I'm starting developing with Flex on my Mac but i don't find good tools to ease the development (apart from Flex Builder).
What is your favourite choice for Flex development on Mac?
TextMate + the Flex and ActionScript 3 bundles is a great combo. Throw in ProjectPlus and you have an almost full featured development environment. What's missing is visual design tools (which I'm sceptical of anyway), debugger (the command line version isn't very easy to work with) and a profiler.
I've long used TextMate and the additions mentioned above for all my Flex development, but lately the lack of debugger and profiler has made me use FlexBuilder too, just to get those tools.
Unfortunately, you're pretty much limited to Flex Builder or some text editor combined with the Flex SDK. I've been hoping that someone would port FlashDevelop, my favorite AS/Flex IDE over to the Mac (at least via Mono), but no dice as of yet.
If you can wait X number of years, perhaps my CocoAS IDE will be complete ;-)
TextMate is great, but if you're looking for something free, you can hack as3 onto XCode (I've used it, and it is fine, but some of the highlighting is off, and auto-completion is weak).
As for a debugging environment, I would recommend XTrace (http://mabblog.com/xtrace.html). The library that comes with it is as3, but you can easily port it to as3 (as I did).
Related
After working extensively with Microsoft development tools, I migrated to ubuntu and QT for research purposes.
QT is a great framework, up to now there's nothing I needed and it's not there.
However the tools-ecosystem around QT is a bit behind microsoft's ecosystem (V.Studio, Expression Suite)
More specifically, QT Creator is quite nice, but the lack of a 'standard' tool like MS-Blend (which I think is a must, complementary to V.Studio) or the various Adobe tools is pretty apparent, in the case of developing fancy interfaces, animations etc. And Animations (e.g. menu's apperaing/disapperaing from the side) are a bit painful to hardcode without a 'graphical'-tool.
Do you have any tool to propose for this reason, that I'm not aware of?
PS - Just to avoid misunderstandings, I know about qml/Qt_Quick/qdesigner/qt_Animation - http://doc.qt.digia.com/qt/animation-overview.html. I'm referring to accombining software that make's life easier and reduces time needed for hardcoding stuff
Direct answer:
No there is no tool available in Qt arena that matches the capabilities of Microsoft Blend.
There is this question, which discusses a similar situation; a comparison between .NET and Qt in terms of UI designing.
I have a large application in Flex.
I use Flash Builder to develop it. Flash Builder works good, until I attempt to compile my project.
It takes too much time to check small changes of application interface.
Is there faster alternative to Flash Builder? Does InelliJ Idea compile large projects faster?
I need to check just one interface panel out of 100, is there any solution that would allow to preview just it (except dividing application into smaller modules)?
FDT and IntelliJ Idea both use the default compiler that is shipped with the SDK for the version of Flex that you use. I would assume that Flash Builder does the same, but I currently have never used this product. I know that FDT will compile a relatively large program quickly by only compiling those thing that have changed since the last compile, which is an option for IntelliJ as well.
Before abandoning your current IDE I would check to make sure this is not an option in it as well, I know that if I go from FDT to FlashDevelop or IntelliJ there are several little things that seem to show up in the IDE. None are really errors, but have to be taken care of prior to a compile to keep things tidy.
If you decide that a change in IDE is a must, I can vouch for any of the above as solid software to work in, with FDT being my current favorite as it has the tools that I use the most.
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.
I want to play around a bit with FLASH for app development. I'm looking for a good IDE for that. Someone suggested Flash Develop.
Flash Builder
Pros
better debugging and profiling
visual designer for MXML
because of Eclipse: support for other languages (eg. with Aptana, PDT...) and usage of plug-ins for the Eclipse Platform with features not shipped with FlexBuilder (code snippets with CFEclipse "Dynamic Snippets", "auto-code" for getter/setters with Monkey scripts...)
support of virtual folders/files (links to external files/folders handled intern by Eclipse, so also working on Windows)
refactoring (renaming of classes, functions, properties with automatic changing of dependencies)
Cons
Commercial license
Big and because of Eclipse problematic with newer Eclipse versions for the FlexBuilder plug-in version (eg. not working with Eclipse Ganymede 3.4.1)
adding and configuring the missing features with Eclipse plug-ins needs time and searching in the Internet (which plug-in? settings etc.)
