These Days Labs

In response to Sam’s recent post on EditPlus, I thought I’d tell you something about my favorite development environment. Our Flash team at These Days all use more or less the same software package; Eclipse combined with the amazing power of FDT. For Flash development, there really is no better solution if you’re willing to spend some money. Because let’s not beat about the bush, FDT is pretty darn expensive for an Eclipse plug-in. For those among us that don’t have that kind of money to spend on software, FlashDevelop is still a very good runner-up, if perhaps not as complete as FDT.

So why do I like Eclipse so much… Well, say what you want about Eclipse, but in my experience it runs pretty smoothly and most of all, quite fast. Over time I’ve heard a lot of people moan about long loading times, but I would like them to come take a look at my screen, because for me Eclipse doesn’t even hint at slowness, whether I’m on my desktop or my laptop. Another added benefit for me are Eclipse’s multiple plug-ins, FDT being only one of them. Being a versatile developer, I’m often involved in PHP or mobile projects as well, and both the PDT and Aptana plug-ins have been a great asset in those. And if you’re an SVN user, definitely have a look at Subclipse or Subversive. Although I usually tend to go with an external tool like TortoiseSVN, both plugins are great for those that are interested in the all-in-one package. (Eclipse comes with default CSV support when you download/install Eclipse Classic)

Shortcuts

Eclipse and FDT both hold the potential to improve your productivity, and shortcuts are definitely one of the most helpful features.

Below is a list of shortcuts I use regularly (note that some of these might only work for FDT):

• ALT + UP / DOWN: This will select the line your cursor is at (or just take the lines you selected) and move it up or down a line.
• ALT + CTRL + UP / DOWN: Just like above, this takes the line(s) you selected, duplicates them and places them above or below your selection.
• CTRL + F: Search and replace. Need I say more? An old mainstay…
• CTRL + H: Search and replace, but on a project level. Easily search through all files in your project, or just the ones you select.
• CTRL + 0: Quick Trace. Very handy. Instead of typing a trace statement, just select the variable you want to trace, press the magic buttons, et voilà.
• CTRL + 1: Quick Fix. I often use this one to create getter and/or setter methods for my private or protected properties. Just select the property declaration and use the shortcut.
• CTRL + 7: Quick Comment. Toggles comments for the lines you selected.
• CTRL + Space: Probably the one you’ll use the most, this one either auto-completes your property or method names, gives you a context-aware list of possible choices or lets you insert a template (more on template a little further down)

This, of course is just a summarized list of commands I find useful, for a complete reference, open up Eclipse and press CTRL + SHIFT + L.

Templates

Another great Eclipse/FDT feature are templates.  Through the use of variables, these templates can be tailored to your needs and used in a lot of different situations. Templates can be created by going into the Window menu and clicking on Preferences. Then navigate down to FDT > Editor > Templates and you will get a list of available templates. If you click on New… you will be able to create your own templates and use them in your projects. Once you’ve created your new Templates, just use CTRL + Space in a class to insert it.

One template I often use is the one below. It’s for a simple AS3 singleton class file.

package ${enclosing_package} {

/**
* @author ${user}
* @date ${date}
*/
public class ${enclosing_type} {

private static var _instance:${enclosing_type} = new ${enclosing_type}();

public function ${enclosing_type}() {
if(_instance){
throw new Error("${enclosing_type}Model can only be accessed via the getInstance() method.");
}
}

public static function getInstance():${enclosing_type} {
return _instance;
}

${cursor}

}
}

So now that you’ve heard some of the main reasons why I like Eclipse as a development tool, I hope I was able to persuade some people to give it a (second) chance. It has come a long way in these last few years.