Flash Team

- Ability to check compile time errors without compiling, similar to Flex Builder, or Eclipse and Mtasc.

I would hope that the feature set in Blaze would at least match the one in FB2, including...

Ctrl + click would jump to the code including AS class members.

Selecting a class in the debug panel's stack traces would jump to the code.

Also: In FB2, changing the package structure requires moving the file manually and then changing the package definition. Ctrl+space /autocomplete to change the package in the class file, as well as 'auto-moving' the class file to the corresponding package would make refactoring much neater and easier.

Code collapse is most important on my list.

I'd also like to see an option for further modifying the auto-format rules.
For example, having auto-format allow:
if (someVar) trace("yep");
Rather than forcing:
if (someVar) {
trace("yep");
}

My top 3:

1. Code collapse/code folding

2. Function browser (auto-populate a list of the functions declared within your current document and jump to the code when selected)

3. Custom class introspection (code completion for custom classes)

To be honest, I'm not that interested in the Blaze AS Panel. At my office of 5 flash developers, we have all adopted SEPY, and continue to enjoy it as it expands. Flex Builder 2 definatly raises the bar a lot, but we can understand how we wont see something like this built into Flash.

What I would like to see is some effort spent on, is exposing services to 3rd party editors to enable them to build great tools.
I'm sure this is just the tip of the iceburg:

syntax checking - allow 3rd party editors to feed in files to be parsed and return a list of errors.
multi-swf compiling: publish all the swf's in a project so I dont have to manualy select each.
cross links to AS Documentation: editor app can request documentation on a key word and view it in the flash help panel.

Although in the back of my head, theres still a voice saying it would be absolutely killer to be able to use Flex Builder (especially now that its free) as my AS editor for Flash. It doesn't really seem like it would be that much of a stretch to have a flex builder environment(close a few of the panels) that could leverage all of the work going on in that side of the shop.

1. Code collapse/code folding
2. Class browser
3. (NOT LISTED) The ability to open any external code file and pin it including AS files and XML.. it's such a pain to have to keep jumping out of the app to see other code, or moving around in the IDE from AS file back to FLA, especially if your running dual monitors, when your in an AS file, one entire screen is just grayed out.

[James Lyon] "I would hope that the feature set in Blaze would at least match the one in FB2, including..."

Hi James - Can you please elaborate on why you think the Flash authoring tool's code editing features should match those of Eclipse (which FB2 is build upon)? The Flash authoring tool is far from having anywhere near the rich code editing functionality that Eclipse/FB2 has - plus - we're already offering you all of that in FB2.

[Ian T] - "Although in the back of my head, theres still a voice saying it would be absolutely killer to be able to use Flex Builder (especially now that its free) as my AS editor for Flash. It doesn't really seem like it would be that much of a stretch to have a flex builder environment(close a few of the panels) that could leverage all of the work going on in that side of the shop."

Hi Ian -

I think there may be some confusion about what we're doing with Flex Builder 2. First of all, it will not be free. It will be attractively priced at something under US$1,000. We did announce that we will be giving away a free Flex SDK which will include the Flex compiler, the Flex Framework, and a limited version of Flex Enterprise Services (for small deployments). So while you will now be able to build full-scale, powerful Flex applications for free, you will need to pay to get the best-in-class IDE for developing Flex applications.

With regard to using Flex Builder 2 for ActionScript 3.0 editing, you will be able to do this. In fact, you can compile an AS file to SWF without using the Flex framework. You can try this out by downloading the free beta of Flex Builder 2 on labs.adobe.com.

I like your other ideas. We'll be looking into opportunities to improve the workflow with third-party editors in Flash.

I always wanted the ability to colour code the background of the code editor, so I could quickly find different parts of my code. Just pale colours, just enough to recognise different areas.

That way I can make style setups green, or data red and setup blue. etc.. what ever I want.

Oh man these three would be awesome, in this order:
- Function browser
- Custom class introspection
- Class browser

The other three would be nice... but they aren't really gonna make me run out and upgrade. One that I recently had to do, and was able to accomplish sorta hacky with the movie explorer, was, Diff between two versions of very complex fla's. Anyone else think this would be really helpful (yeah i know u should use included .as files... but sometimes designers don't get that)

One more note, having used flexbuilder2... the error catching is awesome. With AS3 being strong typed, are we going to see some of this sort of better bug checking (problem / info) in the Flash IDE. This is just sweet in flex.

