Full Complement

Adobe released betas of two products, Flash Builder 4, formerly known as Flex Builder 3, and Flash Catalyst, a newer design and development tool, providing a midpoint between design programs like Illustrator and Photoshop and Flex Builder. The landscape is getting quite crowded in Adobeland. I'm wondering if all these new programs are making the landscape easier for developers, and more complicated.

I certainly love the desire to develop new solutions to existing frustrations. It seems many of these products emerge out of a difficulty. I certainly couldn't provide an accurate history of why Adobe makes its decisions, but as an enthusiast of Flash and someone who wants to identify the best tools for development, I can see share what I see as the path. Originally, we had Flash, which over time grew into a rich programming language behind the scenes with Actionscript 2. It was much more than splash screens for websites and annoying video introductions. Anyone who used Flash knew it was much more than an animation program. The movement to Actionscript 3 came with some rough patches, but it embraced the stricter rules of other programming languages. Anyone who got into Actionscript on a whim (like myself) found the new AS3 much more daunting and sobering. I can see the merits in AS3, but it doesn't make learning the new syntax an enjoyable transition.

Also included in Flash were a number of pre-designed components. They were useful for handling data (combo lists, datagrids, list controls, etc.) They made creating RIAs (rich internet applications) easier. These components were then split off into their own framework, Flex, and the Flex Builder. It supported the components and Actionscript 3 as well as MXML (I think that's right.)

Once it became possible to create legitimate online applications using Flex or Flash, Adobe released the ability to port these online RIAs to your desktop through AIR. You would be able to install these applications like you might any program on your computer, providing more access to the file system. AIR supports many of the Twitter clients out in the wild including TweetDeck and Twirl. The new Hulu desktop is an AIR application.

We now come to Flash Builder 4 and Catalyst. Flash Builder 4 is not remarkably different from its predecessor. The most significant change is in the name. It's supposed to emphasize the fact that whether you develop in Flash or Flex, you are ultimately building apps or RIAs that play in the Flash Player. I hope one day Flash is loaded by default on every computer. Separate installations for different browsers worries me. Even AIR requires another installation. I worry about developing anything that requires extra work on part of the user. I have seen my parents and my school's configuration. They are still using Firefox 2 or IE6. Flash Builder also attempts to easily support connecting to external services like PHP and HTTP. It looks easy when the developers show it in demos, but they know what they are doing and I struggle to get the same results. Takes me a good day of monkeying around with settings and installations to make the remote connections possible. I'm a slow learner, I guess.

Catalyst is more intriguing than the new Flash Builder. It allows you to mock up a design in Illustrator or Photoshop and save it as a Flex Project. Then you can import it into Catalyst and turn the graphical items into actual components prior to use in Flash Builder. I think this is a superb idea and a significant addition to the toolset and greatly increases my own interest in using the Flex SDK. I like the power of the components; however, I find that you are so limited by the design elements. Catalyst will make it much easier to make your Flex application look unique and appealing. Skinning in Flex or Flash is not the most enjoyable task.

I also appreciate Adobe because they provide free educational licenses of Flash Builder (and maybe Catalyst?) I still wonder how many people in education actually utilize the license to the greatest effect. I know that I have registered, but usually return back to Flash for all my development as opposed to using Flex Builder. Many of my creations would probably be better developed in Flex than Flash. I keep returning to Flex to see if maybe I'm ready to embrace it. I have not developed anything of significance in Flex, but this summer I plan to continue my efforts to learn it. Knowing Actionscript and the components in Flash is the primary reason I keep coming back. I feel like I have a good foundation to excel using Flex. I'm glad that Adobe keeps innovating and expanding their offerings. I'm wondering though that if all these software programs are making it easier to develop or more overwhelming. We will see.