included in Ultradev 4.

There are now three views for editing a page. A full visual view, full source view and Split HTML view. Of course the HTML inspector (a popup floating palette of the HTML source) is always available. As in version 1, you can also hit Ctrl+T to quickly edit the current HTML tag or insert HTML.

Ultradev 4 also boasts a new tool bar with buttons for common editing commands and a place to type the page title (as shown in the window above). You no longer have to select Modify | Page properties... to edit the page title.

A very welcome addition is the assets palette. This just couldn't be more useful. Wondering what that color from the homepage is? Or where you stored that logo of one of your corporate friends? All images, colors, URLs, Flash content, Shockwave content, movies, scripts, templates and library items are organized for quick and easy access.

The new reference palette includes the entire O'Reilly HTML, CSS and JavaScript references. You can download more books including the Wrox ASP 3.0 Reference plus JSP, PHP and CFML references from the Macromedia exchange (a free service with all sorts of goodies such as new objects, behaviors etc.). These install into the reference palette quickly and easily. Be cautious of installing both the JSP and ASP references at the same time. You can press the <?> button on the tool bar (shown way above) to look up the currently selected word in the reference and having both ASP and JSP references installed prevents this feature from working properly. The work-around is to only enable the reference that you need at that time.

The Reference palette is a good idea and the O'REILLY content is great. However the ASP content is not a VBScript reference, instead only having ASP specific content. If you use standard built-in VBScript functions a lot when writing ASP code don't expect to find any help here. For example, only highly summarized one-sentence descriptions of ADO and other standard server objects are included in the ASP reference. I still had to use my paper books and the web to get coding help on most scripting. Macromedia has a lot of work to do for those who code anything beyond what is provided built-in.

A new Fireworks HTML element has been added to the Common section of the object palette. Ultradev 4 features "round trip graphics editing". Normally a website design is imported into or designed in Fireworks and then sliced into an HTML table with the associated image slices. If you use the insert Fireworks HTML and insert this Fireworks HTML table, Ultradev knows which fireworks PNG the file was sliced from. Selecting any of the slice objects in the imported table places a Fireworks "Edit" button on the properties palette. You can change the PNG and the slices will be automatically updated. No more frustration when a client wants you to change the caption on one of the buttons you have created or make other changes. You no longer have to reslice and re-import when you need to change a graphic.

Of course changes to the actual table are not remembered. If you add some text to a Fireworks table or delete a cell or row they come back when you edit it in Fireworks.

If you have ever wondered how Ultradev and others can make tables that work in Netscape and IE and your custom-made tables never seem to be the right size etc. you have probably noticed a 1-pixel row of images across the top of the table. Setting the size of each column initially forces the disobedient Netscape and IE into submission. However to do this manually is not so easy.

The new Layout mode in Ultradev 4 should solve this problem. In this view tables and cells have little color tabs above them with a popup menu for each. You can make a cell fixed or autostretch, and the rest of the page text and images is fully editable. To create new tables and cells you can just draw them where you want and Ultradev inserts the necessary spacer images and cells. This is a very nice addition.

The tool is also great for laying out table designs. You can click and drag boxes to create tables and cells.

There are many other small additions that should make life with Ultradev easier. Ultradev can automatically generate predefined Flash content such as buttons and text. These are previewable within Ultradev. Also, URLs in Flash content are readable by Ultradev and can be included in site-wide link checks.

The built-in editor offers better syntax highlighting and auto indenting. The code editor is still not that great though but fortunately Homesite 4.5 is included for bigger edits. Homesite is a great editor.

I still dislike the fact that Ultradev doesn't feature auto prompting when writing code. In Microsoft Interdev, if I type a common ASP object or Javascript and press "." (for example request.) a menu of all methods and properties will appear. This feature is included in most development environments for Java, Pascal and C++ and it would be indescribably useful to include it in Ultradev for Javascript, ASP, JSP and CFML. It is the major reason some of my peers continue to hand-code in Interdev instead of using Ultradev.