[Mike Downey] - It seems I should look into get a personal fact-checker, certainly don't intend to spread false info (feel free to edit out the free bit)

I've played with FB2 (strictly AS3 fun bits) and to be honest I don't feel that environment can replace what we are doing in Flash, no library, timeline, and no drawing tools.

I feel that if we owned F9 and FB2, I'd wonder why I can't use the powerful FB2 editor as an AS editor for Flash. (instead of relying on 3rd party)

Oh, and if you guys are interested in 3rd party editor support, I'm sure the best people to ask would be the developers of Sepy, flashdevelop, SciTE|Flash, etc.

Same as Brian Reiger (only different order):
1. Custom class introspection (code completion for custom classes)

Flash definitely needs a better system for code completion/codehinting. Take it from someone who had to mess with that for a 3rd party app: the current codehinting setup is nuts (bad). I had to fake-out the system in order to get 3 levels of codehinting, and it's far from perfect. From the look of the Flash System object codehinting, it seems MM gave up on doing 3 levels. So hopefully Adobe is well aware of this issue.

2. Code collapse/code folding
This would be great for larger projects. It makes looking through important parts of code MUCH easier. However, PLEASE don't do what other editors have done and rely on the { as the marker for folding. Check SEPY for this. When you have this code:
if (something == undefined)
{

The code should fold at the if statement. Other editors fold at the {, which forces you to place the { on the same line as the if/function/etc. block, which is not necessarily how everyone formats their code ... thus the option for reformatting.

3. Function browser (auto-populate a list of the functions declared within your current document and jump to the code when selected)

I've put this last, but if implemented well, it could be my number 2, maybe number 1 in everyday work. I use a slim version of that in EditPlus and it makes looking through large files easier. However, if you only do this for the immediately viewable AS panel, then this becomes almost redundant with the codefolding. If you could jump through the document as you mention, that would rock! Perhaps even support bookmarking, so you can jump to often-used points.

I would love to see error handling similar to FB2 - BUT I understand if that's a bit much to add to Flash, considering FB2 had a powerful base to start off with. It would just be great to be able to have the compiletime error pointing, and runtime error reporting.

However, these:
- Comment/un-comment buttons/shortcut keys
- Snippets

... should be taken care of by JSFL/WindowSWF panel. If JSFL could access a specific location in the FLAs ActionScript, those two would already have been taken care of. So, although this is more about JSFL, it means you wouldn't need to add these, or at least, you could provide a JSFL example that does them.

Thanks.

1. Code completion for custom classes.
It increases the productivity a lot because I don't have to remember all the exact names and parameters for all the functions while writing code.

2. Ctrl-Click for going to a certain function.
While developing and mainly debugging you often want to see why the hell a certain function call does not return what it is supposed to, so you want to go there and take a look.

3. Function browser (the eclipse Outline tab).

While looking at a class I often find myself wanting to go to a certain function and instead of CTRL-F for it, I look in the outline. The outline is also very usefull for looking at attributes and making the distinction between private and public functions very quickly.

1/ - Class Intropection for code completion
2/ - Outline Panel (jump to method/prop.etc)

Truth is, I would likely use Flex Builder 2 for my AS code as well. The fact that there will likely be an application (or document) class that you can bind to your root, along with moviclips bound to their classes as designated, I could see it being a nice comfy combo. We do this in our shop right now. Our developers only open the FLA to tweak movieclips that have timeline animation or to add embedded assets.

It is a standard in our shop that FLA files include no code other then the instantiation of an application class to wrap the root.

so don't sewat it to hard is what I say. Just make Blaze easy to integrate with Flex Builder 2.

some kind of clipboard history would be cool.

howdy folks,
i would really appreciate the following things:

+ Class browser.
+ Code completion for custom classes.
+ Outline Panel (like Tony descibed already one post above).

[Ian T] "I feel that if we owned F9 and FB2, I'd wonder why I can't use the powerful FB2 editor as an AS editor for Flash. (instead of relying on 3rd party)"

Hi Ian -

I think I might not have made this clear above. Our goal is to provide a great workflow between Flash 9 and Flex Builder 2 so that more advanced ActionScript coders can rely on the advanced ActionScript editing capabilities of FB2 while maintaining their use of Flash for things like animating, drawing, etc.

We do not intend to make Flex Builder 2 a replacement for Flash, rather a complement to the developer workflow in Flash (as well as a full-blown IDE for doing Flex development). The two tools have very different target use cases that go together nicely. We want to really focus on that.

