Create projects in Flash Builder

Flash Builder lets you create different types of projects such as Flex, Flex on mobile, ActionScript, and Adobe AIR projects, as well as other types of projects. Flash Builder provides you a project-creation wizard that guides you through the steps, prompting you for the type of project to create, the project name, location, application type (web or desktop), SDK versions, and other options.

For information about creating an ActionScript project, see ActionScript projects.

For information about creating library projects, see Use Flex library projects.

For information about creating Flash Professional projects, see Using Flash Builder with Flash Professional.

    Flex projects

    You can use Flex projects to create Web applications (run in Flash Player) or Desktop applications (runs in Adobe AIR).There are options to create MX only Flex projects or Spark only projects that use only Spark components.

    Create Flex Projects

    Use this procedure to create your basic Web or Desktop applications.

    1. Select File > New > Flex Project.

    2. Enter a project name and location.

      The default location is the current workspace.

    3. Select either Web or Desktop for the application type.

    4. Use either the default Flex SDK, or browse to another installed SDK. Click Next.

    5. (Optional) Specify Server Settings.

      See Access data services.

    6. Specify an Output Folder.

      If you do not specify an application server, the location is inside your project folder.

      If you specify an application server, the output server is outside the project folder. Typically, you place the output folder with your service files.

    7. Click Finish, or click Next to specify additional configuration options.

    8. (Optional) Specify Build Paths and other configuration options.

      See Build paths, native extensions, and other project configuration options.

    9. Click Finish.

     Watch the video Build your First Desktop Application with Flash Builder by Adobe Evangelist James Ward.

    Create a Flex project that uses only MX components

    The MX Only option is useful for creating applications that are similar in design to applications created with the previous release of Flex (that is, Flex 3), but still have access to the latest Flex and Flash Builder features (such as the states syntax, advanced CSS, compiler improvements, and other language features).

    If you specify MX Only for a project, then Spark components are not available to applications in the project.

    You can convert a Flex project to be an MX Only project. However, Flash Builder does not rewrite any code in the project. Manually update your code to remove any reference to Spark components.

    Create an MX Only Flex project

    1. Select File > New > Flex Project.

    2. Specify Project Location and Server Settings, as described in Build paths, native extensions, and other project configuration options.

    3. In the Build Paths page of the New Flex Project wizard, specify MX Only.

    4. Specify other Build Path settings, as described in Build paths, native extensions, and other project configuration options. Click Finish.

    Convert a Flex project to an MX Only Flex project

    1. Make the project the active project in Flash Builder:

      Typically, you open a source file in the project to make the project active.

    2. Select Project > Properties > Flex Build Path.

    3. For Component Set, select MX Only. Click OK.

    4. Modify any application code in the project that accesses Spark components.

      You cannot reference Spark components in an MX Only project.

    Create a Flex project that uses only Spark components

    The Spark Only option is useful for creating applications that use Flex and Flash Builder features such as the new states syntax, advanced CSS, compiler improvements, and other language features.

    If you specify Spark Only for a project, then MX components that were available with Flex 3 are not available to applications in the project.

    1. Select File > New > Flex Project.

    2. Specify Project Location and Server Settings, as described in Flex projects.

    3. In the Build Paths page of the New Flex Project wizard, specify Spark Only.

    4. Specify other Build Path settings, as described in Build paths, native extensions, and other project configuration options. Click Finish.

    Flex mobile projects

    Flash Builder lets you create Flex projects targeted for mobile devices. A Flex mobile project creates an Adobe AIR application that can run on Apple iOS, BlackBerry Tablet OS, and Google Android devices.

    Create Flex mobile projects

    Use this procedure to create a Flex mobile project for Apple iOS, BlackBerry Tablet OS, and Google Android devices.

    1. Select File > New > Flex Mobile Project.

    2. Enter a project name and location.

      The default location is the current workspace.

    3. Use the default Flex 4.6 SDK that supports mobile application development or an Apache Flex SDK. Click Next.

    4. Specify Mobile settings:

      • Select the platform that your application must target. For more information, see Choose target platforms.

      • Specify an application template.

        Fore more information, see Choose an application template.

      • Specify permissions.

        Select the target platform, and set the permissions for each platform, as required. You can edit the permissions later in the application descriptor XML file.

        For more information, see Choose mobile application permissions.

      • Specify platform settings.

        Platform settings let you select a target device family. Depending on the platform that you select, you can select the target device or a target device family.
        Note: There are no platform-specific settings for the Google Android or BlackBerry Tablet OS platform.

        For more information, see Choose platform settings.

      • Specify application settings.

        For more information, see Choose application settings.

    5. Click Finish or click Next to specify server settings.

    6. (Optional) Specify Server Settings.

      Fore more information, see Access data services.