There is also advanced versioning control support so you can manage different versions of a site. Support is included for the W3C standard WebDAV, and Microsoft's SourceSafe.

A popup menu of all javascript functions lets you jump to any function and you can use the debugger to identify runtime errors in Netscape and IE.

There are also a number of small keyboard changes that might take you by surprise if you are used to previous versions. Ctrl+A now selects the current table cell and then the whole table if Ctrl+A is pressed again. This is a great new keyboard short cut. Copying and pasting is now more intelligent and uses real clipboard objects instead of just text. Copy text from an application and Ctrl+V will paste it into Ultradev as text, complete with line breaks. Copy an image using Ctrl+C from within Utlradev and paste it with Ctrl+V and it will be pasted as HTML (the image). This is so much better. Previously you had to select either to copy HTML or to copy as text manually. The less used force copy HTML has moved to Ctrl+Shift+C. Of course all keyboard shortcuts are customizable and you can optionally use Dreamweaver 3 shortcuts.

I love the new color selector popup. If you ever tried to find red (#FF0000) or other common colors in the old Dreamweaver color selector (it was organized by hex values) you will appreciate the logical reorganization that has been made.

New features exclusive to Ultradev

If that wasn't enough, Ultradev also includes some enhancements of its own. There are new authentication server behaviors for managing member logon. Also new live objects let you easily create an insert or update database form including the associated server behaviors. Similar live objects are provided for master/detail page sets.

The new Server Behavior Builder should increase efficiency by allowing developers to reuse code. For example, you can convert some existing ASP code into a server behavior. The new server behavior then appears in the server behaviors palette and can be used in any other site.

You must firstly specify the name and server model for the new extension...

...and then define code blocks and their location in the source code. You can also insert parameters in the code that can be given a value when the behavior is used. Here I am making a code segment to handle emailing a form's contents to a user.

Ultradev 4 adds support for Java beans. Make JSP the server model for a site and a new Datasource, Java Bean automatically becomes an option. You can set the properties of the Java Bean to a static value or to the value of a datasource defined in the data bindings.

General code generation has also been improved. In the Define Connection... dialog you have the option of entering a custom connection string. The connections are defined in an external #include file so changes can be easily applied to the entire site. Ultradev 4 now inserts a close recordset command at the end of each file that uses a recordset. If you have problems with recordsets not being closed this might be reason enough to upgrade.

And finally Ultradev 4 sports the new slick Macromedia interface. Expect new graphic icons on all floating palettes, everything (including the main document window) to snap together, customizable keyboard shortcuts, and a mini launcher in the status bar of the active window.

If you prefer to write your own code, the new server behavior builder will be appreciated as will the included reference material, but you may still be frustrated when it comes to mixing Ultradev's built-in features with your own enhancements. The saving grace: Ultradev 4 will not mess with your hand coded parts, even when you customize the generated code and then regenerate it!

I found Ultradev to be getting slightly slow to work in. The screen update occasionally can not keep up with my typing, something that reduces productivity a little. Switching from HTML to visual view has also slowed considerable. Ultradev dislikes running with other programs as it is very resource (Win9x) and memory hungry. Maybe this would not be such a problem if you have loads of RAM (I'm only on 128MB).

When viewing the site window (used to mange and upload the website) Ultradev frequently has to rescan my site directory for no particular reason and often says a file has been modified by another program when it hasn't. Microsoft probably wouldn't allow it but I would love to see support for FrontPage webs instead of just FTP in the site window. Tools for setting folder permissions would also be great.

However, apart from these few negative points, if you are a web developer looking for a quick way to add dynamic functionality to your web site with no manual coding, Ultradev 4 is as good as it gets. Although released so recently after version 1, Macromedia Ultradev 4 offers a lot of new features. Most of these are the result of Dreamweaver 4, but none-the-less they are welcome and well-thought out. Add to this the Ultradev specific updates and you have a product that should start paying for itself from day one.

Download a trial version from macromedia.com and see for yourself.

Show me the amazing Fireworks 4 >>

System Requirements

Copyright 2001, Tim Carden, All Rights Reserved