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denisr7042187317122489
Known Participant
June 19, 2020
Question

Switching from FlashBuilder to IntelliJ

  • June 19, 2020
  • 1 reply
  • 357 views

Considering that FlashBuilder was virtually dropped by Adobe, I'm trying to switch to IntelliJ for Adobe AIR projects (AS3 + Animate + ANEs, no Flex).

For the time being, I cannot even debug the most simple project via IntelliJ, but I guess once I get the configuration right, it will work fine.

Have some of you already switched to IntelliJ?

I wonder how many of FlashBuilder's features are also available for AIR projects in IntelliJ, and more specifically:

  • auto-completion from SWCs, including graphic assets compiled from Animate? (unable to use so far...)
  • linked projects
    • when a project's main class extends another project's main class,
    • when assets are shared between projects...
  • ANEs?

All in all, are there things you could do with FlashBuilder that cannot be done with IntelliJ?

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

Douglas McCarroll
Douglas McCarroll
Inspiring
June 19, 2020

It's been a long time since I switched but I don't remember IJ having any significant limitations, other than the fact that it doesn't have FB's profiler. 

 

I don't use linked projects, but I'd be surprised if IJ doesn't support them fully.

 

Auto completion for graphics in SWCs? I don't use these, so I don't know.

 

I use a number of ANE's. No problem.

 

Debugging generally works fine. Lately I've run into a problem debugging on iOS via USB. But I haven't put a lot of energy into solving this, and have no idea whether anyone else is encountering this problem, or if I just don't have something correctly configured.

    D
    denisr7042187317122489Author
    Known Participant
    July 2, 2020

    Finally, I made the switch. It took me quite a few days actually, but I think it's worth the effort.

    I was able to replicate every single feature I used to have with FlashBuilder:

    • auto-completion with SWCs, with classes (AIR classes & custom classes).
    • linked projects: I set up several Modules, rather than several Projects, and it works fine. I can package several apps with common & specific contents, for Android & Windows, all from the same project.
    • shared assets: I found a way to link directories from outside the project. I also found a way to merge multiple assets directories into one global assets directory (so that only common & specific assets might be packaged for each specific configuration, while still being packaged to a unique assets directory, which is more convenient).
    • ANEs: fine, no trouble at all (seems even smoother than FB).

    So really, the switch is fine, as soon as you have become familiar with IntelliJ's many menus & options, and found the proper way to achieve each required setup. But as far as I'm concerned, it took me some time to experiment.

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