How to organize a complex Flash project

Question

Compile a list of tips.

(It is clear that some kind of subjectivity would be involved, but some pointers would be useful for someone who is overloaded with the solution of a large project within a flash frame.)

Answer 1

These are just scattered thoughts about the organization for projects that work primarily with the Flash IDE.

First, I highly recommend using a control source like Subversion, CVS, or Git.

The structure of the file system's folder structure is subjective, but usually I have a “src” folder for all FLA and AS-class source files and a “expand” or “bin” folder for compiled files. The src folder will contain class class files, and class packages are organized in the reverse domain style (for example, com.codehinting.projectname.context). Change the publishing path of your FLA to publish it to the deployment folder by backing up the "../" path segment with as many levels as you need to track from nesting in the src folder.

In addition, I usually place third-party libraries (which are pretty well baked) in a separate place, and then modify the global class path in the Flash IDE to point to this location.

Two extremely convenient plugins for the Flash IDE are Create Basic Layers and Library Generator, which quickly create your skeleton layer and library folder structure - saving time and manually creating layers and folders.

Answer 2

I accepted the Blitz Project Naming Guide:

Blitz naming conventions and organizational principles

My DEV_Source is split into the / flash / flex database directories.

The Flex directory is the standard for Adobe conventions, but the flash has a customizable setting.

bin - SWF output, contains JS and index.html
classes - AS3 code
doc - AS Doc code output
libs - third-party libraries and components
src - FLA files (set publish options for compilation to bin)
test - AS Unit test class cases

Answer 3

An integrated project will have many dependencies. In my Flash projects, I put all my libraries in a version-controlled location. Third-party libraries are usually a confusion of assets, code, demos, and documents.

I save a small yaml file that tracks the location of each type of resource associated with each library on my system. When I add a new library, its location first enters this file, then I run my Ruby script to move the files to one place. Thus, there are no errors in using third-party library paths and make sure that the paths in my projects match in my fla projects and Flex builder projects.

The only source that connects them all.