Flash Builder 4 Theme Switcher

Hi guys,
this problem became very painful for me:
As you know Adobe added a new theme called Spark in Flash Builder 4, but it looks really ugly for me. The problem is that i can't switch current theme to Halo!
What i've tried:
Change theme settings in project properties. No effect - all new buttons and other controls had this theme
Use compiler settings: -theme=${flexlib}/themes/Halo/halo.swc - no effect also, the same story as above
Then i've noticed that there are 2 namespaces in my MXML file:
xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark"
xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/mx"
When i switched button declaration from < s:Button> to < mx:Button> then my button began to look much better, but i can't switch all such declarations manually and i suppose that such trick will not work with Application tag to apply such style on application level.
So, my big questions: How to make Flash Builder 4 to use the same theme as in Flex Builder 3 (maybe not exactly the same, but it should looks like Halo theme)? How to apply it to all new controls? Are there any tricks that i missed? What is the main idea of theme settings dialog if it doesn't work? What
Thanks in advance!

Up! Still cant fix this problem!!!!!!

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Using Flash Pro and Flash Builder together | Learn Flash Professional CS5 & CS5.5 | Adobe TV

Adobe Flash Professional CS5 and Adobe Flash Builder 4 enable time-saving workflows. Learn how to develop content in Flash while editing associated ActionScript code in Flash Builder 4, switching easily between the two applications to edit and test.
http://adobe.ly/w50IJm

This doesn't seem to work the same way in CS5.5 / CS6
In the video the class files are associated with the FLA, when you switch back to Flash Pro...
So far, when I follow these steps the classes are not associated with the FLA, the class field for the stage in Flash remains blank.
Also, clicking the edit icon in the properties of a MovieClip and allowing FB to create the file, does not associate the as file with the MovieClip.
Returning to Flash Pro and clicking the Edit button attempt to create a new file once again, but since the file already exists in FB it just remains on the New ActionScript Class dialog, with the Finish Button grayed out (because a file with the same name already exists in FB).
The resulting AS files for a given are created in a sub folder under:
Documents/Adobe Flash Builder 4.6/[Project]/src-[Project]/*.as
Yet the FLA is located in Documents:
Documents/[Project].fla
Should the as files exists with the fla, is a folder reference supposed to be set, or did I miss a step somewhere?
Is a source path supposed to be added to Flash Pro for:
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I am currently on a Mac, but noticed the same behavior in Windows at work yesterday.
Thanks,
Josh

How to create Theme SWC using Flash Builder 4

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Connect to PHP in FB4 is used when you have a PHP Class and you want to use that in FB, for example Employee.php and it has a Employee class and various methods in that like create, update, get, delete.
However, if you have exposed your functionality in PHP as a HTTP URL (i.e. it is not a class), then you should be using HTTPService from the data menu.
So if your file is login.php and is accessible as a URL, then using the HTTPService and enter the URL.
Does this help?
-Sunil

In Flash Builder: "No Disk" Error when trying to switch to Design View

Just had Flash Builder Beta 1 uninstalled and Beta 2 installed instead.
When I try to switch to Design View or open a link from Start Page in Flash Builder Beta 2, the application freezes and "No Disk" error message pops up.

You have some other problem with your boot drive that has corrupted data backed up to the TimeMacine drive.
My advice is to boot into each operating system and manually backup just your Users files each to separate regular external drives (no Timemachine or backup software) and disconnect.
Make a note of any serial numbers, emails, address book contacts, export bookmarks etc. that isn't typically in your users folders data.
You might be able to Winclone 3 the Windows as a whole thing as it's appearing not to have issues but it's your MacintoshHD partition that is so that will have to be rebuilt from scratch.
Most commonly used backup methods
If your OS X parititon doesn't boot, you can use this to recover files.
Create a data recovery/undelete external boot drive
Without any further detail about your machine I can't advise specifically what to do, but it involves using Disk Utility to Zero Erase (move slider one spot to the right or in 10.6 using Security Option) the ENTIRE boot drive and reformatting, then installing OSX fresh and then setting up BootCamp again.
If you wish to switch your boot drive for something better, this is a good time to do this.
Install/upgrade RAM or storage drive in Mac's
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Erase, formatting, OS X installs on Mac's

Flash Builder "publishes" every time I minimize or switch to other programs.

