FlashDevelop ?

[BeerOclock]

Ive been using Adobe Flash CS3 Pro Authoring tool to develop my flash applications, but I recently came across something called FlashDevelop. I know that its a free, open source editor for writing (and compiling?) flash applications, but I cant seem to find much more detail than that.

I know FlashDevelop is a text editor for actionscript, but does it include the compiler as well? Or do you need to still use Adobe's compiler? For example could I sell my copy of Adobe CS3 and still be able to develop flash using just FlashDevelop?

Being open source, Im wondering if FlashDevelop is buggy or incomplete? Or is it very usable.

If FlashDevelop DOES come with its own flash compiler, how well does the compiler work vs Adobe's ? Does it create bug-free SWFs? Are the SWFs as small as those created by Adobe? Do they run as fast?

Basically Im looking at jumping ship from Adobe CS3 Pro to FlashDevelop, but I dont want to do so unless FlashDevelop is every bit as good as Adobe's product, otherwise its not worth it.

[sekasi]

simply put; Flashdevelop puts the "tit" in "titillating"

[ViktorHesselbom]

FlashDevelop is totally worth it. FlashDevelop doesn't have any built-in compilers so you'll have to choose what compiler you'd like to use. You can either use the Flash IDE (FlashDevelop will call it when you hit publish) or the free Flex SDK (from Adobe.com). Both are from Adobe so there's not any new bugs from using FlashDevelop.

FlashDevelop is 'just' a text editor with great features for ActionScript (namely IntelliSense) that has helped me speed up my development very much.

You might want to think twice before selling Flash CS3 because with FlashDevelop you write the code and with the free Flex SDK you can compile it. Now, that works for most people but in some cases (usually in games) you also need drawn graphics. Of course, you can draw images in photoshop and embed them with Flex but if you want vector graphics you can draw them in the Flash IDE and embed in your Flex project.

[johnlouis]

FlashDevelop is the best AS IDE in my opinion.
setting it up for AS3 development takes a lot of fiddling, but their forums are very helpful.

[wvxvw]

Some more info about FD:
It's better to compare it to FlexBuilder, because it's definitely not a graphic IDE.

"Against":
No "visual" editor. There is an attempt for creating one, but it's far from being complete.
No profiler.
Limited MXML support (hopefully this will be improved soon).
The same for Flex CSS.
Some features of compiler aren't implemented on UI level, i.e. if you will need to make some additional adjustments to compiler you will need to find out yourself the proper syntax (for most cases you won't need it, but, this may happen).
Debugger is a little buggy atm.
Currently it works only on Windows and there may be some problems on Vista. There is an attempt to port it to Mac / Linux, but it is at it's very beginning...

"For"
Code completition is IMO way much better then in FB. (Flash IDE has zero code completition comparing to those 2)
Code formatting options are more comfortable.
Contextual code generation + other automatization leaves you much more time for coffee breaks :)
You're given tools to automatize your work even more.
The program is very fast, easy to install / uninstall, may work from flash drive. As the regular user you'd hardly ever run into the program bugs. It is updated approximately every 2 months.
There are other developers writing plugins for FD.

[babeler]

Flash develop rules!!!! (sorry, I'm a FlashDevelop fan, and I felt an urge to write here =))
Though, as ViktorHesselbom says, sometimes having Flash too is very useful for the graphics part.

P.S. I support FlashDevelop too =)

[BeerOclock]

Thanks guys. Ive read nothing but good things about flashdevelop, and this just confirms it.
I guess I'll give it a try. So I just download it and point it to my existing Flash CS3 compiler right?

I never actually use the graphical part of Flash. I never draw anything, and I dont use the timeline or anything. Im strictly a code guy, so from the sounds of it Flashdevelop is perfect for me.

Thanks for the help!

[BeerOclock]

Ok, after spending a few hours with flashdevelop, I'm having second thoughts.

First of all, the setup was kind of a pain. I had to download and install the .net framework, the java runtime, the flex sdk, some adobe debuggers, and like 10 other things. But this is a one-time setup so its not that big of a deal.

However, I didnt realize the environment would be so different from Adobe CS3. I would like to be able to go back and forth between flashdevelop and CS3. Even if I were to always use FlashDevelop, I cant assume that my co-workers will also be using it, so my projects need to work seamlessly in both.

One issue is that I'm using an external SWC file. For Adobe CS3, its supposed to reside in C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Flash CS3\en\Configuration\Components\SomeFolder. But with FlashDevelop, it goes in the lib\ folder.

And I just found another inconsistancy. With CS3, I am loading some external images from my currentProject/image directory. Howerver, in FlashDevelop, the exact same code and the exact same directory structure doesnt load the images, instead it throws an error. I dont know, maybe the base path is different or something.

Im just getting a strong feeling that this is a path I probably dont want to start travelling down. I dont want to have to constantly test everything to make sure it works with both FlashDevelop and Adobe CS3. I'd rather keep life simple and just use the CS3.

What do you think?

[babeler]

Personally, I don't know what to say. I'm a coder but also a graphic, thus I rely on Flash for compilation. Doing so, FlashDevelop's setup is very quick, and you don't have to install anything else (I mean, apart the .net framework). Also, obviously, this way classes are classes, and all projects are seamless (with a little attention to details).

Though, I realize that my answer is futile, cause that's not your case...

[wvxvw]

Sure, you can do whatever is easier for you, though, consider that your present problems are from the lack of knowledge of the FD environment.
Thus, for instance, you probably didn't know how to include SWC in the FD project (it doesn't go to the lib folder in the project, you need to add a class path pointing to the folder containing that SWC in the project settings. The same is true for loading whatever your app has to load. You could have configured both Flash and FD to compile to the same folder.
For more information on integration of FD with Flash IDE see this link:
http://www.flashdevelop.org/wikidocs/index.php?title=AS3:FlashCS3Workflow

Frankly, FD is much better suited for programming than Flash and has been written by programmers who miss their "native" environment, but if you never used VS or Eclipse, than you may find it difficult from the start...
BTW, you didn't need to install JRE if you had Flash IDE already installed... Flash IDE compiler is also written in Java thus needs JRE to run.

[dail]

I'm on a mac, I feel left out. I could install it into VM Ware Fusion etc and work in that I guess. In the end, I've set up Flex, and use Ant to run my compiles and open all my projects up in the Flash IDE.

FlashDevelop does look tasty.

[theCodeBot]

I'm on a mac, I feel left out. I could install it into VM Ware Fusion etc and work in that I guess. In the end, I've set up Flex, and use Ant to run my compiles and open all my projects up in the Flash IDE.

FlashDevelop does look tasty.
Free Flex SDK users unite! Wait, you're not doing this under Linux? Shun! Shuuun!
On a happier note, I have tried flashDevelop, and as usual, my opinion differs drastically from that of most people. I just love the Flex SDK, can't get enough of it. It's just so... organized! That, and being able to hit a couple of buttons to download and install the ability to develop flash and AIR applications on any Linux box is pretty appealing to me :)

[dail]

I actually use FlexBuilder itself for as much of my actual AS writing as I can. Its nice really.

[babeler]

It would be interesting if somebody who used both FlexBuilder than FlashDevelop might compare the pros and the cons. I'd be very curious to know.