How to update Flex SDK in Flash Builder 4.6 - apache-flex

As an owner of Flash Builder 4.6 I'm struggling with 2 problems in my web application:
XML parsing makes the whole application sluggish
Russian input in TextInput doesn't work with Opera
I wonder, if there is a new Flex SDK available for download, where some fixes might have been integrated since the Flash Builder 4.6 release several months ago.
So I have downloaded the "Flex SDK version 4.6.0.23201 is the latest production quality release" and installed it:
However this seems to be a version, which differs very little from the stock Flex SDK included with Flash Builder 4.6 originally.
My questions is: is there some good (i.e. fresh, but also tested/stable) source for Flex SDK, which would be suitable for Flash Builder 4.6?
Maybe I can check out the source from some repository and build it myself (how, please?).
Does Apache offer anything, since they are the new owners?
UPDATE:
I've checked out Apache's Flex with
svn co https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/incubator/flex/trunk flex
(and have yet to figure out, how to build it) - isn't it newer and better?

is there some good (i.e. fresh, but also tested/stable) source for
Flex SDK, which would be suitable for Flash Builder 4.6?
Yes, that would be Adobe. I am not aware of any updates to Flex 4.6 since it's release late last November. It's only been three months. I believe the bulk of Adobe's work around Flex has been getting legal approval to submit Flex to Apache. They are getting that slowly.
You can download the source for the Adobe Flex SDK from opensource.adobe.com. Read this for info on getting the source from the Adobe SVN repository.
Does Apache offer anything, since they are the new owners?
The Apache project is still formally waiting for donations from Adobe, including their testing suite. But, some code is submitted from Adobe. A few people have submitted some new components, and there has been work done around localization. The Apache project does not have a formal release yet.
You should be able to get the Apache Source from SVN as an anonymous user. The trunk includes the framework dump from Adobe; but I haven't delved in myself. I know people have successfully built the Flex SDK from the Apache trunk. Here are some instructions on how to do it with IntelliJ
I should add that I'm not sure if updating the SDK will solve any XML parsing issues you have. But, it's tough to say for sure since you went into no details on what those issues are. My mobile game uses a 30K line, 1MB XML file for the level definitions and it has no problems parsing it effeciently.

Flex SDK sources
You can find the latest source code through the Flex Apache incubator page and use Subversion to check it out. However since the migration of the Flex SDK from Adobe to the Apache foundation is still very much in progress, I sincerely doubt that there would already be significant changes that would fix your issues.
The actual issues
XML parsing makes the whole application sluggish
XML parsing is a pure ActionScript matter and has nothing to do with Flex. It is closely related to how the Flash VM works, which is still closed property of Adobe. I don't think it is subject to change any time soon, mostly because I've heard very little complaints about its performance and the E4X language is one of the most powerfull around. If you're having performance issues better have a look at your architecture or work with AS model objects instead of XML.
Russian input in TextInput doesn't work with Opera
This is either related to the Flash VM (see above) or to the Text Layout Framework, which is "open-source", but still in the hands of Adobe. Whether it should also be contributed to Apache Flex is still being discussed. In both cases very little will change in the short future, so I think you'll have to try another approach.

Are you sure it has anything to do with the SDK? If the problem of cyrillic chars exists only in Opera - then it's more like a problem of Opera and its Flash-plugin.
This is what you get with Flex SDK 4.5 and Opera 11.61:
There might be another problem if you're using some font that doesn't have the cyrillic char subset (e.g. not using the default font). But if that were it, it would affect all browsers, not just Opera.
привет землякам!

Related

AS3 only app breaks when I compile w/ adobe sdk, works when I compile w/ apache sdk (same adobe sdk)

