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Flex 3:Release Notes

From Adobe Labs

Table of contents

Overview

Welcome to the Adobe® Flex™ 3 Beta 3 release!

Adobe Flex 3 was formerly known as the Moxie release.

NOTE: Beta 3 is the final preview of the Flex 3 release. Please try out this beta and if you find bugs, please report them to the public bugbase (http://bugs.adobe.com/flex).

Adobe® Flex™ Builder™ 3 is Adobe's professional Flex IDE built on Eclipse™. It can run either as a standalone tool or as a plug-in to an existing Eclipse installation. Flex SDK includes the Flex framework (also known as the Flex class library), Flex command-line compilers, Adobe AIR™ framework, Adobe AIR command-line compilers, the Flex debugger, the ASDoc utility, and the debugger version of Flash Player. Use Flex SDK to develop, compile, and deploy Flex applications that connect to XML and SOAP web services with no additional charges or server licensing required. This release also includes Data Visualization features (formerly Flex Charting).

NOTE: Flex Builder 3 automatically installs a copy of Flex SDK 3. It also includes a copy of Flex SDK 2.0.1 as part of its support for multiple Flex SDKs.

WARNING: Do not install Flex Builder 3 Beta 3 on top of an existing installation of Flex Builder 2 or a previous Beta version of Flex Builder 3. In particular, do not install the plug-in version of Flex Builder 3 Beta 3 into an Eclipse installation that is already running the plug-in version of Flex Builder 2.


System requirements

These are the configurations tested for this beta release. Others may be added at a later date.

NOTE: Flex 3 applications will run on any version of Flash Player 9, although size optimization through signed RSLs is only supported on Flash Player 9 (Version: 9,0,60,235) or later. Flex 3 Beta 3 includes the Adobe Flash Player 9 Update 3 (9.0.115.0) debug players.

Flex Builder 3 for Windows

Flex Builder 3 for Mac OS X

Flex 3 SDK

Installation Instructions

Installing Flex Builder 3 Beta 3

This release contains the following versions of Flex Builder:

NOTE: You can run Flex Builder 2.0.1 and Flex Builder 3 Beta 3 on the same system. You do not have to uninstall Flex Builder 2.0.1.

WARNING: Do not install Flex Builder 3 Beta 3 on top of an existing installation of Flex Builder 2 or a previous Beta version of the Flex Builder 3. In particular, do not install the plug-in version of Flex Builder 3 Beta 3 into an Eclipse installation that is already running the plug-in version of Flex Builder 2.

When using Flex Builder 3 Beta 3 with a workspace from a previous beta, please clean and reinitialize the workspace. Note that this operation does not remove or alter Eclipse projects residing the workspace in any way.

Windows:

  1. Go to the install directory; drive:\Program Files\Adobe\Flex Builder 3, or the root of the Eclipse install directory if using the Flex Builder Plug in
  2. Edit FlexBuilder.ini or Eclipse.ini in a text editor
  3. Add the following to the top of the file (not the bottom)
    -clean
  4. Launch Flex Builder or Eclipse
  5. Remove –clean after exiting Flex Builder or Eclipse

OS X:

  1. Go to the install directory; /Applications/Adobe Flex Builder 3, or the root of the Eclipse install directory if using the Flex Builder Plug in
  2. Right click on the Flex Builder application or Eclipse application and choose Show Package Contents
  3. Open Contents > MacOS
  4. Edit FlexBuilder.ini or Eclipse.ini in a text editor
  5. Add the following to the top of the file (not the bottom)
    –clean
  6. Launch Flex Builder or Eclipse
  7. Remove –clean after exiting Flex Builder or Eclipse

Installing Flex Builder stand-alone

To install Flex Builder on Windows:

The default location of the installation directory for Flex Builder stand-alone is C:\Program Files\Adobe\Flex Builder 3.

