The Flash Art of War

After 3 years I have finally given up on FDT.

For all the amazing code hinting I would get out of FDT and real time error checking I just couldn’t live with the speed and memory requirements any longer. I am using a 2.6 ghz MacBook Pro with 4 gigs of ram. There is no reason why I should see a beach ball while I type, or when I open an application, or even when the workspace is constantly rebuilding itself. For all the stuff I love in FDT the final death blow was a recent bug that popped up with my FDT + Flex SDK building combo. I keep getting a Java error or Eclipse BeachBalls and crashes. This is recent, but is only the icing on a cake of crap I put up with because I was basically to lazy to type out my own variables and import packages.

So what am I using now? I am 90% into FlexBuilder. I swore I would never make the plunge but after a week of developing I feel just as productive and more in touch with the core language again. I am trying to not rely so much on the code completion unless I really need it.

I also tried TextMate but found it to be way to basic. I admit I should be using an editor that is even more light weight with no code completion but while building my new frame work, when lots of classes are in flux and are being moved around, TextMate just couldn’t cut it. Refactoring has always been one of Eclipse’s strong points. Plus with TextMates lack of a “visual” SVN/CVS repository manager, I feel compelled to stay within the Eclipse system.

So what is so good about FlexBuilder? Well here are a few of my observations:

• Its fast. I mean damn fast. I always thought Eclipse was the underlining problem with FDT but I was so wrong. When you use the standalone FlexBuilder it is super fast. The key to this speed is that no validation is done until you hit save. Then you get error checking with a special twist. Its seems to be incrementally compiling with every save so when you compile, it instantly opens.
• Support for code completion. I still get a basic level of code completion. Good for jogging my memory but not as much of a crutch as FDT. I feel like the system guides me now as opposed to me solely relying on the code completion, variable generation, and class templates.
• Plugin support. I still get to add in some of my favorite plugins such as XMLBuddy and SVN.
• And did I mention its fast. I didn’t even have to allocate more memory to FlexBuilder. It ran fine in default and my laptop’s fan wasn’t constantly running.
• I still get to use my SVN/CVS tools such as repository exploring, compare, replace, and one hell of a file merge.
• Re-factoring is easier. FDT still holds the title for easy re-factoring and since FlexBuilder was all about “re-factoring” I thought I was in for a treat. It does work when renaming classes and I like the advanced tab that shows you all the classes that will be changed. Also the Find all is a big help as well.
• Workspace auto refreshes. I can’t tell you how much I hate that FDT’s workspace is always out of sync. From committing files to adding new ones on the files system, FlexBuilder keeps up. I don’t think I have ever touched the refresh option in the project. In FDT every time I wanted to do something file related I hit that refresh just to be safe.

Unfortunately life isn’t always roses in the FlexBuilder. Adobe still has a lot of work to do to bring it up to speed with FDT and help compete:

• WTF, no templates? The most basic core part of FDT was templates, they made everything so much faster and consistent. No luck, although on a mac I have a little helper to “substitute” those templates. I have been using TextExpander but its not perfect and I am not happy.
• Something is missing, its still a pain in the ass to set up projects. Right now I am using the AS 3 Project Template instead of the Flex Project. Why doesn’t the AS 3 project come with a default src folder like the Flex one. Small oversight but its one extra step I need to do in the project setup to get it configured the way I need it.
• Linked libraries are a pain to set up. why do I have to jump through so many hoops for a simple linked library to run. Again I thought this was an Eclipse issue but it turns out FlexBuilder sets them up the same exact way FDT does but in FlexBuilder I have to go through 4 more steps to do it.
• bin-debug folder sucks. Maybe I just don’t understand yet but why is that the default build path when I can’t add/edit files in there because its considered a “derived” folder. I like that the wrapper HTML is auto generated but I don’t see where I can set up all my other files to be like that such as my config XMLs, Graphics, and other swfs. Bad workflow, and also the directory is ignored in SVN so when you add stuff to it, it doesn’t committed. Again something I may not understand just yet.

So it looks like there is more Bad then Good, why do I still like it? Maybe its the old girlfriend¹ you just can’t get over. Flash and me have always had this love hate relationship. I feel this need to have some pain in my development in order to feel that I have built something monumental. I don’t mind a little pain as long as its over quickly. I would gladly give up FDT to just have an editor that was a few seconds faster. Speed is everything; code hinting + auto compile + low memory = good tool. The other stuff is fluff anyways and if the developers at Adobe put a little extra effort into the next version, we should see all of the stuff that is missing now. Its not like it can’t be done, I have seen everything I want in FDT.

Now if only the guys who make FDT could give me a setting to make the validator only kick in after I save, and not make it real time, I would gladly shell out the $600+ again for the plugin. The jackpot would probably be a standalone FDT editor based on eclipse without all the Java Editor BS. Something light weight and portable/standalone like FlexBuilder.

Competition is good. Adobe needs to be reminded that they are not the only game in town. Also, Flash CS 3 is now almost obsolete for me. I have no use for the IDE. I can’t tell you how happy I am to be done with that piece of crap. You would think after 6+ years they could have made a better IDE. Sorry, low blow to Adobe (Macromedia) but I do not have a single fond memory of using the IDE. I could write a book on how much using Flash 4-MX + 8 + CS 3 sucked.

1. Wayne and Garth’s hobbies include … avoiding Wayne’s ex-girlfriend Stacy, (whom he refers to as a “psycho hose beast”)… - Wikipedia [↩]

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