This near-feature-complete Flex Builder 3 beta 2 release will provide you with an opportunity to explore powerful new features, communicate early feedback, and test existing Flex applications with the latest Flex 3 framework.

FAQ

What did Adobe announce regarding Flex?

On October 1, 2007 Adobe announced the public availability of Flex 3 beta 2. This is the second public beta for Flex 3. Adobe also announced the availability of the Flex Skin Design Extensions for CS3. These extensions enable Flash, Fireworks, Illustrator and Photoshop to export skins that can easily be imported into Flex Builder 3.

What’s new in beta 2?

We’ve added a number of important new features in this beta including data wizard support for .NET, Web Service introspection wizards, and project import/export capabilities. You can get all the details for the release by reading Matt Chotin’s article in the Flex Developer Center and by reading the release notes.

What are the goals of the beta?

Beta 2 is a near-feature-complete version of the Flex 3 release and the quality is very high. The goal of this release is to give the community an opportunity to continue to provide feedback as we refine the final features and to help identify any bugs and missing capabilities.

Where can I download Flex 3 beta 2?

You can download all of the Flex 3 beta 2 bits from Adobe Labs.

Do I need to uninstall Flex 3 beta 1 before installing beta 2?

You do not need to uninstall Flex Builder 3 beta 1 if you have the standalone version and install beta 2 to a new location. If you wish to install Flex Builder 3 beta 2 to the same location as beta 1 you will need to uninstall beta 1 first. If you are using the plug-in version of Flex Builder you will need to uninstall the previous version.

Do I need to upgrade to beta 2 to use AIR beta 2?

Yes. Flex 3 and AIR are on a common path moving towards release so you will need to stay in sync. The good news is that the latest AIR bits are already included in the Flex 3 SDK beta and the Flex Builder 3 beta downloads.

System Requirements

The minimum system requirements for the Flex Builder 3 beta 2 are listed below. See the release notes for more information.

Windows

• Intel® Pentium® 4 processor
• 1GB of RAM recommended
• Microsoft® Windows® XP (with Service Pack 2)
• Microsoft® Vista Home Premium or higher
• 300MB of available hard-disk space to install
• Java™ Virtual Machine: Sun JRE 1.4.2 (included), Sun JRE 1.5, IBM JRE 1.5
• Eclipse™ 3.2.2 or higher for Plug-in install (Eclipse 3.3 recommended for Windows Vista)
• New Flex Builder 3 projects create applications that require users to have Flash Player 9.0.30 or higher. You can change this to an earlier version of Player 9 in the Flex Compiler section of your project’s Properties.
• BEA Workshop 10.1
• IBM Rational Software Architect 7.0.0.3 (Eclipse 3.3 plug-in configuration only)
  • Known issue: There is a conflict between the version of Xerxes that Flex uses and the one that is included with the IBM JVM. In order to use the IBM JVM 1.4.2 with the Flex command-line compilers you need to make sure that the VM loads the version of Xerces supplied with Flex instead of the one in the IBM JVM. For more information on this issue, review the associated technote.

Macintosh

• G4 1.25 GHz PowerPC or Intel based Mac
• OS X 10.4.7 - 10.4.9
• 1GB of RAM recommended
• 300MB of available hard-disk space to install
• Java™ Virtual Machine: JRE 1.5 or JRE 1.6 from Apple
• Eclipse 3.2.2 or higher for Plug-in install
• New Flex Builder 3 projects create applications that require users to have Flash Player 9.0.30 or higher. You can change this to an earlier version of Player 9 in the Flex Compiler section of your project’s Properties.

Source: Adobe Labs