  1. Prior to installing, remove any prerelease versions of Flex Builder 3.
  2. Download Flex Builder Win SA from the Adobe Labs site.
  3. Open or double-click the installer executable file.
  4. Accept the license agreement and follow the prompts.
  5. By default, the debugging version of the Flash Player 9 browser plug-in is selected for installation.
    • The debugging version of Flash Player is Flash Player 9 (9.0.115.0)
    • This version is required for viewing and debugging applications developed with Adobe Flex Builder.
    • You must select separate installs of the Flash Player plug-in for Internet Explorer and for Firefox and Netscape browsers.
  6. (Optional) You can select the following to install:
    • ColdFusion Extensions for Flex Builder
    • JSEclipse - JavaScript plug-in (not available in Japanese)
  7. Follow the prompts to complete the installation.
  8. Review the Release Notes.
  9. Start Flex Builder using its shortcut in the Start menu under Adobe.
  10. When prompted choose the Trial option.

To install Flex Builder on Mac OS X:

  1. Prior to installing, remove any prerelease versions of Flex Builder 3.
  2. Download Flex Builder Mac SA from the Adobe Labs site.
  3. Open or double-click the installer DMG file. The installer image will be mounted.
  4. Open or double-click the installer application to begin the Flex Builder installation process.
  5. Accept the license agreement and follow the prompts.
  6. By default, the debugging version of the Flash Player 9 browser plug-in is selected for installation.
    • The debugging version of Flash Player is Flash Player 9 (9.0.115.0)
    • This version is required for viewing and debugging applications developed with Adobe Flex Builder.
  7. (Optional) You can select the following to install:
    • ColdFusion Extensions for Flex Builder
    • JSEclipse - JavaScript plug-in (not available in Japanese)
  8. Follow the prompts to complete the installation.
  9. Review the Release Notes.
  10. To start Flex Builder, locate and double-click the executable file in /Applications/Adobe Flex Builder 3.
  11. When prompted choose the Trial option.

Installing Flex Builder plug-in

NOTE: Flex Builder is only supported on Eclipse 3.2.2 or Eclipse 3.3.

WARNING: Do not install the plug-in version of Flex Builder 3 Beta 3 into an Eclipse installation that is already running the plug-in version of Flex Builder 2.

To install the Flex Builder Eclipse plug-in on Windows:

  1. Prior to installing, remove any prerelease versions of Flex Builder 3.
  2. Download Flex Builder Win plugin from the Adobe Labs site.
  3. Open or double-click the installer executable file. Accept the license agreement and follow the prompts.
  4. By default, the debugging version of the Flash Player 9 browser plug-in is selected for installation.
    • The debugging version of Flash Player is Flash Player 9 (9.0.115.0)
    • This version is required for viewing and debugging applications developed with Adobe Flex Builder.
    • You must select separate installs of the Flash Player plug-in for Internet Explorer and for Firefox and Netscape browsers.
  5. (Optional) You can select the following to install:
    • ColdFusion Extensions for Flex Builder
    • JSEclipse - JavaScript plug-in (not available in Japanese)
  6. Follow the prompts to complete the installation.
  7. Review the Release Notes.
  8. Start Flex Builder using its shortcut in the Start Menu under Adobe.
  9. When prompted choose the Trial option.


NOTE: You must create a new workspace before beginning. Select File > Switch Workspace from the menu bar and enter a new directory name. If the directory does not exist, Eclipse creates it.

To install the Flex Builder Eclipse plug-in on Mac OS X:

  1. Prior to installing, remove any prerelease versions of Flex Builder 3.
  2. Download Flex Builder Mac plugin from the Adobe Labs site.
  3. Open or double-click the installer DMG file. The installer image will be mounted.
  4. Open or double-click the installer app to begin the Flex Builder installation process.
  5. When prompted select the existing Eclipse installation directory.
  6. Accept the license agreement and follow the prompts.
  7. By default, the debugging version of the Flash Player 9 browser plug-in is selected for installation.
    • The debugging version of Flash Player is Flash Player 9 (9.0.115.0)
    • This version is required for viewing and debugging applications developed with Adobe Flex Builder.
  8. (Optional) You can select the following to install:
    • ColdFusion Extensions for Flex Builder
    • JSEclipse - JavaScript plug-in (not available in Japanese)
  9. Follow the prompts to complete the installation.
  10. Review the Release Notes.
  11. To start Flex Builder, locate and double-click the executable file in /Applications/Adobe Flex Builder 3.
  12. When prompted choose the Trial option.