something strange happens when I switch between the adobe sdk (3.90.1210), and the apache sdk (which includes the same adobe sdk (3.90.1210)
one would think that there should be no differences when I make this switch, as my app is AS3 only, no flex references, and the underlying sdks are the same
the app builds and runs under both sdks, but about half of my images just dont show up when I run under the adobe sdk
so I dig down and I can see that the bitmap data objects that dont show up all have their HxW set to zero, the others have it set to proper HxW
the thing is, this has worked fine for a long time under the various adobe sdks, and something in the apache sdk fixes the problem, would like to understand it
meanwhile the wierdness in the images has something to do with having been flattened or not during production... images are all pngs, imported into flash and compiled to a swc, then merged into code
not a graphics guy, was hoping I wouldnt have to become one... have poked around and cant figure that side of it out...
suggestions?
one thought is to go back thru our hundreds of images and flatten (unflatten? whatever) them all with some photoshop batch process... this would not be fun
or I could stick w/ the apache sdk... which makes me a little nervous in that I have no idea what magic it's bringing
thoughts? anyone else seeing this?
thanks
To avoid stretching out the comments on the main question further, I'll throw this into an answer.
There are three official SDKs for Flash development. There are several others (like Starling) which have no affiliation with Adobe, so we won't count those.
Flash SDK - This is the basis for all things Flash and is developed solely by Adobe. Your core classes (DisplayObject, Object, Number, System, etc) are all found within this SDK. No matter what you are building for, every Flash application must include this SDK.
Flex SDK - Flex is a GUI framework originally developed by Adobe. After v4.6, roughly two years ago, Adobe donated the framework to Apache. Since that time, Apache has been developing the framework with fairly consistent development. We are currently at 4.11 with 4.12 due out in the coming months. This framework is also open-source, so it is partially community developed, partially Apache developed. There are two main different GUI frameworks in Flex: MX and Spark. MX is no longer in development, while Spark is. You should not mix components from the two.
AIR SDK - This is the Adobe Integrated Runtime. AIR allows you to run Flash apps as native apps on various platforms. The AIR SDK is the bridge between Flash and the native platform and nothing more. It is developed solely by Adobe and is closed-source. Apache has no part in this project, other than Adobe's promise to keep supporting Flex and MXML for the foreseeable future.
So with those things in mind, let's look at how they interact. As I said, the Flash SDK is included in all Flash apps. The AIR and Flex SDKs are built in ActionScript 3 (Flex is NOT built in MXML) using the classes found within the Flash SDK. The AIR SDK is used to build a native application, and that is the only time it should be used. The Flex SDK is a set of GUI components that make building interfaces easy and can be used in both web and AIR applications.
The Flex SDK can exist without the AIR SDK and the AIR SDK can exist without the Flex SDK. There is absolutely no reliance between the two. For the sake of unity, the Flex and AIR SDKs are generally combined into a single folder. This does not mean they are the same SDK or related in any way, just that this is how the SDKs are loaded. This was an ease-of-use decision by Adobe years ago when they still developed Flex.
So if your AS3 project is using the same AIR SDK version are your Flex app and you are getting compiler errors when you compile AS3, there must be something Flex in your project. Maybe a Formatter or the RPC classes used to make SOAP calls). You need to find that and get rid of that or import the correct SWC file from the Flex SDK, assuming it isn't a GUI component.

Will a Flex app run on a mobile device?