On my Mac, when I switch from Flash Builder to Flash Pro, Flash Builder insists on "Publishing", which means I must wait for 30 seconds each time.
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Roger

On my Mac, when I switch from Flash Builder to Flash Pro, Flash Builder insists on "Publishing", which means I must wait for 30 seconds each time.
Please help.
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Switch from stand-alone Flash Builder to Eclipse plugin

Hi, I understand I can install the Flash Builder as a stand along IDE or add it as a plugin to the existing Eclipse IDE. I have an existing Eclipse IDE where I have all my projects that I currently work on. The company just acquired and installed a stand along Flash Builder for me. I was wondering if I could somehow get it working as a plugin to my existing IDE so that I don't have to keep switching between two IDEs. Preferably I can do this switch on my own without having to go back to the department who did the original install for me which could be a hassle. Thanks.

Hi John,
Here is a PC solution for you.
You can use our tools Jugglor and JStart
http://www.jugglor.com
http://jstart.flashjester.com
This request is asked quite often, so here is an example file
using a PDF
and PowerPoint file instead of a Web browser.
http://www.flashjester.com/?section=faq&cPath=14_56_26#316
and
http://www.flashjester.com/?section=faq&cPath=14_56_26#268
So here you would specify the URL instead of the filename.
Actually you can also use JWeb
Here is an example
http://www.flashjester.com/?section=faq&cPath=14_56_22#209
Hope all the above helps.
Regards
FlashJester Support Team
e. - [email protected]
w. - www.flashjester.com
"This has been one of the most impressive and thoroughly
pleasant
experiences of customer support I have ever come across -
astounding!"
Director - hedgeapple

Found 2 bugs in new Flash Builder 4.7

Hello.
I've just migrated all of my large projects to the new Flash Builder 4.7 (from 4.6) and they all work well except for the 2 annoying issues:
1. I don't know why, but FB no longer allows me to create "config" packages. It says "config is a reserved word in ActionScript and cannot be used." Wtf? I had lots of projects using such names in FB 4.6 and didn't have any issues with it. Is it a new rule in FB 4.7? If so - then why it was introduced and was introduced only now? ActionScript language and FB exist not the first year... Also after i migrated existent projects i see all "config" packages have non-standard "folder" icon in the source file tree (in the package explorer panel).
2. There are strange warnings started to appear - "the import BLA-BLA-BLA is not used locally", but I am not blind - I see it is used just a little bit below in the code. What is wrong with this?
Please help as I am confused now about what to do... I waited for FB 4.7 for so long and now I think I will need to downgrade...

Hi Infeter,
For 1;
After the number of hours I have lost debugging issues where someone has inadvertently named a variable the same as a package that is on the root, so making it impossible for FB to discern whether I am talking about "aname.veryImportant" as the sub-package "veryImportant" of the package "aname" or the property "veryImportant" of the variable "aname", I welcome any and all new warnings of how a coder may inadvertently break Flash! So, if they are saying it is a reserved word, it is probably because there is a core class, variable or other such that will, at some point, bite you if you name something after it. This has always been the case with, for example "default" - default is a keyword that has real meaning for the compiler and you will not be allowed to define things as "default" because of the potential for confusion (are you issuing the "default" directive in a switch statement or are you referring to the "default" value in your class?). Given that FB has the frankly excellent "Refactor" function to allow you to easily rename packages, members and classes, I'd just be happy to rename the offending items and be glad to have saved myself several hours of painful debug later on.
For 2;
I'm surprised you're seeing this warning for classes that are not used. I've found loads that were added in automatically over the years that simply are not used. I'm loving the way I can clean out about half my import statements now. The thing to do is to comment out the imports and check that everything still works. If it does, then you're laughing, you don't need them. If it triggers errors of not being able to locate the class, then I would put together a code snippet and add it as a comment to your bug report.
G

Installing Flex SDK into Flash Builder 4.7 problems

Hi,
Im completely new to Flash Builder, today I have installed Flash Builder 4.7 & Flash CS6 from Creative Cloud for my son to start to learn game programming (with my help), I have used simple coding in web design however this terminology is new to me.
I bought my son the latest 'Foundation Game Design with ActionScript 3.0' book on recommendation but it was written when FB was version 4.5 so im guessing this might be the problem.
The book is very easy to follow but have hit problems at the beginning of the tutorials, the book talks about Flex SDK but it seems that FB 4.7 uses AIR SDK ?
So the first project called HelloWorld, we got up to:
Got an exclamation mark which said
'The import flash.display.Sprite is not used
locally'
Continuing with the rest of the project the exclamation mark disappeared:
However on selecting run- Debug we got a blank Flash Player window ('generate HTML wrapper file' was deselected)
So either we've done something wrong, or the book and FB version are not compatible?
Any advice would be great!
Thank you
Latest ...
I thought that installing Flex SDK may solve the problem but after following instructions I have the error message, see image below. Really stumped now!

