Minimal MXML for ActionScript3 in FlashDevelop with spark

[lcurlr]

FlashDevelop would seem to be the best free alternative to an Adobe product for working in ActionScript and Flex. But life with plain-old AS3 and minimal-Flex4 XML seems complicated.

This seems to be a basic minimum (one of a few alternatives) for using spark components* from Flex4 in FlashDevelop AS3:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" layout="absolute" creationComplete="onCreationComplete()">
<mx:Script source="" />
</mx:Application>

I right-click to flip this MXML file to being the "must compile" file and adjust the Project "properties" menu to build a suitably named SWF file.

The ActionScript3 code using spark components then runs fine in that onCreationComplete() method in my script file "spark_02.as" in the example.

I owe this technique to a web AS3 guru.

mx.core.FlexGlobals.topLevelApplication.addChild( myComp );

Anything fancier using your own classes or extending spark seems to now require giving up the Application class and working instead with the FlexGlobals.topLevelApplication and dealing with preloading and class loading.

At that point I would prefer to be in the Curl Surge RTE with curl, pcurl, scurl and dcurl files than in the Flash Player or even the Air WebKit wrapper.

*spark components are the Adobe replacement hierarchy which Adobe now recommends over Flex mx components. Useful points of comparison with Curl 7.0 include Box, VBox, HBox and other recent parallels/imitations.