Top 2 "Hidden" Help Features in Flash Builder
Posted on Sep 27, 2011
As a Flex and ActionScript developer, more than likely you rely heavily upon the ActionScript Language Reference/ASDoc. Of course, you can always open the ASLR via the web interface. However, sometimes you prefer to have quick access to help within your IDE. For those situations, there are a number of features within Flash Builder to access ASDoc that you may not already be aware of.
To give credit where credit is due, these tips are based upon a post by my colleague Mallika Yelandur.
Hidden Feature 1: The ASDoc Panel
By default, your Flash Builder install should include a view labeled ASDoc which is pre-docked into your Views panel within the Flash Builder perspective. This is easy to overlook as it sits "beneath" the Problems, Data Services, Network Monitor and Console views. This panel will show ASDoc documentation for whatever component or property of a component that is currently selected in the code view.
If your Flash Builder perspective does not currently include the ASDoc panel, you can easily add it in. Select Window > Show View > ASDoc or, if ASDoc is not an option there, Window > Show View > Other and then select ASDoc.
Another nice aspect of this feature is that it supports user-generated ASDoc documentation. For more information on creating ASDoc comments for your source files, see the ASDoc documentation.
Hidden Feature 2: Display ASDoc content in as a tool tip or in the ASDoc view
Ok, so this feature isn't exactly hidden. You are probably well aware that Flash Builder displays ASDoc content within a tool tip as part of its code hinting or simply when you have cursor focus on a component or property:
- As you enter MXML or ActionScript code, ASDoc content for the class displays next to the code hints.
- If you hover over a class or property of a class, the ASDoc reference summary for that class or property appears.
However, what you may not be aware is that you can "convert" this tooltip into a draggable, scrollable and resizable window simply by clicking the tooltip, tabbing into it (in code hinting view) or pressing F2 (in the "hover" view). This panel also gives you the option to "open declaration" which will open the source class from within the Flex framework wherever possible. When you finish reading the documentation, click outside the ASDoc window to automatially close it.
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