The moment that many Flash Platform developers around the world have been waiting for is finally here – Flash Builder (beta) and Flash Catalyst (beta) are now available for download from the Adobe Labs web site.

A Milestone for Rich Application Development

After many months of rigorous testing, migrating, conducting Q-A, and discussing issues in the pre-release forums to solve complex problems, the official public betas were finally dropped early this week.

As noted by Adobe, the intent of these beta releases is to improve upon three critical facets of the development life cycle: developer productivity, designer-developer workflow, and data-centric application development. The extent of the features that have been included in what used to be labeled “Flex Builder” are so ginormous that you will likely agree that it was worth slapping an entirely different name on it. It is clearly light years beyond Flex Builder 3. The release of these two programs to the public – though still in beta – mark a significant milestone in the evolution of RIA technology as a whole nonetheless.

Getting Started, Step-by-Step

In the spirit of all Adobe beta releases, a number of valuable documents and multimedia  resources have been made available to help you get acquainted with these new products:

1. Begin by reading Tim Buntel’s article on the Adobe Developer Connection, titled “What’s new in Flash Builder 4 beta“.
2. Next, Joan Lafferty points out exactly what is different between the Flex 3 SDK and the Flex 4 SDK beta.
3. Learn about the new Flex SDK features in Matt Chotin’s “What’s new in Flex 4 SDK beta” article.
4. Once you’re ready to really dive in, check out the collection of tutorial videos on the Adobe Labs site. While you’re at, make sure you don’t miss Lee Brimelow’s 2-part video tutorial series. Lee made the first tweet announcing the release and followed it with a nice little tutorial to complement the announcement. A few hours later, he released Part 2 of the tutorial, also very nicely done. Great job on these Lee.
5. Then take some time to peruse through the livedocs for the Flex 4 SDK and Flash Builder that were just recently made public.
6. Install the programs and begin to familiarize yourself. Links to the respective pages where the betas can be downloaded are provided below.
7. Check out this tutorial by Andrew Shorten on Building a data-centric application using Flash Catalyst beta and Flash Builder 4 beta.
8. After you’ve installed the programs, reviewed the available resources and taken a little time to familiarize yourself with the applications, its time to take a trip over to the Flash Builder 4 user forum and the Flash Catalyst user forum to discuss and collaborate with other members of the community.
9. Install the Tour de Flex AIR application and use the new Flex 4 SDK examples to hit the ground running in Flash Builder 4 beta.

Download the Betas

Possibly Related Posts:

• Inside Scoop: Adobe Flex 4 and Flash Builder 4 official release
• Adobe Burned Twice After Apple Shuns Flash One More Time
• A few words on the state of current web tech: Apple’s iPhone, the iPad, Adobe Flash, and HTML 5
• Adobe takes Flash to the iPhone at MAX 2009
• Adobe Flash Builder 4: Data-centric Features for PHP (PHPBuilder.com)

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Posted by Dan Orlando on May 31st, 2009 :: Filed under Flash Platform News
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