Flash Builder and Flash Catalyst Betas Now Available
We just dropped the bits for both the Flash Builder beta and the Flash Catalyst beta. These represent a big jump in how people are going to work with the Flex Framework and I’m happy to see the hard work of the teams now available to everyone. So grab the bits and start creating some Flash content. Important: If you installed the MAX public beta, check the bottom of this post for some instructions that will help you through some install problems that may come up.
Keep in mind that we’re still early for both Catalyst and Builder. We won’t have everything we want in Catalyst 1.0 but this beta represents a HUGE step over what some of you saw at MAX last year so we’re making a lot of progress. It’s snappy, it’s tightly integrated with the CS4 tools, and it opens up a whole world of design centric tooling for the Flex Framework. What makes this all possible are the fundamental changes to the Flex SDK for Flex 4. We’ve completely separated the logic from the look of a component which means designers and developers can collaborate without stepping on each others toe’s. We’ve abstracted the layouts so you can dynamically change the layout of components creating some very cool looking components. We’ve integrated Flash Builder with a lot of your favorite backend technologies so it’s easy to consume and generate services to connect to data.
I’ve created a screencast to help people check out the new features. It goes through the workflow of moving from a PSD to Flash Catalyst and on to Flash Builder when you want to bring in real data.
There are a lot of resources to make sure you get up to speed quickly using the new tools. Here’s a good list:
- Flash Builder developer center
- Flash Catalyst developer center
- Mordy Golding worked with Lynda.com to provide FREE training videos for Catalyst
- The Flash Catalyst Exchange for seeing and downloading projects and samples
- We’ve got a series of eSeminars coming up in the next couple of weeks
- Adobe’s user group tour for Flash Builder, Flash Catalyst, and ColdFusion is kicking off this month
- Flash Builder and Flash Catalyst forums for asking questions
- Serge Jespers has a bunch of resources as well.
If you’re having trouble uninstalling the MAX preview and installing the public beta, give these steps a try:
- Uninstall Catalyst
- Download the Mac version of the Repair tool from this page: http://www.adobe.com/support/contact/licensing.html
- Run the Repair tool with the default options.
- After the Repair is complete, re-install Catalyst and enter the SN when prompted by the installer.
Posted in Flash Catalyst, Flex, Rich Internet Applications
May 31st, 2009 at 9:08 pm
whoo hoo!
I’m one of the excited ones to see Adobe being more aggressive delineating tools for designers and tools for developers.
May 31st, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Is Flash Builder 4 beta is only a 30 day trial? What about Flash Catalyst?
May 31st, 2009 at 9:39 pm
@Pradeek, they’re both 30 day trials, but I think we’re going to have something that you can use to extend both Flash Builder and Catalyst. I’ll double check.
=Ryan
ryan@adobe.com
May 31st, 2009 at 9:45 pm
@Pradeek, the Catalyst serial number is below the download link on the download page.
http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/entitlement/index.cfm?e=labs_flashcatalyst
=Ryan
ryan@adobe.com
May 31st, 2009 at 10:20 pm
The Catalyst installer is a trial, but if you have an Flex 3 serial you can request an Catalyst serial in this link: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashbuilder4/extension.html (the form will be available soon)
May 31st, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Good to listen and very much excited about Flash 4. I read the article and I am downloading Flash 4 and Flex Component kit. I do have a question here, as the Flash(Animated) is going to be a SWC the size of the application matters? If I go for RSL, how far it will be helpful.
June 1st, 2009 at 5:55 am
@satish Flash 4? You mean Flash CS4? Or Flash Player 10? Err, no, you mean Flash BUILDER 4, right?
I just watched the demo. I like how you can convert the graphics directly into components, and the workflow seems fairly seamless. I’m anxious to see how practical these tools will be in production. Thanks for putting the video together.
June 1st, 2009 at 6:44 am
Despite all efforts with the license recovery tool and restarts, I still can’t remove the max FC build. Any attempt to install the latest FC beta results in a “conflict with Flash Catalyst” which forces the installer to quit. Any other ideas? I’d love to take the latest build for a spin.
I should mention that I’m on an intel (of course) iMac running 10.5.7. Any assistance would be swell.
June 1st, 2009 at 9:25 am
Fantastic. Just got an alert that there is free training from
Lynda.com on this too:
http://www.lynda.com/flashcatalyst
June 1st, 2009 at 11:04 am
Scratching my head wondering why they needed to create another tool (Catalyst) instead of just creating a designer mode in Flex Builder.
June 1st, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Finally! Here we are
Glad to test this really cool stuff! I’ve been waiting for this for a year now! Really cool!
I’ll test it now
Cheerz Ryan! Thx for the tutorial too
June 3rd, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Hi Ryan thanks for adding the link to the Free lynda.com Flash Catalyst training. There is an extra character at the end of the lynda.com link in your post, so it’s going to a 404 page. Here is the link it should go to:
http://www.lynda.com/flashcatalyst
Thanks again!
Steve Johnson
lynda.com
August 20th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Amazing stuff. I am SOOO hooked.
Ryan, are there source files for this screen cast?
http://www.digitalbackcountry.com/flashcatalyst/tutorial02/screencast/index.html
September 3rd, 2009 at 8:17 pm
Uninstalled Flash Builder after 1 day because it was painfully slow to install it again as an Eclipse plugin. It worked great that way… the only time it let me run it. After that, it expired. Is there a way to fix that or to extend the trial period?