Flex Builder 2 Basics

When installing custom Flex components, there are some fundamental points that need to be addressed.

Workspaces

Workspaces are essentially folders or locations on your hard drive that FB stores your projects in along with metadata that initializes the user interface every time you open the program. In our installation instructions, we advise you to create a new workpace when you are starting to learn our components.

The motivation behind this is you will not be cluttered and have possible conflicting settings when learning how to install the components. Once you learn the fundamentals of our components and how they interact, it is easy to then switch back to your main development workspace and begin with a running start with a clear view of the components implementation. This is also like clearing your work's desk so you think more clearly and can focus on the one thing you are doing at a time.

Note :: For more advanced users, this my not apply because you already understand how components, styles, compiler settings and work flow works.

Switching workspaces

When switching workspaces follow these steps;

1. Select the File menu.
2. Select the Switch Workspace... menu item.
3. The Workspace Launcher dialog will appear.
4. Click the Browse... button or select a current workspace you are using.
   1. When clicking the Browse... button you can also create a new folder such as c:/dev and create a new workspace at this time. The c:/dev workspace is what we use in our tutorials on installing our products.
5. Click the OK button once you have created or selected the workspace you are going to launch.
6. Flex Builder will save your project settings, close and then open back up in the new workspace.

Importing Archive Files

Importing archive files is another procedure that is common in our installation tutorials.

1. Open the Navigator window.
   1. Click the Window menu.
   2. Click the Project Navigator menu item.
2. Right click in the Navigator to get the context menu.
3. Select the Import... menu item.
4. The Import dialog will appear.
   1. Select the Existing Projects into Workspace list item.
   2. Click the Next > button.
   3. Click the Select archive file: radio button.
   4. Click the Browse... button.
   5. Search your file system for the product zip file you have downloaded from our site.
   6. Click the Open button.
   7. With most of our products you will only need to follow the next step. If a product has more complicated installation instructions it will be noted.
   8. With the example project checked, Click the Finish button.
5. The example project will now load into your workspace and you are ready to start using the product's Help Book with examples.

Setting Project Properties