Flash Builder/Catalyst Integration

I have been tasked with integrating a Flash Catalyst routine with the shopping cart on our website. Being totally new to Flash Builder, I need a little help getting started with this. Here's the dilema: The catalyst file has 15 states and two text entry boxes, as well as a submit button. What I am looking for is when you press the submit button, it sends the name of the current state, as well as the contents of the text fields to another page. Probably a simple thing for most people, but I am VERY new to the programming language. Any advice will be helpful.
Thanks

iMacs are great machines. The Adobe CS suite will work on any new or older iMac. iMacs have great video cards as well. I would suggest that once you buy the iMac, add more memory. Buying it directly from Apple is quite expensive but places like Other World Computing sell excellent memory at great prices. I don't work for them, but I am a long time customer. I love my iMac. The screen is just fabulous.

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Best practices for Flash CS5 and Flash Builder 4 integration?

With Flash CS5's new XFL file structure/format, what's the best way to structure project files for Flash CS5 integration with Flash Builder 4? Flash CS5 autocreates a folder named after the xfl file as the outer container, and then all the assets/xfl within it. Should this folder be used as the project folder for Flash Builder 4, or better to nest the xfl container folder in a "real" project folder? I would presume the latter, since you might have multiple XFL files in one project. I was hoping to see some automatic linkages between document class of the Flash CS5 XFL file and any default ActionScript class created by Flash Builder, but so far I seem to need to specify a document class directly in Flash CS5's environment and making sure that the path to a default class created by Flash Builder is correct.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions...

Most likely, you know that, but just in case, you can integrate new Flash project into existing Flex 4 project from within the Flash Builder by choosing either Flash Component or Flash Container from the FB Design view. In such workflow Flash Builder opens the Flash CS 4 (I assume that should be the same for CS5) and takes care of the integrating the newly created Flash project into original Flex 4 project.
FTQuest

Problem with inline FXG in Flash Builder

Hello,
True newbie to Flex and Flash Builder.
I am trying to use FXG code out of Illustrator CS4 and PASTE in in a skin.mxml file.
I thought that Flash Builder would automatically convert the <Graphic> tag to a Spark <s:Graphic> tag after I pasted in the SHOW CODE segment from Illustrator Save function.
The same for all the other tags.
It does not. Flash Builder just gives me an error when I save the Skin.mxml file.
I don't want to just import the .FXG file as a component because it contains text in the layout I want to dynamically change in an <s:List.>
Sample code:
<s:Skin
    xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark"
    xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"
    xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/halo"
    xmlns:ai="http://ns.adobe.com/ai/2008"
    xmlns:d="http://ns.adobe.com/fxg/2008/dt"
    xmlns:graphics="assets.graphics.*">
    <fx:Metadata>[HostComponent("spark.components.List")]</fx:Metadata>
    <s:states>
        <s:State name="normal"/>
        <s:State name="disabled"/>
    </s:states>
    <s:Rect
        height="457"
        ai:objID="4ee65600"
        d:userLabel="pageContentArea"
        width="921"
        x="0.5"
        y="1.5">
        <s:stroke>
            <s:SolidColorStroke caps="none" color="0x002581" joints="miter" miterLimit="4" scaleMode="normal" weight="1" color.normal="#3993d2"/>
        </s:stroke>
    </s:Rect>
    <Graphic version="1.0" viewHeight="2000" viewWidth="2000" ai:appVersion="14.0.0.367" d:id="1" >
            <Library>
                <Definition name="sym3d_Pyramid_Rainbow" d:userLabel="3d Pyramid Rainbow">
                    <Group>
                        <Group x="-7.52246" y="-24.9131">
                            <Group ai:knockout="0">
                                <Path winding="nonZero" ai:knockout="0" data="M0.358887 9.48828L7.5249 12.5605 7.521 0.279297 0.358887 9.48828Z" >
                                    <fill>
                                        <LinearGradient x="2.04785" y="11.2568" scaleX="11.5761" rotation="-45">
                                            <GradientEntry color="#ed2324" ratio="0"/>
                                            <GradientEntry color="#ed2224" ratio="0.617977"/>
                                            <GradientEntry color="#ed2324" ratio="0.629213"/>
                                            <GradientEntry color="#ed2024" ratio="0.983146"/>
                                        </LinearGradient>
How do get this to work? What am I doing wrong?
Thanks,
bernie393