Sería genial que pudiesen incluir lo siguiente: ya sea que fuese a traves de un comportamiento o un componente:
1. Insertar iframe para meter ventana del navegador dentro de los parametros o espacio que uno desee del flash.
2. Poder insertar dhtml dinamico tipo scripts de sothink dhtml menu, nos harian un gran favor a muchos.
3. Seria genial poder incluir filtros como los que usa photoshop y que fuesen compatibles.
4. Sería bueno que incluyeran transiciones mejores que las que tiene el powerpoint pero para aplicarlas al flash.
5. Interfase o menu de interaccion para trabajar con archivos php ya que de esto no han puesto nada.
6. Poder modificar al gusto colores rgb y otros para barras de menu personalizables y dinamicas ya sean horizontales o verticales como los de flash 123 menu
7. Que se puedan hacer efectos 3d
8. Que flash pudiese crear instaladores y que genere numeros de serie para crear un producto cualquiera.

Solo con esto ya seria genial el flash.

Espero noticias y que haber si hacen un blog para los latinoamericanos ya que macromedia nos tiene algo abandonados en centro america.

1. Ability to check compile time errors without compiling, similar to Eclipse and Mtasc.

2. Class browser.

3. ctrl+click to open declaration.

I think this is essential for the new code editor features.

Yo incluiría lo siguiente:

- Code Hint para las clases que uno mismo haya programado.
- Gestor de proyectos más en condiciones, el que hay es muy básico y poco útil. No estaría de más algún controlador de versiones.
- Tal y como se ha echo en la nueva versión de dreamweaver estaría muy bien la posibilidad de hacer zoom sobre el código para tener una visión más general del código.
- Posibilidad de configurar la inclusión automática del cierre de comillas, paréntesis y llaves.
- Que al seleccionar una comilla doble, llave o paréntesis nos resalte donde se abre o cierra.
- Posibilidad de configurar el IDE para que al escribir una comilla, paréntesis o llave se introduzca automáticamente la de cierre.
- Panel de gestión para snippet.
- Posibilidad de configurar el comprobador de síntaxis para obligar a declarar todas las variables e introducir el ; al final de cada línea.
- Sistema de backups automático similar al que tiene SE|PY

Por el momento no se me ocurre nada más.

Un saludo!

hey! luis post is mine! :D. Something in the posting system is wrong :D

again....
---------------------
1. Ability to check compile time errors without compiling, similar to Eclipse and Mtasc.

2. Class browser.

3. ctrl+click to open declaration.

I think this is essential for the new code editor features.

I'm authoring in code editor because I'm on Mac and don't want to have to jump between Flash compiler and Eclipse. I hope this is relevant, but I'd love it if I could use the keyboard-shortcut to publish an FLA when I'm authoring in a subclass. Having to jump tabs is a nuisance. Also, When I hit the auto format it'd be nice if it retain line breaks I purposely put in for legibility.

May be not too correct wish but just take a look at flashdevelop and give us what it has on code completion, error checking, classes browsing, project managment.

One more special wish is speed of working.

This is great news - it's high time that the editor got some improvements.

Here's my list of preferences - and Custom Class introspection is an absolute must in my opinion.

top priority:
- Custom class introspection (code completion for custom classes)
- Ctrl + click would jump to the code including AS class members.

less priority:
- Class browser
- Function browser

And an extra point:
- (not listed) import/package name autocomplete

ie: when you type 'import mx.' it shows you a drop-down of the available classes/packages. That would speed up development no end and coupled with custom class auto-completion would make dealing with 3rd party/custom classes so much easier.

(I use flashdevelop 99% of the time and jumping back into the IDE to do a quick test in a new FLA is excruciating to say the least)

- nils.

If you could make Flash save your pinned scripts in the file so you get them pinned again on loading, I'd be a happy little bunny. Cheers.

+ Region folding

In Visual you can collapse a region of code begining with #REGION and ending with #ENDREGION

I think this could help in folding custom regions.

Cheers,
Santiago

Tiny thing:
Save a dual-screen working area (position of panels).
it works in mx2004 but unfortunely not in flash8.
Thank.

Hoops, you speak only about the Code editor. sorry.

Tab system (similar to the one of the flash scenes) to alternate the publisher with the rest of the program(Stage,timeline,etc.)

Greets

auto format

Ok truth is I want them All!! But since I HAVE to prioritize then. I am a designer that does some development as opposed to the other way around for you Devloper folks Flex Builder with a way to complile FLA so we can share our work would rock but that is a different issue..so
Number 1) - Code collapse/code folding-love this feature in DW8 and long for it in Flash

Number2)- Function browser (auto-populate a list of the functions declared within your current document and jump to the code when selected)- if this mean preset function for say calling a button on release etc ..Oh yeah

Number 3)- Snippets- like in DW8 oh yeah! I would love to have a repository of commonly used scripts I currently keep them in flas... the methos of organizing would be reall important here

we need more short like the one in sepy
ctrl + d is a most - copies the line where the curor is on the next following line.

