Actionscript development IDE?

[Chris_Rehm]

I have tried Flex, which is awesome but a bit overkill for what I'm looking for here, but I would like to know if there is an actionscript development IDE for coding. I'm using Flash 4 Pro for the visual development but the programming interface is a bit weak.

The Eclipse environment would be great, as provided by the Flex package, but I was just wondering if there was a coding only IDE. I don't really need to add another visual IDE. Just something that makes source code navigation easier when the code starts to get long.

[Greg Dove]

I use and would recommend FlashDevelop : flashdevelop.org

It is pretty amazing considering it's free

(I also have Flex, but still like FlashDevelop if I don't have to use FlexBuilder for some reason)

[Chris_Rehm]

Thanks Greg,  I installed it to have a look. At first I didn't think it was an improvement over CS4, but then I found the "Outline" view and it seems to have the code navigation stuff I was looking for.

So I'll be giving that a shot, thanks. I wouldn't cry if anyone would come up with an AS3 plug in for Eclipse, though. 😉

[Greg Dove]

Chris, I have seen a lot of people say that Flashdevelop has the best as3 code completion of any editor.

I'm not sure if that is true as I haven't tried them all, but I can assure you that once you get used to it you will be amazed. It doesn't have all of FlexBuilder's features like advanced debugging (debugging is semi functional in my experience with FD, but I know it will get there) and profiling etc. But from a pure functional editor point of view it already has some of the actionscript editing features that Flexbuilder 4 will have when it's ready. And I like the ability to code in php, as, haxe etc straight 'out of the box'.

From a pure actionscript editing approach I prefer it to Flexbuilder, which of course is eclipse based (and which can be used for actionscript only projects too).

[tbarker18914]

Nothing beats Eclipse, you can easily switch between PHP, AS3, JS, Java, Ruby all in one IDE.  Integrated SVN and Ant, boom, its everything you need in an IDE http://www.eclipse.org/

[Chris_Rehm]

I certainly would love to use Eclipse, and I have it installed for doing

Java code, but I don't see where I can create an AS3 project. After your

post I went to the eclipse.org site to again look for it, but I still can't

see it. Is there an Actionscript 3 plug in?

Chris Rehm

chris@javadisciple.com

[Greg Dove]

Chris,

I'm only aware of Flexbuilder or the Flexbuilder plugin or another commercial plugin made by powerflasher.

Perhaps there are others....looks like one is being developed here though: http://code.google.com/p/flexclipse/

For clarity, in case my earler posts weren't clear, I was not suggesting Eclipse wasn't powerful (or extremely versatile - which it is). But I can say without any doubt that FlashDevelop is excellent for as3 only development, especially for its price!

[Chris_Rehm]

Greg,

Thanks. I think we're pretty much in agreement. FlashDevelop certainly is a

great product. My only reason for still wanting an eclipse plug in would be

because I already use eclipse and that would keep me from needing to learn

another tool.

The Flex projects seem like a bit of overkill for me, because I don't need

MXML compilation or building. I'm just looking for something to replace the

AS editor in Flash CS4. When tbarker mentioned seamless switching between

different languages I thought maybe I'd missed the ActionScript 3 plug in.

However, he could have meant using it with Flex plug in installed.

Chris Rehm

chris@javadisciple.com

[RossRitchey]

If you go to opensource.adobe.com you can download the Flex SDK, which is open source.

I believe you can use the SDK from inside of Eclipse.  (The Flex IDE is built on top of Eclipse after-all.)

Here is a walkthrough I found from a quick google: http://jakehilton.com/?q=node/55