Hey Peter, Again I REALLY appreciate your help....
So, Are you saying if follow the below process steps it will work?
1. Copy of code from AI Save as FXG dialog box using the Show Code button.
2. Open the Skin or ItemRenderer in Flash Builder Beta 2. (which one should I use to be able to BIND data, skin or itemrenderer)
3. Paste the code in AT THE BOTTOM (after the Skin or ItemRenderer) (tags will still be in <Graphic> format NOT <s:Graphic> format)
4. Move the Library tags to the top of pasted code.
5. Save the file in Flash Builder that it will convert the tags to (s:xxxxxxx) type tags>
IF this is wrong, please explain..I apologize, trying to pick this up as fast as I can...Solving this problem would allow me to move very quickly in creating the pages I have to.
Not knowing Flex 4 well enough, it would take considerably more time if I had to save each individual OBJECT from AI and export as png or jpg or gif.
I also would have to recreate the layout from scratch which would also be difficult at my current knowledge level.....
Also, a learning point for me: In Flex 4 when I do this in Flash Catalyst (I have over 30 pages to build and probably 45 states and when work in Flash Catalyst it will crash if I move to many times in and out of editting components so I have to save often so I cannot do the whole in Catalyst and I need a repeatable process to get all the different page graphics out of AI and into Flash Builder), Catalyst creates a List component in the main MXML file, a skin.mxml file, and a item renderer.mxml file. I am use to coding in Smalltalk, Javascript, and Java. What parts are considered the Model, View, and Controller in a MVC architecture?
Thank you again Peter......
Bernie393

Using Flash Catalyst to create components in Flash Builder

Hi,
Apologies if this is a obvious question, but I wanted to solve the one way catalyst --> flash builder nightmare (there is no better word in my opinion) and create a number of basic components in catalyst (rather than an entire site), import them into flash builder and use them as components that I can extend, thus hopefully avoiding the need to affect the fxp file and prohibiting the catalyst updates. It also means I can have multiple people working on components in catalyst and assemble them into one app in Flash builder.
My questions are:-
1. Does what I'm proposing make sense?
2. Is it possible to create SWC files from a project imported from an fxp file (generated in catalyst)?
Many thanks for all of you who take the time to indulge a newbie like me :-)
Kind Regards
Jace

Don't worry about the UI components development since there is a poweful GUI library that works
for the J2ME PP. This is LwVCL that is available here: www.lwvcl.com
See the www.lwvcl.com/online-demo.php demo applet to understand what the components set looks like.

Using Flash Catalyst Custom Component in Flash Builder

I created a custom component in Flash Catalyst that is intended to be used in the way that one would use a BorderContainer in Flex/Flash Builder. Can anyone advise me how I might go about doing this?
many thanks,
Mark

And also there's a lot of new content to help every one started at http://www.adobe.com/devnet
If you're a CF/Flex developer you're gonna enjoy the new content here too
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flex/flex_cf.html?devcon=f3

Flash Builder Design Preview Not Working With Catalyst Objects On Stage

Hi there,
I'm working with a flash catalyst component from a flex project library, and it will not preview in desing mode. Anyone ever run into this? It seems that it may be a memory issue as the custom components themselves will preview, but now a bunch of custom components all displayed in a view.
Any insight would be greatly appreciated! For now I'm back to guessing x & y coords...

Going to answer my own thread here. This issue doesn't seem to be with Flash Builder, I think the issue lies in the browser not being able to register the button modes, namely Firefox 4. I've seen it happen in other browsers too, like Chrome, where the fix is to embed the swf as param.wmode = "window". Hope this helps someone out.

Squiggly Flash Builder Error in Flash Catalyst Generated FXP File

Flash Builder generates the following error message in a Flash Catalyst Generated project with PHP as the server when the Squiggly AdobeSpelling.swc is included in the LIBS folder: "Unable to load AdobeSpelling.swc in design mode" with the result that fds.swc, fiber.swc and serializers.swc do not load in design mode. Squiggly functionality consequently does not work. Any one else with a similar experience with a work around?

Thanks for your report. We are investigating and will get back to you.
Thanks.

Round trip between Flash Builder and Catalyst?