Sorry, if I went a little overboard. After re-reading your post, perhaps I should back up a little.
First, there are little things that Flash Builder (FB) will complain about. Having extra import statements in your code doesn't hurt anything. If I'm trying different solutions and then commenting out the code, the import statements will hang around, FB will complain, but just ignore it. If you see a little icon on the left edge of your code editor and its a red circle with an X in it, then that is something that will have to be fixed.
When you create an app in FB or Flash you can choose to create a web app which means it will run in a browser window. The project can optionally create an HTML wrapper, or web page that will load your app. In Flash Pro you can choose File->Publish Settings and there will be a checkbox on the left to publish a HTML wrapper. In FB, you can right click your project in the Package Explorer, select Properties at the bottom, select the ActionScript Compiler, and down at the bottom there will be a checkbox to create a HTML wrapper.
If you're just learning Flash Builder, then the FlexSDK 4.6 and the AIR SDK 3.1 that comes with it should be fine. You mentioned Apache SDK and I'd recently been working with that so I ended up getting side-tracked.
Getting an AIRSDK to work with when build ActionScript projects is easy. Just go to the adobe site, type AIR SDK in the search box, and you should find a page that will let you downloaded the latest version. There's also a page to let you download the latest AIR runtime, and if you were just going to run AIR apps and not build them, then that's all you would need. As a developer you'll want to install the runtime from the downloaded .exe file. With the SDK, after downloading it, installing it is easy. Just create a new folder an unzip the SDK into it, then place it somewhere easy to find. I put all my SDK's in their own directory right off the c: drive. So I have c:\AIRSDK_3.5.0.880 and c:\AIRSDK_3.7.0.1530. I use very descriptive folder names so I always know which SDK's I have to work from.
To use the SDK in Flash Pro select Help -> Manage AIR SDK, hit the plus button and add the folder you created. Now when you've opened a Flash project, you go to File->Publish Settings and select the combo box at the top, you'll see options like 'AIR 3.7.0.1530 for Android' in the list that reflect the SDK's you've added.
Generally with FB you'll be using a FlexSDK, or perhaps a FlexSDK overlaid with a newer version of AIRSDK. Overlaid basically means you copied the contents of the AIR SDK into the Flex Folder. The article I mentioned above will give you all the details on creating those. For instance, I downloaded the Apache Flex installer, installed it, then created an empty folder called c:\ApacheFlexSDK_4.9.1, launched the Apache installer, gave it the new empty folder I'd created, selected all the download options, and let it all download. If it launches a popup box or a security warning, you can allow it, and it will continue. Once you have the SDK and you want to use it with a project in FB, just right click the project, select Properties, selected that Compiler tab again, and up in the right corner you'll see 'Manage SDK's...'. Hit that link, add your new SDK to the list and give it a descriptive name, then selected the checkbox beside it to set it up as your default. If you do this, then all your projects set to use the default will automatically switch to it and rebuild. So if you want a project to stay with a specific SDK then select that option in your Compiler tab, and then you could use the combo box to select your new added SDK.
When I started with FB I think I spent the first 2 days going round and round with project settings and options until I got them all figured out.
When I develop, I usually have my browser open and I have bookmarks and favorites to let me quickly get to all the pages I use most often. Here are a few of them:
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/FlashPlatform/reference/actionscript/3/index.html <---- The API reference. In the packages window check out 'Top Level' at the top and Language Elements near the bottom. I think I have this page open in one or more tabs almost every day.
http://www.adobe.com/devnet.html
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/actionscript/learning.html
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/as3/learn/index.html
http://helpx.adobe.com/flash.html
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/flashbuilder/using/index.html
Free videos to help you learn Flash Pro:
http://tv.adobe.com/show/learn-flash-professional-cs6-/
http://tv.adobe.com/show/learn-flash-professional-cs5/
And you've already found the forums! But if you don't find an answer here, many times you can find your question already answered on www.stackoverflow.com forums.
Ok, I think I went a little overboard again.

