Compiling mxml files with ant and flex sdk - apache-flex

Question

I am just getting started with flex and am using the SDK (not Flex Builder). I was wondering what's the best way to compile a mxml file from an ant build script.

Answer 1

The Flex SDK ships with a set of ant tasks. More info at:
http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex/3/html/help.html?content=anttasks_1.html
Here is an example of compiling Flex SWCs with ant:
http://www.mikechambers.com/blog/2006/05/19/example-using-ant-with-compc-to-compile-swcs/
mike chambers

Answer 2

I would definitely go with the ant tasks that are included with Flex, they make your build script so much cleaner. Here is a sample build script that will compile and then run your flex project
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<project name="flexapptest" default="buildAndRun" basedir=".">
<!--
make sure this jar file is in the ant lib directory
classpath="${ANT_HOME}/lib/flexTasks.jar"
-->
<taskdef resource="flexTasks.tasks" />
<property name="appname" value="flexapptest"/>
<property name="appname_main" value="Flexapptest"/>
<property name="FLEX_HOME" value="/Applications/flex_sdk_3"/>
<property name="APP_ROOT" value="."/>
<property name="swfOut" value="dist/${appname}.swf" />
<!-- point this to your local copy of the flash player -->
<property name="flash.player" location="/Applications/Adobe Flash CS3/Players/Flash Player.app" />
<target name="compile">
<mxmlc file="${APP_ROOT}/src/${appname_main}.mxml"
output="${APP_ROOT}/${swfOut}"
keep-generated-actionscript="true">
<default-size width="800" height="600" />
<load-config filename="${FLEX_HOME}/frameworks/flex-config.xml"/>
<source-path path-element="${FLEX_HOME}/frameworks"/>
<compiler.library-path dir="${APP_ROOT}/libs" append="true">
<include name="*.swc" />
</compiler.library-path>
</mxmlc>
</target>
<target name="buildAndRun" depends="compile">
<exec executable="open">
<arg line="-a '${flash.player}'"/>
<arg line="${APP_ROOT}/${swfOut}" />
</exec>
</target>
<target name="clean">
<delete dir="${APP_ROOT}/src/generated"/>
<delete file="${APP_ROOT}/${swfOut}"/>
</target>
</project>

Answer 3

There is another option - it's called Project Sprouts.
This is a system built with Ruby, RubyGems and Rake that provides many of the features found in Maven and ANT, but with a much cleaner syntax and simpler build scripts.
For example, the ANT script shown above would look like this in Sprouts:
require 'rubygems'
require 'sprout'
desc 'Compile and run the SWF'
flashplayer :run => 'bin/SomeProject.swf'
mxmlc 'bin/SomeProject.swf' do |t|
t.input = 'src/SomeProject.as'
t.default_size = '800 600'
t.default_background_color = '#ffffff'
t.keep_generated_actionscript = true
t.library_path << 'libs'
end
task :default => :run
After installing Ruby and RubyGems, you would simply call this script with:
rake
To remove generated files, run:
rake clean
To see available tasks:
rake -T
Another great benefit of Sprouts, once installed, is that it provides project, class and test generators that will get any development box ready to run with a couple simple command line actions.
# Generate a project and cd into it:
sprout -n mxml SomeProject
cd SomeProject
# Compile and run the main debug SWF:
rake
# Generate a new class, test case and test suite:
script/generate class utils.MathUtil
# Compile and run the test harness:
rake test

Answer 4

If you're open to Maven, try the flex-compiler-mojo plugin:
http://code.google.com/p/flex-mojos/
Christiaan