Is it, or will it, be possible to go back to Flash Catalyst once a project as been brought into Flash Builder?
I have imported the .fxp project into Flash Builder, made some code changes, then exported a .fxp project out again. I want to be able to edit this in Catalyst so I can make design changes, but when I try to open the project Catalyst says it cannot be opened becuase it has been edited outside of the application. Is there something I am missing or has this simply not been implemented yet?
It would be a shame to not be able to "round trip" from Catalyst to Builder.
Thanks for your time and the product looks very exciting.

Hi Watern,
For the first version of Catalyst, we're focusing on the one-way workflow from Catalyst to Builder (start in Catalyst, finish in Builder). We realize this is a big limitation and hope to address soon after the first release.
There are a number of partial solutions for this problem, which you can find by searching around the forum. Most of them involve dividing the work between Catalyst and Flash Builder as cleanly as possible, which is surprisingly easy to do given the new skinning architecture. Here's an excerpt from a post I wrote that seems to have been lost:
"If you are iterating between Catalyst and Builder on a custom component, you may find it is worth splitting the custom component out in that fashion. I'm planning to write an article explaining this, but here's a preview:
In Builder, create a new subclass of SkinnableComponent. Put the component logic in there.
If you need to add visual logic like "now move the konfabulator 10px to the left", you should make konfabulator a skin part, using the metadata (see Scrollbar.as, in the Flex 4 SDK, for an example).
If your component has states, declare them with the metadata.
In Catalyst, make sure that your custom component has those parts and states.
Then import the custom component into Builder.
In the MXML file for the custom component, change the root tag <Group> to <Skin>. It's now a skin (not a custom component).
In the MXML file for the skin, add the [HostComponent("com.me.MyComponent")] metadata (see HScrollbarSkin.mxml, in the Flex 4 SDK, for an example).
Wherever you are creating the instance, change the code <MyComponent/> to <MySkinnableComponent skinClass="MyComponent"/>. Now you're creating an instance of your skinnable component and assigning it the skin created in Catalyst.
Done! If you make more changes in Catalyst, you'll have to repeat steps 5-7 again (for now!)."
-Adam

Integrating Licensing without Flash Builder

Hi,
I posted a question about InMarket SDK for JavaScript developers before:
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/742240?tstart=0
So I checked the answered documentation and tried to integrate licensing into my AIR application I made with only JavaScript.
BUT, according to the document, it seems that Flash Builder is required for the licensing integration.
Do I have to buy Flash Builder just for the licensing? It's very expensive for me. Is there any way to integrate without Flash Builder?
Thanks.

You don't have to buy Flash Builder. You can user Flex and AIR SDK that is available for free. If you use Flash Builder the process is simpler, but its possible for you to use the free tools and achieve the same results.
Here are the steps you can follow:
1) Install the AIR SDK – See http://help.adobe.com/en_US/air/build/WS2d8d13466044a73328ed2239124110d12b3-8000.html
2) Install the Flex SDK - http://help.adobe.com/en_US/air/build/WS2d8d13466044a733190f0432124114d9a19-8000.html
3) Follow this tutorial to learn how to compile and package Flex application - http://help.adobe.com/en_US/air/build/WS144092a96ffef7cc4c0afd1212601c9a36f-8000.html
4) Follow out tutorial on building AJAX apps for InMarket, but use the AIR command line compiler and packager tools as opposed to using Flash Builder.

Flash catalyst 5 file opened in flash builder gives "Error #2032"

Hi there,
As the title suggests I created a file in Flash catalyst 5 and to give it resizeability I edited it in flash builder to add preinitialize="systemManager.stage.scaleMode='showAll'" in main.xhtml as I found suggested in the forums.
The problem is when I try to load this in my web browser I get the #2032 error and nothing happens.
Does anybody more knowledgeable than me have any ideas as to why I might be getting this error?
Best regards,
Gareth

I'll give you the short answer, Flash Catalyst is built on top of the Flex Framework and it's libraries. When you launch or load a FC swf, it will contact the Adobe servers to check the status of various libraries. Since you are loading this into a standard Flash Professional created swf, you are by passing some of the fallbacks that exist.
If the movieClip that you are creating is just a filler image, and you are just centering the FC swf, then I also recommend using CSS to display the filler and some HTML/CSS to center the content.
Hope this helps a little.
If you did the loading of the FC swf from a Flash Builder based project, you should not have the issue, since it is a Flex based SWF, the framework checks are already handled for you.
Chris

How to put ActionScript into Catalyst project via Flash Builder?