Can a Flex application that was designed for use on a PC be run on an iPad, iPhone, or Android-based mobile device?
Seems like a simple enough question. Visiting http://www.adobe.com/products/flex.html yields a picture of a dude running a (presumably) Flex application on an Android. So at first glance, the answer would appear to be "yes." End of story.
but yet…
There is so much (mis)information out there on various tech sites that suggest Flash-based technologies simply won't run on iOS or other mobile platforms. Why is this? Perhaps they mean to say that Flex won't run "out of the box" and requires a plugin? Or do they mean it won't run at all?
Every time I think I've reached a definitive conclusion, some post on SlashDot or CNET directly contradicts it. So what's the scoop? Can one take an existing Flex application and run it on iOS/Android? (I realize there are screen size issues to consider so the app might not run effectively. I just want to know if the runtimes are available on the mobile devices to allow the Flex app to launch at all.)
Sorry for the noob question. My background is WPF / HTML5. Adobe technologies are completely foreign to me.
I wrote a lot below if you'd like to read it enjoy, if not sorry for taking your valuable bytes :) I directly answered the questions up here first:
Why is this?
It's a confusing matter read below for the why details.
Perhaps they mean to say that Flex won't run "out of the box" and requires a plugin?
Or do they mean it won't run at all?
Using the flash builder tools (the bin folder in the SDK) you can compile for native desktop application, desktop web browsers, native iOS application, native Android application. Android with FlashPlayer plugin installed will show Flash content within the web browser, iOS will only run the ones compiled with AIR, not in the the web browser but as a native app.
Every time I think I've reached a definitive conclusion, some post on SlashDot or CNET directly contradicts it. So what's the scoop? Can one take an existing Flex application and run it on iOS/Android?
Yes, if using AIR and run as a native app on all three platforms (the desktop Flex API is for the most part a superset of the web Flex API), your other points about performance and form factor are valid and should be considered though. The nice thing is you can write your model/controller code in a common library in AS3 then write separate presentation layer interfaces that all share the library.
Here's the very long version:
Using the flash compiler results in "bytecode" in the form of a file with a swf extension using the swf format, you can read a ton more about that here:
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/swf.html
To interpret the file you need some sort of run-time similar to some degree to running WPF/XAML/C# within a .NET framework context (either desktop or using silverlight on the web). In the case of adobe technologies (rough equivalence):
AS3 = C#
MXML = XAML
Flex = WPF+WCF (client side RPC not server side)
Flash Player = Silverlight
AIR (Adobe integrated runtime) = .NET
Framework Redistributable .dll(s)/.so(s) for desktop OSes
(Read this list very loosely please, I know XAML is preserved in the MSIL or whatever which is different because MXML is compiled to AS3 and only if a debug flag is set on the compiler does it include the debugging symbols, there's certainly tons of differences but I think this is an easy and correct enough model to use)
On iOS the browser does not allow for plugins in the traditional sense of netscape browser plugins or ActiveX plugins. For this reason you'll not be able to execute a plugin ie flashplayer or silverlight in the browser. Since Adobe did release a flashplayer for Android devices that does run in the browser it will work on those devices in the browser, however they have essentially thrown in the towel for supporting this long term, as they have to support the majority mobile device platform, iOS, in order to remain relevant (this was I think more a collective throwing in of the towel by Google, device manufacturers, carriers, Microsoft, all just following suit and trying to make the best business decision, WebKit and V8 or SpiderMonkey can probably do 99% of what Flash can do and better in some cases and WebKit will hopefully not splinter and will remain open source... frameworks and the browsers just need to get fleshed out and stabilized).
If the user installs AIR (or the runtime is packaged with the app) then a Flex/Flash (that is stuff coded in AS3 and/or MXML and compiled to a swf) can be transcoded/packaged to be interpreted by the run-time for that device correctly (be it iOS or Android or whatever RIM did, I don't think they have AIR for Windows Phone 7 and Win8 on ARM won't support browser plugins either). Part of the confusion is possibly from the fact that Apple denied the distribution of Apps that were "cross-compiled" which kept AIR out of the list of options for iOS for a good year, just after Adobe started announcing it was usable for that purpose (kicking Adobe while their down). Another part of the confusion probably comes from real vids of people who have 1 hacked their device or 2 were able to get open source alternatives to the flash player run-time to work on their iOS device (gnash was one I'm aware of from some occasional Linux tinkering, also possibly FAKE vids).
You can run Flex applications on mobile devices, but you cannot simply run any Flex project.
In Flash Builder ( Flex Ide) or in Flash Professional you can create mobile projects. These projects generate native applications for iOS and Android.
Last time I tried, the result and the available components where less than what I expected. So, if you can, I'll much recommend you go for something like Appcelerator.com or similar, which turns HTML5/Js code into native apps. I tried them, worked a lot better than Flex.
Short answer: No
Long answer: You can use Adobe's tools to compile your Flash/Flex app for use as a native iOS app. So you won't be able to embed the app in a web page like you normally could with Flex, but you can build it as a native app. Note you have to have Flash Builder 4.5 to do this.
It won't run on iPhone as a .swf file, but it will run on Android based devices that have adobe flash installed. It will also run on the BB playbook, which also has flash.
Flex is a framework.( Anyway it is very beutiful one which even sometime looks like complete different language ).
As soon as you are building AIR application it can run on various platforms like : Windows, iOS, Android, upcomming TV's, PlayBook, even .. into the future ( maybe/hopefuly ) on Windows Phone, plus Linux ( which AIR future is not very clear anyway ( but hopefuly Adobe will reconsider ) ).
So - application created with Flash Builder 4.5+ would probably run everywhere as soon as it is AIR application.
The compilation methoods is really simple, and you almost simultaneously compiling for everything you wanna to.
And one of the most important things here - your applications will run, work, look and feel the same way you were designed on one device. Flex is the thing which is responsible for everything to looks beutiful on each platform it is running.
For instance i am compiling currently for Android, and without even test i can clearly say that it will looks and feel the same way under iOS and Windows, and it will.

