can i use design mode in fb 4.6 if I add apache flex sdk 4.9.1 as my compiler?

Question

I am running Flash Builder 4.6 and just added Apache flex sdk 4.9.1 (build 1447119) to my mac book pro running Moutain Lion and when i tried to do a quick 'hello world' and add a few elements to the stage using design mode i got following error:

The design mode is disabled as the project uses an incompatible version of the flex sdk

My question is if i go beyond the default sdk that shipped with fb 4.6 do I therefore loose the ability to use design mode and have to do everything in source mode?

Also, if i am using windows the error is quite similar when i mouseover on Design tab

Design mode not supported - incompatible SDK version - Apache Flex

Thanks

Vocoid

Yeah, Design mode is very version specific. You also can't use it if you use Adobe Flex SDK 3.5 as your compiler. Possibly it'll be broken with 4.0 and/or 4.5 too. Design mode was removed from Flash Builder 4.7 completely; because it was a rarely used and hard to maintain feature. The Apache Flex list gets a lot of complaints about this. If you want to "Take up the charge" to create a design mode style WYSIWYG editor for Apache Flex; I'm sure they'd welcome the donation. No one has taken up the charge thus far, though. – Sabrina

makes sense ... source code is actually easier to use I've found and I just used design mode as a crutch I think. thanks. – Vocoid

@Sabrina "it was a rarely used and hard to maintain..." - Hard to maintain I won't challenge, but proof is lacking from those claiming it was "rarely used" simply because their own projects didn't require it. Design View appears to have been heavily used by many people, as can be seen in the many questions, forum posts, and comments all over the Internet now that this productivity feature is on life support. DV is not a crutch if your corporate users demand 30+ data fields (with labels, validations, shortcuts, and whatever else) packed onto many screens without endless scrolling. – Gregoire

@Crusader You must be circulating in different circles than I; cause I know of no one who cares. There was a project to create something similar to design view that was discussed on the Apache Flex Dev list; but I don't remember if it was ever donated to Apache Flex or just discussed. You may be able to find info about it in the list archives. – Sabrina

I'm sure that's probably the case. Most people I see concerned about this are doing non-public (corporate intranet) work on business apps with very "busy" UIs, and they're probably not as free to participate in the public community as much as the freelance guys. I just hate to see features that I and other people find productive be called worthless (discouraging those who might otherwise work on the problem) when clearly that's not the case with every developer. Not looking forward to the day we lose this productivity tool. – Gregoire

@Sabrina Not to start an argument (really), but if you don't follow the mailing list that closely, check out this thread for some evidence of the need. It turned up a number of people concerned about the loss of DV in presumably "enterprise" settings. A guy on page 2 was furious about the state of affairs (unfortunately as a 'free' SDK, there isn't anyone to place blame on!) The old Adobe forums have a few such threads too (but what a depressing place that is nowadays). apache-flex-development.2333347.n4.nabble.com/… – Gregoire

@Crusader It is what it is. I understand the complaints / requests relative to the number of users are very low. – Sabrina

Answer 1

There is a hack you can do to get it working (I've done this myself and it works perfectly so far) that involves editing an XML file in the 4.9.1 SDK to trick Flash Builder into thinking it is using Flex 4.6. You'll need to edit the 'flex-sdk-description.xml' Version tag and change it from 4.9.1 to 4.6 and that should take care of it. Location of the file is in the SDK folder in 4.9.1 folder, here is the path in Windows 7:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Flash Builder 4.6\sdks\4.9.1

Sheikdom

Just be careful if you do this as you will be showing how the application looks in Flex 4.6 not Apache Flex 4.9.1 but it is better than noting. – Austriahungary

Thanks for that, tested and working. I hope the flex team considers the addition of design mode in the SDK 4.11+ – Paymaster

Flash Builder is closed source and sadly Apache Flex are unable to modify FB design view. – Austriahungary

Answer 2

I confirm the say by wakqasahmed

I changed it at Apache Flex 4.10

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<flex-sdk-description>
    <name>Apache Flex 4.10.0 FP 11.8 AIR 3.8 en_US</name>
    <!--version>4.10.0</version-->
    <version>4.6.0</version>
    <build>20130801</build>
</flex-sdk-description>

And the Design mode is enable again!, Thanks

Caracaraballo

WOW thank you! I am using Adobe Flash Builder 4-6 with Design Mode :D Now i am suing Design Mode :) Thanks for support :) – Sepia

Yeah this works for me, but not without having FB vomit 16 warnings (unable to load various swcs) and a good 15-20 seconds before anything shows up the first time. As if DV initialization needed to be even slower... what an ugly workaround, is there a way to avoid those warnings and the delay? This is with the 4.14 Apache Flex SDK and FB4. – Gregoire

Answer 3

I have a better trick which doesn't involve cheating Flash Builder about the Flex SDK you are using. It is about patching a single bit in one compiled class. After that, the designer will open no matter the version of Flex you are using. You can read a bit more about it in my article at:

Latest Flex SDK in Adobe Flash Builder 4.6
(I've just dared to open a blog, after almost 40 years in the area!),

However, here you have the solution in a nutshell:

You have to patch the class:
com\adobe\flexbuilder\mxml\editor\MXMLEditor.class
which is inside:
eclipse\plugins\com.adobe.flexbuilder.mxml.editor_4.6.1.335153\mxml.jar

With an hexadecimal editor, open the file MXMLEditor.class and change the byte:
3D (61 dec.) at address 0x9D04
to:
AC (172 dec.)

After that, you will be able to use the Flash Builder designer with any version of Flex SDK. But be cautious and take the appropriate precautions first:

• Do a backup of the .jar file before changing anything.
• Check that the version of your mxml.jar is the same as the above.
• Revise your software license and check that it's ok for you to do the patch.

Trilinear