Andrew Shorten @ Adobe

There are a number of different sources of information that we use when planning future versions of our tools, including, but not limited to, feedback gathered via pre-release programs, customer surveys, sync-dev meetings, product forums and in-person discussions at conferences, etc.

For Flash Builder, we also actively request that developers log bugs and feature requests using JIRA, which is hosted at bugs.adobe.com. We review all the feature enhancements that are logged and pay particular attention to those requests that have community support, by way of the number of votes received.

The current top 10 feature requests are listed below, with the full list visible here (note: you will need to login or create an account first as anonymous browsing is currently disabled).

If you have already logged a feature request or voted then thank you! If you haven’t and can spare half an hour, now would be a great time to review the list of requested features, vote for your favourites and add features that you’d like to see in Flash Builder.

Whilst we can’t guarantee to implement every feature request in the next version of the product, we do take the feedback you give us very seriously and it is all used to help shape the future direction of Flash Builder.

If you haven’t used bugs.adobe.com before then you’ll find a quick guide to getting started here.

Over the last couple of years I’ve had the pleasure of being part of the Platform Evangelism team at Adobe – a smart, diverse and unique group of people who care passionately about Flash and who genuinely like helping others learn about new technology.

A big part of that role has been spending time out on the road talking about the Flash Platform and showing how to use Flex, Flash Catalyst and Flash Builder to create rich Internet applications. An equally important part of being an evangelist is listening to feedback, suggestions and constructive criticism from designers, developers, technical architects, press & analysts and channeling that information back into the product teams so that we can fix bugs, add new features and improve workflow between tools.

I’m hoping to use some of that experience, gained from talking with many of you, in my new role at Adobe, as Senior Product Manager for Flash Builder.

I’m really excited about taking on this new position – there are lots of great additions in the upcoming version of Flash Builder 4 (currently in beta), including the data centric development tools, the network monitor, support for Flash Catalyst projects and enhancements to core code editing, refactoring and debugging features. But there is a whole lot more that we can do to enhance developer productivity, enable a more fluid design/develop workflow and, with the availability of Flash Player on smart phones and the upcoming mobile version of the Flex framework, to support multi-screen application development.

Whilst the engineering team continues working hard on completing Flash Builder 4 for a release in the first half of 2010, I’ll be joining with more of a view on future versions of Flash Builder and be part of the team planning out what’s important to developers building applications on the Flash Platform.

If you are interested in some of the directions that we’re thinking about and didn’t attend MAX, I’d encourage you to watch the Flash Platform Tooling & Framework Roadmap presentation on Adobe TV.

I’ll be relocating to San Francisco with my family in the New Year and am looking forward to the many new experiences that will come from living in California. I will of course miss being in Europe (although maybe not the winter weather so much), working with all my friends on the European evangelism, PR and marketing teams and being close to the many people I’ve met at conferences, user group meetings, Flash Camps and other local events. I do hope however that I’ll be back during the year to support some of the European events/conferences and to get feedback on our plans for future versions of Flash Builder.

I’m going to do my best to continue blogging here, I’ll continue to be on Twitter and more than ever I welcome your comments and thoughts on how you’d like to see us develop Flash Builder.

Cheers,

Andrew

Today we released the beta 2 versions of both Flash Catalyst and Flash Builder on Adobe Labs – if you looked at either of these products at beta 1 but felt they were a bit early for regular usage then I’d encourage you try out these news builds.

With lots of bug fixes and performance improvements in both products, I’m now using these as my regular toolset for RIA design/development – Flash Catalyst in particular has added a significant number of new features over beta 1, including the ability to work with audio/video assets, as well as import and control Flash SWFs that were created in Flash Professional.

I’d like to highlight two updated developer centre articles that I’ve written and also point out a brand new one discussing workflows between Flash Catalyst and Flash Builder:

• Building a data-centric application using Flash Catalyst and Flash Builder 4 (updated for beta 2)
  Learn to create an employee directory application, starting from the Illustrator design, working in Flash Catalyst to create the user interface and moving into Flash Builder to connect to a PHP or ColdFusion back-end.
• Flash Catalyst Best Practices (updated for beta 2)
  A set of hints and tips for designers using Illustrator and Flash Catalyst that will help ensure that projects created in Flash Catalyst will be optimized for use by the development team you’re working with.
• Exploring Flash Catalyst and Flash Builder workflows
  Understand the different workflows that are possible between Flash Catalyst and Flash Builder and learn which is most appropriate for your team and the projects you’re working on.

If you have any comments/feedback on the articles then please do get in touch.

There is a two-day training workshop taking place on the 24th and 25th of September in London covering some of the more advanced topics relating to Flex development.

If you’ve been working with Flex for a while and are interested in the differences between MVC Flex frameworks, design patterns, application builds and continuous integration, portals, modularization of Flex applications, unit, stress & functional testing, as well as a host of other topics, then I’d encourage you to check out this workshop.

More details and pricing information is here. You can use the code ‘ebd’ to get a 20% discount on the course fee.

An article I wrote on Flash Catalyst best practices for the Adobe Developer Connection site went live yesterday.

One of the things I’ve found with Flash Catalyst is that the quality and usefulness of the assets and component skins that you’ll make available for the developers you are working with can vary depending upon how you’ve organized your project, as can the amount of rework and restructuring required on their part when they receive your FXP file. By thinking about naming, structure and being organized throughout the design phase of the project, you’ll help to ensure a smooth flow of assets from design into development.

If you’re considering using Flash Catalyst for creating the user interface for a rich Internet application then I hope the hints and tips shared in the article will help you to make the most from Flash Catalyst and ensure that you’re structuring your projects with the eventual output to the developer in mind.

The article is posted here.

If you have any feedback on the article or additional hints & tips then please do share them using the comments.