Code assist only average and sometimes buggy eg. if correct imports are missing ("java.lang.NullPointerException")
missing of a code formatter or automatic get/setters (but there are solutions with other Eclipse plugins like Monkey Scripts, CFeclipse, Flexformatter "FlexPrettyPrintCommand"...)
sometimes a bit sluggish if background tasks in Eclipse are working
no package explorer
AS2 and AS3 only - no Haxe
FlashDevelop
Pros
free and Open Source (developed with C#)
lightweight and snappy
best available Code Assist for ActionScript
supports all flash languages - AS2, AS3, haxe
"auto code" for automatic getter/setter, variables, code for event handlers
code snippets with integrated snippet editor
extendible with plug-ins
support for asdoc comments
package explorer (show classes, symbols from a SWC file)
basic refactoring
multiple source code folders per project
useful plugins : ANT integration, SWC creation, mini map, quick navigate
Cons
only for Windows
no visual designer for MXML
no support of virtual folders/files inside the project
weak refactoring
changing classpaths must be done manually
plug-ins often not working in newer versions and many plug-ins are only rarely updated
limited support for debugging Haxe applications
Common
Pros
projects for full range of flash apps : websites, AIR (desktop, mobile)
debugging of FP/AIR apps with breakpoints and stepping
debugging with watch windows and locals
support for ASDoc comments
automatic adding of imports and organizing of imports
class wizard
SVG/GIT integration
Cons
no editing of graphics or animation (use Flash IDE for that)
Summary
For debugging, visual design of MXML forms : Flash Builder
For coding AS2/AS3/Haxe projects under Windows : FlashDevelop
Major reason to use FlexBuilder: has a real debugger you can set breakpoints and single step and watch/edit variables.
Unless FlashDevelop has .. developed .. don't think it got any of that yet.
BTW - if you are a student/teacher FlexBuilder can be had for free
Flex builder has a design view for MXML so you can build more visually. Flashdevelop on the other hand is free!
I've been using Flash Developer. Trying now FlashDevelop. FlashDevelop is fast and light, and I'm trying to switch just because of that.
I'm using HG + TortoiseHG for source control. I have 2 screens, so having external source control is not a big problem. Also the IDE stays a little cleaner by not having all the little source control icons.
DesignView helps with not having integrated design.
Also, I can debug with FlashDevelop and see the variables. I'm using FD3.2.1.
Along with what was already mentioned, Flex Builder has some nice tools that helps a developer to learn how to create a data enabled Flex application in form of the Data Wizards and also a nice web services introspection tool that automatically creates an ActionScript 3 client for a web service.
I'm using the new Jetbrains IntelliJ 8, and it's great (especially if your used to java developement). Has a lot better XML/JavaScript editors that any other IDE.
The latest version of IntelliJ also has a good flex/javascript debugger.
Here are two objective contrasts between FlashDevelop (with the Flex 3 SDK) and FlexBuilder. First, only FlexBuilder includes AdvancedDataGrid. Second, FlashDevelop has no source control integration.
AdvancedDataGrid is not included in either the free or open source Flex 3 SDKs; if you want it, you have to buy FlexBuilder. (I assume it is probably possible to use it via another SDK if you possess FlexBuilder.)
FlashDevelop doesn't have any source control integration, FlexBuilder possesses the existing, stable source control options for Eclipse. This includes Subclipse for SVN, as well as a lot of other things. As a longtime Visual Studio and Emacs user, in FlashDevelop I'm beginning to feel unsatisfied with leaving the editor to check in.
Flash Builder, even in version 4.5, has primitive, useless syntax coloring and customization features. From a 700$ package I was expecting at least what I can do with my free text editor.
In the syntax coloring preferences, there is a total of 6 keywords, and you cannot add any custom one.
How am I expected to code having variable names, function calls, and classes look exactly the same?
I will stick to Flash Pro CS5.5 and SciTe.
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.