NOTE: You must create a new workspace before beginning. Select File > Switch Workspace from the menu bar and enter a new folder name. If the folder doesn't exist, Eclipse creates it.

Installing Flex SDK 3 Beta 3

When you install Flex Builder, the Flex SDK is also installed, but if you do not want to install Flex Builder, you can install Flex SDK separately. The Flex SDK install, which is delivered as a ZIP file, contains the Flex framework, Adobe AIR framework, and command-line tools, such as the mxmlc command-line utility, Adobe AIR command-line utility, the ASDoc utility, the Flex command-line debugger, and the debugger version of Flash Player.

Uninstall Current Flash Player

Prior to installing the Flex SDK you must first uninstall your current Flash Player.

Windows—Internet Explorer

Due to security features in the Adobe Flash Player ActiveX Control, you must first remove all existing installations of Flash Player from your Windows system before installing prerelease versions of the Flash Player ActiveX Control. To do this:

  1. Download the Uninstaller.
  2. Open the Windows Command Prompt ( Run > cmd ).
  3. Navigate to the directory where the uninstaller was downloaded to.
  4. Execute the following command:
    uninstall_flash_player.exe /clean

Windows—Plugin-based browsers

Run the appropriate uninstaller available from this TechNote.

Macintosh

Run the appropriate uninstaller available from this Technote.

Linux

Manual removal (for users who installed the plug-in via Install script):

RPM removal:

    # rpm -e flash-plugin

Installing the Flex SDK

To install the Flex SDK:

  1. Download Flex SDK ZIP file from the Adobe Labs site.
  2. Create a directory to contain Flex SDK.
  3. Extract the Flex SDK ZIP file to this directory. The Flex SDK contains the following directories:
    • /ant — Contains Flex Ant Tasks.
    • /asdoc — Contains helper files for the ASDoc tool that creates HTML documentation from your MXML and ActionScript source code.
    • /bin — Contains the mxmlc, compc, asdoc, and fdb utilities. The bin directory also contains the jvm.config file, which specifies Java settings that you can modify, if necessary.
    • /frameworks — Contains compiled framework classes, configuration files, and framework source code.
    • /lib — Contains JAR files used by the utilities.
    • /runtimes — Contains installers for the Adobe AIR runtime inside the air directory and installers for debug versions of Flash Player 9 inside the player directory.
    • /samples — Contains sample applications.
    • /templates — Contains HTML templates for Flash Player detection and browser integration and inside the air folder, a sample Adobe AIR application.xml file.
  4. Review the Release Notes.
  5. Ensure that the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) is installed on the computer and that the java_home/bin directory is defined in the system path. JRE 1.4, 1.5, or 1.6 is required. For 1.4, JRE 1.4.2_06 or later is required.
  6. Install the appropriate Flash Player from the install_root/runtimes/player/platform directory.
  7. (Optional) When the Flash Player installation finishes, restart your computer to ensure that the updated Flash Player browser plug-in is enabled.
  8. Continue by reviewing the samples. To run the samples, you must first compile them running the install_root/samples/build-samples.bat (Windows) or install_root/samples/build-samples.sh (UNIX and Mac OS X) files. For more information on the Flex compilers, see the "Using the Flex Compilers" chapter in the Building and Deploying Flex Applications manual. For example, to compile the install_root/samples/explorer/explorer.mxml file, open a console window, navigate to the install_root/bin directory and issue the following command:
install_root\bin>mxmlc ../samples/explorer/explorer.mxml 

Installing and Configuring Flex Automated Testing

To use Flex Automated Testing, you must install Flex Builder 3. You cannot use Flex Automated Testing with only the Flex 3 SDK. If you do not have a Flex Builder Professional license, your test scripts are limited to 30 actions. If you exceed 30 actions in a test without the Pro license, you will receive a warning that your license is not present.

Flex Automated Testing SWC files are installed by default with Flex Builder 3. They are located in the /frameworks/libs directory with the other SWC files. You can begin using Flex Automated Testing and build your own custom agents without any further installation.

