FDT: Pure Coding Comfort? Not quite.

Today I finally spent some time playing around with the demo version of FDT. I just started a big contract job, and I was seriously considering purchasing FDT to help me out with it. However, the verdict is that I'll be sticking to ASDT and Flashout.

This is not meant to be a full-length review. Just a highlight of the things that really jumped out at me.

The Pro

• Live syntax checking is very handy, and the outline views look helpful.


• Ability to import Macromedia Help into Eclipse


• Code completion that actually works (unlike ASDT).


• Ability to set up different builds, using both MTASC and Flash IDE.

The Con

• A lack of documentation to the point of absurdity. I am amazed that a $200 plus product could even think to get away with this. The help files consist of only a couple web links to various blogs. I even had to visit a blog just to get directions for how to install and configure the darn thing. I've tested beta products with better documentation!


• Lack of logging. Frankly, their SWF viewer is a big step down from Flashout. I can't consider this product complete without support for some kind of trace() command. Supposedly you can install a free (PC only) socket server that takes care of logging for you, but after more than an hour of trying to get it working, I gave up and installed Flashout on top of my FDT installation.

The lack of logging was pretty much a deal-breaker for me. If this tool were priced at under $100 I'd buy it in a snap. But I can't justify paying as much as I would pay for a professional development tool for a product that doesn't feel feature complete. I admire the Powerflasher guys for what they've built so far, but I don't see enough benefit to get me to purchase FDT at the current price point, especially with Flex 2 just around the corner...

MTASC Version 1.12 Released

This is a minor release that addresses the following issues (according to the readme):

• prevented -keep with -header
• allowed dynamic static classes
• improved Flash8 shapes support
• allowed access to private variables inside local defined functions
• faster SWF parsing

Since MTASC is pretty much stable, this can be considered a non-critical update. For the most part I avoid dynamic classes and "local defined functions" (closures), so it doesn't sound like this will impact me too much. But faster SWF parsing is always welcome.

I continue to be blown away by what Nicolas Cannasse has achieved with MTASC. I've been working on a game for the last month using it exclusively, and it's worked like a charm. I only use the Flash IDE to put together the art. Obviously the situation will change a bit when Flex 2 comes out, but at the moment, there's no better platform for compiling code-intensive SWFs. Period. If you're a Flash coder and you haven't investigated MTASC yet, I would highly recommend paying a visit to mtasc.org.