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FDT5 Free

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FDT Free is free of charge and the perfect editor for small projects or simply to give FDT 5 a try without any time constraints. This edition is recommended for smaller projects.

Starling Framework with Box2d SWC

If you are using FDT and you are running into issues using the new starling-framework source code then the fix (by John Olson) was to create a Flex Library Project in Flash Builder and export a swc that has all the source from starling in it. I tested this out and sure enough it works.

I prefer swcs in my projects when using frameworks anyway so I packaged up starling and box2d into a swc and you can download it for your convenience. Enjoy!

Github Link:

https://github.com/PrimaryFeather/Starling-Framework

FDT displays errors on some Class definitions and imports in the framework.
Also in the AGALMiniAssembler.as are some errors, saying "File could not be parsed.", "Unexpected Token" or "Found 'true' but newline or semicolon was expected"

Especially the semicolon shoun't display an error, because it is not a duty to use them. Instead FDT should display a warning

In the Framwork itself FDT can't handle Class definitions with pre package names properly,
e.g. flash.display.Stage in line 144, starling.core.Starling class

see:

by troy on January 4, 2008

I Recently upgraded to FDT 3.0 Professional...I highly recommend if you're doing heavy actionscript projects. It's pricey, but will pay for itself quickly.

Using fl.controls with the syntax checking took a bit of research. Turns out you have to follow the steps as

• Create a new FLA, name it CS3Controls
  
• drag all the components you need into the Library
• In File> Publish Settings > Flash > checkmark "Export SWC"
• publish it
• copy the CS3Controls.swc to someplace you'll remember (e.g. a common classpath or whatever app that uses them's lib folder)
• - Now in FDT, add your SWC to your project, and in the Flash Explorer panel, right-click and add that SWC file to your classpath
• once that swc is visible in the FDT Flash Explorer, right click over it. "Source Folder">"Add to Classpath"
• after a moment you will see it above the packages, if successful, clicking the plus will show you all the classes inside it...very cool FDT team!
• in your AS class just proceed as normal eg.: <code> import fl.controls.*</code>

found this cool little tip and it worked great

High-end mobile browser gaming still some way off as research finds HTML5 routinely outperformed by Flash.

Despite constantly being touted for some time as the future for mobile gaming, new research has shown that HTML5 remains some way behind Flash in terms of performance.

Software architect Sean Christmann used his benchmarking tool, GUIMark, to assess the current disparity in performance between HTML5 and Flash on nine different mobile devices.

In three tests - bitmap drawing, vector graphics and computation - Flash outperformed HTML5 every single time, often achieving double or triple the framerate. While Christmann openly admits that his work was funded, through his employer, by Adobe, the figures speak for themselves: HTML5 is still far from an ideal platform for mobile gaming.

For a few years now I have looked for the holy grail for Flash / Flex Development workflow. The ultimate as a Mac user would be to use TextMate, with some sort of code hinting (see actionscript 3 / flex bundle) when needed, and some generators for creating files quickly, like you get with Rails development.

I had heard about Sprouts for a while now but never really took the time to give it a try. Well this past weekend I did and it is FANFUCKINGTASTIC. This ruby gem gives you all the tools you need to create projects, classes, debug and compile code that you need. On top of that you can create your own templets, and generators to customize your work flow. I will be posting more on my setup and some if the minor tweaks that I applied to my workflow in the days to come.

What Is It?

Project Sprouts is a highly cohesive, loosely coupled collection of features that take some of the suck out of programming.

Sprouts is a modular development platform that takes advantage of Ruby and RubyGems to share code generators, libraries, executables and automated build tasks. It runs anywhere Ruby does, including OS X, Windows, and *nix variants.

Sprouts has been seen working on Mac, Windows and Linux and while it currently targets ActionScript, Flex and AIR development, tools can be easily created to improve any programming environment.

Image courtesy of KatieL366 and the Creative Commons license. -->

What are are folks saying?

The best thing to happen to Flex since Matt Chotin....

Ryan Stewart, Adobe Flash Platform Evangelist

I swear project sprouts is the most significant single thing in terms of changing my work flow.

Stray, ActionScript developer

Why would someone use Sprouts?

There are lots of reasons to use Sprouts for your projects, here are some of mine:

• Test-Driven Development is much easier
• Decouple builds from development tools
• Consistent environment across any size team
• Platform independent tool chain
• Automatically generate project files, directories, classes, test cases, and test suites
• Continuous Integration simplified

Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen says the argument with Apple over supporting its Flash software on the iPad and iPhone devices is over. “It’s an argument that the press likes to continue bringing up,” he said in an on-stage conversation with Walt Mossberg at the D conference.

Earlier, Narayen said he thinks the issue with Apple has less to do with technology than about control. “It’s control over the app store that’s at issue here,” he said. “We allow people to author once and get as wide a distribution as possible….If you build in Flash, you can run the apps on other platforms.” He said Flash is supported on 130 million mobile devices, though Mossberg reminded him that Flash “struggles” on the Android platform.

Narayen said that software developers can work around Apple’s no-Flash restrictions by building their applications first in Flash and then compiling them in another Adobe platform, AIR. “If you can build an app using our tools, and if you run it through AIR, it can be in the App Store.”

He also said that Adobe is contributing some of its expertise around type and design to HTML5, the technology that Apple has thrown its weight behind for Web video and multimedia on the iPad and iPhone. “We welcome the evolution to HTML5, and are actively contributing to it.”