    7. Specify an Output Folder.

      If you do not specify an application server, the location is inside your project folder.

      If you specify an application server, the output server is outside the project folder. Typically, you place the output folder with your service files.

    8. Click Finish, or click Next to specify additional configuration options.

    9. (Optional) Specify Build Paths and other configuration options.

      For more information, see Build paths, native extensions, and other project configuration options.

    10. Click Finish.

     Flex consultant, Brian Telintelo, blogged about creating a mobile application for the Android platform.

    For more information on mobile development using Flex and Flash Builder, see Developing mobile applications in Flash Builder.

    ActionScript projects

    Use ActionScript projects to create Web or Desktop applications that are based on the AIR SDK. This SDK contains the Adobe AIR SDK, ASC (ActionScript Compiler), and other required components and files).

    Create ActionScript projects

    Create an ActionScript application for the Web or Desktop by following these steps:

    1. Select File > New > ActionScript Project.

    2. Enter a project name and location.

      The default location is the current workspace.

    3. Select either Web or Desktop for the application type.

    4. This project uses the AIR SDK 3.4 by default. Click Check For Updates to check and download an updated version of the AIR SDK if available.

      Click Next.

    5. Specify Build Paths.

      For more information, see Build paths, native extensions, and other project configuration options.

    6. Click Finish.

    For more information on coding in ActionScript, see the ActionScript Developer's Guide.

    Create ActionScript mobile projects

    Create AIR-based ActionScript applications that can run on Apple iOS, BlackBerry Tablet OS, and Google Android devices by following these steps:

    1. Select File > New > ActionScript Mobile Project.

    2. Enter a project name and location.

      The default location is the current workspace.

    3. This project uses the AIR SDK 3.4 by default. Click Check For Updates to check and download an updated version of the AIR SDK if available.

      Click Next.

    4. Specify Mobile settings:

      • Select the platforms that your application must target.

        For more information, see Choose target platforms.

      • Specify platform permissions.

        Select the target platform, and set the permissions for each platform, as required. You can edit the permissions later in the application descriptor XML file.

        For more information, see Choose mobile application permissions.

      • Specify platform settings.

        For more information, see Choose platform settings.

      • Specify application settings.

        Select Automatically Reorient if you want your application to rotate when the device rotates.

        Select Full Screen if you want your application to display in fullscreen mode on the device.

    5. Click Finish, or click Next to specify additional configuration options.

    6. (Optional) Specify Build Paths.

      See Build paths, native extensions, and other project configuration options.

    7. Click Finish.

    Build paths, native extensions, and other project configuration options

    When you create a Flex or ActionScript project, you can customize its configuration. All additional configuration steps are optional.

    Note: You can also change a project’s configuration after the project has been created by selecting Project > Properties.
    Source Path
    Use the Source tab to add additional source folders to a project. You can reorder the source folders, edit the location of folders, and remove folders from the source path.

    Main source folder, main application file, output folder URL
    By default, Flash Builder places source files in a projects src folder.

    For Flex projects, the default name of the main MXML application file is the name of the project. You can change these defaults when creating the project.

    When you create a project, Flash Builder runs application files from a default URL based on your project settings. Specify an output folder URL to override the default settings. The output folder URL is useful when you build and deploy your application on your project server, but you debug your application on a web server. You then specify the web server URL as the output folder URL. For example, if you specify http://myserver/test.swf as the output folder URL, a launch configuration is created with that URL.

    See Set up a project output folder and Run and debug applications.

    Library Path
    Use the Library Path tab to specify the framework linkage and build path libraries

    • Component Set

      The component set is available only for Flex projects. Typically, you make all components available. In some cases, you specify MX components only. See Component Set (MX + Spark, Spark Only, or MX Only).

    • Framework Linkage

      For Flex projects, application classes for Flex 4.5 or a higher version of the Flex framework use dynamic linking by default. For more information, see Application Framework Linkage.

      The following options are available only for Flex projects, and are enabled by default:

      • Verify RSL Digests (Recommended For Production)

      • Remove unused RSLs

        Note: This option is not available for Flex frameworks older than Flex 4.5.

      • Use Local Debug SWF RSL When Debugging

      • Automatically Determine Library Order Based on Dependencies

    • Build Path Libraries

      You can add or remove project libraries, SWC library folders, or SWC files to the build path. You can also change the build path order.

      Use the Edit button to change the location of added libraries or folders.

      Use the Add Flex SDK button to restore the default SDK for a project if you removed the Flex SDK from the build path.

    Native Extensions
    The Native Extensions tab is available only for mobile projects. Use the Native Extensions tab to include ActionScript Native Extension (ANE) files to provide native platform capabilities in your applications.
    Important: You can create ActionScript extensions only for mobile projects that support Adobe AIR 3.0 or a higher version.

    For more information, see Add native extensions to a project.