Flex Builder 3 vs Flash Builder 4

Is there much difference between Flex Builder 3 and Flash Builder 4? Just that I got them both through the student online form but since FB4 is newer, should I still keep Flex in my laptop?

I found FB3 rock solid and I loved only having one name space.
FB4 is quirky to say the least.
Only reason I don't switch back to FB3 is because FB4 changed the way states are done, and that alone has saved countless hours. I love the way STATES are being handled in FB4!
CrazyMerlin, you got a url for the FB4 skin site. wow that sounded x-rated...

Flash Builder 4 - Beta / Design view sporadic at best

Okay, so I have installed the beta, and running through the Catalyst / Flash BUilder 4 tutorial, all is well, unitl i try to get the imprted fxp file to consistently display in the design mode. Not only that, but switching from code view to design view will break it just about 95% of the time, and then it will not display the created items that the tutorial has you put on them (i.e. the databinds to the names, etc etc).
Has anyone else experienced this? Other than a few little things like this, so far so good guys(ADOBE).
Thanks,
Craig Newroth

eh_adobe wrote:
Please be aware that using a newer SDK with Flash Builder Beta's Design View may have unpredictable results. I can't say specifically since I don't know what version you tried and what your document contained, but... let's pretend for a second that the SDK changed something in a component - its name, its package, or any method or properties in it. Design View was compiled with a specific version of the SDK, and would not know about that change, and so might not react very well to the document. Yes this is not ideal, but it's hard to avoid when the SDK is changing rapidly (at some point it will settle down, and this won't be an issue). We can look at ways to mitigate this.
I have had less unpredicatable results with recent builds of the SDK the latest being build 7988- I basically update from the svn trunk every 2-3 days look through the changes run the checkintests just to make sure all is ok then see what happens to be small testbed apps, I have been doing this for several months. I don't mind the IDE not dealing with the changes as long as it tells me why it can't. But the code should not break the IDE. Also i'm getting a little confused as some of the responses to some issues (not the design mode one) in this forum have suggested seeing what happens with updated SDK's.
Anyway I have reverted everything back to a standard FB4 install and the first thing that happened yet another new flaw in design mode rears its head, no errors but this time a visually definable issue. The component appears as a 1 dimension line in the top left hand corner of the design editor window, not even on the design view working canvas. Attached is a screen shot and the associated code that caused it. Please note the IDE didn't draw the big red ring around the visual glitch so thats one less bug to worry about.
     the app.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<s:Application xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009" xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark" xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/halo" minWidth="1024" minHeight="768">
     <s:HSlider x="50" y="50" width="200" height="30" skinClass="skins.HSliderSkin"/>
</s:Application>
     skin part A.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>


<s:SparkSkin xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009" xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark"
       minHeight="11" minWidth="100"
       alpha.disabled="0.5">
    <fx:Metadata>
    <![CDATA[
      * @copy spark.skins.default.ApplicationSkin#hostComponent
         [HostComponent("spark.components.HSlider")]
    ]]>
    </fx:Metadata>
    <fx:Script>
        /* Define the skin elements that should not be colorized.
           For slider, the skin itself is colorized but the individual parts are not. */
        static private const exclusions:Array = ["track", "thumb"];
      * @copy spark.skins.SparkSkin#colorizeExclusions
        override public function get colorizeExclusions():Array {return exclusions;}
    </fx:Script>
    <s:states>
         <s:State name="normal" />
         <s:State name="disabled" />
    </s:states>
    <fx:Declarations>
     
        <fx:Component id="dataTip">
            <s:MXMLComponent minHeight="24" minWidth="40" y="-34">
                <s:Rect top="0" left="0" right="0" bottom="0">
                         <s:fill>
                              <s:SolidColor color="0x000000" alpha=".9"/>
                         </s:fill>
                         <s:filters>
                             <s:DropShadowFilter angle="90" color="0x999999" distance="3"/>
                        </s:filters>
                    </s:Rect>
                    <s:SimpleText id="labelElement" text="{data}"
                         horizontalCenter="0" verticalCenter="1"
                         left="5" right="5" top="5" bottom="5"
                         textAlign="center" verticalAlign="middle"
                         fontWeight="normal" color="white" fontSize="11">
                </s:SimpleText>
            </s:MXMLComponent>
        </fx:Component>
     </fx:Declarations>
    
