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After already searching the site for the answer to the question, I've found this:

Is it any way to run two instances of debuggers?

I need the Flash Professional CS5.5 version of the answer to this question.

Basically - I need to know if there's a way to debug 2 different .fla files in Adobe Flash Professional CS5.5 at the same time. One of them implements the Adobe AIR framework (for using the SocketServer class), the other is a standard AS3 project. It'd be nice if I could debug the client-server interaction easily using the IDE rather than using extensive means to do so.

Anyone have any ideas? Thanks.

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Neguido
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  • Also, naturally I can't run two instances of Flash Professional - but if I found a way around this I guess that'd work too, right? – Neguido Nov 21 '14 at 20:56
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    I know this doesn't help with your immediate problem, but the Flash IDE is worthless for debugging. If you can, port your project over to FlashDevelop, you'll have a much easier time. I used `trace()` instead of that sorry excuse of a debugger while I was still using the IDE for writing/compiling AS3 code. – xxbbcc Nov 21 '14 at 20:58
  • @xxbbcc Good point, and I use trace a lot during debug as well. As for using FD instead, I have been planning on doing this for a while since I do use packages and classes rather than timeline (and already have FD installed) - I'm just so accustomed to Flash Professional from my pre-OOP days :P. Just a question, in the past I've found FD's debug to be considerably slower when compiling - is this just me? – Neguido Nov 21 '14 at 21:04
  • I don't know the size of your project but the projects I compile with FlashDevelop usually compile under 5 seconds. I use a few open source libraries and I have my own framework - my projects have a few hundred source files. I always only import the types I actually need in each class to keep type lookup times down during compile. – xxbbcc Nov 21 '14 at 21:57
  • FD's debug feature is ok - I only had a few problems with it. Sometimes it loses the context but it happens rarely. With the Flash IDE I don't remember ever seeing correct data during debugging and it was never able to drill down into objects. Breakpoints also work randomly in the Flash IDE. – xxbbcc Nov 21 '14 at 21:59
  • @xxbbcc Thanks a lot for the information :). I don't really use the debug to actually 'debug' (in the sense of using the IDE tools/profiling) - I just like it as an easy, quick, efficient way to test the project. Like you mentioned, I tend to use traces between statements etc when I need to see if something works the way I want it to or not. As for FD, I was using a much older than current version at the time (could be why it was considerably slower) so I guess it'd be worth trying it out again. Again, thanks for the information on FD :). – Neguido Nov 22 '14 at 00:48
  • @xxbbcc Inspired by your comment I decided a good way to go was actually to program the server in FD and the client in Flash IDE. Porting the server over was a whole lot easier than the client would've been and this setup allows me to test both projects at once, as I needed to do so. Feel free to add this as an answer and I'll accept and upvote for you :). – Neguido Nov 23 '14 at 23:57
  • I'm glad it worked out well for you. I'm sure you'll like FlashDevelop after you use it for a while. I added the above as the answer as you suggested - feel free to accept it. :) – xxbbcc Nov 24 '14 at 03:21

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This is not an answer to your question but a suggestion to take a different approach.

The Flash IDE and it's debugger are inadequate but for most trivial programs. Variable inspection and breakpoints work randomly and it's next to impossible to drill down into more complex objects. Flash IDE is all right for creating the visual resources for Flash programs but for any serious coding, it just falls on its face. The compiler included with the Flash IDE is also very poorly written and generates unoptimized code.

I'd suggest to switch over to using FlashDevelop - it's a free, open source IDE that runs on top of the Flex and Air SDKs and uses a better compiler that performs more optimizations. (You can mark functions for inlining, etc.) The debugger - while not Visual Studio - is much, much better than the IDE: breakpoints work and object properties can be inspected easily.

Because FlashDevelop is geared towards coding, you can create a project in it with multiple source files, define your resources and then compile to multiple platforms. Compilation is usually fast with hundreds of source files (don't import every type in every package) and you can do debug/release builds. If you can port your code from Flash to FlashDevelop, you'll have a much easier time managing your project.

xxbbcc
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