To use run-time automated testing (recommended):

  1. Open a command prompt.
  2. Navigate to the flex_builder_root/sdks/3.0.0/templates/automation-runtimeloading-files directory.
  3. Execute the build.bat file. This compiles the runtimeloading.mxml file into a SWF file.
  4. Copy the runtimeloading.swf and RunTimeLoading.html file to your web server. Copy the Flex application that you want to test to this server as well (the application need not be compiled with automation libraries).
  5. Request the RunTimeLoading.html file and pass your Flex application as the automationswfurl query string parameter; for example:
http://localhost/RunTimeLoading.html?automationswfurl=MyApp.swf

To compile your applications with static automation support:

  1. Start Flex Builder.
  2. Create a new Flex Project.
  3. Select your new Flex project in the Navigator.
  4. Select Project > Properties > Flex Compiler.
  5. In the "Additional compiler arguments" field, enter the following:
-include-libraries "flex_builder_dir\sdks\3.0.0\frameworks\libs\automation.swc" 
"flex_builder_dir\sdks\3.0.0\frameworks\libs\automation_agent.swc" "flex_builder_dir\sdks\3.0.0\frameworks\libs\qtp.swc"
 "flex_builder_dir\sdks\3.0.0\frameworks\libs\automation_dmv.swc"

The -include-libraries compiler option is relative to the Flex Builder installation directory; the default on Windows is "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Flex Builder 3\".

6. Click the OK button to save your changes and OK to close the project Properties dialog box.
7. Compile your Flex application.

Examples and documentation for using custom agents can be found at Custom Agents.

To use Flex Automated Testing with the Flex 3 Plug-in for Mercury QuickTest Pro, you must perform additional steps. The rest of this section describes how to install and use the Flex 3 Plug-in for Mercury QuickTest Pro.

Requirements for Using the QTP Plug-in

To test applications with Flex Automated Testing and the QTP agent, you must install the following:

Installing the Plug-in

This section describes the steps necessary for a QC testing professional to configure QTP to work with Flex applications. You must install QTP and the plug-in.

To install QTP:

  1. Install Flash Player 9 ActiveX control (9.0.28.0 or higher) for Microsoft Internet Explorer. This is currently the only supported browser/player.
  2. Install QTP 9.1 or later if you do not require support for Smart Identification. If you want to use Smart Identification, install QTP 9.2 and patch 1701. You must get QTP 9.1 from Mercury.
  3. If you are using Mercury QTP on Microsoft Windows Vista you need to turn off the User Account Control (UAC) feature. Instructions to turn off UAC are available here
  4. Restart your computer.

To install the Flex 3 Plug-in for Mercury QuickTest Pro:

  1. Run the flex_builder_root/Installers/QTP_Plugin_Installer.exe.
  2. Start QTP.
  3. Close QTP.

In addition to the plug-in's DLLs and XML files, the plug-in installer includes the following in the installation directory:

Using the Plug-in

  1. Start QTP again after installing the plug-in. The Add-in Manager lists the Flex plug-in.
  2. Select the Flex plug-in in the Add-in Manager.
  3. Select New > Test and click the Record button.

NOTE: Flex application testing with QTP currently supports only Microsoft Internet Explorer with the ActiveX Flash Player.

For more information on these tasks and using QTP to test Flex applications, see Testing with QTP.

For information on the operations and properties of Flex objects in QTP, see QTP Object Type Information.

Samples for Automated Testing

Sample custom agents are available at Custom Automation Agents.

An application ready for testing with QTP can be found at Flexstore AT. This sample can be used to test if the QTP plugin installation was successful.

An example for automating custom components can be found at Automating Custom Component.

Using automation with the Adobe Flex Component Kit for Flash CS3

You can create Flex controls, containers, skins, and other assets in Flash CS3 Professional, and then import those assets into your Flex application. When you want to automate an application that uses such assets, you must include the automation_flashflexkit.swc library.

If you are using run-time loading, re-compile the runtimeloading.swf file by using the build.bat file in flex_builder_root\sdks\3.0.0\templates\automation-runtimeloading-files\. The batch file includes the necessary libraries.

