FlashDevelop

FlashDevelop

The code editor with Start page
Developer(s)	FlashDevelop Team
Stable release	4.7.2 / 13 March 2015 (2015-03-13)
Development status	Active
Written in	C#
Operating system	Windows XP and later
Platform	.NET Framework 2
Type	Text editor and IDE
License	MIT License
Website	www.flashdevelop.org

FlashDevelop is an integrated development environment (IDE) for development of Adobe Flash websites, web applications and desktop applications. The resulting applications run in Adobe Flash Player or the Adobe Integrated Runtime, on Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Android or iOS.

FlashDevelop is free and open source software, mostly written in C# and is built on the efficient Scintilla editor component.^[1] It is extensible with a plugin architecture and is a .NET Framework 2.0 application only available for Microsoft Windows.^[1]

History

FlashDevelop was developed in 2005 by Mika Palmu and Philippe Elsass,^[1] and later, other contributors. It was created as a lightweight and free alternative to the commercial Adobe Flash Professional and Adobe Flash Builder editors, especially useful to students, hobbyists and freelancers.^[2] As an open source project with a modular plugin system, interested users are able to improve and optimize the program, as well as write plugins for any features that may be missing. The project is primarily funded by donations.^[3]

Features

FlashDevelop is not a platform of its own, and is a code editor for the Adobe Flash Platform. Publishing a project into an SWF file that can play back in the Adobe Flash Player is the primary purpose of the editor.

FlashDevelop uses the free Adobe Flex SDK in order to build ActionScript 3 and MXML applications, the free MTASC compiler to build ActionScript 2 applications, and the free Haxe toolkit to build ActionScript 3, PHP, Neko or JavaScript applications. It also has code completion and highlighting for XML, HTML, PHP, and CSS.^[4]

FlashDevelop includes the basic features expected in software development IDEs.^[4]

• Project system with configurable compiling
• Project templates for AS2, AS3, Adobe AIR, Haxe development^[1]
• Project file explorer tree with basic file manipulation features
• Configurable hotkeys
• Application and project level options
• Plugin system with each feature developed in a separate plugin
• Plugins can be enabled or disabled to improve performance
• Import Flex Builder projects
• Supports multi-lingual code files

Editing

FlashDevelop includes code editing features comparable to Eclipse or Microsoft Visual Studio.

• Code completion
• Code folding
• Code generation
• Syntax coloring
• To-do list
• Bookmarks
• Code outline
• Macros that can be written in C#
• Zoom
• Exploration of classes in SWF and SWC files
• Color picker and editor
• Snippets library

FlashDevelop has built-in code completion that includes a wide range of possible API.

• Platform API (based on used Flash Player version)
• User classes, methods, and variables
• SWC library classes and code
• Events when working with listeners
• Typed array values

Publishing

FlashDevelop can be used to publish websites and web applications using the following methods:

• Compile projects via Adobe Flash IDE
• Compile ActionScript 2 projects to SWF using MTASC
• Compile ActionScript 3 projects to SWF using the Adobe Flex SDK
• Compile Haxe projects to SWF via the Haxe compiler
• Optimize JavaScript programs using Google Closure Compiler
• Quick build to SWF for single files
• Panel to view compiler errors/warnings

FlashDevelop can be used to build desktop applications and mobile applications using the following methods:

• Compile SWF using the Adobe Flex SDK or Haxe
• Package app for Android or iOS using the AIR Developer Tool (ADT)
• Package app for Microsoft Windows or Mac OS X using the AIR Developer Tool (ADT)
• Compile app for the Neko runtime using Haxe
• Compile app for the cross-platform NME framework using Haxe
• Compile a C++ app for Windows using Haxe

See also

• List of rich internet application frameworks

References

Adobe Flash File formats ActionScript (AS) Action Message Format (AMF) Flash Video (FLV) Flash XML Graphics (FXG) Local Shared Objects (LSO) MXML Flash Movie (SWF) Flash Code Library (SWC) Software (List) Viewers Adobe Flash Player Adobe Flash Lite Adobe AIR Scaleform GFx Gnash Lightspark Shumway Swfdec Gameswf Animation tools Adobe Flash Professional Adobe Flash Catalyst Ajax Animator SWiSH Max Stencyl IDEs Adobe Flash Professional Adobe Flash Builder FlashDevelop Powerflasher FDT OpenLaszlo Compilers Adobe Flash Professional Apache Flex CrossBridge Haxe MTASC OpenFL SWFTools swfmill Debuggers Adobe Scout FlashFirebug Converters Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder SWFTools swfmill SWF2EXE software Google Swiffy Libraries ActionScript Virtual Machine Ming SWFAddress SWFObject Papervision3D Stage3D Away3D Flare3D Starling List of Flex frameworks PureMVC Server-side software Adobe Flash Media Server Adobe Flash Cast Related topics Comparison of HTML5 and Flash Apple and Adobe Flash controversy Flash animation Films Television Protected Streaming Real Time Messaging Protocol Real Time Media Flow Protocol