Alexander Funke @ Jun 03 2010 6:22 pm
We are happy to announce that we have implemented a wrapper for Joa Eberts Apparat.
The following tasks are supported:
- bigsource.apparat.reducer: Apparat Reducer
- bigsource.apparat.tdsi: Apparat Turbo Diesel Sport Injection
- bigsource.apparat.coverage: Apparat Coverage
- bigsource.apparat.concrete: Apparat Concrete
- bigsource.apparat.stripper: Apparat Stripper
To start optimizing your swfs you have to download some things:
Apparat: http://code.google.com/p/apparat/
Scala: http://www.scala-lang.org/downloads
(Please check the Apparat website for infos about the needed version. Currently Scala RC3)
BigSource Zarkov: http://zarkov.bigsource.de
(Eclipse Updatesite: http://update.bigsource.de/beta)
After unpacking Apparat and Scala and installing the new version of Zarkov you can create the tasks.
Example
See content of build.properties in previous post.
<project name="Example 1" default="tdsi" basedir=".">
<property file="build.properties" />
<target name="tdsi">
<bigsource.apparat.tdsi basedir="${basedir}" apparatdirectory="PATH TO APPARAT DIRECTORY" scala="PATH TO SCALA EXECUTABLE">
<inputfile path="${swf.application.target }" />
<outputfile path="${swf.application.target }" />
<set7zpath path="PATH TO 7zip IF NOT IN $PATH" />
</bigsource.apparat.tdsi>
</target>
<target name="reducer">
<bigsource.apparat.reducer basedir="${basedir}" apparatdirectory="PATH TO APPARAT DIRECTORY" scala="PATH TO SCALA EXECUTABLE">
<inputfile path="${swf.application.target }" />
<outputfile path="${swf.application.target }" />
<set7zpath path="PATH TO 7zip IF NOT IN $PATH" />
</bigsource.apparat.reducer>
</target>
</project>
As you can see, the new features are currently only available from the beta update. Your feedback would help to make BigSource Zarkov even better. Feel free to contact us.
Thanks to Joa for his great tool!!
Alexander Funke @ Mar 12 2010 4:23 pm
After checking out the new abilities of the Air 2 beta 2 Runtime, I decided to port the BigSource Zarkov Plugin to an Air Standalone application. I had to adopt the Ant Runtime, to ensure that your current build files will also work in the Air version. Because Ant has many tasks, I just adopted the base tasks of Zarkov in the first release. In future releases more tasks like “exec”, “echo”, “zip”, “copy”, etc. will be added. Fcsh support for the exec tasks (mxmlc or compc as executable) will also be added in future releases.
The first beta Version is avalibale for download. Feel free to test it.
- Windows
- OS X
- Linux (Debian, Ubuntu)

BigSource Zarkov for Air
In order to run the application, you must have installed Adobe Air 2 beta 2 (Download). If you find bugs or have a feature request, please send an email to alexander.funke@bigsource.de. The application is currently released as Jobware. No warranty for malfunctions. I am happy about every feedback.
Alexander Funke @ Apr 07 2009 2:44 pm
Yesterday we presented our compiler wrapper PlugIn for Eclipse at the Flex User Group Hamburg in the rooms of pilot 1/0. We got a really good feedback for our product. So this was a great way to get whishes and to fill our FAQ. In the next time we will add some new stuff to our documentation and we are currently working on a rewritten version of Bigsource Zarkov with a lot more support creating compiler taks. Thanks to all who came , to the organisation team of the FlexUGHH and to pilot 1/0 for allocating their rooms. It was a great evening. The presentation and the sample project will come soon.
Alexander Funke @ Nov 05 2008 9:37 am
Today we released the new version of the Zarkov Eclipse Plugin. There are many improvements we have done. Here are the major ones:
- Review of all compiler options.
- Some options have changed attributes.
- Added all options listed by “compiler help list advanced” to mxmlc, compc, asdoc, amxmlc, acompc and aasdoc.
- Warnings and Errors are now added to the Problems view of Eclipse.
- a new task “bigsource.browser” added. You can now open your browser from within eclipse.
- some general improvements in stability
- documentaiton will be improved in the next days (mxmlc is already updated)
You can get the new version over the Eclipse Update feature. If you would like to get the latest beta version you can get it here: http://update.bigsource.de/beta.
For more information about BigSource Zarkov visit the project page at http://zarkov.bigsource.de.
We are happy about every feedback.
Alexander Funke @ Aug 14 2008 9:51 am
We have rebuild the BigSource Zarkov Project Page and added a documentation for the supported compilers.
Have a look: http://zarkov.bigsource.de
Alexander Funke @ Aug 08 2008 10:27 am
We are happy to announce that we have made a standalone version of the plugin. Now you can exchange you build.xml with developers not using eclipse. There is an example implementation and the download link on the Zarkov Project Page. Enjoy it.
Alexander Funke @ Aug 04 2008 3:14 pm
Today we released the updated version of Eclipse Plugin “BigSource Zarkov” 0.8.0.9. Now it supports ADL (Air Debug Launcher) and ADT (Air Developer Tool). A second improvement is the simpler Path setup. You just have to specify the Flex SDK Path and all compilers will be called directly. Existing FCSH-Paths will be changed automatically. So if you have improvements or bugs please feel free to add an issue to http://bugtracking.bigsource.de/trac/bigsource_zarkov/.
