A while back I came across a very lightweight and powerful text editor called Notepad 2. It loads fast and edits text well. It' not a bloated pig of an app like Adobe's Dream Weaver. When I want to edit a text file I use Notepad 2. It does just what I want and it does it super fast. Well, I got curious and wondered if there was a way to to enable color coding support for MXML and ActionScript 3 files. Sure enough there is info out there and since I found a couple of sites that help you configure your trusty Notepad 2 for MXML and ActionScript, I just thought I'd pass the info along to anyone who uses it for text editing or maybe will one day. Also If you don't have Notepad 2, it's worth trying! You might even find yourself using it more than you'd think! Yeah sure they might not get all the tag insight and code hinting. But there is something to be said for an app that loads fast and just does what you need it to. Also worth noting is the fact that I use windows. I'm sure you Big Mac's like to use TextMate. I have the windows version of it called E-Text Editor but I find myself not using it as much cuz it takes longer to load. I mean really my patience can be worn thin when all I want to do is make quick edits.
Josh Tynjala - Notepad2 support for ActionScript changed >>
Mark's Musings: Notepad 2 for MXML and ActionScript 3 >>
* Also notable is another text editor called Intype which uses an ActionScript Bundle as well for code coloring etc... You can download the ActionScript Bundle as well as other Extended Bundles here: http://intype.info/download/bundles/. I just started using Intype one and it really works well too. Anyone reading this love opening Eclipse to edit a file?
Yeah I didn't think soooooooo...
FLASH DEVELOP: I do in fact use Flash Develop a lot too. But it does not load as fast and still has some bugs with it. I really like Flash Develop quite a bit and it's AS3 / Flex handling seems to be pretty good so far. My favorite thing in Flash Develop is the ability to browse a .SWF file like a folder filled with reference linkages. I just got a post about Flash Develop being a good editor and I just wanted to make clear I do use that too. I just wanted to mention the super lightweight uber basic editors that still have ActionScript support here.
4 comments:
You might also be interested in flash develop. It is open source, a little bigger then notepad2 but significantly smaller then dreamweaver and eclipse. It comes with support for AS2, AS3 and MXML with code completion, snippets and a range of other powerful bits and pieces. It does HTML, XML, JS etc highlighting too
Another fast an powerful Editor is Notepad++. It supports syntax highlighting for many different languages. Notepad++ is my absolute favorite for every text-based filetype.
Hmmm, I might give this a try! I have to admit it does get a little annoying sometimes waiting for Eclipse to load.
yup can't live without me notepad2... there is always a place for quick and dirty editors... the key to their success is speed. flash develop is a bit overkill compared to notepad2.
Post a Comment