nothing yet | jason madsen

I had a person or two ask about building Flash extensions and or want to modify the DocBuilder for their specific purpose. In response I’m putting up the source files for the DocBuilder as a reference to get people started. Building Flash extensions in my experience involves creating a Flash interface, and using that Flash interface to execute JSFL (JavaScript for Flash) functions. So you create a Flash interface, and then a JSFL file with functions that it will execute. You then create an xml file that is used by the Extension Manager to build your extension. Considering how simple it is, I’m surprised that there isn’t an overwhelming amount of extensions talked about.

If your interested and just getting started, Lee Brimelow posted a getting started video tutorial a while back at gotoAndLearn

A few years ago, I built a simple extension for the Flash IDE that would auto generate class files for me. I used it for a while, but shortly there after moved to Flex Builder as my editor. At the University, the OOP course I teach, starts out in the Flash IDE for a few weeks, and then moves to using Flex Builder as an editor for ActionScript projects.

Lately I’ve just really dreaded the Flash editor. I realize that it could come off as spoiled, but I really dislike typing out the usual skeleton code to get a class file started. Tonight I decided that I’d had enough, so while the students were working on projects, I decided to update my extension. I call it the DocBuilder. It asks you for the package, class name, and what class you would like to extend. It then asks you to save the file in the appropriate directory to match the package. Viola!!!! Stub code generated.

Here is a screen shot of the outputted class skeleton:

Feel free to download the extension from here.

Update: I found and fixed a small issue where the help button gave an error. The linked file above is the latest version and seems to be working well.

jason