Adobe Flex Builder 3 Links:
- Try Flex Builder 3
- Upgrade to Flex Builder 3
- Buy Flex Builder 3
- See upgrade details
- More purchase options

It's likely that if you're interested in learning about Flex, you've already downloaded and experimented with Flex Builder 3. In the next few posts we'll be exploring Flex Builder. We'll start with the installation, and then go into more depth as we explain how the premiere tool for building Flex applications works. We've already made mention of the fact that Flex Builder is based on Eclipse, and we'll be discussing this useful tool as well. You can purchase or try Flex Builder here or use the links above to find out more.

Installing the Standalone IDE

The most straightforward way to get started using Flex Builder is to download and install the standalone version.

This is a fairly intuitive process, as it's similar to installing most software.

Simply verify that your machine meets the system requirements, choose the appropriate version based on your operating system, choose or don't choose to receive relevant notifications via email, and then click "Download now". Choose "save to disk" in the pop-up window, and let Flex Builder complete it's download.

After the download is finished, opening the installer will start the Flex Builder installation wizard. My version is installed to the default location of C:\Program Files\Adobe\Flex Builder 3. I chose to install the debug versions of Flash player 9 for both Firefox and Internet Explorer, as well as the Coldfusion extensions, and the JSEclipse - Javascript plugin, which is not available in Japanese.

Again, this has been a fairly straightforward process up until now, so let's check out the other way of using Flex Builder!

Installing the Flex Builder Plug In On Top of Eclipse

Although it's likely you can get most of what you might need done by installing Flex Builder's standalone version, there are many more features available to those who choose to install Eclipse first, and add the Flex Builder Plug In to that install. Eclipse is a powerful, open source, cross-platform I.D.E. built in Java that is capable of hosting several development plugins. Because of Eclipse's ability to play host to a completely extensible list of development plugins, it can be used to write code in any number of programming languages.

When we say that Flex Builder is built on Eclipse, we are saying that Flex Builder was made as a plugin, based on the Eclipse framework. Whether you use the Flex Builder standalone, or the plugin version on top of Eclipse, your experience inside Flex Builder will be essentially the same. Again, the reason for using Flex Builder as a plugin inside Eclipse is to take advantage of the multitude of available features in the form of extensible plugins that are available (or are yet to be available).

You can get started by visiting the download section of Eclipse.org, and downloading the latest version of Eclipse.

I chose the "classic" version (Eclipse-SDK-3.3.2). Choose a mirror download server, and let the zipped folder complete it's download.

Open the .zip and run the Eclipse application file located inside.

The first time you run Eclipse, you will be asked to choose a workspace in your file system.

I didn't check the "make this location my default" box. When Eclipse starts, choose the icon on the far right, "go to the workbench".

At this point you'll see the workbench of an I.D.E. that looks familiar to those that have used Flex Builder before. Instead of Flex Builder though, it's the Eclipse Java development environment.

Here's how we get Flex Builder back.

Assuming that Flex Builder isn't currently installed on your computer, you can go back into the downloads section of Adobe.com, as mentioned in the instructions for installing the standalone, to get your Flex Builder plugin install. This time, instead of choosing "Download now", choose the link directly beneath that button that reads: "Already have Eclipse installed? Download the Flex Builder Eclipse plugin instead."

Then, simply choose the version appropriate for your operating system, and select "save to disk".

The install wizard for the plugin runs through a similar process as the one for the standalone. However, with the plugin you need to choose a root folder to be extended with the Flex Builder plugins. The install wizard lets you know that the directory you choose must have a subfolder named "configuration". Use the "Choose" button to navigate to the root folder of your Eclipse installation, and select that folder for this step.

The installation continues in the same way as for the standalone. Once the installation is finished, you can launch the Flex Builder plugin by navigating to C://Program files/Adobe/Flex Builder 3 Eclipse launcher/ and selecting the plugin icon. When launching the plugin, you will be asked to select a workspace, just as you were the first time you ran Eclipse. This time, however, after choosing your workspace you'll go directly into the Eclipse workbench.

Once in the Eclipse workbench, you can get into Flex Builder by using the "Window" drop down menu and selecting "Open Perspective". If none of the Flex Builder perspectives are listed as a choice, (perhaps because this is the first time you attempted to open it), choose "other", and the Flex Development perspective should appear there, along with the Flex Debugging perspective, and the Flex Profiling perspective, if you're using Flex Builder Professional.

Now that we have one of two versions of Flex Builder installed, and we know how to open it, we should briefly familiarize ourselves with the workbench layout. We'll be covering this topic in much more detail in the next few posts, but here are a few things to get you started.

As you may have guessed, the menu we will be getting used to first is the "help" menu. In both the plugin and standalone versions, the Flex start page is a menu option under "help".

Here you'll find tutorials and sample projects to get you started. Using Eclipse, you'll find the "Welcome" page that we first saw when installing the Eclipse I.D.E.. Again, plenty of tutorials here, including some on Java, and some that teach you how to create your own Eclipse plugin. Very useful is the "help contents" menu item. You can find lots of great information here on using Flex Builder, as well as content outside the scope of Flex if you're using Eclipse.

This should provide a good launch point for those who've never used Flex Builder before. In the next installment we'll walk you through the setup procedure for creating a Flex project. In doing so, we'll explain the hierarchy of the Flex Builder environment in order to better understand the nature of "workspaces". We'll also guide you through the Flex Builder workbench so that you can get started on building your own Flex projects.

Next: LFFS - 12: Flex Builder Part 2 - Getting Acquainted With The Workbench

Read more from Adam Flater & Scott Sheridan.