Flash and Flex Project Builder application

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Here is a cool little utility that I made that makes creating a Flex Builder project for Flash CS4 really easy. You basically give the application the project name and it creates the simplest possible Flex project including an FLA file. The project automatically references the Flash Player 10 SWC so you are good to go. What it creates is simply a document class and also copies over an FLA and renames it. All you do is import the new project into Flex Builder, double-click on the FLA to open it in Flash, and start coding. You can configure it via an XML file. This hasn’t been tested on a PC so let me know if it works. Watch the video below to see it in action.



Commentary

  1. Dave Wouters says:

    lee, I’m getting an AIR installer error: 2032

  2. lee says:

    @Dave Thanks for letting me know. It should work now.

  3. Dave Wouters says:

    yes it works, and no thanks at all. nice one lee. looking forward to FITC Amsterdam 2009.

  4. Dave Wouters says:

    sorry for my third post, but what are you using to switch apps? (cmd+tab function) yours is purple, and has a nice effect to it.

  5. jassa says:

    Hey Lee,

    That’s a really sweet app and will definitely speed things up for me. Just a side note re Flex – I saw one of your tutorials at AdobeTV on using XML/PHP in Flex – do you do much work in Flex Builder (as in Flex projects, not Actionscript projects)? Just curious…

    Cheers,
    Jassa

  6. Abel Hernandez says:

    Hi, Lee , I’ve tested and it’s work amazing, thanks

  7. OleJak says:

    Hy Lee,
    There is a problem in Google chrome… (no problems in Opera)
    Here is a Prt Scrn
    http://superior0.narod.ru/Flgoogle.jpg

    Video is playing but app does not show him self insteard I see –
    “Please upgrade your Flash Player
    This is the content that would be shown if the user does not have Flash Player 6.0.65 or higher installed.”

  8. russdogg says:

    Thanks so much, this rocks! I just switched to FlexBuilder so I really dig it.

  9. Avtar says:

    Dave, I believe the software you’re referring to is Quicksilver http://www.blacktree.com

  10. Johannes says:

    Hey fellows, does anyone know whether it is possible to compile FLA Files with ANT?

  11. Dave Wouters says:

    @Avtar many, many thanks, it is indeed Quicksilver, and I also saw/heard Lee typing to it’s dialog, for switching, which is prity cool. And maybe after if tested it, it might replace [url=http://www.manytricks.com/witch]Witch[/ur] (what I’m currently using)

  12. jankees says:

    Nice! Thanks!

  13. Jerome says:

    The link of the help icon is wrong.
    ?=477 instead ?=478

  14. Jerome says:

    Is it Project Builder that creates the .actionScriptProperties and .project files ?

  15. TimK says:

    Could I use this for CS3? I don’t have CS4 yet, but I would love to have the custom class introspection.

  16. corbanb says:

    @lee just an FYI that the badge isn’t working on this post right now.

  17. Frank says:

    Thanks Lee, this really speed things up.

  18. Awesome as always. Especially appreciate the video tutorial on how to use it. Above and beyond expectations. Your awesome Lee.

  19. Nice app (could see this one coming :) ) No source FLA though :( Plenty of potential here. Also, nice UI.

  20. ismail el korchi says:

    tanks lee for the app, but How did you create the appearance of Project Builder ?

  21. Infinite says:

    Custom locations for Flash CS4 don’t seem to work.

    After changing the XML to point to my Flash location:

    /Applications/Adobe/Adobe Flash CS4/

    I get this “Source Path” in Flex:
    /Applications/Adobe/Adobe Flash CS4/Applications/Adobe Flash CS4/Common/Configuration/ActionScript 3.0/projects/Flash/src

  22. Doubleslash says:

    This is some kind of Adobe skin to Flex/AIR-Apps right? Can one get it? I like it very much and would like to use it for a company interal tool here :)

  23. freq says:

    Not working for me. It creates the folder, .fla and DocumentClass.as, then quits.
    Running OS X 10.5.5 Intel.

  24. Abel Hernandez says:

    Hi, Lee
    How can i do for DocumentClass have the same name of the project automatic ?

  25. lee says:

    I’m working on a new version today that will address the issues. Thanks for the feedback.

  26. j says:

    This is a pretty rad program. Are you going to make the source available?

  27. Martin says:

    Hi Lee,

    I just wanted to let you know that it wasn’t working for me (opening the fla file gets me a “Unexpected file formet” error under windows XP and CS3) but I see that you are working on a new version. Good luck with that!

    Further, your resources, tutorials etc have really helped me develop my “AS3 skills”, thanks a lot for this! Keep it up! It is very much appreciated!

    Kind regards,
    Martin Gerritsen

  28. Martin says:

    Nevermind, I just actually read everything and it isn’t for CS3! My mistake, but still thanks a lot for everything!