If you are compiling automation support into your application, add the automation_flashflexkit.swc to your include-libraries compiler option. This is in addition to the other automation SWC files. The SWC files are located in the flex_builder_root\sdks\3.0.0\frameworks\libs directory.

Uninstalling

Uninstalling Flex Builder

Uninstalling Flex Builder 3 on Windows:

  1. Select Start > Settings > Control Panel.
  2. Select Add or Remove Programs.
  3. Click the Adobe Flex Builder version to uninstall (Flex Builder, Flex Builder Plug-in only).
  4. Click the Uninstall button in the uninstaller dialog box.
  5. Click Done.

Uninstalling Flex Builder 3 on Mac OS X:

  1. Go to the flex_builder_root/Uninstall Adobe Flex Builder 3 folder.
  2. Double-click "Uninstall Adobe Flex Builder 3".
  3. Click the Uninstall button in the uninstaller dialog box.
  4. Click Done.

Uninstalling Flash Player

If you intend to debug your applications, use the debugger version of Flash Player that is included with either Flex Builder 3 or the Flex 3 SDK. If you are currently using a previously released Flash Player, you will need to uninstall that Player before installing the new debugger version of Flash Player.

Flash Player Uninstallation Instructions

Windows—Internet Explorer

  1. Download the Uninstaller.
  2. Open the Windows Command Prompt ( Run > cmd ).
  3. Navigate to the directory where the uninstaller was downloaded to.
  4. Execute the following command:
uninstall_flash_player.exe /clean

Windows—Plugin-based browsers

Macintosh

Linux

Manual removal (for users who installed the plug-in via Install script):

RPM removal:

  # rpm -e flash-plugin 

Documentation

Getting Started

If you are new to Flex or AIR, check out the following resources:

Before using the documentation, please refer to the feature pages on the Adobe Labs. These pages include descriptions and samples for features that are new to Flex 3.

Usage Information

Usage documentation is available in the Flex Builder online Help, from LiveDocs, or as a ZIP file. This ZIP file includes PDF versions of the following documentation resources:

The ZIP file also contains the following books in PDF form:

NOTE: For information on additional Adobe AIR documentation, including information on building Ajax applications with Adobe AIR, see the AIR Release Notes

Reference

The ASDoc-generated class reference documentation is available here:

Compatibility Issues

Adobe AIR

Flex SDK

Flex Builder

Flash Player

Flex 2 Charting

If you have a licensed version of Flex 2 Charting and want to use those components in Flex Builder 3, you must copy your serial number from the Flex 2 license.properties file to the Flex Builder 3 license.properties file for the SDK 2.0.1. In addition, to use Flex 2 Charting with Flex Builder 3, you must select the 2.0.1 SDK when compiling your applications in Flex Builder 3.

charting=serial_number

Known Issues

This section contains a product-specific list of known issues in the Flex 3 Public beta. Flex 3 uses a public bug system (http://bugs.adobe.com/flex) and most bugs in these lists contain a link to more detail in this bug system. You can also use the public bug system to post bugs you find in the beta 3 release.

When using the public bug system, you should start by clicking on the Bug Standards / Community Process link to learn more about the bug system (be sure to check the section at the bottom). Then go back, register for your account and you should be able to view and define bugs.

Flex SDK issues

Adobe AIR Support

Compiler

Also, if you use a command line similar to mxmlc -locale ja_JP MyApp.mxml where -locale is the last option before the target file, you must change it to either mxmlc -locale=ja_JP MyApp.mxml or mxmlc -locale ja_JP -- MyApp.mxml.


Components

import mx.managers.IPopUpManager;
private var iPopUpManager:IPopUpManager;

Deep Linking

Profiler

Other

 1. Extract Library.swf from the SWC.
 2. Run the optimize tool to remove debug information and metadata. Specify the metadata you want to keep by using the –keep-as3-metadata option.
 3. Optionally, run the digest tool to update the SWC digest information since the RSL has been modified.