    <s:Button id="track" left="0" right="0" top="0" bottom="0"
              skinClass="skins.HSliderTrackSkin"/>
    
    <s:Button id="thumb" top="1" bottom="1" width="{hostComponent.height*1.5}" skinClass="skins.HSliderThumbSkin"/>
</s:SparkSkin>
     Skin Part B
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>


<s:SparkSkin xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009" xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark">
    <fx:Metadata>
    <![CDATA[
      * @copy spark.skins.default.ApplicationSkin#hostComponent
         [HostComponent("spark.components.Button")]
    ]]>
    </fx:Metadata>
    <s:states>
        <s:State name="up" />
        <s:State name="over" />
        <s:State name="down" />
        <s:State name="disabled" />
    </s:states>
    
    <s:Rect left="0" right="0" top="0" bottom="0" radiusX="{hostComponent.height/2}" radiusY="{hostComponent.height/2}">
        <s:fill>
            <s:SolidColor color="0x4F4F4F" />
        </s:fill>
    </s:Rect>
     
     <s:Rect left="0.5" right="0.5" top="0.5" bottom="0.5" radiusX="{hostComponent.height/2}" radiusY="{hostComponent.height/2}">
          <s:stroke>
               <s:LinearGradientStroke rotation="90" weight="1">
                    <s:GradientEntry color="0x000000" alpha="0" />
                    <s:GradientEntry color="0x000000" alpha="0.33" />
               </s:LinearGradientStroke>
          </s:stroke>
          <s:fill>
               <s:LinearGradient rotation="90">
                    <s:GradientEntry color="0xFFFFFF"
                                      color.over="0xE5E5E5"
                                      color.down="0x999999" />
                    <s:GradientEntry color="0xD8D8D8"
                                      color.over="0x7D7D7D"
                                      color.down="0x555555" />
               </s:LinearGradient>
          </s:fill>
     </s:Rect>
     
</s:SparkSkin>
     Skin Part C
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>


<s:SparkSkin xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009" xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark">
    <fx:Metadata>
    <![CDATA[
      * @copy spark.skins.default.ApplicationSkin#hostComponent
         [HostComponent("spark.components.Button")]
    ]]>
    </fx:Metadata>
    <s:states>
        <s:State name="up" />
        <s:State name="down" />
        <s:State name="over" />
        <s:State name="disabled" />
    </s:states>
     
    <s:Rect left="-1" right="-1" top="0" bottom="-1" radiusX="{hostComponent.height/2}" radiusY="{hostComponent.height/2}">
        <s:fill>
            <s:LinearGradient rotation="90" >
                 <s:GradientEntry color="0x000000" alpha="0.55" />
                 <s:GradientEntry color="0xFFFFFF" alpha="0.55" ratio="0.8" />
            </s:LinearGradient>
        </s:fill>
    </s:Rect>
    
    <s:Rect left="0" right="0" top="1" bottom="0" radiusX="{hostComponent.height/2}" radiusY="{hostComponent.height/2}">
        <s:fill>
            <s:SolidColor color="0xCACACA" />
        </s:fill>
    </s:Rect>
     
     <s:Rect left="0" right="0" top="0" bottom="0" radiusX="{hostComponent.height/2}" radiusY="{hostComponent.height/2}">
          <s:fill>
               <s:SolidColor alpha="0"/>
          </s:fill>
     </s:Rect>
</s:SparkSkin>

Flash Builder 4.7 Debug Configuration Bug

I just updated to Flash Builder 4.7 today and ran into an annoying bug that did not exist with 4.6. I always have many debug configurations when developing mobile apps, ie. iPhone, iPad, iOS on device. When I tried to create these configurations this morning, I noticed that it won't let me have multiple AIR simulator configurations for different devices. When I change the device on one, it changes the device on the other, making both of them behave exactly the same. Is anyone else experiencing this issue? Is there any way around it?

