At the beginning of 2010, the multimedia agency Powerflasher released the current Version 3.5 of the Development Tool for Flash (FDT). Now they’re back with yet another enhanced version. September 2010 is the date already set for FDT 4 – the next version of the Eclipse-based Flash development environment. Once again it promises to bring a host of improvements and brand new features for Flash developers. “The ongoing development of FDT is a continuous, dynamic process for us. By launching our new releases in quick succession we are always striving to provide our users with the most powerful FTD version possible for the development of their Flash projects,” said Carlo Blatz, Founder and Managing Director of Powerflasher. The agency also has a special offer in store: All those users who purchased the previous Version 3.5 after 25 January will be able to upgrade to the new FDT 4 free-of-charge.
The announcement of a launch date for FDT 4 also heralds the start of an open beta phase for the new version of the Flash Developer tool. Rather than releasing beta test versions, Powerflasher will be launching the key program features of FDT 4 in four complete milestones for the first time during this open testing and development phase. These individual milestones will gradually build on the previous ones, finally culminating as a whole in the finished software version. Each milestone will form an independently functioning part of the program in its own right. Instead of testing a complete pre-version of the software that is still prone to errors at the end of the development phase, these program milestones are available to users much sooner. Their performance is more stable and they allow for immediate, targeted feedback from users.
The launch of FDT 4 in separate milestones sees Powerflasher align its release management with its internal agile development process. “We have been applying agile development methods to the ongoing development and realisation of our FDT software for many years now, which facilitates considerably greater flexibility throughout the entire development process. This approach revolves around a whole series of contained, short development cycles known as iterations. This means that the end product gradually emerges step by step. In turn, the client can then become actively involved in the respective test phases by trying out the various program parts. The key focus is thereby always directed towards ensuring a functioning, user-oriented end product,” commented Michael Plank, a so-called “Product-Owner” in the agile process, outlining the advantages of this software development methodology for FDT.
The first milestone was launched at the end of February 2010. FDT 4 – “Milestone 1” includes a profiler and an interactive welcome screen as new features. When developing applications using FDT 4.0, this new profiler helps to optimise the Flash projects. It monitors the performance and memory footprint of the newly developed application, enabling users to identify any possible issues more easily. The interactive welcome screen is also a new addition, providing users with up-to-date information and support.
The planned release date for the next FDT 4 milestone is 11 May. One of the innovations that come with “Milestone 2” is the optimised “SDK Management”, allowing Adobe’s Software Development Kit (SDK) and the corresponding code libraries to be integrated into FDT with much greater ease. Moreover, it is now possible to integrate the Flex 4 SDK from Adobe in one single click. Another new feature is the special “project setup”. It contains many different templates for Flex, ActionScript and Adobe Air. Clients can use these code templates to realise their new projects more simply and quickly. They can now also create project templates of their own, which automatically generate a complete project setup with folder structures, external libraries and all other necessary files. Avoiding what is otherwise an arduous and time-consuming process, this makes creating a code template at the start of a project considerably easier.
Click here for images of the new software:
If you would like to receive printable image material please contact powerflasher@xpand21.com.
For further information please visit solutions.powerflasher.com and fdt.powerflasher.com
UPDATE: Recoded Live demo session.
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