Flash Builder 4.7 Standard / FAQ

Adobe® Flash® Builder® 4.7 software is a professional-grade development tool for rapidly creating games and applications for the web and mobile devices using ActionScript® and the open source Flex framework. It includes support for intelligent coding, interactive step-though debugging, and multiplatform publishing workflows.

Flash Builder 4.7 adds support for Flash Player 11.4 and Adobe AIR® 3.4 as well as improved support for deploying and testing apps for iOS. Support for debugging apps in the iOS simulator and on-device via USB is now supported. Publishing ad-hoc profile apps directly to an iOS device (without using Apple iTunes or Apple XCode) is now supported on both Windows® and Mac OS. Flash Builder 4.7 also adds facilities to create and debug ActionScript workers. Additionally, significant tooling and performance improvements are included to accelerate development and testing and build higher quality apps. Flash Builder 4.7 also adds support for new releases of the Apache Flex SDK (starting with Apache Flex 4.8), and retains support for Adobe Flex 3.x and 4.6. (Upgrading to Flash Builder 4.7 does not mean you need to upgrade to Flex 4.8).

• Develop native-performance games using GPU graphics and multi-threading. Flash Builder 4.7 includes the latest tools and capabilities to develop games in ActionScript, including support for Stage3D-based 2D and 3D graphics frameworks like Starling and Away3D.
  
• New ActionScript Worker wizards make using multi-threading easy in your apps, and the Flash Builder debugger has been updated to handle ActionScript workers.
  
• Built-in support for enabling the use of Adobe Scout with your projects makes performance profiling a snap.
  
• New project support for ActionScript Libraries.Flash Builder 4.7 includes the latest version of the ActionScript Compiler (ASC 2.0), ensuring that your projects are compiled with the best, cutting-edge optimizations.
  
• Enjoy updated platform support and improved performance. Benefit from new support for Eclipse™ 3.7 and for the standard Eclipse for Java™ distribution; the Cocoa version of Eclipse on Mac OS X; Flash Player 11.4; Adobe AIR 3.4; and the Apache Flex SDK 4.8.

Yes, you can take advantage of a majority of the great new features in Flash Builder 4.7 when writing and maintaining applications that were built using Flex 3 or Flex 4. Using Flash Builder 4.7, you will have the option to build applications using Adobe Flex 3, 4, 4.5, or 4.6 versions of the framework, as well as the ability to use Apache Flex SDKs starting with 4.8.

Flash Builder: Flash Builder 4.7 software is a professional-grade development tool for rapidly creating games and applications for the web and mobile devices using ActionScript and the open source Flex framework. It includes support for intelligent coding, interactive step-though debugging, and multiplatform publishing workflows.

Flash Professional: Flash Professional is a timeline-based productivity tool for creating animated SWF and FLV content, used by creative professionals to add interactivity to websites. Flash Professional contains an ActionScript editor for basic ActionScript editing. However, for advanced ActionScript editing, most ActionScript developers use Flash Builder.

Flex framework: Flex is the underlying open source framework used to create applications. The Flex framework provides the declarative languages, application services, components, and data connectivity developers need to rapidly build expressive mobile, web, and desktop applications. You can extend and enhance Flex to suit your needs, and you can contribute to the evolution of Flex through the Apache Flex SDK project. Flex applications can be built using only the Flex framework. However, most developers use Flash Builder to accelerate app development.

Flash Builder 4.7 supports the use of the Apache Flex 4.8 SDK, but does not include a copy of the SDK itself. The Apache Flex SDK can be acquired from the Apache Flex website.

Using the mobile development workflows included in Flash Builder 4.7, you can build and deploy mobile Flex and ActionScript applications for iOS, Android, and Blackberry® Tablet OS devices.

Flash Builder 4.7 does not support the visual design capabilities that were available in Flash Builder 4.6. If you require Flex visual design capabilities, Flash Builder 4.6 is still available for purchase from the Adobe Business Store.

Flash Builder 4.7 fully supports side-by-side installation with Flash Builder 4.6. Installing Flash Builder 4.7 will not affect an existing installation of Flash Builder 4.6.

Adobe Flash Builder 4.7 Standard Edition: Flash Builder 4.7 is a professional-grade development tool for rapidly creating games and applications for the web and mobile devices using ActionScript and the open source Flex framework. It includes support for intelligent coding, interactive step-though debugging, and multiplatform publishing workflows.

Adobe Flash Builder 4.7 Premium Edition: This edition has all the great features that Standard offers plus professional testing tools, including profilers, network monitoring, unit testing support, and command-line build support.

Adobe Flash Builder 4.5 for PHP Standard Edition: The PHP Standard Edition includes all the great features from Flash Builder 4.5 Standard Edition plus an integrated copy of Zend Studio 8, a professional-grade PHP IDE, providing an optimized Flex/PHP development experience.

Adobe Flash Builder 4.5 for PHP Premium Edition: The PHP Premium Edition includes all the great features from Flash Builder 4.5 Premium Edition plus an integrated copy of Zend Studio 8, along with professional testing tools, including profilers, network monitoring, unit testing support, and command-line build.

Flash Builder 4.7 Premium adds professional testing tools, including profilers, network monitoring, an automated testing framework, integration with Flex unit testing, and command-line build support.

Flash Builder 4.7

Flash Builder 4.7 Standard Edition: US$249; €199; ¥30000.
Flash Builder 4.7 Premium Edition: US$699; €549; ¥85000.

Flash Builder 4.5 for PHP

Flash Builder 4.5 for PHP Standard Edition: US$399; ¥50000.
Flash Builder 4.5 for PHP Premium Edition: US$799/; €629; ¥100000.
Flash Builder 4.5 for PHP Premium Edition for education: US$399 for full units; €219; ¥50000.

Flex 4.6

The Flex 4.6 framework is a free, open source framework of components. The framework is included when you buy Flash Builder, or you can download it for free from Adobe.com.

Customers who have a valid Upgrade Plan or who own Platinum Maintenance will receive an FOC product.

Flash Builder 4.7 will be available for purchase online from the Adobe Store, directly from Adobe Sales, and through partners and resellers. Flash Builder 4.7 is also available for volume licensing from Adobe's TLP, CLP, and FLP price lists.

Yes, Adobe provides a 60-day trial for Flash Builder 4.7 during which the Premium Edition features are available for free. After 60 days from installation, the product will stop working. In special cases, people will be able to extend the trial by contacting Adobe Customer Service.

Gold support is available through licensing and FLP, providing 24x7 support.
Platinum support includes both 24x7 support and an Upgrade Plan.
Upgrade Plan and Platinum support are available through all channels.

Existing Flash Builder 4.5 customers will not be prompted to upgrade automatically. Flash Builder 4.5 customers can download the trial version of Flash Builder 4.7 and request a Flash Builder 4.7 serial key.