There is a workaround to this issue. To understand the workaround, it'll be good to understand what's going on with the bug a little better.
So the issue with this bug isn't with loading or saving configurations, but rather it is with switching between them. It seems that when switching between two of the same thing (for instance, two Mobile Application configurations) it doesn't properly clear the data out of the form, and since the form isn't cleared out it doesn't properly load the new information in and as such the old information carries over. And since the save code still works fine, when you exit it will save the new, messed up configuration over the old, good configuration.
So, technically, it's not the same configuration showing up twice, but rather two separate configurations that are configured the same because the form didn't clear out when switching between the two configurations.
So now that we have a clearer understanding of the bug, here's the workaround: If you click on something that uses a different form, it will destroy the form. So, for instance, if you have both an iPad Simulator and an iPhone 4 Simulator, and you've got the iPad Simulator selected and you need to select the iPhone 4 Simulator, simply first click on Mobile Application, and then click on your iPhone 4 Simulator. When you do this everything works fine.
Additionally, if you do switch directly between the two, know that the configuration that you just left is fine. It's only the one that you're currently looking at that is messed up, and all that you have to do is fix the one that you're looking at.
So that at least let's you work around the issue. It's also convenient to just set up enough different configurations to where you never really need to access the Debug Configurations menu. For instance, I have have two configurations set up for each device or simulator that I have set up, one that has the 'Clear application data on each launch' checkbox checked, and one that does not. In addition to this, I have four simulators (iPad, iPhone, Android Phone, Android Tablet) and one 'On device' (Android) setup. Combining these gives me ten different configurations that covers majority of what I do regularly and makes it so that I don't need to access the Debug Configurations menu all that often.
At this point with this many configurations it is also useful to organize all of these configurations in the debug dropdown menu by using the Organize Favorites menu that can be selected from the same dropdown menu.
So, that makes for a very long answer, but hopefully it will help you out and help out a few other people that are also running into the same issue. It doesn't change the fact that there's a really horrible bug and that Adobe really needs to get on fixing it, but this can at least make it so that it can be lived with.

Building complex flash game in Flash Builder 4 - Workflow/Best Practices

I'm investigating switching to Flash Builder 4 for building a complex game that currently lives purely inside Flash CS4. CS4 is a pretty terrible source code editor and debugger. It's also quite unstable. Many crashes caused by bad behavior in the SWF will take out the entire IDE so are almost impossible to debug. And I've heard other horror stories. To be clear, for this project I'm not interested in the Flex API, just the IDE.
Surprisingly, it seems Flash Builder 4 isn't really set up for this type of development. I was hoping for an "Import FLA" option that would import my Document Class, set it as the main entry point, and figure out where other assets live and construct a new project. What is the best workflow for developing a project like this?
What I tried:
-Create a new Actionscript Project in the same directory where my CS4 lives
-Set the primary source file to match the original project's source file and location
-Set my main FLA as "export to SWC", and added "SWC PATH" to my flash builder 4 project.
-Compile and run.. received many errors due to references to stage instance. I changed these to GetChildByName("stagename"). Instead, should I declare them as members of the main class? (this would mimic what flash CS4 does).
-My project already streams in several external SWF's. I set these to "Export SWC" to get compile-time access to classes and varaibles. This works fine in cs4, the loaded SWF's behave as if they were in the native project. Is the same recommended with FB4?
-Should I also be setting the primary FLA as "export to swc"? If not, how do I reference it from flex, and how does flex know which fla it should construct the main stage with?
Problems:
-I'm getting a crash inside a class that is compiled in one of the external SWF's (with SWC). I cannot see source code for the stack inside this class at all. I CAN see member variables of the class, so symbol information exists. And I do see the stack with correct function names. I even see local variables and function parameters in the watch window! But no source. Is this a known bug, or "by design"? Is there a workaround? The class is compiled into the main project, but I still cannot see source. If FLEX doesn't support source level debugging of SWC's, then it's pretty useless to me. The project cannot live as a single SWF. It needs to be streaming and modular for performance and also work flow. I can see source just fine when debugging the exact same SWC/SWF through CS4.
-What is the expected workflow with artists/designers working on the project? Currently they just have access to all the latest source, and to test changes they run right through flash. Will they be required to license Flash Builder as well so they can test changes? Or should I be distributing the main "engine" as a SWF, and having it reference other SWF files that artists can work on? They they compile their SWF in CS4, and to test the game, they can load the SWF I distribute.
A whitepaper on this would be awesome, since I think a lot of folks are trying to go this direction. I spent a long time searching the web and there is quite a bit of confusion on this issue, and various hacks/tricks to make things work. Most of the information is stale from old releases (AS2!).
If a clean workflow I would happily adopt Flash Builder 4 as the new development tool for all the programmers. It's a really impressive IDE with solid performance, functional intellisense, a rich and configurable interface, a responsive debugger..I could go on and on. One request is shipping with "visual studio keyboard layout" for us C++ nerds.
Thanks very much for reading this novel!

