Reputation: 12139

What are the Pros/Cons of Flash Builder vs. FlashDevelop?

I want to play around a bit with FLASH for app development. I'm looking for a good IDE for that. Someone suggested Flash Develop.

Upvotes: 15

Answers (8)

devarni

Reputation: 1782

Flash Builder

Pros

better debugging and profiling
visual designer for MXML
because of Eclipse: support for other languages (eg. with Aptana, PDT...) and usage of plug-ins for the Eclipse Platform with features not shipped with FlexBuilder (code snippets with CFEclipse "Dynamic Snippets", "auto-code" for getter/setters with Monkey scripts...)
support of virtual folders/files (links to external files/folders handled intern by Eclipse, so also working on Windows)
refactoring (renaming of classes, functions, properties with automatic changing of dependencies)

Cons

Commercial license
Big and because of Eclipse problematic with newer Eclipse versions for the FlexBuilder plug-in version (eg. not working with Eclipse Ganymede 3.4.1)
adding and configuring the missing features with Eclipse plug-ins needs time and searching in the Internet (which plug-in? settings etc.)
Code assist only average and sometimes buggy eg. if correct imports are missing ("java.lang.NullPointerException")
missing of a code formatter or automatic get/setters (but there are solutions with other Eclipse plugins like Monkey Scripts, CFeclipse, Flexformatter "FlexPrettyPrintCommand"...)
sometimes a bit sluggish if background tasks in Eclipse are working
no package explorer
AS2 and AS3 only - no Haxe

FlashDevelop

Pros

free and Open Source (developed with C#)
lightweight and snappy
best available Code Assist for ActionScript
supports all flash languages - AS2, AS3, haxe
"auto code" for automatic getter/setter, variables, code for event handlers
code snippets with integrated snippet editor
extendible with plug-ins
support for asdoc comments
package explorer (show classes, symbols from a SWC file)
basic refactoring
multiple source code folders per project
useful plugins : ANT integration, SWC creation, mini map, quick navigate

Cons

only for Windows
no visual designer for MXML
no support of virtual folders/files inside the project
weak refactoring
changing classpaths must be done manually
plug-ins often not working in newer versions and many plug-ins are only rarely updated
limited support for debugging Haxe applications

Common

Pros

projects for full range of flash apps : websites, AIR (desktop, mobile)
debugging of FP/AIR apps with breakpoints and stepping
debugging with watch windows and locals
support for ASDoc comments
automatic adding of imports and organizing of imports
class wizard
SVG/GIT integration

Cons

no editing of graphics or animation (use Flash IDE for that)

Summary

For debugging, visual design of MXML forms : Flash Builder

For coding AS2/AS3/Haxe projects under Windows : FlashDevelop

Upvotes: 24

Pino Rossi

Reputation: 36

Flash Builder, even in version 4.5, has primitive, useless syntax coloring and customization features. From a 700$ package I was expecting at least what I can do with my free text editor. In the syntax coloring preferences, there is a total of 6 keywords, and you cannot add any custom one. How am I expected to code having variable names, function calls, and classes look exactly the same? I will stick to Flash Pro CS5.5 and SciTe.

Upvotes: 0

Artur Carvalho

Reputation: 7167

I've been using Flash Developer. Trying now FlashDevelop. FlashDevelop is fast and light, and I'm trying to switch just because of that.

I'm using HG + TortoiseHG for source control. I have 2 screens, so having external source control is not a big problem. Also the IDE stays a little cleaner by not having all the little source control icons.

DesignView helps with not having integrated design.

Also, I can debug with FlashDevelop and see the variables. I'm using FD3.2.1.

Upvotes: 1

Jesse Millikan

Reputation: 3145

Here are two objective contrasts between FlashDevelop (with the Flex 3 SDK) and FlexBuilder. First, only FlexBuilder includes AdvancedDataGrid. Second, FlashDevelop has no source control integration.

AdvancedDataGrid is not included in either the free or open source Flex 3 SDKs; if you want it, you have to buy FlexBuilder. (I assume it is probably possible to use it via another SDK if you possess FlexBuilder.)

FlashDevelop doesn't have any source control integration, FlexBuilder possesses the existing, stable source control options for Eclipse. This includes Subclipse for SVN, as well as a lot of other things. As a longtime Visual Studio and Emacs user, in FlashDevelop I'm beginning to feel unsatisfied with leaving the editor to check in.

Upvotes: 0

Niels Bosma

Reputation: 11498

I'm using the new Jetbrains IntelliJ 8, and it's great (especially if your used to java developement). Has a lot better XML/JavaScript editors that any other IDE.

The latest version of IntelliJ also has a good flex/javascript debugger.

Upvotes: 0

Remus Stratulat

Reputation: 53

Along with what was already mentioned, Flex Builder has some nice tools that helps a developer to learn how to create a data enabled Flex application in form of the Data Wizards and also a nice web services introspection tool that automatically creates an ActionScript 3 client for a web service.

Upvotes: 0