I don't know if this is the wrong place to put this, but I need to add some ActionScript into my Catalyst project... from what I understand, it can only be done via Flash Builder. Am I right? How?

Hi Alex,
To edit the code of a Flash Catalyst project, you can import it into Flash Builder as follows:
File > Import > Flash Builder Project
Select the FXP file from Catalyst
Make sure "Import new copy of project" is selected, then hit Finish
I'm not sure where you got the ActionScript code that you're planning to use, but it may be difficult to integrate into your project if it's not designed for use with Flex (a lot of AS code snippets you'll find online are just for general use in Flash, not tailored for Flex applications). But you'll probably want to do something like this:
Locate the image you want to make random. If you're having trouble doing this, switch the view to Design mode, select the image with the mouse, and then switch back to Code mode to see the corresponding code highlighted.
If there's no id attribute set on the image, add one (so you can refer to it in code later).
If the tag is s:BitmapImage, change it to mx:Image (this is needed to make the contents dynamic)
If the root s:Application tag doesn't have a creationComplete handler, add one (type it partway, then hit Ctrl+Space, then choose "Generate Handler").
In the handler, add your code to randomly select an image filename.
Then set <your image's id>.source = <filename>
Hope that helps!
- Peter

Flash Builder + Flash Catalyst = what for Flash?

Does the combination of Catalyst with Builder cannibalize Flash?

Hello. I am on the other end of the spectrum, vast knowledge in coding but very poor UI skills. My background is almost exclusively Microsoft making it a bit more challenging. Being brand new to Flash Builder but having used Flash 8 a bit I have learned that they really upped the coding knowledge requirements. For example on the button click event one just gets a click event listener as opposed to a code wizard from flash that normally will do the work.
I've taught remedial programming at a business college in the past and if I had any advice it would be to commit yourself to learning some beginner coding.
For this particular product I would focus on strings, objects, events and methods. I have found some free Flash Builder ebooks searching google books or other online free ebook sites. Most of the non-google sites will allow you to download a complete PDF file. There is much more Flexbuilder 3 content out there than Flash Builder but Flexbuilder 3 is very similar and will help.
At the end of the day, most of today's RIA tools (Flash Builder, Silverlight etc) are going to require both knowledge in design and coding.

Flash Builder 4.5.0 / 4.5.1 - Blackberry OS SDK Integration Fails

Hi All ,
I was keen in the Blackberry simulator which supports Gestures & Swipe events in the Laptop.
I have installed Flash Builder 4.5.1
I downloaded the latest BlackberryOS SDK dmg for Air.
When I run the BlackBerry SDK set up , It starts fine and It ask for Integration with Flash Builder , I select Yes and In my Laptop the Flash Builder installation folder is in default location , The same Location also pointed by Blackberry Installer , When I contine , It says Invalid Directory please select Adobe Flash Builder Installation Folder.
I tried a lot and Got tired , Also many of them also facing the same issue .
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Satish

This forum is specific to the Flex SDK. You might find more help from posting in the Flash Builder forum: http://forums.adobe.com/community/flash_builder

Flash Catalyst to Flash Builder Help

I am recreating a photo album in Flash Catalyst CS5 so that you can click and enlarge pictures on each page. I have buttons on each page to navigate from page to page. I used flash catalyst becasue it seemd simple enough to do this. I am a photogapher and not really up to CODE on actionscript. This will not be on a website, it is intended to run on a local machine in a flash viewer. The problem is that Flash catalyst does not appear to have the ability to create a button that loads a new swf file. Each page I create in Catalyst is its own swif file. So I have a button on each page that the user will click to go to the next page of the album (a new swf file). I have the pages created and working awesome EXCEPT for the button to navigate to another page or load a new swf filis not working. I opened up the project in Flash Builder CS5 to try and ad some code that I found online at various flash help sites but nothing is working. I am in need of some help with this. The album consists of about 50 pages (50 swf files) Any ideas are much appreciated !
Thanks !
Tom