I would love to see a snippets panel. It gets annoying having to declare mixin properties all the time.

As well I would like to be able to have fl.getDocumentDOM() return a valid script file. This way we can write our own extensions to the code editor that might not be as popuplar for the masses but would greatly increase our individual work flows.

Mike -

When Blaze is released, at least two of our dev team will use it as a component-creation tool, and we should be able to help eachother without needing to know the distinct idiosyncrocies of both. In another use case, there's the inevitable designer/developer, and I believe that every feature that Blaze falls behind FB2 on, will create problems. (e.g. I want to do this, but only Zorn does it properly. So I'll publish in Blaze and then...).

I understand that the Eclipse platform provided quite a few of the features in FB2, and left hooks open for others. But fluid project management across both Blaze and FB2 is going to require that at least their coding feature sets match up.

Let's sort the debugger out for jeebus sake! I don't even try and use it anymore.

Be nice to be able to split the coding window into 2 so you can compare snippets.

Also, how about something similar to the Dictionary feature of Mac's OS. ctrl-click on a word to bring up the help in a neat little floating box ... and stuff.

Eclipse + FDT - best decision :)

- Code collapse : the same as dreamweaver. He is great !

- trace function like in SEPY : select a word. choose trace function > automatically write
trace("obj:"+obj);

If you select "obj , arr" and choose trace function > automatically write
trace("obj:"+obj+", arr:"+arr);

- snippets ( not too basic ) availability to choose the cursor caret position after the text is traced on the editor. And better, the availability to use tabulation to switch to predefined cursor caret positions defined for the snippet

My top 3:

1. Class browser
2. Function browser
3. Custom class introspection (code completion for custom classes)

not listed:
- saving pinned scripts
- error checking without compiling

Hi

I don't want code browser or class listing the only thing i want is the speed of scite in the flash ide... could be that posible?

The code editor of Macromedia Director is slowly too.

You can use the scinticilla (scite's core) library.

Regards,
FOX

Hi!

I'm certainly agree with many others about Code collapse/code folding, comments etc.

But I want to ask one litte change to Find and Replace behaviour.
Make Find and Replace dialog non modal, so it won't block access to code/scrolling.
Just like it is in FB2.

That'll be small but still useful improvement.
Thanks

1) Function browser
2) Class Brower

These two would REALLY make a diference.

3) Important and easy, the find/replace dialog shouldn't be modal. It keeps you from boping back and forth between searching and making changes which makes it much less functional than it could be. It would also be nice to be able to search both up and down in the file.

5) A command to export all scripts in one operation would be great. Especially as there are about 7 years of actionscript that could very well need to be exported in the next few years.

6) If we could create buttons for the actions panell that grab the text in the field and runs some actionscript on it we could use that to create our own lint checks and style modifications on the text, that would cover a lot of possibilities and would be really helpfull for when you have to edit somebody else's code. Speed is not key here, just ease of use, the scripts could themselves be external jsfl files that the button links to. The output would be configured to either replace the text in the textfield or be sent to an external file. It would be nice as we could apply our own color style to the code as well, so that we could, say highlight all _global in red when we are trying to remove global variables from the code. A lot of flash programmers get confused by actionscript's poor scope rules and so they resort to global variables all the time, so this happens a lot.

An average use case is a) you get someone else's code that you need to help with, b) you have already set up about 4 or 5 simple scripts that does things like look for global variables to encapsulate and look for outdated naming conventions. You link them to 5 custom buttons on the actions pannel. As you are going through the code you can run the scripts to adhere to whatever style you want.

7) Bookmarks are really nice.

Thanks for asking

-Cort

Custom class introspection, definitely. The others aren't as important.

Code collapse/code folding, Comment/un-comment buttons/shortcut keys, Function browser, Snippets
Custom class introspection, Class browser...

All these are great Mike, But I was wondering, doesnt every other free OS code editor provide many (if not all) of those functions?

But there is a huge advantage that the Flash authoring tool's code editor has over any other editor - It is a part of the Authoring tool itself. So if we can think of features that would leverage this distinct advantage, wouldnt it be great?

For example, when I need to write an attachMovie call, if I could select the particular MC in the library and drag it on to the code editor, and if the editor can add the attachmovie call over there, with the parameters like linkageID filled in... - sounds vague I know, but I was just giving a high level example.

