Question

I’m wondering if it would be useful to switch from developing in Flash IDE to Flash Builder. Still a bit confused if this will mean having to abandon all my previous Flash work, or if it just opens up and plays nicely in FB. I’ve actually done a fair amount of Flex development, but am having a hard time imagining how the two overlap. I’m curious to hear from people that have made the switch… is it worth it? Or should I just stick to working in the IDE?

Answer 1

Both Flash IDE and Flash Builder have their own importance in the field of design and development. We choose one from both according to our need. Hope the points below i am covering will helpful for choosing the right IDE.

Flash Professional is the software series what continued the Macromedia Flash line of apps. It is used to make interactive Flash content that is based on the timeline. The timeline makes it easy to use for animation and other linear content. With ActionScript programming, though, you can jump in the timeline and, if you wish, stay in one frame. It has extensive set of tools to create, edit and import media and use it in the project. You can do a lot without coding and you can also do a lot with just coding. The code editor itself isn’t as feature rich as…

Flash Builder (formerly known as Flex Builder) is, which is Adobe’s modified Eclipse IDE made specially for Flex development. Its main focus is to create code, especially in XML-based Flex. Flash Builder is designed for programmers and has the bells and whistles that Eclipse has. This is also better tool to write ActionScript than Flash Professional’s script editor, but its main focus is in Flex. There is no timeline as such, and products are usually rich internet applications (RIA) or Adobe AIR -desktop apps. Despite the lack of timeline, you can animate elements.

Summary

• Flash Professional
  Best tool (of these three) for animation
  Has timeline, but can be modified with code
  Coding in ActionScript (based on ECMA Script standard)
  Create and edit graphical content

• Flash Builder
  Based on Eclipse IDE
  Focus on Flex programming (based on XML), also ActionScript
  Has some basic interface design tools
  No timeline: non-linear logic

Flash Builder is for programmers.
Flash Professional is a design tool for graphic artists, used in game development etc. Its a mix of designing and coding. But for robust code only stuffs, its Flash Builder.

If still you have any confusion then just checked out these links:

http://www.adobe.com/flashplatform/

http://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-Flash-Professional-CS5-and-Flash-Builder-4

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/as3/learn/WS5b3ccc516d4fbf351e63e3d118a9b90204-7fd6.html#WS5b3ccc516d4fbf351e63e3d118a9b90204-7fba

http://www.adobe.com/products/flash.html refers to the traditional Flash IDE that is a member of the Creative Suite family.

http://www.adobe.com/products/flash-builder.html refers to the actionscript code editor built upon Eclipse.