Tom-
My first piece of advice would be to actually do this using HTML/CSS/JS (jQuery). There are some incredible plugins for jQuery that will give you some great results. With that said....
Have you looked at http://chrisgriffith.wordpress.com/2010/12/20/creating-lightbox-galleries-with-flash-catal yst/ ? It might be easier that what you are trying to do. However, with 50 images you are going to run into the 20 state limit. Meaning you are going to have to nest assets. Without seeing the design, it is hard to advice how you should cluster your images.
Chris

Testing the water on possible Flash Professional and Flash Builder integration

Hey,
I just wanted to throw this out here instead of the bug area to see if I'm off my rocker or I'm on to something.
Basically one of my major pains is that any application design I do, I do it in Flash Pro and I code in FB. Switching back and forth between apps just to press CTRL + ENTER seems like a) a waste of time and b) a waste of system resources.
So what I'm proposing is having FB integrate with FLA files.
When you create your product you have the option to specify a target FLA (or multiple with a build order) so that when you test your project it will actually build your FLAs in order (in the situation that the final SWF requires others) and you're off to the races.
You could also have the currently associated FLA files have a checkbox next to them which could temporally disable them for a build.
If you still need to make design tweaks later on, it's a mater of opening Flash and doing them, but it would be so slick to be able to have FB render the FLA for you in the same app (no more random CTRL+ENTER in FB anymore!)
As far as where it could go. I think it would work the best if it was just a new tab that could be added to the perspective. Would allow drag+drop of FLA files to it, drag+drop ordering and also have the checkboxes to disable any FLAs from the build.
So there we go, does that sound like a decent workflow?
Cheers!

Hi guys,
Have you considered Testing the water on doing your design work in the new Flash Catalyst software http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashcatalyst/ for your skins instead of Flash CS4.
You would be able to export directly in the new FXG format and integrate it directly in your FB4 coding.
There is a tremendous productivity potential gain there.
I am planning to abandon eventually completely Flash CS4 for both design and coding and substitute it eventually by simultaneously working in FB4(coding) and Flash Catalyst(design) with input symbols directly linked to photoshop and illustrator related files.
For those of you who would like to wet their toes and initiate a quick dive, Lynda.com has already released, on june 11, an 1h40 min course on this subject. Here are the details.
Length: 1 hour
Online Training Library® exclusive!
Flash Catalyst Beta Preview
with: Mordy Golding
Flash Catalyst is a new Adobe application that is currently in beta and available for downloading atlabs.adobe.com, that allows designers to quickly create interactive Flash content and rich internet applications without having to write a single line of code. In Flash Catalyst Beta Preview, Mordy Golding demonstrates a workflow that emphasizes the intuitive nature of the tool, and shows how to achieve results in a short time. Meant to bridge the gap between designers and developers, Flash Catalyst allows the designer to work with familiar applications, such as Photoshop and Illustrator, while automatically generating the necessary code in the background for the developer. Exercise files accompany the course.
Topics include:
Creating interactive content from Photoshop and Illustrator design compositions
Turning ordinary graphics into functional components like buttons and sliders
Using smooth transitions and animation techniques
Moving content between Flash Catalyst and Flash Builder
Declarative Graphics
Flex 4 will make good use of FXG, the new graphics interchange format used with the CS4 graphics applications. Flex 4 and Flash Player 10 can together render FXG graphical elements. These include:
graphics and text primitives
fills, strokes, gradients, and bitmaps
support for filters, masks, alphas, and blend modes.
FXG graphical elements can be used in Flex 4 in a number of ways. FXG elements can be used within an MXML file or component and can also be saved as an .fxg file format. The CS4 tools will typically export an FXG using the FXG 2008 namespace. Because these files are designed to be shared between graphical applications, you’ll find that they have a stricter format to what’s used in Flex; the Flex compiler will only use the FXG-specific tags. Adobe’s new application, Flash Catalyst, will make it easy to create FXG graphics compatible with Flex 4, which you can then use to complete your application’s user interface and appearance.
New effects have been added to Flex 4 that can also be applied to FXG graphical elements. These new effects will work on both new and old components alike. Standalone effects must now be declared within fx:Declarationstags instead of the body of the application. Once again, Flash Catalyst has additional tools to help make using these effects easier.
Ref:http://www.sitepoint.com/article/whats-new-flex-4/ by Andrew Muller

Flash Builder/Catalyst Integration

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