A close integration between the other panels of the authoring tool and the code editor is what I mean. All those features that you have mentioned above would just bring the editor in par with the other OS editors, but I feel, features that leverage the distinctive advantage of being inside the authoring tool is what will make AS developers come back to the authoring tool for editing code!

Colorear las busquedas como lo hace google toolbar!

To color the searches since it makes google toolbar!

Features akin to Visual Studio 2005 would be nice.
More specifically,

+ Step into, step through, step out,
+ Object Explorer (for browsing through class definitions, getting information about members inside a specific class, return types, etc.),
+ Rolling over an expression yeilds its returned value,
+ A stack trace for Exceptions,
+ A panel for evaluating expressions while the Flash application is either paused or running,
+ Parenthesis and brace completion and highlighting,
+ And finally: real code completion, like IntelliSense. AS classes are plain-text! Shouldn't it just be a matter of parsing through the AS files?

Love Flash 8 and Flex 2 Beta. Keep going!

Code templates

Autocomplete commands (pressing Ctrl + space bar for example)

Autocomplete code, for objects in my Stage.

Export/import settings of personal configuration of the Editor

Formato automático del codigo

- Class browser
- Custom class introspection (code completion for custom classes)
-Function browser (auto-populate a list of the functions declared within your current document and jump to the code when selected)

Just thought of something:

When I am in the actions panel and if I could hit some shortcut key to bring up a dropdown list of the instanceNames of all MCs + textFields on Stage, it would be helpful. Right now, I need to minimize/resize the actions panel, go to the stage, select the MC, and copy the name from the PI.

Just another point to add to the Actions panel collaborating more with the other panels view that I mentioned earlier!

Simpler (and in many cases just their creation) interface(s) into the OS APIs (proabbly through JSFL). The use of a pannel to expose the OS's main or total APIs would be a massive step forward in usability and IDE extension. But I'm probably dreaming waaaaaaay easier than you can make it - lol

Sorry, I should really qualify the OS API interface request. We are being asked to make Flash work on more diverse devices these days with reduced or customised OS versions on. This often removes some of the functionality we take for granted in the standard Player and to bridge the problems created it would be very useful to be able to interface with some of the OS APIs directly. I realise this is more than simply making a list and talking to them but it's starting to be the make or break of dev companies using Flash as their interface. I am working at a TV over IP company at the moment and trying very hard to get a version of Flash/Player to talk to their reduced Linux OS to play the video feed directly. If I could talk to the OS's video API, even a little it would make this possible. Essentially this company will not use Flash if it can't do this. The broadband-TV-set-top-box market is about to explode and if Flash can't keep up with things like MPEG-4 direct play and OS integration it'll just be relegated to a pretty menu system

MPEG-4 SUPPORT: Ooooooo, and that's another one that's killing me in the MultiMedia market at the moment. Could you have the standard Flash player support MPEG-4? If Flash Lite can do it and the entire Media sector are ALL using MPEG-4 as standard then it's a real probelm when our player doesn't support it's use. Try recommending that a braodband digital TV broadcaster move to FLV and see how long it takes security to throw you out of the building. It is definately stopping Flash adoption in the Media sector. Could it just be added to the standard player straight from the Flash Lite player?

Muy sencillo.. una interfaz de programacion similar al visual studio 2003, porque verdaderamente eso es para programadores, asi se podra programar bien en ActionScript.

subject of a new functionality:
--------------------------
Button context

Explanations:
--------------------------
A useful functionality will be created into flash:
when you create a button, we can access to the several states of it by clicking twice on it.

Problem:
--------------------------
But when you insert a dynamic text into the each state (hight, rollover, down, clickeable), it's not possible to modify the content of the dynamic text for each one of these states by using the action script (1 and 2) code.

The functionality would be created.

Well, being an animator I don't really use flash for action scripting... Maybe the occassional flash website or menu. But yeah, I know this isn't the place, but it would be cool if there was a way to lock pivot points together for simple character animation... And masking with radial/linear gradients that have 2 seperate alphas.. Ehem.. Yeah.. *hides*

Guess i'll wait till this is released instead of going and buying a copy of Flash 8. Looking foward to it.

Wow flash 9 already :P

I remember back in the old days of flash 5

Well heres my input for an ideas:

would it bee too hard to have a Varibale Explorer? so when you test a movie it would list all the variables a movie has declared and list their values.

I would love to see.

Custom brush for import.

A complex gradiant feature so you can inplement 2 gradiants as one.

Easy draw function (mainly for mouse user's)

Sound editing system.

