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O
owita
Inspiring
April 5, 2011
Question

UI with ADM or Flash UI?

  • April 5, 2011
  • 2 replies
  • 2824 views

Hello,

I created a plugin tool for Illustrator with CS5 SDK. Now I want to add a "Tool Option Window" which appears when the tool icon was double clicked. What is the right way for that? At first I thought about ADM. But in the programmers-guide of CS5 SDK I read that ADM will not be supported in future. There are recommendations for using Flash and Flex components. As I understand for developing a Flash UI for my issue additional developer software is needed (Flash Builder and Extension Builder) which is not free.

It is curious, that I did not find any threads in Illustrator SDK Forum about that topic.

It would be very nice to get some comments for my special problem or the general topic of creating UI for Illustrator plugins.

Thanks in advance

bfi616

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

Rick E Johnson
Rick E Johnson
Inspiring
October 1, 2011

I'm also interested in using Flex, and understand I also need Flash, to replace ADM. Do they create cross-platform resources as well, or just manipulate resources as ADM does? If I don't need to make custom controls, just what's already been avaiilable for years with ADM, what kind of investment am I looking at in terms of dollars and learning curve? I'd greatly appreciate any suggestions.

I sure miss the early days of AI plugins when an entire plugin fit easily into one .c file with a few resources built in ResEdit!

A
Anonymous
April 5, 2011

ADM is really quite a pain, and since its not going to be supported, you should probably try to get the Flash working. You could also try using a different UI package. I'm using Cocoa for most of my UI at this point.

A. Patterson
A. Patterson
Inspiring
April 5, 2011

What btemp said. ADM is going to be gone in the next Illustrator, so if you're writing from scratch, I'd go with the Flash UI unless you need something it can't do. In which case, I'd look at 3rd party SDKs.

O
owitaAuthor
Inspiring
April 6, 2011

Thank you very much for the answers.

Is it right that the only way to create a User Interface for my plugin with Flash, is to use Flash Builder and Extension Builder. For the Extension Builder a membership in AEDP is required which costs 1495$ per year.

Is there an other way to create a Flash UI for the plugin? Has someone experience with building Flash UI for plugins?

What I need is only the "Tool Options Window" that appears by double clicking the tool icon.

I hope someone can give me some advices.

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