Is a clean install really this hard?

Question

Hi folks,
I installed Flexbuilder 2 over my existing Eclipse
installation, choosing the "plug-in" option rather than a complete
install. But I couldn't debug: it claimed I had to install
FlashPlayer 9 (yes, it was already installed and working) or
Flexbuilder needed re-installing. (I'm running Firefox 2.0.0.6 on
Windows XP, fully patched). I tried re-installing Flexbuilder but
the install process quit when it saw the existing installation. Due
to deadlines, I elected to make due with Alert.show() rather than
the integrated debugger. Man, does that slow you down!
But now the deadline has passed, and I have a few minutes to
uninstall and reinstall things. So I uninstalled flashplayer, the
flex plugin, elcipse (just by renaming the directory - it doesn't
seem to have any windows hooks). Then I reinstalled Flexbuilder,
using the Complete option rather than the plug-in option.
After spending 20 minutes trying to figure out how open an
existing project from a clean install (I couldn't find anything in
the docs on that), I'm now in a different mess. When I run the
project from within the IDE, it launches Firefox against the wrong
directory path - it seems to have an extra "/bin/" in the path.
Anyone know where I fix that?
I can repair the broken path in the web browser to get the
app running, but as soon as I do, I get this error message:
Error: Unable to load style(Error #2035: URL Not Found. URL:
blue.swf): blue.swf.
at
()[C:\dev\flex_201_gmc\sdk\frameworks\mx\styles\StyleManagerImpl.as:842]
at
flash.events::EventDispatcher/flash.events:EventDispatcher::dispatchEventFunction()
at flash.events::EventDispatcher/dispatchEvent()
at
ModuleManager.as$117::ModuleInfoProxy/ModuleManager.as$117:ModuleInfoProxy::moduleEventHa ndler()[C:\dev\flex_201_gmc\sdk\frameworks\mx\modules\ModuleManager.as:1025]
at
flash.events::EventDispatcher/flash.events:EventDispatcher::dispatchEventFunction()
at flash.events::EventDispatcher/dispatchEvent()
at
ModuleManager.as$117::ModuleInfo/errorHandler()[C:\dev\flex_201_gmc\sdk\frameworks\mx\mod ules\ModuleManager.as:686]
There are no references to blue.swf in my app so I really
have no idea where this is coming from.
It also can't find the debugger, and asks me if it's running
on the local machine or a remote machine. wtf? (Windows Firewall is
turned off). Doesn't matter what I say, it doesn't like it and I
have to hit the cancel button. Then my app comes up with missing
controls and assorted broken functionality.
I must say that my experience with this product is poor and
getting poorer. Can someone help me out of the corner I'm painted
into?
Many thanks,
ws
p.s. Typing long posts like this into such a small window is
also very annoying.

Answer 1

I removed the Flash player via Add/Remove programs, then
installed the debug version I downloaded from adobe. You didn't
indicate whether I had chosen the correct download (as per my last
post), so I'll assume it's correct. The message window from the
install said this:
Output folder: C:\Windows\system32\Macromed\Flash
Extract: NPSWF32.dll... 100%
Extract: NPSWF32_FlashUtil.exe... 100%
Extract: flashplayer.xpt... 100%
Created uninstaller:
C:\Windows\system32\Macromed\Flash\uninstall_plugin.exe
Completed
NPSWF32.dll landed in C:\Windows\system32\Macromed\Flash,
rather than Program Files\Mozilla\PlugIns, which is obviously
wrong. I copied it over, and that solved the bug about "can't find
npswf32.dll". Any idea why this gets installed in the wrong
directory? Is something else configured wrong?
With that somewhat solved, we're back to the first problem -
when the application launches, I get this message pop up:
Error: Unable to load style(Error #2035: URL Not Found. URL:
blue.swf): blue.swf.
at MethodInfo-636()
at
flash.events::EventDispatcher/flash.events:EventDispatcher::dispatchEventFunction()
at flash.events::EventDispatcher/dispatchEvent()
at ::ModuleInfoProxy/::moduleEventHandler()
at
flash.events::EventDispatcher/flash.events:EventDispatcher::dispatchEventFunction()
at flash.events::EventDispatcher/dispatchEvent()
at ::ModuleInfo/errorHandler()
And finally, and new error: "Send Failed". This error pops up
as soon as I try to do something with my app that calls the back
end (weborb) server. I pointed to a different server and got the
same error, so it's a problem on this client. This problem didn't
start until I uninstalled and re-installed everything this morning
(see my first post for details). Now this error is sooooo generic I
have no idea how to debug it. Along those lines, are you an Adobe
employee levancho? I'm wondering if you might be able to bring in
someone with a bit of weborb experience (although I doubt it's
related, since this worked fine on my previous install).
In case this helps, here's my .project file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<projectDescription>
<name>sp6</name>
<comment></comment>
<projects>
</projects>
<buildSpec>
<buildCommand>
<name>com.adobe.flexbuilder.project.flexbuilder</name>
<arguments>
</arguments>
</buildCommand>
</buildSpec>
<natures>
<nature>com.adobe.flexbuilder.project.flexnature</nature>
<nature>com.adobe.flexbuilder.project.actionscriptnature</nature>
</natures>
</projectDescription>
Thanks for all your help,
ws