Getting started with Haxe + OpenFL(and Starling!)

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Just another thing which I've seen mentioned recently a few times. It has been said, perhaps in other threads, that Haxe/OpenFL when targetting Flash/AIR can result in higher performance apps, than if you'd used ActionScript/Flash API.

I remember seeing claims like this many years ago when I was starting out with Haxe/OpenFL (NME at the time), but my understanding is these pre-dated Adobe's ASC 2.0, which leveled the playing field. So whether it came from Haxe/OpenFL or ActionScript/Flash API, it didn't matter so much after that. That said, I'd be interested to see real-world tests to prove this either way.

Pedro_Fernandez

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What I have found is that the visual performance (the agility or smoothness with which the sprites move on the screen) is very similar in AIR, gpu mode, starling, Haxe / OpenFL. As long as we have a reasonable number of sprites at the same time. That is, for "medium" projects, it is not very different.

That hundreds of thousands of sprites can be shown in a "x" framework demo because "this framework compiles at C ++ speed" does not help me at all. If it were just a matter of execution speed, we would all program our own C ++ frameworks, but this in the real market is not viable. It's a matter of balance.

Oldes

I'm today playing with OpenFl (after some years) and I wonder, what version do you use which is capable to build a Starling demo as a Windows target. Because it looks that the current versions are quite instabil with issues like: https://github.com/openfl/lime/issues/1331

To be honest, I was not able to build even any OpenFl sample project as a CPP target because issues like above. Can you please share output of haxelib list command if you have working environment? Thanks.

EDIT: As mentioned in one of issue comments, I reverted hxcpp to version 4.0.8 (haxelib install hxcpp 4.0.8) and OpenFl examples seems to work now.

joshtynjala

Oldes Which version of Haxe did you try it with? I have 4.0.0-rc.3, and cpp targets are working for me (with hxcpp 4.0.19). If you tried with Haxe 3.x, I recommend switching to 4.0. Most of the ecosystem is actually significantly nicer when you're using 4.0, even if this version hasn't had a final release yet.

Oldes

joshtynjala I have Haxe Compiler 3.4.7 and:

actuate: [1.8.9]
as3hx: [1.0.6]
box2d: [1.2.3]
format: [3.4.2]
hxcpp: [4.0.8] 4.0.19
hxp: [1.1.2]
layout: [1.2.1]
lime-samples: [7.0.0]
lime: [7.5.0]
openfl-samples: [8.7.0]
openfl: [8.9.1]
starling: [2.5.1]

That now works for Windows target, but not for Android

Oldes

joshtynjala I will give it a try to the Haxe 4.*... I just went the normal way visiting the main page: https://haxe.org/download/ and followed steps mentioned in tutorials.

Oldes

I would also like to know, how you build an Android version, because that seems not to be working either (having this issue reported in year 2017) https://community.openfl.org/t/android-ndk-not-building-cant-find-platform-system-directory/9937/11

joshtynjala

Oldes Yeah, I did that at first too, but someone recommended that I try 4.0.

If you plan to use VSCode, Haxe 4.0 is especially important because the code intelligence in VSCode actually comes from the compiler, and 4.0 provides significantly better data to VSCode. I'm not sure how important the Haxe version is for other IDEs, though. They may have their own parsers and things.

2dguy

I think what we might need to do, is perhaps crowd fund a knowledgeable consultant who can put together a video, etc, something...that details from start to finish how to set up a fully working, stable, Haxe development kit showing how to install everything, updates, etc, how to production build all the popular targets, etc, etc. I KNOW Haxe does all these wonderful things, but the info is scattered and the forums don't seem that noob friendly. Don't get me wrong, if time is not an issue, the answers are out there... but at the cost of substantial trial & error, research, etc, etc. Normally I actually enjoy the discovery phase of a new language, especially when there is an active community to pull from, but in this case when alot of us would like to get up to speed as quickly as possible, perhaps crowd funding a consultant to put together a rock solid presentation is not a bad idea. Thoughts?

TeotiGraphix

2dguy FYI In about 1-2 weeks I am going to be working with Haxe/OpenFL for about 5 days straight. I will take notes as I go and write a couple blog posts on my site.

I have a pretty good idea exactly how I need to show getting it going.

The upshot? I have not even tried to install Haxe/OpenFL on my dev machine, so it will be raw all the way. 🙂

2dguy

TeotiGraphix FYI In about 1-2 weeks I am going to be working with Haxe/OpenFL for about 5 days straight. I will take notes as I go and write a couple blog posts on my site.