And also a function where you can export you flash as a video format (for DVD use and such)

I think you should do the Collapse/expand feature and list of functions would be absolutely great.

Please fix the damn audio sync problem if possible.. Streamed audio loses sync very easily.

Some Flash animations overload my CPU with drawing processes, so I would suggest ALSO using the GPU, yes, I really mean dividing the job between the CPU and the computer's current videoboard.

Some animations use so much CPU that my Athlon64 3200+ can't even handle the whole job and this truly worries me, I mean, Doom 3 is not AS heavy.

Flash' authors could make use of OpenGL API for this to work out quite cool. And in some future some real nice pixelshader effects (just imagine).

A big hug and I'll see ya sometime.

I think if you worked on making the filters lag less, and maybe include a pixellation filter?

I wish there was some more animation features. Like being able to hook together body parts. Link them.

For now I'd have to say the Class Browser and Function Browser would be very helpful.

Custom class introspection is a must for when you're testing new classes/components in the Flash IDE, its something its needed for a while now in my view.

Cheers,

Pete

I'm working with XML loading them on a Dynamic Text box and, for example I need to capture the Mouse Over Event on a "asfuntion" link. I´ve just solved It by a .js file and HTML assimilates it. Flash (HTML property selected) doesn´t when I dont use It instead of my .js.

Thanks a lot.
I'm dying for see "Blaze/Flash 9".

Hi, Well I guess improving the editor is of key importance that it look like the .Net (somehow) but I just wanna talk about the Arabic text problem , Flash has a real big problem regarding the Arabic text I wonder if Adobe shall fix this problem , since a real feasible market (middle east) are preferring to use the swish instead. Please this is of high importance and it must be solved .
Another issue is highliting and improving the trace messages.

Thank you and best of luck.

Please fix the cyclical strict data type problem...

class A
{
private var something:B;
}

class B
{
private var something:A;
}

Will not compile, it will always give a "This class conflicts with.." error.

I want to echo the custom class introspection, I'd like to see abstract classes (so we can do some real OOP). Also, I would like some way to reference MovieClips inside of classes that extend a MovieClip.

.NET does it by placing a member var of that MovieClip name inside the class. That way I can say:

class A extends MovieClip
{
function doSomething()
{
embededMovieClip.something = ...;
}

}

And not get a complile error.

Thanks for asking..

A Class/Function browser and code collapse would be great, as many people have suggested... in fact, anything to help organize and work with a large chuck of code would be very useful (the ability to apply background colours to sections of code is a great idea, as someone suggested).

Here's an easy one.. how about indentation hotkeys? (like ctrl+> and ctrl+< in Dreamweaver).I'm surprised this wasn't added earlier...!

Keep up the great work.

Changes I would like to see in the code editor IDE are:

- Have a separate panel (or use Actions panel) for editing AS Classes - don't open them in same panel as FLA's. Some of us have dual monitor, and like to be able to view timeline and classes at same time.
- Non-modal find/replace
- Search across multiple classes - within Project or within packages - similar to good old Homesite.
- Some form of Ctrl-Click functionality to click on Class names to open that class file
- Auto Documentation Generation - implementing some form of class documentation features that actively encourages developers to document code as they go. Possibly linking it to a Class / function browser panel. So that it's quick and easy to add a few lines of text to methods, parameters, constructors, properties, etc.
- Auto help window - dynamically updates to show relevant documentation for the method / constructor currently being typed or that the cursor is placed over. Kind of an extended code hints which enables me to quickly read about the various parameters and so on. Should be able to incorporate custom docs for custom classes.
- When clicking the "Check Syntax" button, if no errors are found, simply flash the icon green, don't go giving me an alert box. I only want to see that alert if there's an error.
- Auto Interface Completion - if I implement an interface, automatically generate placeholders for all required methods.
- Auto mix-in snippets - if I want to mix in something like EventDispatcher, have a snippet that will automatically add the required methods/properties and initialisation code.
- UML Generation - would be nice to have automatic UML documentation.
- Split window pane for viewing two areas of one class or two classes simultaneously.
- Enable scripting window and related panels to be classed as a separate instance of an application so that in the Windows start bar it shows up as a separate "FlashScripting" application. So I can switch to that "application" without all the timeline and colour panels popping open too. Would be useful as then all design windows could be layed out on one monitor, all coding on another and if separated means I can view emails/word docs/spread sheets on one monitor, and still use the coding elements on the other monitor, without causing the unwanted panels to overlap the other applications. Does that make sense....?

