From Flash Builder To FDT

From FDT Documentation

Revision as of 15:45, 4 October 2010 by Aklement (Talk | contribs)
Jump to: navigation, search
Convert.png

If the differences between FDT and Flash Builder were boiled down into one word, the word would be Flexibility. Beside having powerful code editing features that are missing with Flash Builder, FDT is flexible with your project management whereas Flash Builder is going to harness you with constraints. While, at first, these concepts will seem foreign to the long term Flash Builder user - as you master them you'll quickly understand the power and flexibility they provide.

Project Structure

Where Did All My Projects Go? or Everything is a Flash Project!

014 001.png

Without a doubt, perhaps the most significant difference between FDT and Flash Builder has to do with the Project Wizard.

When creating a new project, Flash Builder has several different Project Wizards:

  • Flex Project
  • Flex Library Project
  • Flash Professional Project
  • ActionScript Project

After choosing one, Flash Builder provides you with project creation process depending on the type of project chosen. When finished, Flash Builder will have setup a directory structure and creates files whose initial structure cannot be changed. A good example of this is the existence of the 'libs' folder between a 'Flex Project' and the omission of a 'libs' folder for an 'ActionScript Project'.

Conversely, FDT takes a different approach. Everything, after all, is a Flash Project - the differences lie in what SDK you're going to be using and you're output. With this in mind, FDT instead allows developers to define their own 'Project Types' via the New Flash Project Wizard.

014 002.png

FDT ships with a few different project templates, but developers can create their own as they please. You're able to preset your:

  • SDK (what is included and what isn't).
  • Your directory structure.
  • You're source folder(s)
  • Library dependencies
  • Files
  • and much more....
Get FDT5