Awesome! Thx! 🙂

drunkcat

TeotiGraphix I'm waiting for the blog post 🙂

TeotiGraphix

2dguy Awesome! Thx! 🙂

Actually I started today. Will be my perspective but hey! Really interested now for obvious reasons.

TeotiGraphix

drunkcat TeotiGraphix I'm waiting for the blog post

Yeah the problem is, too many things. 🙂 I started this and realized I was not "Getting it" anytime soon.

What I found is I need 100% focus and Haxe and me are not an item yet. There is no real easy way to get going until you understand what is going on. 🙂 (too many moving parts for a fast take off)

Or... If it is really easy, I am an idiot that is not focused.

2dguy

TeotiGraphix Yeah the problem is, too many things. 🙂 I started this and realized I was not "Getting it" anytime soon.

That's been my initial limited exposure to Haxe as well. Doesn't seem to be at all "out of the box noob friendly". Have you made any progress?

TeotiGraphix

Nope, I am following Josh's work and have read his setups but I am right in the middle of a 3D Audio/Visual project, so getting into another language right now is not on the plate.

That said, I did decide not to keep going at the moment with Harmans sdk, since I would rather just rewrite my apps then keep going with AIR.

Major transition for me as well, next year I am gravitating to pro audio and video stuff. I looked into Haxe about this stuff as well and it's just too fragmented for me to take off quick.

joshtynjala

I wrote a basic getting started guide for trying out Feathers UI for Haxe and OpenFL. I've noticed more than a few people express frustration about getting started, so I tried my best to cover some things that don't seem to be well-documented elsewhere. Even if you aren't planning on using Feathers UI, it should walk you through much of what you'll need for Haxe and OpenFL.

First, how to install Feathers UI:

https://feathersui.com/learn/haxe-openfl/installation/

OpenFL is a dependency and will be installed automatically. If you want OpenFL only, and don't need Feathers, you can run haxelib install openfl for the installation step instead.

Then, how to set up a project in Visual Studio Code or HaxeDevelop:

https://feathersui.com/learn/haxe-openfl/visual-studio-code/
https://feathersui.com/learn/haxe-openfl/haxedevelop/

The main thing for people new to Haxe is that you should start with Haxe 4. It's in the release candidate stage, so it's pretty stable. Don't bother with Haxe 3. You'll definitely have a much worse experience in a number of ways, even if that's the current "stable" release.

If you follow this guide and run into issues, I'd love to add some extra content to the troubleshooting sections to help make it even better. Let me know about weird error messages or anything else that trips you up.

Note: Haxe 4.0.0-rc.4 happened to be released this week. It included some minor breaking changes, which temporarily affected the OpenFL ecosystem. If anyone tried to get started in the last few days, they would have run into problems. As of today, now that OpenFL 8.9.4 and Lime 7.6.2 are both released, things should be back to normal.

2dguy

joshtynjala I wrote a basic getting started guide for trying out Feathers UI for Haxe and OpenFL.

Hi, thank you. 2 things...
1) Is there a stable link on your site somewhere to view this?
2) Do you plan on updating the info as needed to keep a basic (working!) setup documentation guideline always available?

TeotiGraphix

@Josh As I said, I am in a bind right now and don't have the time to startup. This has probably been the hardest year of my life with really important decisions.

I can see that as of now I cannot say which way I am going next year with 2D app stuff. Although, I am flighty on this and your UI framework was so fun to use.

joshtynjala

1) If I'm understanding you correctly, there are two links on the feathersui.com homepage that should always get you there.

There's a Documentation link in the main navigation at the top. From that page, you can find a link to this guide and all other Feathers UI docs (including the AS3/Starling version too).

Additionally, the footer navigation has a Haxe/OpenFL section, and there's another Documentation link there that goes directly to this guide.

The footer navigation may go through some minor tweaks in the future, but I guarantee that it will always include a link to the installation instructions. The installation instructions will always include links to instructions for setting up IDEs.

The existing URLs will always work because I don't want to break anyone's bookmarks or links from third-party sites. If I change a URL, I will add a redirect.

2) Yes, of course! Getting someone from nothing to hello world is the most important part of any library's documentation. If people can't get started, my library is useless. If anything changes in the future, I will update this documentation ASAP.

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