Flash builder debugging is a go! Boy, I feel a bit stupid, you nailed the problem Jason - I didn't have "Permit Debugging set". I didn't catch it because debugging worked fine in CS4 because, well, CS4 doesn't obey this flag, even for externally loaded SWF files (I think as long as it has direct access to the SWC). Ugh.
I can now run my entire, multi SWF, complex project through FB with minimal changes. One question I do have:
In order to instantiate stage instances and call the constructor of the document class, I currently load the SWF file with LoaderContext. I'm not even exporting an SWC for the main FLA (though I may, to get better intellisense). Is this the correct way of doing it? Or should I be using , or some other method to pull it into flex? They seem to do the same thing.
The one awful part about this workflow is that since almost all of my code is currently tied to symbols, and lives in the SWF, any change i make to code must first be recompiled in CS4, then I have to switch back to FB. I'm going to over time restructure the whole code base to remove the dependency of having library symbols derive from my own custom classes. It's just a terrible work flow for both programmers and artists alike. CS5 will make this better, but still not great. Having a clean code base and abstracted away assets that hold no dependencies on the code seems like the way to go with flash. Realistically, in a complex project, artists/designers don't know how to correctly set up symbols to drive from classes anyway, it must be done by a programmer. This will allow for tighter error checking and less guess work. Any thoughts on this?
Would love to beta test CS5 FYI seeing as it solves some of these issues.
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:06:07 -0700
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Building complex flash game in Flash Builder 4 - Workflow/Best Practices
How are you launching the debug session from Flash Builder? Which SWF are you pointing to?
Here's what I did:
1) I imported your project (File > Import > General > Existing project...)
2) Create a launch configuration (Run > Debug Configuration) as a Web Application pointing to the FlexSwcBug project
3) In the launch config, under "URL or path to launch" I unchecked "use default" and selected the SWF you built (I assume from Flash Pro C:\Users\labuser\Documents\FLAs\FlexSwcBug\FlexSwcBugCopy\src\AdobeBugExample_M ain.swf)
4) Running that SWF, I get a warning "SWF Not Compiled for Debugging"
5) No problem here. I opened Flash Professional to re-publish the SWF with "Permit debugging" on
6) Back In Flash Builder, I re-ran my launch configuration and I hit the breakpoint just fine
It's possible that you launched the wrong SWF here. It looks like you setup DocumentClass as a runnable application. This creates a DocumentClass.swf in the bin-debug folder and by default, that's what Flash Builder will create a run config for. That's not the SWF you want.
In AdobeBugExample_Main.swc, I don't see where classCrashExternal is defined. I see that classCrashMainExample is the class and symbol name for the blue pentagon. Flash Builder reads the SWC fine for me. I'm able to get code hinting for both classes in the SWC.
Jason San Jose
Quality Engineer, Flash Builder
>

Future of Flash Builder

I just read that Adobe will discontinue Flash Catalyst and the Design View in Flash builder ?
Is that TRUE ? Programatically Layout and Design uh?
http://forums.adobe.com/message/4085187#4085187
If so that would be a BIG step backwards