Alternatively, here is an Ant task that runs the steps. The task assumes your SWC is a file, not a directory.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<project name="myproject" default="create-my-rsls" basedir=".">
        <target name="create-my-rsls" description="Build RSLs">
              <macrodef name="create-rsl">
                       <attribute name="rsl-dir"/>
                       <attribute name="swc-dir"/>
                       <attribute name="swc-name"/>

                       <sequential>
                               <unzip src="@{swc-dir}/@{swc-name}.swc"
                                         dest="@{rsl-dir}" >
                                      <patternset>
                                              <include name="library.swf" />
                                      </patternset>
                               </unzip>

                              <java jar="${basedir}/lib/optimizer.jar" fork="true" failonerror="true">
                                      <jvmarg line="-ea -DAS3 -DAVMPLUS -Dflexlib=${basedir}\frameworks -Xms32m -Xmx384m -Dsun.io.useCanonCaches=false"/>
                                      <arg line="'@{rsl-dir}/library.swf' --output '@{rsl-dir}/@{swc-name}_3.0.${build.number}.swf' 
--keep-as3-metadata='Bindable,Managed,ChangeEvent,NonCommittingChangeEvent,Transient' "/>

                               <delete file="@{rsl-dir}/library.swf"/>

                               <java jar="${basedir}/lib/digest.jar" fork="true" failonerror="true">
                                      <jvmarg line="-ea -DAS3 -DAVMPLUS -Xms32m -Xmx384m -Dsun.io.useCanonCaches=false"/>
                                      <arg line="--digest.rsl-file  @{rsl-dir}/@{swc-name}.swf --digest.swc-path  @{swc-dir}/@{swc-name}.swc"/>
                               </java>

                       </sequential>
               </macrodef>

               <!-- myswc RSL -->

               <create-rsl rsl-dir="c:\myproject\rsls" swc-dir="c:\myproject\libs" swc-name="myswc"/>

         </target>

</project>
<mx:Style>
 ColorPicker { 
   upSkin: ClassReference("mx.skins.halo.ColorPickerSkin"); 
   overSkin: ClassReference("mx.skins.halo.ColorPickerSkin"); 
   downSkin: ClassReference("mx.skins.halo.ColorPickerSkin"); 
   disabledSkin: ClassReference("mx.skins.halo.ColorPickerSkin"); 
 } 

 ComboBox { 
   upSkin: ClassReference("mx.skins.halo.ComboBoxArrowSkin"); 
   overSkin: ClassReference("mx.skins.halo.ComboBoxArrowSkin"); 
   downSkin: ClassReference("mx.skins.halo.ComboBoxArrowSkin"); 
   disabledSkin: ClassReference("mx.skins.halo.ComboBoxArrowSkin"); 
 } 
</mx:Style>

If you are embedding static XML in a mx:Model, you may get a compiler error such as:

Method 'flex2.compiler.mxml.rep.MxmlDocument.getDefinitionIterator': invocation exception during codegen: java.lang.Integer 

The CDATA of <uid> is not being resolved as a String (ObjectProxy.uid is a String getter/setter), such as <uid>12345</uid>. To get rid of this error, for the Integer case above, add a non-numeric character, such as surrounding quotes: <uid>"12345"</uid>, or prefix the number with a zero: <uid>012345</uid>. You will still have trouble retrieving this value, so a better solution is to rename all instances of the <uid> tag in the static XML.

Japanese Flex SDK

Flex Builder issues

AIR

Profiler

See Profiler section of the Flex SDK release notes.

ActionScript Editor

Installer

Design View

Project

Refactoring

ColdFusion Extensions for Eclipse

Flex Skin Design Extensions for CS

Japanese Flex Builder

Data Management and Visualization issues

Advanced DataGrid

Other

To workaround the issue modify the Flex Project's properties. Choose "Flex Build Path", then select the "Library Path" tab. Select the framework.swc entry in the Flex SDK. The framework.swc library needs to be linked as an RSL and moved up in the library order before datavisualization.swc. To make framework RSL load before the datavisualization RSL this press the "Up" button until the framework.swc entry comes before the datavisualizatoin.swc entry.

By default framework.swc is configured with the correct RSL properties. To enable linking as an RSL change the "Framework Linkage" combo to "Runtime Shared Library (RSL)".

Flash Player issues

Documentation Issues

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