Project Page: http://zarkov.bigsource.de
Alexander Funke @ Jul 21 2008 12:07 pm
We are happy to announce our project page for the BigSource Zarkov Eclipse Plugin developed by us. Have a look at http://zarkov.bigsource.de.
For bugs and improvements please use http://bugtracking.bigsource.de.
Alexander Funke @ Jul 09 2008 11:03 am
Today we released our renamed Eclipse Plugin “BigSource Zarkov”. It’s based on the FCSH-Wrapper and has some new Features. We changed the name because we are planning to add support for more compiler.
Roadmap:
- mxmlc (fcsh)
- compc (fcsh)
- mtasc (AS2)
- Flashplayer
- haxe
- the other compilers of the flex sdk (asdoc, etc.)
Current FCSH Wrapper users:
- close the FCSH Monitor
- deinstall the old Plugin (Help -> Software Updates -> Manage Configuration)
- install BigSource Zarkov from the update url.
New users:
Install BigSource Zarkov from this update url: http://update.bigsource.de/update
Now you will find the Zarkov Monitor under the Views-Category “Flash”. Because of the renaming you have to specify the paths for the compiler and the Flashplayer again. We apologize for the trouble caused.
The name is dedicated to the brilliant rocket scientist “Dr. Hans Zarkov” from the “Flash Gordon” series.
UPDATE: If you have any BigSource Zarkov related issues, just put it into our new bugtracking system under http://bugtracking.bigsource.de/trac/bigsource_zarkov. This will make it easier for us to improve the plugin.
Alexander Funke @ May 29 2008 4:38 pm
Recently we came to the question how to use FCSH with Ant. So we ran into some problems.
1. First Problem: Starting FCSH from the commandline compiles the command and shuts down. So the next time compiling the same command you won’t have advantage.FCSH just compiles all classes again and not only the changed classes.
2. Second Problem: There are huge amount of compileroptions that you have to know when creating an Ant task with exec for mxmlc or compc.
Therefore we decided to write our own FCSH Wrapper. You ask why? There are already plugins available, such as iFac. But these plugins work with socket connections and on some computers, especially in big enviroments, you need Dadministration-rights to use sockets. So we made a plugin without the need of using sockets and the advantages of the Flex Ant Tasks.
Below you find an example build.xml with the currently available features.
<project name="FCSH Wrapper" default="example_bigsource_mxmlc" basedir=".">
<property file="${user.name}.build.properties" />
<property file="build.properties" />
<target name="example_bigsource_mxmlc" description="compiles a swf">
<bigsource.mxmlc basedir="${basedir}">
<default_size height="768" width="1024" />
<file_specs path="${swf.main.class}" />
<library_path path="${swc.applicationasset}" />
<source_path path="source/as" />
<output path="${swf.main.target}" />
<verbose_stacktraces value="true" />
</bigsource.mxmlc>
</target>
<target name="example_bigsource_flashplayer" description="opens swf in flashplayer">
<bigsource.flashplayer basedir="${basedir}" swf="${swf.main.target}" />
</target>
<target name="example_bigsource_compc" description="creates a swc">
<bigsource.compc basedir="${basedir}" maxexecutiontime="30000">
<source_path path="src/" />
<namespace uri="http://www.mydomain.com/projects/as3framework" manifest="manifest.xml" />
<include_namespaces name="http://www.mydomain.com/projects/as3framework" />
<output path="swc/your.swc" />
</bigsource.compc>
</target>
<target name="example_bigsource_translate" description="creates a xml file without the pluginspecific tasks">
<bigsource.translate basedir="${basedir}" inputfile="build.xml" outputfile="build_wo_fcsh.xml" />
</target>
</project>
If you want to use this plugin you can install it with the Install Manager in Eclipse. Here is the update URL: http://update.bigsource.de/update
After installation you have to specify the paths for FCSH and the Flashplayer you want to use in the preferences section of Eclipse. Now you have code completion for the BigSource tasks in the Ant editor of Eclipse. In order to compile you will also be able to compile for Flashplayer 9 and 10 in the same build.xml. You just need to specify the flashplayer-version in the task. Version 9 and 10 are available.
Starting the tasks first time you will get an taskdef error. This causes the Antscript must run in the same JRE as Eclipse. You can set it in the applicationmenu under “Run” -> “External Tools” -> “Open External Tools” -> “JRE”.
Some settings have standard values:
- version = 9
- maxexecutiontime = 20000 (Milliseconds)
The plugin needs the attribute basedir for every task. This should be set to ${basedir} because the plugin uses this path to check the files for building internal paths.
We will write a detailed documentation very soon. The plugin is in beta status, so it will be distributed as is with no warranty. If you need some features or want to report bugs feel free to contact us. FCSH, mxmlc, compc and Flash are product or trademarks of Adobe.
UPDATE: Fcsh Wrapper has a new name!!!! It’s now called BigSource Zarkov and has new Features!!