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MrJesse34
Known Participant
January 24, 2013
Question

Flash Builder 4.7 and design view question

  • January 24, 2013
  • 12 replies
  • 51164 views

I have programmed a large, commercial level mobile application using Flash Builder 4.6. It is working GREAT when ran on both iOS and Android devices. 

I was using the trial version of Flash Builder 4.6 to develop this application. I used the states feature that FB has built in to handle Portrait, Landscape, and Phone / Tablet configs. This means that I built 4 different layouts for all 8 of my views in my mobile application. Using the design view in FB 4.6 was what allowed me to do this.

I have to say that I LOVE Flash Builder so far. GREAT tool. 

My trial ended just last week. I had to purchase version 4.7 of the software, only to find out that they REMOVED the design view from the software.

All complaining aside, what have other programmers who are in the same boat as me done as a solution? I would like to continue to program in AS and Flash Builder as I have taken the time to write the application and learn the whole platform. 

As it stands now, I am in the process of downgrading my liscence keys from 4.7 to 4.6, but in order to do this I had to RETURN my retail version of FB 4.7 premium (bought online) and buy a volume liscening version (NOT through adobe, only allowed to do this through a reseller such as CDW). then once I have a key for 4.7 through volume liscencing, it can be downgraded to 4.6.

I'm hoping to get input from others in the same boat. Did you change Programming languages? if so, to what? Did you change IDE's? If so, to what?

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    lee704
    Participating Frequently
    January 28, 2013

    I too am vexed by the removal of the Design View.  I use that feature constantly for not only laying out the view, but also for quickly locating the exact control I am trying to work with.  For example, I might have a view that has many controls that overlap and sometime selecting the correct one to work with in MXML is a challenge.  I switch to Design View, select the control I want to work with and switch back to Source View to make the code changes.  It is a convenience that I am sad to lose.

    As with you, I have found no alternative to this functionality and would love to know what others are doing.  I hope you receive response from more that just a few people.

    Lastly, I am concerned with the changes that are occuring in Adobe with regards to Flex, FlashPlayer, ActionScript and the related technologies.  I have read the roadmap and understand the handoff of the Flex SDK to Apache, but it seems to me and others that Adobe has simply given up on this technology.

    Lee

    P
    pauland
    Participating Frequently
    January 24, 2013

    The design view was used by many people (such as yourself), but many Flex developers just don't need  it and create their design from code using MXML or even actionscript.

    As a designer it may seem more convenient to drag and drop components, but I tend to think of MXML in a similar way to HTML - it's just as easy to write it as it is to try and use a design tool.

    Unfortunately there is no alternative designer to replace the FB one, but it doesn't mean you have to abandon Flex or FlexBuilder to use the technology - it just requires gaining an extra skill in development to create the interface using markup in place of a design tool.

    I know it's not the ideal solution for many, but that's the way things are.

    Personally, I stopped using Design View very early on because I found MXML easier to work with.

    M
    MrJesse34Author
    Known Participant
    January 24, 2013

    I actually do NOT use the design view for "drag and drop" of components.  I write the MXML instead.  What I use the design view for is the placement of controls, via X, Y and width / height.  In my example above, I have 4 different settings for the various states:  portrait, landscape, phone, tablet.  The design view allowed me to see the design of the form based on what state I was in, what orientation the device was, and what device I was on.  This was SO HELPFUL for tweaking things.  I have the data setup and the web service calls all done, and am in Beta testing with the app.   

    The Beta testing resulted in alot of things like - move this control over a little, put a space here, etc etc.  The only way to do that is to change a value in the MXML then run the program.  Well what if my program has 8 views, and the view I am working on is view 8?   Does that mean I have to go through all 8 views, entering data and such, until I hit view 8 just to see if hte placement of a control is correct? 

    That is the insanity here and it has me very worried right now, to be honest. 

    P
    pauland
    Participating Frequently
    January 24, 2013

    Well, I'm not responsible for the removal of the facility and indeed in the long term you will need to live without it, however you used to make use of it.

    The precise placement of items in views shouldn't be too onerous - you can either write a small testbed to open view8 directly, or screen capture view8 and use another program to align your controls to a grid and use those settings in the code. Laying out controls isn't hugely difficullt.

    It's an inconvenience rather than insanity.

    Whatever we both may think about this, design view is gone post 4.6, and we need to work with the tools that we have, not the ones we would necessarily wish for.

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