Recent Step-by-Step for ActionScript / Flex / AIR with TextMate?

i apologize if this post is redundant.
i'm searching unsuccessfully for recent, step-by-step instructions on how to set up ActionScript 3, Flex 4.5 and AIR 2.6 with TextMate on Mac OS X.
i've found several posts concerning required bundles, but most of the threads are a few years old in addition to having convoluted, sparse instructions for setting up.
it seems that auto-complete and .swc files are supported, which is great. in addition to instructions i'm also very interested in learning about what isn't supported and other common pitfalls.
i've been familiarizing myself with TextMate's UI and it's amazing. i would much rather use it than Flash Builder / Eclipse, or even Flash Professional.
one last question - i understand that it's possible to set up our own keyboard shortcuts to compile with MXMLC and write the .swf to disk. is it possible to have the .swf auto open in Flash Player Debugger after it is compiled. essentially, i'd like to continue using Command+Enter shortcut for testing movies in Flash Professional to build and launch since i would certain have a difficult time adjusting to new muscle memory.
thanks.
Grab the Flex 4 SDK, its documentation and the Flex 3 documentation.
Grab the latest actionscript3.tmbundle and install it.
Hit help and read the help, it explains where to put what and how to configure your environment.
For some reason I can't make it work with the Flex 4 documentation but the Flex 3 one works. YMMV.
Even after all of this, TextMate — with all its sexyness — will still be very inferior to Flash Develop: the autocomplete part is very "alpha" and is not "auto" at all, for example.
For the debugging part, I just open the .html with Safari and read the debugging information written to ~/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash\ Player/Logs/flashlog.txt either in the Terminal or in Console.app.
Good luck and feel free to ask for any clarifications.

Flex/Openlaslzo for RIAs?

I recently stumbled upon flex/openlaszlo (OL). Both seem very useful and I have a few questions about them:
What is needed to deploy flex apps? From what I understand, the flex sdk
is open source, but the other tools
(for development and deployment) are
proprietary.
What is needed to deploy openlaszlo? Is it completely open
source (from development to
deployment), or does it have
development/deployment "gotchas" like
flex?
Specifically, I'd like to use flex or openlaszlo to either augment or
replace an editable table I created
using js, ajax, html, and css. Is this
the type of thing flex/OL can/should
be used for? Are there any drawbacks
or pitfalls to using flex/OL for this
rather than straight js, ajax, html,
css?
Thanks.
Edit: Are there any licensing (use) restrictions on applications built on flex? i.e. applications built on flex can be for only non-commercial use, unless a commercial license is purchased?
The following link has some discussion about openlaszlo and flex, it may help you:
Use the best open source client-side framework for cloud computing
You do not need anything special to deploy Flex apps. Just put the compile app (a SWF file) on any web server. Flex apps can talk to any back-end.
Flex SDK is free, but Flex Builder is not. You can use the free and open source FlashDevelop to write flex apps - it doesn't have drag-n-drop features like flex builder, but it offers code hinting and stuff. I don't know about openlaszlo.
Below is the link providing details of tools/IDEs for developing OpenLazlo applications
http://wiki.openlaszlo.org/Development_Tools
Re: "What is needed to deploy openlaszlo? Is it completely open source (from development to deployment)"
OpenLaszlo is OpenSource, but the typical versions you install come with the main components pre-compiled into a SWF for the SWF run-time. However, you can download the full source code if you wish to look at it and/or compile the core yourself:
Last official released version (4.9.0): http://download.openlaszlo.org/4.9.0/openlaszlo-4.9.0-src.tar.gz
Nightly builds:
http://download.openlaszlo.org/nightly/trunk/ (you will see "source" as an option after you click the link of the version you want)
OpenLaszlo does not require anything else to be deployed but itself, except if your application is compiled to the SWF run-time then the user will need the Adobe Flash player installed in their browser to use it.
I'll answer your last question: the biggest drawback to using Flex is that it requires the client to have the Flash Player plugin installed in their browser. Not that big a deal for most people since Flash Player is over 98% of all computers. With the straight Javascript, AJAX, HTML, CSS approach it should work on all browsers, assuming you wrote it correctly.

Is Flex development without FlexBuilder realistic?

