My FlashBuilder 4 color scheme.
Something that still isn’t very intuitive to do is changing the color scheme on the editor in Eclipse. FlashBuilder 4 is no different, but hopefully this post will help ease the pain. To me a darker background with soft colors helps me concentrate more than a white background and black text. I once had a professor tell me that staring at a white background is no different than staring at a light bulb…light is projected from behind the screen.
Inspired by Kevin Suttle’s awesome instructions on how to customize the color scheme in FlashBuilder 4, I am listing my own settings below. I have always been a dark gray / blue type of designer and the colors I use in my editor work best for me. As with anything, pick what works best for you and if you want, share them. You can find these preferences in Flash Builder by following the links shown before each set of values below. I thought about posting my actual preference export, but there is a lot of personal system and software information saved in there. Instead of risking the removal of a key line in the preferences I am just listing the values that I changed within each section. This will give you a better idea on what changes anyway… You may notice that even my lighter fonts are still not white, but #DDDDDD.
Window > Preferences > General > Editors > Text Editors >
Window > Preferences > Flash Builder > Editors > Syntax Coloring > ActionScript >
Flash Builder > Editors > Syntax Coloring > MXML >
FlashBuilder: SourceMate AS3Signals Template
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Updated: RobotLegs metadata templates added to the zip file. This adds the template for [Inject] and [PostConstruct]. To install follow the same steps below for templates, but on step 3 choose “Metadata”. Import the “robotlegs_metadata.xml” file. Thanks to Nick Collins for the template!
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Building off of and all props to the AS3Signals for FDT post by Aiden Tailor the following is a similar template for SourceMate / Flash Builder 4. This is a code template for AS3Signals by Robert Penner.
I am an FDT fanboy, but also use FlashBuilder at the office and SourceMate is the bomb. For more information on SourceMate go here. For some in depth explanation of SourceMate’s features check out Jesse Freeman’s post on InsideRIA.
You can grab the template here. (Also included is the base template, in case you accidentally overwrite yours).
How to install:
- In FlashBuilder 4 (assuming SourceMate is installed) go to “Window”
- Then go to “Preferences”
- Twirl down SourceMate and choose “Templates (Snippets)
- On the right side choose “Import”
- Browse to the “as3Signals.xml” file that was bundled in the AS3Signals_SourceMate.zip file that you downloaded.
- Select “as3Signals.xml” and click “Open”
- The template is now in place.
Flex Framework: RobotLegs simple demo
I have finally dug into the RobotLegs framework and learned enough about the workflow and idea to put together a quick video demo. The demo runs through setting up a simple project that actually utilizes the framework and injects data from a model into a TextArea. I hope you enjoy and possibly even learn a thing or two. Nevermind the yelling kids and wife…and barking dogs 
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If you have trouble viewing the video, you can [Right Click Here] to download the video locally. It’s around 50mb and a QuickTime video.
Source code can be obtained here and a short demo on git can be viewed here.
Flex Framework: Using Mate to populate a datagrid with an ArrayCollection
Recently I have been learning to use and implementing the Mate Event based framework for Flex. I have to say it is very easy to pick up and will definitely be digging into it more as the days come. I am including a sample Flex project as a zip file in this post and won’t get into the fine details…unless I am asked to. In using Mate, one of the most important tips is to know what files to create and the process of using those files. For this demo I will be using the EventMap (of course…), and the Manager class. Below is the order or items needed and what they are used for.
Of course, learn more about Mate and get the framework here.
Recent Comments
GarthDB on FlashBuilder: SourceMate AS3Signals Template:
Thanks Brian. I appreciate this being here....
kathryn on I have joined litl!:
psyched to have you onboard! this team just gets more and more awesome....
Filippo on My FlashBuilder 4 color scheme.:
Flash Builder is such a powerful tool, but syntax highlighting just sucks! ...
Devi on AS3: Creating custom events:
This example is awesome...
Josh Molina on AS3: Creating custom events:
Excellent tutorial. Straight and to the point.Thank you.Jo...