  29. Sameera says:

    Hi Lee Thanks for your tutorial series those are very helpful to me to understand AS3

    I just wanted to know is,
    I saw some package you were include into src folder when you are creating project using Project Builder I know about caurina and org ( papervision) folders but what ate the others ( com, fl, livePreview and nochump )are they also open source projects like papervison or just your custom classes what are the importence of those.

  30. Mark says:

    Great stuff…I love your attack on simplifying the work flow.

    Can you elaborate why you would not want Flex Builder to do error checking on your DocumentClass? If I did want Flex Builder to error-check my DocumentClass and any other.as Classes I might make for that project, since I don’t have FDT, what I would need to do?

    Thanks!!

  31. Drew says:

    Hey! Great program! I can see myself using this everyday!

    A couple of thoughts:

    By default, ProjectBuilder sets the source of the flash swc to: “/Applications/Adobe Flash CS4/Applications/Adobe Flash CS4/…etc”. I would assume that it’s taking the entry in the config file and appending them or something?

    @Mark: I think it’s very important to use Flex Builder to error check. There’s a lot of great potential there! One way, that I know of, is to export an swc of your fla (publish setttings > export swc). Then be sure to add the swc to the project settings in Flex Builder. Once you do that, Flex Builder knows all about your linkages, and it should be updated everytime you compile from flash!

    One more: I would also love to see ProjectBuilder use the Project Name as the DocumentClass name. I believe that’s the convention… is there anyway to change ProjectBuilder’s behavior?

    Thanks again!

  32. Drew says:

    I forgot one thing:

    it seems that Project Builder adds the fl classes twice? When I create a new project, I see TWO references to fl. The one I mentioned above with the improper file path is added as another source folder.

  33. lee says:

    @Drew You are absolutely right. I’m working on a new version which makes the document class the same name as the project. That way you will error checking Flex.

  34. Drew says:

    cool beans! could you send me an e-mail when it’s updated?

  35. Ed says:

    2 of my friends and I have been working on an extension for flash that does a similar sort of thing. It generates a project based off a project schema which can be customised to fit your needs.

    http://code.google.com/p/flashstructurecreator/

    Give it a go. I’d like to hear what you think.

  36. Johan Nyberg says:

    Hi Lee, and thanks for all your great work!

    One question – I saw in the video that the ProjectBuilder automatically set a path to a source folder where I presume you have your global classes. But I can’t figure out how to set that path in the config file. Could you help me out here? Thanks!

  37. Johan Nyberg says:

    I also get “The currently displayed page contains invalid values” sometimes when I try to navigate in the menu of the projects properties for the project that I create with ProjectBuilder. Somebody else get the same errors?

  38. Kevin says:

    Hey Lee,

    I got the error below when I tried to install your AIR app.
    _______________________________________________________________

    The application could not be installed because the AIR file is damaged. Try obtaining a new AIR file from the application author.

  39. jadd says:

    Hello Lee,
    for me the flex project created is not targeting to player 10.
    And when i look into the project property there is an error in the Actionscript compiler that saids “the page dusplayed contains invalid values”. Any idea? I’m in vista.
    Thanks

  40. hugoz says:

    cool little utiliy that simply does not work.

    The source path is set to a wrong location, as stated ealier, and
    in Flex you get a warning, that the Application file DocumentClass.as
    does not exist. Cool.

  41. Nate says:

    man, you are amazing, I think i’ve spent a total of 200 hours + listening to your voice via tutorials :P . Thanks a ton, and keep it up!

  42. jimb says:

    Maybe I’m missing something but not sure what added utility this AIR app gives over simply
    1-creating an Actionscript project in FB
    2-creating an fla in the project root and defining it’s corresponding document class from #1
    This way FB is set up so you can optionaly use its built in compiler for compiling test classes etc and switch to Fash for any of your asset heavy and or final compiles.
    What I would like to see is better feature integration in the Actionscript project option of Flex-Fashbuilder, such as the ability to easily launch the Flash ide as a compiler, support for AIR as well as suport for projects with server side requirements.

  43. isaac says:

    Hi Lee, really thanks for the application.

    But I´ve got the following error after importing the project into Flex Builder 4(beta):

    An error has occurred. See error log for more details.
    java.lang.NullPointerException

  44. isaac says:

    Hi Lee, thanks for the app.

    but i’ve got the following error after importing the project into flash builder 4 (beta):

    An error has occurred. See error log for more details.
    java.lang.NullPointerException

  45. sideDoor says:

    This provides some ideas for meta-programs…always great work!

    I’m curious to know how you got your Air app to create a .fla WITH its document class pre-set, could you advise?

    Thanks, sd

  46. Felix says:

    It works on pc without an kind of configuration:
    Thankx man for a great apps,
    neat workflow begin designers and programmers

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