Flash Builder 4 - Beta / Design view sporadic at best

Question

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

Answer 1

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"?>
<!--
     ADOBE SYSTEMS INCORPORATED
     Copyright 2008 Adobe Systems Incorporated
     All Rights Reserved.
     NOTICE: Adobe permits you to use, modify, and distribute this file
     in accordance with the terms of the license agreement accompanying it.
-->
<!--- The default skin class for the Spark HSlider component. The thumb and track skins are defined by the
HSliderThumbSkin and HSliderTrackSkin classes, respectively. -->
<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>
     <!--- Defines the appearance of the the Slider's DataTip. To customize the DataTip's appearance, create a custom HSliderSkin class. -->
        <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>
    <!--- Defines the skin class for the HSliderSkin's track. The default skin class is HSliderTrackSkin. -->
    <s:Button id="track" left="0" right="0" top="0" bottom="0"
              skinClass="skins.HSliderTrackSkin"/>
    <!--- Defines the skin class for the HSliderSkin's thumb. The default skin class is HSliderThumbSkin. -->
    <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"?>
<!--
     ADOBE SYSTEMS INCORPORATED
     Copyright 2008 Adobe Systems Incorporated
     All Rights Reserved.
     NOTICE: Adobe permits you to use, modify, and distribute this file
     in accordance with the terms of the license agreement accompanying it.
-->
<!--- The default skin class for the thumb of a Spark HSlider component. -->
<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>
    <!-- border -->
    <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>
     <!-- fill -->
     <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>
     <!-- highlight -->
</s:SparkSkin>
     Skin Part C
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!--
     ADOBE SYSTEMS INCORPORATED
     Copyright 2008 Adobe Systems Incorporated
     All Rights Reserved.
     NOTICE: Adobe permits you to use, modify, and distribute this file
     in accordance with the terms of the license agreement accompanying it.
-->
<!--- The default skin class for the track of a Spark HSlider component. -->
<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>
     <!-- border -->
    <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>
    <!-- fill -->
    <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>
     <!-- hit area -->
     <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>