IntelliJ IDEA setup with Starling

jshaevel

FYI -

The information at http://wiki.starling-framework.org/manual/intellij_idea seems out of date. I wasn't able to right-click and add to modules from global library.

The information here https://feathersui.com/help/intellij-idea.html seems to work fine and I've successfully moved my FlashDevelop project to IDEA.

I know it's a Wiki and it will be a rite of passage for me to update it myself, but this Novice Bird's feathers are nervous at the idea (all puns intended)...

Organis

Why Idea? FlashDevelop is more Flash-oriented, no?

jshaevel

I was having trouble with Starling Builder and adding fonts (see other thread in the forum). The demos and extension samples weren't adapting to FD well (at least with my limited knowledge of it), so people pointed out that the samples were built for Idea. That got me over the hump so I wanted to see if Idea had features that might speed development in general. I have the rest of this month to evaluate, so I'm giving it a try.

What I like most about Idea (at the moment) is that because it's not specific to Flash if/when I decide to code in other languages I won't need another IDE. What I like least is the price, but given all that it does, I'm hard-pressed to really complain.

rodrigo

Indeed, JetBrains created one of the best IDEs ever. Is expensive, but totally worth it if u can afford it (and u have a powerful computer).
The languages and plugin support is incredible.
Plus, in my opinion, is currently the only decent option for AS3/OSX users.
becoming a power user of Intellij IDEA takes some time, but it pays off.
Intellisense, code generation, analysis, autoimport and reformat with your custom code style, 100% of the IDE is accessible via keystrokes. you can do (and should do) pretty much everything only with the keyboard.
FlashDevelop was THE AS3 IDE of preference back in 2008, when I worked on Windows. After moving to OSX... there is no going back from Idea.

Daniel

Thanks a lot for pointing out the problem, Jeff! It's really important that these set-up documents are reliable, because the difficulty of getting everything set up the first time is really big for AIR projects.

I had a look at the IDEA setup description, and that right-click part did work as described for me! Are you on a Mac or on Windows? Perhaps it works differently on Windows (I tested everything on a Mac).

In any case, I added an alternative way of adding the library sources to the project. Does that work for you, maybe?

Thanks in advance for trying it out!

jshaevel

I'm working on Windows, not Mac, and that might be the difference. I agree that it's important to keep these things current, but I also appreciate the difficulty with all the different environments, operating systems, etc.

I have both Mac and Windows, but for the moment I've set up my main working environment on Windows. Might have to consider switching that as well... 🙂

BakerShoeMaker

I work on Mac and Windows in IntelliJ. Once you get past the initial setup everything will work perfectly. FYI, I used the set up docs on Starling and everything went smoothly. Using Intellij along with github has been a great experience considering I go between a mac and a pc. I've used it for AS3, javascript, JSX, SQL, and html/css.

Artemix

Also here IDEA user, invest the time on getting used to it, it's worth it.

denisgladkiy

What are the advantages compared to the latest versions Flashdevelop?

BakerShoeMaker

FlashDevelop (FD) is just starting to release new updates. They were on hiatus for a few years so I'm not sure what the latest updates are. I used FD for a while and I loved it. But I needed to work on mac and pc and FD is not available for mac. IntelliJ fit my workspace profile the best. I also work need to work in various languages and IntelliJ was great for that as well. I paid for IntelliJ for a about a year and then I realized that I had earned a perpetual license. So I canceled the subscription and I use a perfectly acceptable version. I just don't get regular updates which is okay for my dev needs.