I am a designer/developer - I do use the design view extensively. And yes I am more than worth my salt and more. For me, being able to have immediate visual feedback is absolutely necessary. I don't like coding "blind". I have had the opportunity to work Microsoft Blend - Visual Studio since 2007 - It really is what I hoped flex would be. The best of both worlds. As front-end interface developer designer I could work on the exact same source-code, submitting to SVN on a regular basis together with the software engineers developing the backend and SDK. Blend allowed me controle over the primitive shapes that makes up a component. This allowed extreme customisation and optimisation. The wysiwyg view is an absolute crucial part of the process (e.g. do I want this rectangle to have 5px margins or 4, do the shadow work better with a 10 px falloff or a 8px falloff, do I want pixel snap on or off [whish flash had that] - which does look and work different than the photoshop one so I DO HAVE TO DESIGN in the wysiwyg as well)
Yes sure, I do go through a phase designing in Illustrator and Photoshop, but putting the components together takes time. I do not simply import flat artwork and then wrap them in some appropriate container. I build components up using multiple primitive shapes which gets re-purposed and targeted for various states, subtle animations, color-changes and has to comply to it's parent-component's rescaling capabilities. During that phase I do NOT want to continuously recompile. (although I would sometimes create a separate project just to test a specific component that can only be fully viewed after recompiled).
The excuse of "all good coders don't use the design view anyway" is a cop out. I can understand if Adobe says
1) we did not have the resources to do it decently (like Microsoft Blend)
2) we simply do not put the resources in to hire clever enough developers to create a decent tool
But a statement like it's preferable to work only blindly in code is simply wrong and naive of the state of art of dev. tools. Maybe for a dos-like interface or win-32 forms style interface only using stock-standard layout and components.
The biggest advantage of Microsoft Blend is being able to have split view open - I do this with Flashbuilder as well although it is slower and more buggy than Blend - I would write the markup and see updates realtime, switch over to Visual Studio that has the project open in the background for some serious code-completion capabilities - then miss my wysiwyg view - and switch rigth back to Blend.
Why am I using flash-builder/flex - if it was not for the fact that Microsofts wpf-framework only works fully on Win-OS or a subset of it as a silverlight plugin on fewer platforms than flash - I would have used Microsoft. The reason using flash is because it can be deployed on so many platforms - consistently (not like the html4 and now 5 chaos) - It has powerful interactive and multimedia capabilities.
My HTML works exactly the same way - for certain core complex components I will code and have a wysiwyg open as well for better navigation, more inuitive decision making and less time spend going backwards and forwards between compiling/running in the browser - but with the sad state of wysiwyg of dreamweaver unluckily I have to swithc more often (not because I am a more "CLEVER" developer)
Summary - I will use flash/flex only if there is no alternative because of this decision - Flash was supposed to be a creative environment to create highly interactive and creative applications/content for multiple platforms.
Thanks Adobe , I have used Macromedia director since 1993 - You managed to kill that off and now you are messing with flash - It could have been so much more. You simply lack the vision and we are stuck with the limitations, inconsistency, long-development time of HTML5 and a messy array of tools to try and make it usefull.
Whish Microsoft had the vision to make wpf work on all platforms....

Is Flash Builder and Cf Apptacular viable ?

Has anyone used Apptacular as a back end solution to building an end to end solution?
How was it?
Anyone used it to develop against Mamp ?
Thanks
Dan Pride

The simulation environments that I have created in the past look and perform almost identically to the actual application. The purpose is for training, and realism is of great importance. During the simulation the browser must switch to kiosk mode (full screen with no border, no menu, and no caption bar). Full screen images from the actual application are used.
Menus with working submenus must work and perform realistically. That includes enables and disabled options set programmatically, and functioning popup menus. At any given point in a simulation the software must be able to detect the point where the mouse clicks and/or text that is typed into a field(s).
Error handling must support (1) text prompts, (2) text and graphics, and (3) text, graphics and animation. Optionally, data displayed for any given screen should be dynamically definable.
I appreciate the links you provided and will check them out.
My limited experience with Flash tells me it can do the job. I have been told by others that Flash Builder is the smarter way to accomplish complex tasks like I defined above.

Flash Builder beta2 compatibility issues?

Hi,
I was trying out the external authentication with Flash Builder beta2 and php, in which I made a simple login panel, which switches to a new state with some ALCS-components (a SharedWhiteboard and a Roster). Altough the login proces works (I get a token returned) and I get into the new state with the shared components, I get an error from the moment I want to interact with them, eg when I want to draw something on the SharedWhiteboard. The error looks like:
Error #1053: Illegal override of NullSwatchPanel in com.adobe.coreUI.controls.nullColorPickerClasses.NullSwatchPanel.
Is this due to the switch to Flex 4? Should I report this as a bug somewhere?
Best regards,
Hans

Hi,
Please follow this link , http://forums.adobe.com/message/2317657#2317657 . It was fixed in player 9 swc in the earlier release but not in player 10 swc. It has been fixed already and is coming in our next update within next few days. So, if you are using flash builder beta 2 with player 10 swc , just hold on for few days, else you can use player 9 swc.
Thanks
Hironmay Basu

Flash Builder 4 Theme Switcher

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