Setting up Eclipse + FDT for CS4 Authoring

by Larry on October 10, 2008

in ActionScript,Adobe,Flash,Flashcamp,howto,programming

Here are the swc paths that you’ll need to setup FDT for writing Flash 10 code.

Base Flash CS4 Class Path
$(AppConfig)/Common/Configuration/ActionScript 3.0/FP10

Class Path for ik.swc
$(AppConfig)/Common/Configuration/ActionScript 3.0/libs/ik.swc

Class Path for player.swc
$(AppConfig)/Common/Configuration/ActionScript 3.0/libs/flash.swc

Where $(AppConfig) = /Applications/Adobe CS4/Adobe Flash CS4

{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }

Trevor October 28, 2008 at 9:58 pm

awesome, thanks for posting

Jon MacDonald November 4, 2008 at 5:26 pm

Can you please be more specific about where to put these paths in FDT’s setup? Thanks!

soenke December 9, 2008 at 11:12 am

did you get the flash cs4 helpfiles running in eclipse/fdt?

pixel boy June 3, 2009 at 11:26 pm

Here’s how I got Flash CS4 Help working with FDT:

Note: I’m on Mac and haven’t tried this on PC but assume it should work.

1. Go to Preferences > FDT > Tools > Flash Help

2. Take note of the HelpPanel path in the Advanced Settings ‘Path to HelpPanel/Help’ field and then locate the actual ‘Help’ folder on your Mac or PC. In my case it is:
/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Flash CS3/en/Configuration/HelpPanel/Help
(If this directory doesn’t exist then create it).

3. If there’s already an existing ‘Help’ folder, rename the existing ‘Help’ folder to ‘Help_old’ and create a new folder called ‘Help’.

4. Make a copy of your CS4 ‘Flash_10.0′ Help folder (in my case it is located at: /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Help/en_US/AS3LCR/Flash_10.0) and place it in the new ‘Help’ folder you just created in step 3.

5. Change the name of the Flash_10.0 folder to Flash_10 (FDT does not like the Flash_10.0 filename). You should now have a new Flash_10 folder with a copy of all your CS4 help content in your old CS3 Help location i.e. /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Flash CS3/en/Configuration/HelpPanel/Help/Flash_10

6. Go back into Eclipse FDT Flash Help preferences (Preferences > FDT > Tools > Flash Help) and click the ‘Update Help’ button AT THE BOTTOM near ‘Advanced Settings’. (FDT will start updating Flash Help which could take a few minutes).

7. After FDT has finished updating the Flash Help, quit Eclipse or restart Eclipse when prompted.

8. Now on your Mac/PC, go to Eclipse > plugins > com.powerflasher.fdt.doc.flash_3.2.0.1001>Help (or whatever location is the appropriate location for your FDT version). You’ll now see a folder inside the ‘Help’ folder called ‘Flash_10′. Change the name of the folder ‘Flash_10′ to ‘Flash_10.0′ (so the full path to this folder would be: Eclipse > plugins > com.powerflasher.fdt.doc.flash_3.2.0.1001>Help>Flash_10.0).

9. That’s it – your CS4 help should now work in Eclipse.

If you want you can delete the Help folder at /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Flash CS3/en/Configuration/HelpPanel/Help as FDT has already copied the files over and they’re no longer needed.

NOTE: If you ever update Flash CS4 in the future you’ll prpobably need to repeat the above process to ensure FDT has the latest Help docs.

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