How do teams use Flex Builder Pro to develop large applications?

Question

We develop applications for the Flash platform, which have LOTS of run-time loaded assets (graphics, data, audio, code-libraries, etc.) Those assets are logically organized within project folders. Programmers and designers get the latest from version control, check-out their code or design work, test within a full local copy of the application, then check-in when they are done. The organization is important to this workflow and our communication.

Using Flash or FlashDevelop, I can easily work with any organization of folders and files. I can easily compile a single package or class to create a run-time loadable swf. In Flex Builder Pro, it seems my options are to create a project for each swf that I need to compile or create a project which references modules, which can also be setup as projects. Neither technique seems ideal for a team or even as good as our current workflow. Note: I've got about 10 years experience with Flash, but only a couple months experience using Flex Builder Pro. It is quite likely that I simply haven't discovered a better workflow.

Would you please share a few tips on how you and your team use Flex Builder Pro to develop large applications, which have lots of runtime libraries and other assets?

Answer 1

Generally, you are correct: Using FlexBuilder the idea is that you will create a project that has a single thing to be built (.swf, .swc, etc).

A file repository (as you mentioned you use) is definitely a MUST HAVE for large-scale development.

Adding build tools such as Ant (my personal favorite) and Maven (growing in popularity and ability pretty quickly) to your toolbox allow you to do more advanced building (and even unit-testing). These types of tools will allow the building of a large application with many aspects and dependencies in a single action. This is a must for large-scale applications and development environments. For larger projects with a lot of sub-projects I will often have a single "master" project that is little more than a build script that calls sub-project build scripts and puts everything together. Maven is particularly good at that. There are Eclipse plug-ins that help out with both of those tools.

Different situations require different ways to use the projects together. It may be helpful to directly link to a Library project as a dependency. That way your projects are able to debug the linked code and modify it as needed. Or if library projects are less commonly modified then their assets could be dropped into the /libs folder of the dependant project eliminating the need to have the .swc generating project open while development goes on.

Keeping your projects to a one-asset-per-project situation goes a long way to keeping it organized. Generally I have a folder for each client and in there a folder for each project. If that project needs to be broken down into sub-projects then ALL of those sub-projects will be located in that project folder (no matter what the relationship is to each other).

Sometimes it is of course helpful to have a number of assets be created for a single project. This could be multiple .swfs for different situations, different .zips for distribution to different places or clients or a dozen other situations. "Asset" projects are sometimes a good example of this. Sometimes I have a "project" that is just my collection of assets. I don't normally access this project from within FlexBuilder and it doesn't normally have the .project and other Eclipse files.

Answer 2

I also use combination of library projects and regular projects. One issue I ran into with a large project is compilation time. Here are some links for the compilation:

• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/33768/any-advice-for-speeding-up-the-compile-time-in-flex-builder-3
• http://code.seanhess.net/?p=184
• http://www.rogue-development.com/blog2/2007/11/slow-flex-builder-compile-and-refresh-solution-modules/
• http://blog.iconara.net/2008/02/22/quick-tips-to-speed-up-your-ant-build/

Setting the right eclipse.ini and using the -incremental compiler option really helped me out.

Answer 3

Unless you develop a Hello World application, you should have more than one Flex Builder projects. The main one has the bare minimum of classes, and possibly shared libraries that are required to display the first screen of your app.

Fonts and CSS go to a separate proj and are compiled into a separate swf. Load them during the runtime via StyleManager. This alone will speed up the compilation of your app.

The rest of the code has to be split into a separate projects (either Flex Library projects or just the projects having modules). Read about differences in linking of the libraries with the main proj (RSL vs Merged into Code vs. External).

We use Ant for building each of the projects and the entire app. Our open sourced Fx2Ant utility generates ANT scripts for your Flex Builder projects in seconds.

For example, here's the project I was working on last year: http://www.mbusa.com. It consists of more than 15 Flex Builder projects.