Is it realistic to try and learn and code a Flex 3 application without purchasing FlexBuilder? Since the SDK and BlazeDS are open source, it seems technically possible to develop without Flex Builder, but how realistic is it.
I would like to test out Flex but don't want to get into a situation where I am dependent on the purchase of FlexBuilder (at least not until I am confident and competent enough with the technology to recommend purchase to my employer).
I am experimenting right now, so I'm taking a long time and the trial license on my Windows machine has expired. Also Linux is my primary development platform and there is only an alpha available for Linux.
Most of the documentation I've found seem to use Flex Builder.
Maybe I should use Laszlo...
IntelliJ IDEA works as a Flex IDE, if you happen to also be a Java developer. It's free if you contribute to open source projects.
Check out FlashDevelop for Windows. I like it better than Flex Builder.
I've been using Flex since version 2 and Flex3/BlazeDS since it came out of beta. I also have some experience with Lazzlo and the difference is day and night (Flex rocks!). I have not regretted once using Flex. Regarding FlexBuilder, it is worth every penny. While it is completely possible and reasonable to write Flex application without FlexBuilder, the productivity gains of using it will more than recoup the investment. Try the evaluation for 30 days and compare it to some of the other options suggested about (I'm going to try FlashDevelop).
Some things you get with FlexBuilder include:
Code completion
Visual editor
Debugger (it is fantastic!!)
Profiler (also very good)
Regarding Linux, the alpha version of FlexBuilder does not have a visual editor. Other than that, I understand it is reasonably feature complete, still free, and many of the Adobe employees I've talked with that use Linux are happy with it.
FlashDevelop is really easy to setup with the Flex SDK. Just download FlashDevelop, then download the Flex SDK. In FlashDevelop go to Tools > Program Options > AS3Context (under Plugins) > Set the "Flex SDK Location" to the root of the folder you extracted the SDK to and build away. FlashDevelop even has a basic MXML project that will get you going.
If you use ColdFusion for the backend, having FlexBuilder in Eclipse and CFEclipse can mean one less IDE to have to get familiar with.
I'm going to join the choir here and say FlashDevelop for an alternative. The only reasons you might want FlexBuilder are:
Flex charts
Step-through debugging.
Profiler (I haven't used it)
Visual style editor
However, the code-completion and general bloody-awesomeness of FlashDevelop's code-completion and syntax highlighting knocks the gimpy eclipse crap out of the water. So, pretty much what Todd said, except for the code-completion part. Flex Builder is very flakey in that department.
Short answer: Yes
I'm working on a team of developers and designers. We code our .MXML and .AS in FlashDevelop 3 and our designer creates .FLA with skins and widgets that get [Import()]ed in ActionScript.
I wrote a little more about this subject here:
Flash designer/coder collaboration best practices
I have been using FlashDevelop for along time (4/5 years), I am actively using it to develop Flex4.5 applications, it has built in support for code completion, it has a profiler and a debugger that work excellently. The IDE itself is responsive and require the .Net framework, in fact here, I'll list some stuff.
FlashDevelop Pros
Free IDE
Code completion feature
Very capable Debugger
Profiler
Documenting
Ability to build Air / Flex files
Templating
Plugins
FlashDevelop Cons
Lack of UI desing support
.Net support only (Won't work with Mono)
Everything else is pretty simple to get running with, the instructions are available at http://www.flashdevelop.org/
Absolutely. I've been a Flex developer since Flex 2 and until recently I've used my regular editor, TextMate, for coding and Ant for building. TextMate has some good extensions for ActionScript and Flex coding, but I think you could get that for any decent editor.
What's been missing from my setup is a usable debugger, the command line version is a pain to work with. Because of that I've been starting to use FlexBuilder on the side, using it in parallel with my regular setup.
Having a profiler doesn't hurt too.
I've been using FlexBuilder for awhile now and just started to switch to using Eclipse with Flex SDK. I work for a non-profit so the word FREE is huge.
Initially, it is fairly intimidating so if you have the money, you might want FlexBuilder.
There is a lot you need to know and do if you use the SDK. The learning and experience may pay off though... I am still undecided myself.
I second FlashDevelop. You don't get the visual design stuff for the MXML, but for the code (both MXML and AS) it's excellent.
I also use FlashDevelop when working on AS3 projects. For me, the ugliness (UI design) and sluggishness of Eclipse/Flex Builder is enough of a deterrent to stay away from Flex Builder.
In addition to the weaknesses of FlashDevelop pointed out previously, one of my biggest gripes is that it is not a true .NET only app and therefore will never work in mono and therefore can not be easily ported to the mac - which is my platform of choice for development web/javascript/AS3 development.
Amethyst is also a pretty good option to try. It is a plugin for MS Visual Studio, and takes advantage of a lot of the goodies there. It is significantly less sluggish than FlashBuilder, has a really good debugger, and a decent visual designer as well.
The personal version is free, but quite crippled. You have to buy the pro version after a 60 day free trial. However, it is (at time of writing) almost 1/3 the cost of Flash Builder.
As an added bonus you don't need to pay for Visual Studio since it works with the free (albeit hard to find) "shell version (integrated)" of Visual Studio. It won't work with any of the free Express editions, though.

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