MACROMEDIA FLEX - DEVELOPING COMPONENTS AND THEMES Manual page 9

To compile a new component's SWC file in Flash for use in Flex, you must add the Flex SWC
files and ActionScript class files to your local FLA file's classpath. These files are included in the
FlexforFlash.zip file, which is included in the Flex installation process. After you extract the
contents of the FlexforFlash.zip file, you must add them to your classpath.
To add Flex components to the Flash environment:
Close the Flash IDE if it is open.
1.
Find the Flex_install_dir/resources/flexforflash/FlexforFlash.zip file. This file was included in
2.
the installation with the other Flex files.
The default location in Windows is C:\Program
Files\Macromedia\Flex\resources\flexforflash\FlexforFlash.zip.
Extract the contents of the FlexForFlash.zip file to the Flash First Run directory.
3.
The default location is C:/Program Files/Macromedia/Flash MX 2004/en/First Run. This file
creates the Components/Flex Components directory and copies the Flex SWC files to that
directory. In addition, it creates the Flex Classes directory, which contains the ActionScript
source files for the Flex classes.
Open the Flash IDE.
4.
The Flex Components list appears in the Components panel with the other component lists.
In each new FLA file that you create, add the following classpath entry to the top of the local
5.
classpath listing:
$(LocalData)/Flex Classes
Note: You must add the Flex Classes entry to the top of the classpath list.
For more information on editing your FLA file's classpath settings, see
classpath" on page
About the Flash MX 2004 classpath
The classpath is an ordered list of directories that Flash searches for class files when you export a
component as a SWC file. The order of the classpath entries is important because Flash uses the
classes on a first-come, first-served basis. At export time, classes found on the classpath that match
linkage identifiers in the FLA file are imported into the FLA file and registered with their
symbols.
There are two types of classpaths in Flash MX 2004: global and local. The global classpath is used
by all FLA files generated with the Flash IDE. A local classpath applies only to the current FLA
file. When you make changes to the classpath, you should change only the local classpath.
Before you can create components for Flex in Flash, you must edit the FLA file's local classpath
settings to include the /Flex Classes directory and the dot (.).
Relative values in the Flash classpath are relative to the location of the FLA file.
10.
"Changing the Flash
Working in the Flash environment 9