ADOBE® FLEX® BUILDER™ 3: USING ADOBE FLEX BUILDER 3

ADOBE FLEX BUILDER 3

Using Adobe Flex Builder 3

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The Flex Development perspective

The Flex Development perspective includes the editors and views you need to create Flex and ActionScript 3.0 appli-

cations. When you create a project, Flex Builder switches into the Development perspective so you can begin devel-

oping your application. The following example shows the Flex Navigator, Outline, and Problems views:

The focal point of the perspective (and the workbench generally) is the editor area. The editor area contains all of the

currently open documents in a multitab interface. The supporting views are placed around the editor area. Perspec-

tives predefine the layout of all the elements within it, but you may rearrange them to your liking. For more infor-

mation, see “Navigating and Customizing the Flex Builder Workbench” on page 52.

In Source (code editing) mode, the Development perspective contains the following elements:

Flex Builder editors

The editor area contains all of the open documents. When you create a Flex project, the main MXML application file

is opened in the editor area. You can then open and switch between any of the MXML, ActionScript, and CSS

documents you are working in.

The MXML and CSS editors operate in two modes (Source and Design) and the Development perspective is

modified to accommodate each set of tasks as you toggle between the two modes. The ActionScript editor is a single-

purpose editor that is used to create ActionScript files.

ADOBE FLEX BUILDER 3

Using Adobe Flex Builder 3

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For more information about using the MXML editor, see “About code editing in Flex Builder” on page 102 and

“Working with components visually” on page 69.

Flex Navigator view

The Flex Navigator view contains all of the projects and resources in the workspace and is therefore an essential

element of the Flex Builder workbench. It is always displayed in the Development and Debugging perspectives.

For more information about the Flex Navigator view and working with projects, see “Working with Projects” on

page 27.

Outline view

In Source mode, the Outline view presents a hierarchical view of the code structure of the selected MXML or Action-

Script document so that you can inspect and navigate the sections or lines of code in the document. The Outline

view also displays syntax error alerts that the compiler generates. This view is also available when you use the Action-

Script editor.

For more information about using the Outline view in Source mode, see “Using the Outline view to navigate and

inspect code” on page 108.