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Step by Step: Flex Builder on Ubuntu 8.04

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Last week Ubuntu 8.04 was released, and I have got to say, I am impressed. I've been dabbling with Linux for nearly a decade, and this is the first time I've ever had it work 100% out-of-the-box without having to track down any additional drivers. Graphics card, network, etc... The installation was simple.

Of course, once the OS was installed, my next logical step was to get Flex Builder for Linux working on it. Here's a step-by-step guide to what I did to get Flex Builder working on there.

1) The first thing I did was install the java-common package using the "Synapic Package Manager" application. This will install the latest java common libraries on your OS installation.

Screenshot-Synaptic Package Manager .png


2) Flex Builder for Linux requires Eclipse, so the next logical step is to download and install Eclipse. I downloaded "Eclipse Classic" and extracted it to the directory "eclipse" within my user folder. I found this article on the ubuntu forums to tweak your Java settings for Eclipse on Ubuntu. The article describes an older version of Ubuntu, but these exact steps worked for me with 8.04.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=201378


3) Next, download and install Flex Builder for Linux from Adobe Labs. Be sure to check out the release notes before you begin your installation.

Once you've downloaded the file "flexbuilder_linux_install_a3_033108.bin", you'll need to give it execute permissions. From the command line, use "chmod +x flexbuilder_linux_install_a3_033108.bin" to grant these permissions. Then launch the installer by running "./flexbuilder_linux_install_a3_033108.bin" (also from the command line). If your java settings are not setup correctly, you will get a few error messages, and you'll need to go back and tweak them.

Once the installer is running, its easy. Just tell it where to install Flex Builder, and point it to your eclipse directory, and it takes care of the rest.

Screenshot - FB Install.png

Once your installation is complete, it's just like using Flex builder on any other operating system. Just go to "File -> New -> New Flex Project" to create a new Flex Project. From here, you're ready to start developing your Flex applications.

Screenshot - New Flex Project.png

Screenshot-Flex Development - FB Linux Test Project-src-main.mxml - Eclipse SDK -1.png

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___________________________________
Andrew Trice
Principal Architect
Cynergy Systems
http://www.cynergysystems.com

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Comments

14 Comments

With only a little extra work, you can use Ubuntu's Eclipse package: http://rachaelandtom.info/content/kubuntu-710-eclipse-and-flex-builder

Andrew Trice said:

Thanks for the info Tom! This is definitely another way to get eclipse on there.

Thanks for the quick intro. I didnt even know that flex was available on linux. Ive just downloaded hardy recently and will definitely be trying this out!

Thanks!

bazmek said:

Hi there, is Design Mode available in installation like this?

radekg said:

This doesn't work when installing on Ganymede for J2EE developers. Installer is running and completes fine but there is no Flex Builder projects and perspective.

Andrew Trice said:

You might want to look at the FAQ, release notes, or help documents for Flex Builder for linux provided by Adobe. I've only tried this on the "base" version of Eclipse.

Bernard said:

Hi, i use ubuntu 8.04 to develop flash, now i'm having problem, in my script i have [embed] tag, when i compile it using flex sdk, it give me error:

Error: exception during transcoding: Failed to grab pixels for image XXX.jpg

Error: Unable to transcode XXX.jpg

Can anyone help, pls?

iamok said:

this only works for me on eclipse version 3.3.2 and not on 3.4.x

It failed with Eclipse 3.4.1. I'm trying 3.3.2 now... See: http://bugs.adobe.com/jira/browse/FBE-306

baybora oren said:

In flex IDE Where is design view to develop gui quickly ? noopp we cant use design view. Also we cant use myeclipse fully qualified.

Andrew Trice said:

Design view is only available on Mac or PC. It is not available on the linux distribution.

You can see more on what is (and is not) supported at:
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flex/flexbuilder_linux/releasenotes.html#features

ivan said:

ubuntu install solution:

$ cat flexbuilder-i.sh
#! /bin/bash

unset PS1

./flexbuilder_linux_install_a4_081408.bin

Usman Ajmal said:

I did everything exactly as you mentioned. One different thing I did was that i downloaded the latest eclipse classic 3.5.1. The installation of Flex started without any errors, meaning thereby, my java setting were fine.

But when i gave the path of eclipse folder I encountered following error:

(Please choose an existing Eclipse 3.2 or 3.3 root folder to be extended.
This root folder must contain the subfolder named "configuration". )

whereas I have checked my eclipse folder and it does contain a folder with the name of "configuration".

I however selected the option "proceed with caution" option and the installation ended finely. Then I went to the directory where I installed Flex and executed ./Adobe_Flex_builder.sh which opened Eclipse Galileo's workbench.

Problem:
I can't see any Flex related perspective in Windows>Open Perspective>Other

Any idea what is going wrong and how to work around it?

Jackomo said:

"Andrew Trice said:

Design view is only available on Mac or PC. It is not available on the linux distribution."

Well, Where do you think Im running my Ubuntu? under my PC, so I thought you want to said Windows.

Anybody knows how to get a GUI o Design mode running under Linux?

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