And here's my prioritised list of those features listed in your original entry:

- Custom class introspection (code completion for custom classes)
- Class browser
- Function browser (auto-populate a list of the functions declared within your current document and jump to the code when selected)
- Code collapse/code folding
- Comment/un-comment buttons/shortcut keys
- Snippets

Code collapsing would be HUGE - it totally stinks wading through thousands of lines of uncollapsed code.

"Search & Replace" in selected text

Make 'Publish' as it currently works and 'Publish External Actionscript Only' which will not recompile the library or frame code, but instead only recompile the external as2 classes and then inject that into the swf and provide the same swf preview as the traditional mode. This will greatly speed up development.

- Code collapse/code folding

but please dont make same mistake as in DW,

If I have Functions I can't see which function is because there is short desc. of colapsed code.
So, when you colapse cone must have all first line.

+ function check_login () {

and not

+ functio...

thanks Flak.

hmmm..too late..we still dont even have a search option in library??! [what if i have a 500 items grouped into folders and quickly want to access one]

Please get rid of sloth compiling and the totally buggy usage of ASO files...is there an echo in here??!

Hoping "The 9" will end the comparison of flash IDE with bugs and sloths.

[ Mike, its just that we are all Stans of flash.We expect our hero to rock our world/time/pocket :) ]

One more thing Mike,please make library accesible while in editor.It has a lot of advantages..

If you guys add that search thing into library, make sure that, a search based on linkage name is also incorporated :)

Well, I'm a little late to the party, but here are some of my requests:

1) Trace working in html publish back to the authoring environment. It would be great to be able to test things like javascript/actionscript interaction by seeing the traces pop up in my ouput window.

2) Windows not disappearing. Often times when I am working in the actions panel, or I'm looking through my output panel, I need to click on a browser window to compare that with what I'm seeing in Flash, but as soon as I click away the windows disappear. It would be nice to have a preference where you can turn this on or off.

3) In jsfl, the only function that allows you to use another jsfl file is fl.runScript(); and this function does not allow you to define classes, or use a nice hirearchy. (There are quirky workarounds I know, I use them, but it would be nice not to have to use globally defined variables that have their initialization functions called in the called file, to work) So, I suppose I'm asking for classes in jsfl.

4) Fix a bug in the jsfl function: document.exportPublishProfile(); Currently the xml that is output by this function shows the default html file that is published without the file extension. This happens unless the user renames the html file. This only happens for the html file, not for the swf file or any of the other files. They all receive their file extension properly.

Oh yeah, and function expanding/collapsing and dynamic class reading for code coloring, hinting, and auto completion.

Not like you guys don't have enough to do already.

Thanks, you guys kick rocks!
~{ zafa }~

Hello,

I wish you could include these features:
- Code collapse/code folding
- Opening multi-projects
- Class browser
- Generation of documention in html following javadoc standard + UML class diagrams in swf

Thanks

It really needs a better intelligent code complete functionality. The way its working now, sometimes it provides you with the relevant properties and methods, sometimes it does not. You guys should check out Visual Studio as a guide. Its a much better coding tool. In other words don't make coding a second class citizen in flash! Good luck.

How about giving us a warning and possible replacement/solution when attempting to use a deprecated function?

Some form of package and class methods browser/navigator.

Roll-your-own code snippets/templates (especially usefull if there was a way to easily exchange code snippets)

WOW !! now though it's been exposed in red the aknowledgement of the Flash team for the high periority of suporting right to left scripts like Arabic, You still empasizing on less impportant periorities such as collapsing code segments, to the middle east No.1 periority is the support of Arabic language!! it's been commented from thousands.. but you are just neglecting , I hope that adobe will reconsider the wishlist again, regards, and best wishes for your Adobe,and best of luck for the Flash team,

I think it would be a great feature if the code editor would auto-complete object paths.

For example if you're typing "myObject1.myChild.myChild", after typing "myObject1.", the editor would, check all objects within the current scope, and populate a dropdown with all properties and children of that object.

This would be a real boon when working with a complex clip hierarchy, which is sometimes a necessary evil.

Thanks,
- Andrew

On thing that drives me nuts in the editor is the search and replace functions. once opened you can not edit, copy or even scroll the code. It would be great to make it funcion a bit more like the search and replace in dreamweaver.

1) ---> Integrate the two action script editors: i.e. the (frame/movie clip) action panel and the AS script editor (tab) or auto collapse not applicable panels. Give third party developers to build extensions for the code editor and/or even plug-in 3rd party editors that can FULLY integrate in the IDE. <---

Background: As you explained in the opening post you do not plan to rebuild Eclipse inside of Flash. I find this a bit disappointing. I would very much appreciate to be able to do all design and coding work (as both are very much linked and integrated in my projects) in one IDE. The current editor lacks a lot of features that could help us to be more productive, so if you won't be able to add those features I am sure a lot of 3rd parties are willing to step in.

