Using bleeding edge SDK builds with Flash Builder 4 Beta
The Flex 4 SDK is an ever evolving thing, and the SDK team announced not too long ago that some not so trivial architectural changes still needed to happen in order for the old mx components and the new spark components could co-exist peacefully. The recent open iteration meeting showed that these measures are well underway. That being said, for those of you trying to keep on the up and up, cutting your teeth on the version of the SDK that comes with Flash Builder 4 by default can potentially lead you down a path no longer traveled. In basic terms, things are changing fairly rapidly in the SDK so unless you want to get left in the dust you need to be keeping an eye on the way things are changing. The best way to do this of course is to check-out the the bleeding edge SDK source direct from Subversion and configure Flash Builder 4 to use it in your sample projects.
The first thing you need to do is grab the SDK source. The means to do so is pretty clearly documented here at the Adobe Open Source Site
Once you have the edge build checked out, there’s one step that you need to complete before you point Flash Builder 4 at your new SDK. The open source SDK doesn’t include the java MXMLC libs that Eclipse needs to compile your project. You’ll need to find these in the Flex 4 SDK folder that ships with Flash Builder, which is in the application directory under the “sdk” folder.
Now copy these to the “libs” folder in your new SDK. Note that your Subversion client will see these as new files in the check-out but this won’t prevent you from updating the SDK.
Now back in Flash Builder, highlight your project, right click and select “Properties” and then go down to the “Flex Compiler” screen.
Then click the button at the top right of this screen that says “Configure Flex SDK’s”
Now you’ll just add a new SDK, name it “Bleeding Edge Flex4 SDK” or something similar, and point it at the edge SDK that you recently checked out.
Now you’re done! Just don’t forget to update the project properties on your existing projects so that they point to your new edge build.
