Flash® Catalyst™ CS5 Bible

Chapter 16. Returning a Project to Flash Catalyst

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Flash Builder projects and Catalyst

• Merge projects

• Use a library package to manage changes

After you import your Catalyst project into Flash Builder, development of the project should be done entirely in Builder. Full round-trip editing between Catalyst and Builder is not available.

However, in real-world environments, there may be situations where some updating or editing of the project will be easier in Catalyst than in Builder. For example, if your client decides to change some aspect of the look and feel of the project, such as deciding that a button should be a different shape or color, you may want to make the necessary modifications in Catalyst.

While no direct path exists to open a project in Catalyst, it is nonetheless possible to work between the two applications.

Flash Builder Projects in Flash Catalyst

Once a project has been modified in Flash Builder it's no longer possible to open and edit that file in Catalyst. Attempting to do so will result in an error. Even though Flash Builder contains a menu item to export the project as an FXP, Catalyst will not be able to open the project.

The reason for this limitation is based on the differences in the workflow between Flash Builder and Catalyst. A Flex developer working exclusively in Flash Builder might begin by working in Design mode to create the basic interface of the application, but will likely very quickly switch to working in code. Ultimately, many of the changes ...