1. fix the Intelli-NonSence to REAL Intelli-Sense. type _btn. and you'll see the list of button members regardless of existance of this object, learn from those free AS editors.

2. remove the editor from panel, and add a design/code view like in DW and new FB2.

3. syntax checking as you type, like in VS.Net

4. If Adobe team ever wish to use a platform to develop Flash Authoring on like they did with FB2, i suggest them to take a look at Sun's NetBeans 5. it's quite impressive.

5. all cool features requested by the other Flash Geeks ;)

// chall3ng3r //

The ability to view one .as file on one monitor and another .as file on another monitor would be nice.

1) non-modal search & replace
borrow the one from DreamWeaver

2) code collapse

3) some as3 docs in the flash9 alpha ;)

I would recommend two different players in flash one for desktop and one for Web.

Atleast we should provide File saving options in flash itself.

Also, i will request to provide image encoders in flash itself so that we can store the stage drawn content along with the imported images into png/gif and jpg. Though transparent png.

Any if you can provide any dll that converts movieclip data to image and methods to call this dll

Also there is a bug in flash player 9, that is when we put two flash objects on same page and use external interface class to call a function, it gives a javascript error. This has been placed by many users and no solution to this yet.

I am pretty much sincere user with flash and know the possibilities we can have.. Why do only we are bothered for security. Microsoft is also providing options like FSO and Image generation facilities , so why not we . Adobe is the BEST.

Thanks
Rishi Raj Singh
Product Manager
Sebiz Infotech Pvt. Ltd.

Definitely in the following order:
1. Custom class introspection
2. Snippets
3. Function browser
4. Class browser
5. Code collapse/code folding
6. Comment/un-comment buttons/shortcut keys

Just make a real Development Environment, like IntelliJ IDEA or .NET

My preferences are the same:
1. Custom class introspection
2. Snippets
3. Function browser
4. Class browser
5. Code collapse/code folding
6. Comment/un-comment buttons/shortcut keys

I simply want to be able to color code the background. This way I can have different colors for frame based and movieclip based actions.

1. debugger that works

2. IDE ( look at visual studio, eclipse, InteliJ ). It is big task but I think that minimum would be class explorer and within a class method and member variables explorer.

Keep in mind that flash is not used only to make jumping movies and eye-popping presentations. It has been used for data entry screens for business applications as well.

3. synchronous call to URL. ( I do not know has it been implemented in Flash 8, since I am still using Flash MX 2004).
This means that you can call url address, get the content from it, store content into the variable and than drop to the next line of code.
For example:
var url:String;
var urlResult:String;

url = "./anything?blah=blah"
urlResult = UrlClass.getUrlContent(url);
trace(urlResult);
....

It would be great if server returns mime type text/xml that xml object can be populated directly.
For example:
var url:String;
var xmlResult:XML;

url = "./anything?blah=blah"
xmlResult = UrlClass.getUrlContent(url)
// after this we can process xmlResult variable ....

This is important for the chain of events cases, where we have to do things in sequence. I know that it is possible to simulate this by using existing features of AS but it is big pain and code is scattered all over the class and in large number of sequential loadings it really becomes nightmare.

4. more comprehensive samples in help file. Replace all those 2 line samples with reasonably sized snippet of code which can clearly demonstrate the idea.

As a good guidline I suggest: Visit samples in help files and try to get a clue by following the instructions provided.

I long to see integrity of Flash with Photoshop to the extent similar to that of Fireworks. I think they should cooperate in the field of transferring paths at least..

- Code collapse/code folding

Very important as it allows you to collapse code areas and make lenghty code shorter.

- Comment/un-comment buttons/shortcut keys

Allows one to comment code for future study by himself or another team mate. Shortcut buttons help speed up coding process.

- Function browser (auto-populate a list of the functions declared within your current document and jump to the code when selected)

Yes, will work well with code collapse

- Snippets

Do not know about this.

- Custom class introspection (code completion for custom classes)

Would be useful

- Class browser

Again a useful tool

Inaddition ability to save current image display in flash to either DB (maybe as Binary Large Objects (BLOBs)) or in form of a jpg image onto the server.

Trace to appear as an alert if movie is running in browser.

Support for MP4.

Hargunjeet Singh
Asst. Design Lead
Cogniter Technologies