FlexBuilder :: Basics
Hello,
Yes, I was one of those people that ran right into Flex and started making things. Let’s take a look at the little details that I missed. Maybe you reading these things might spark light bulbs and see something you didn’t know.
Workspaces
This is something I really had trouble with but it is very easy. This is the core ‘idea’ dealing with Flex Builder and Eclipse. A workspace is like the default launching pad for a new FB project. The way I see it is it’s just the default place you start anything new. The bottom line is, when you create anything new you will ALWAYS have control over where your project goes. The Workspace is the default.
Example, When you create an new Flex Project, a dialog comes up asking for Project Name, Project contents and folder. You can hit the browse button to locate an area outside of the current workspace or hit the default check box and that will automatically change to you WorkSpace.
I took this for granted but really to this day it still confuses me because if I can specify at anytime where my new project is located, then is a Workspace just a default anyway? I’ll find out sooner or later.
Can anybody tell me if the stand alone Flex Builder plug-in is overriding a natural function of Eclipse? This just doesn’t make sense to me. From my perspective, you change a workspace and it would change the projects listed in the navigator?
Projects
This takes us to the next object in the list, Projects. A project is a way to separate different you guessed it, projects! In this respect you have a main application .mxml file that can load other Applications or Components(modules). This is like the beginning of each thought you have. You need a place to separate ideas, Projects are the first line of defense from an idea overload.
Let me say something here. I have to be doing something wrong with the organization of Workspaces. To me there seems to be ONE tier missing from how the navigator organizes your files. Say I have 1000 projects, those can’t all be listed in that pane at once! That would be way to distracting, where is the ‘folder’ architecture? Is this what workspaces do?
Even if I had projects closed they are still all listed, which will get to confusing soon. If anybody can shed some light here(I am a component dev, not Eclipse guru), please help me see the light.
Assets
Then we have the wonderful assets that are found in the source or root folder of the Project’s source file(which you can change also). This would be your .mxml files, maybe your packages of .as files or .mxml files. One thing is for certain, all your mx.core.Application .mxml files have to be at the root of your project directory.
Linked Assets
Last we have linked assets. These come in handy if you need to share classpaths, assets or any other assets that can be linked into the project. So far I have been using linked folders for my component classes that share the same framework. This is funny because this next point is why I am writing this post.
Flex Library Projects
I need to figure all the nuances out about this type of project. Say you want to sell individual components. Then it would seem like you need separate Library projects for each component because you are not packaging your whole component set together in one .swc file.
I have also had problems finding the best way to share assets among the component projects and the Flex Library Project. I will write more when I get some more concrete conclusions, I just have not used Eclipse that much and now that I am getting into some really complicated project set ups, I fin myself feeling like I am spagetting my component projects.
I really think the docs are great but, I am hoping they expanded on the best practices for setting up library projects and sharing assets.
UPDATE ::
I told you this was an iterative post 
The middle tier in the project sorting for now, I have found ‘Working Sets’. This is located in the Navigator panel by clicking the down arrow button. From there you can filter into ‘groups’ of working sets. Really this all I needed! I probably am missing something else but hey, iterations right!
End Update ::
Peace, Mike