Eclipse 3.5 + FDT 3.5 for Actionscript development

Eclipse 3.5 + FDT 3.5 for Actionscript development

Part 1 - Advantage：

    * Cross-platform

      Actually I’m using Windows but I’m hoping to switch to MacOS X as soon as possible and I would like to maintain my work-flow. Unfortunately FlashDevelop is Windows only.

    * Advanced Refactoring

      Advanced Refactoring add common refactoring tools like Rename Type, Rename Variable/Function, Rename Package and Move Type to the FDT 3 editor.

    * Advanced Code Completition

      This powerful feature auto-completes words and phrases during typing. The advanced code completion function is available for imports, types, members and lots of basic key words. FDT 3 code completion furthermore supports generators by using extension points.

    * Improved Autocompletition

      You can now use the auto-completion to generate whole methods. Insert a name into the body of a class and press <CTRL>+<SPACE> and a new method with that name will be created. You can also generate a constructor by the same procedure if the constructors name begins with the class name.

    * Organize imports

      FDT 3 enables your editor to organize and to perform all necessary imports for a complete package or even for your whole project by a single shortcut and certainly adds missing ones automatically. Thereby, moving classes and packages or renaming them becomes quite easy.

    * Live Error Highlighting

      The integrated ActionScript parser allows detecting and visualizing lexical and syntactical errors continuously while typing new code to the editor frame and for more, a semantic analysis is performed permanently to check types, members and declarations of both the current file and the whole project. Different kinds of problems can be tagged with “error”, “warning” or “ignore”. FDT 3 offers the opportunity to add problem generators to FDT 3 by using extension points.

    * Live Templates

      Templates provide a fast way to write typical coding structures. FDT 3 analyses the surrounding code and suggests variables matching the template like types and members.

    * Quickfixes

      Quickfixes are available for many syntactical and semantic problems. This covers a wide range of e. g. non terminated statements up to undeclared variables. FDT 3 will automatically add the semicolon where necessary or define a variable with the correct type.

    * Formatter

      An integrated and extensively configurable formatter will format the source code when you demand it by shortcut. All source code that is generated by FDT 3 will automatically be formatted as well. The formatter can be configured specifically for each project.

While testing this combination I decided to document everything for a future reinstalling and is not a bad idea share it with everyone, so here it comes this series of posts on Eclipse and FDT integration in your development work-flow.

Part 2 – Installation

1) Install Java Runtime Environment

You can choose between Sun Java SE or Oracle JRockit (if your processor is Intel):

    * Java SE Runtime environment

      The Java SE Runtime Environment contains the Java virtual machine, run-time class libraries, and Java application launcher that are necessary to run programs written in the Java programming language. It is not a development environment and does not contain development tools such as compilers or debuggers.

      Download from: http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp

    * JRockit

      The JRockit JVM is a high performance JVM developed to ensure reliability, scalability, manageability, and flexibility for Java applications. The JRockit JVM delivers a new level of performance for Java applications deployed on Intel 32-bit (Xeon) and 64-bit (Xeon, Itanium, and SPARC) architectures at significantly lower costs to the enterprise. Furthermore, it is the only enterprise-class JVM optimized for Intel architectures, providing seamless inter operability across multiple hardware and operating configurations. The JRockit JVM makes it possible to gain optimal performance for your Java applications when running it on either the Windows or Linux operating platforms on either 32-bit or 64-bit architectures.

      Download from: http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/jrockit/index.html

2) Install Eclipse 3.5 (Galileo) Platform Runtime Binary

These drops contain only the Eclipse Platform with user documentation and no source and no programmer documentation. The Java Development Tools and Plug-in Development Environment are NOT included. You can use these drops  when you don’t need the entire SDK. Basically is a full working minimal Eclipse. I prefere to use this version and then install Java Development Tools to add ANT support. No useless stuff.

    * Edit the file C:/eclipse/eclipse.ini and replace the content with this (if you want you can customize the memory settings):

      -startup

      plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher_1.0.200.v20090520.jar

      --launcher.library

      plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.win32.win32.x86_1.0.200.v20090519

      -vmargs

      -Xms128m

      -Xmx1024m

      -XX:MaxGCPauseMillis=10

      -XX:MaxPermSize=128m

      -XX:PermSize=64m

      -XX:+UseParallelGC

    * If you installed JRockit you need to add also this line at the beginning of the file:

      -vm

      "C:/Program Files/JRockit Real Time/jrrt-3.1.0-1.6.0/bin/javaw.exe"

    * Create a shortcut to your “C:/eclipse/eclipse.exe” file and use it to launch Eclipse.

3) FDT3 (Development Tools for Flash)

      Update site: http://fdt.powerflasher.com/update/

      Update site beta version: http://fdt.powerflasher.com/update_beta/

      FDT 3 is the most powerful development environment for serious Flash and AS2/AS3 programming. With its highly efficient and time-saving features, FDT 3 will enhance your coding workflow and increase your productivity enormously.

      Try out FDT 3 and discover pure coding comfort.

      FDT is an amazing plug-in for the already mighty platform Eclipse. Thereby, it is platform independent and usable on nearly every system.

      With FDT 3, Eclipse turns into a powerful Flash and ActionScript editor with a workspace-wide incremental builder providing expend features like live error highlighting and quickfixes without compiling. Advanced code completion speeds up your workflow as well as auto code generation for variables, functions or even classes. The integrated formatter allows comprehensive and complex code customizing at any time. By the refactoring function, renaming of functions or classes at high project level becomes quite simple.

      For more, FDT integrates the Flex SDK Debugger into the Eclipse Debugging Perspective to provide the same debugging comfort as known from JDT and FlexBuilder

      See the list of all FDT features and take a look at the descriptions and the demonstrations of FDT’s power.

4) Make FDT-eclipse debug available！

         一般情况下你按上述步骤安装之后，可以运行了，但是不能调试。为了能够调试，你需要作如下的准备：

a)       下载 ADOBE.FLASH.CS3.PROFESSIONAL.ISO-LZ0， 至少要安装个Adobe Flash CS3，其它可能不一定是需要的。$Adobe Flash CS3_HOME/Flash.exe 是下图的[Flash IDE]。

b)       到Flash的官网上去下载 flashplayer_10_ax_debug.exe、 flashplayer_10_plugin_debug.exe和flashplayer_10_sa_debug.exe三个版本，一般情况下我们安装的都是release版本的。flashplayer_10_sa_debug.exe 应该是必须的，对应下图的[Flash Player]。其它不一定是必须的。

c)       指定任意一个目录作为ASO的目录。

d)       下图分别按a、b、c的设置好之后，选择要运行的as类，记住只有当选择Debug as àFDT AS3 Application的时候才会在console看到trace打印的信息。

靠，图片上传都关掉了。。。 

5）最后附上一个最简单的例子，来验证设置是否成功。

package {

    import flash.display.Sprite;

    public class Test extends Sprite {

       public function Test() {

           trace("hello FDT");

       }

    }

}

6） 可能需要的破解

将FDT-crack解压后放在eclipse plugin/com.powerflasher.fdt.core_3.5*文件夹中。破解文件如果有需要可以到 http://swifth.download.csdn.net/user/swifth/all/1 下载。