Compiling mxml files with ant and flex sdk

Question

I am just getting started with flex and am using the SDK (not Flex Builder). I was wondering what\'s the best way to compile a mxml file from an ant build script.

Answer 1

There is another option - it's called Project Sprouts.

This is a system built with Ruby, RubyGems and Rake that provides many of the features found in Maven and ANT, but with a much cleaner syntax and simpler build scripts.

For example, the ANT script shown above would look like this in Sprouts:

require 'rubygems'
require 'sprout'

desc 'Compile and run the SWF'
flashplayer :run => 'bin/SomeProject.swf'

mxmlc 'bin/SomeProject.swf' do |t|
  t.input = 'src/SomeProject.as'
  t.default_size = '800 600'
  t.default_background_color = '#ffffff'
  t.keep_generated_actionscript = true
  t.library_path << 'libs'
end

task :default => :run

After installing Ruby and RubyGems, you would simply call this script with:

rake

To remove generated files, run:

rake clean

To see available tasks:

rake -T

Another great benefit of Sprouts, once installed, is that it provides project, class and test generators that will get any development box ready to run with a couple simple command line actions.

# Generate a project and cd into it:
sprout -n mxml SomeProject
cd SomeProject

# Compile and run the main debug SWF:
rake

# Generate a new class, test case and test suite:
script/generate class utils.MathUtil

# Compile and run the test harness:
rake test