Flash Builder 4 review

Many of the dev and debug features in Flash Builder 4 are hardly innovations; they've been available in professional IDEs for some time. However, having them included within the Flash/Flex environment helps to promote the framework and bring it in line with enterprise-grade development expectations. Other improvements to the Flex 4 Spark architecture offer more flexible runtime layout opportunities, new transition animations, and the 3-D capabilities supported by the Flash Player 10.

There are new additions for Adobe-centric design shops as well, such as easy integration and editing of Flash Pro content directly from Builder. Although this seemingly lends to a reblending of developer/designer stratification, it could be a helpful shortcut in small shops. Additionally, support for FXP graphics interchange format among the Adobe CS4 product suite extends to Builder as well, making for easy resource sharing.

The bottom line: Flash Builder 4 is a must-have tool for anyone developing data-driven applications on Flex. The IDE will demonstrably shorten the development cycle by exposing data, streamlining workflow, and simplifying change management so that your Flex apps will remain nimble.