The Official Flex Team Blog

FlashDevelop! Best one outside of FB2 (pc only)

http://www.flashdevelop.org/community/viewtopic.php?t=806

I created MXML syntax files for Crimson editor last year when working with Flex 1.5. Not as fancy as FlashDevelop, but it works and it's very light. Check http://www.beamjive.com/weblog.php?a=1&id=98 and http://www.crimsoneditor.com/ for more info.

Third-party editors also need tips to optimize the (awfully slow) compiler build times.

I've the feeling the command line compiler is slow on purpose - tell us it's not!

Flash Develop is a very good Flex IDE. I have create a project template for Flex Data Services with a tutorial on my blog. http://gurufaction.blogspot.com/

Have you looked into the incremental options?

There is a good-enough DTD for Flex 2 that you can use with editors such as Eclipse on http://falkensweb.com/other.html

> Have you looked into the incremental options?
This doesn't help much, the compiler spends ages loading the SWCs. Maybe it can be optimized some way (like keeping them ready in memory).

Other thing: can we run the compiler against a class for code checking (without full compilation)?

Yeah, mxmlc is SLOW. Incremental doesn't handle it. I assume it's the overhead of starting up the JVM. A base AS3 class with nothing in it compiles in about 4-5 seconds on my machine, of course that's going through Ant as well, but the majority of that is eaten up by mxmlc. I'm guessing FB2 does some voodoo of keeping the compiler in memory rather than starting it up each time.

Hi,

I put my ActionScript syntax files (updated for AS3/MXML) for SciTE here, http://punkscum.org/files/misc/scite_as3_mxml.zip

works well with both windows & linux (default) versions of this editor

I've updated the Emacs actionscript-mode, mentioned above, to support AS3. You can find it here: http://blog.pettomato.com/content/actionscript-mode.el

I think these blog is really useful for new comers and Excellent resource list.
It´s a very interesting Blog and simple answer of many questions.

The idea of the 3rd-party editors is really great. Amazing article.

I couldn’t agree more. To my mind, libraries are a hugely important middle step in the development of programming, and Flex certainly could use some of good sound quality. If the web is to continue to grow and develop, I would suggest that it needs to continue to move towards a state where average users can operate it without the need for a great deal of technical knowledge. To some extent that is possible now, but not with the level of flexibility that is available to someone who knows programming languages. Libraries, however, create a middle ground, offering people with less language familiarity to gain greater experience at a faster pace. And eventually, with any luck, libraries will lead to a further stage, one in which those who want to create a design pages with flexibility will be able to do so with even less expertise. I tend to liken this moment in the web’s history to the early days of the car -- to own a car meant you had to know the ins and outs of how it worked, be able to tinker with it’s insides, and keep up to date on new technology. Yet now the majority of people who use cars simply get in and drive.

Thanks for information.

Thank you for clarifying this to us. Flex Builder has been a great help to us and I would like to return the favor. I’ve forwarded this request to our tech team and hopefully they can develop something for you guys. This is our humble way of saying thank you.