Flash Builder and Flash Catalyst Betas Now Available

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Flash Builder Flash Catalyst LogoWe 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.

Flash Catalyst Tutorial

There are a lot of resources to make sure you get up to speed quickly using the new tools. Here’s a good list:

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.

Related posts:

  1. Flex Builder “Gumbo” is Being Renamed Flash Builder
  2. The Flex Builder “Identity Crisis” and the Flash Platform
  3. Flash Catalyst Performance Tricks
  4. Kevin Lynch’s Flash Catalyst Keynote at Web 2.0 Expo
  5. Deepa And Peter Flynn Talking about Gumbo and Catalyst Tomorrow
  • Alan

    whoo hoo!
    I’m one of the excited ones to see Adobe being more aggressive delineating tools for designers and tools for developers.

  • http://pradeek.blogspot.com Pradeek

    Is Flash Builder 4 beta is only a 30 day trial? What about Flash Catalyst?

  • ryanstewart

    @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

  • ryanstewart

    @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

  • http://www.xpert.com.co/blog Marlon Ceballos

    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)

  • http://satish-as.blogspot.com/ satish

    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.

  • http://timmcleod.com Tim McLeod

    @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.

  • http://matt-radel.com/ Matt Radel

    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.

  • Tim Anders

    Fantastic. Just got an alert that there is free training from
    Lynda.com on this too:

    http://www.lynda.com/flashcatalyst

  • N8

    Scratching my head wondering why they needed to create another tool (Catalyst) instead of just creating a designer mode in Flex Builder.

  • Jean-Christophe TURIN

    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 :)

  • http://www.lynda.com Steve Johnson

    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

  • Gerald Guido

    Amazing stuff. I am SOOO hooked.

    Ryan, are there source files for this screen cast?

    http://www.digitalbackcountry.com/flashcatalyst/tutorial02/screencast/index.html

  • J3D

    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?

  • Panchavati12

    pls give me to adobe catalyst serial key .