3.4 Tabular Data

Dreamweaver 4 can import, export, sort, and format tabular data as described in the following sections.

3.4.1 Importing and Exporting Tabular Data

Use File Import Import Tabular Data or the Insert Tabular Data icon on the Objects panel to import and format tabular data from a text file. Entries should be delimited by tabs, commas, semicolons, colons, or another delimiting character. The Import Table Data dialog box, shown in Figure 3-15, has the settings listed in Table 3-3.

Figure 3-15. The Import Table Data dialog box

Table 3-3. Import Table Data dialog box options

Option	Description
Data File	Selects any file from the local hard drive or network.
Delimiter	Identifies the column delimiter in the file to be imported: Tab (the default), Comma, Semicolon, Colon, or Other.
Table Width	Sets the width of the overall table. The Fit to Data option adjusts the size of the table to the information being imported; the Set option sets the width to a fixed pixel size or as a percentage of the browser window.
Cell Padding	Sets the margin, in pixels, between the border of the cell and the cell contents.
Cell Spacing	Sets the amount of space, in pixels, between adjacent cells.
Format Top Row	Specifies formatting for the top row of the table (i.e., column headings). The options are No Formatting, Bold, Italic, or Bold Italic.
Border	Sets the width, in pixels, of the border around the table.

Dreamweaver can also export data from an HTML table. To export a text file containing table data:

3.4.2 Formatting and Sorting Tabular Data

You may want to sort of format tabular data to make it more comprehensible or useful to the reader. You must use Standard view to sort and format tabular data (these operations are disabled in Layout view). To format a table, select the table and then use Commands Format Table to open the Format Table dialog box shown in Figure 3-16. You can choose from the predefined colors schemes or create your own.

Figure 3-16. The Format Table dialog box

To sort the data in a table, select the table and then choose Command Sort Table to open the Sort Table dialog box, whose options are explained in Table 3-4.

Table 3-4. Table sorting options

Setting	Description
Sort By	Choose a column to sort the table by.
Order	Choose either Alphabetically or Numerically. (Alphabetical sorting sorts numbers as 1, 11, 12, 2, 21, 22, 3, 4, 5, etc.)
Ascending/Descending	Select either an Ascending (A. . .Z, 1 . . .100) or Descending (Z .. .A, 100. . .1) sort order.
Then By	Specify a second column to sort by when multiple rows have the same value in the Sort By column.
Sort Includes First Row	If the table includes a row of column headings, leave this option disabled.
Keep TR Attributes with Sorted Row	If enabled, row formatting is kept with the data, not the original row number, if a row of data moves.