New Flash player, and also a Flex Builder patch
Posted April 16, 2007 
Comments(13)
Comments(13) Please read this if you use Flex Builder, or if you use fdb (the command-line debugger included with the free Flex SDK):
There is a new Flash player, 9.0r45. But remember: Most people out there in the world get the “release” version of the player, but developers need the deubgger version of it.
Get the debugger player here. (Save that link! It is surprisingly hard to find, and it comes in handy each time a new player comes out, because that’s where you go to get debugging-enabled players.)
Also, there is a patch for Flex Builder and for Flex, to make them work with this new player. If you are using Firefox on Windows and you don’t have this patch, you may get a warning message every time you try to debug. Get that patch here.
google: adobe flash player downloads
Yes I know Chad, but there are countless similar Google searches that fail to put that page anywhere on the first page of results — "download flash player", "flash player download", "flash player", "flash download," "download flash," and "debugger flash player" don’t find it, but "flash player debugger" does. That’s why, even though it is possible to triangulate on the perfect Google search to find that page, I recommended that people bookmark it.
Why isn’t this update called flex 2.0.2?
That’s a good question, Ray. I asked one of the people who was more directly involved in it than I was, and this is what I was told:
"Ah… that definitely came up. Patches and hotfixes are usually targeted at a very specific issue and aren’t generally large enough to warrant a full dot release. These fixes are only useful to people using CS3 so it’s not generally applicable to all our Flex Builder and Flex developers (I guess with the caveat that anyone who accidentally installs the new release player will get bitten) so we decided to do a patch instead of a hotfix or updater."
What’s quite interesting is that the Flash Player 9 for Linux is not included in the Flash Player 9 debug archive (fp9_debug_archive.zip) but in a completely separate archive (flash_player_9_linux_dev.tar.gz).
Right — as Flash Player Product Manager Emmy Huang wrote ( http://weblogs.macromedia.com/emmy/archives/2007/04/player_9_update.cfm ), "Where is the Linux version? This update was a result of the need to fix these few CS3 issues, and the honest answer is that the Linux player doesn’t ship with the products so we chose to keep it on its original update schedule. The Linux update is still being worked on, we’re enabling full-screen and wmode as promised, and it is still on for later this year."
pan69: Actually, on reading your comment again, I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying. Where did you see fp9_debug_archive.zip? I don’t see that anywhere.
Regarding 2.0.2:
I think a mistake was made. I don’t care how little the difference is, it’s a fact that it’s different. People want to be able to look at a version number and know if they’ve got the latest and greatest. You now have two distinct versions of Flex 2.0.1 floating out there, with no way to tell the difference except by looking at a binary file in the installation.
To say that it’s only necessary for people using CS3 is silly, as someone could be writing a flex app that loads other SWFs in. As soon as one of those is CS3-made, someone who didn’t think they’d need the update finds that they do need it, only they might have a hard time finding that if they simply check their version number against the latest.
This is the second time I’ve been utterly confused at "your" (the flash team’s) use of version numbers. The flash 9 player has seen the same version field (the x in 9.0.x.0) updated for both API changes and bugfixes!
Mike: The archive I’m refering to is actually on the Flash Player archive page: http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=tn_14266 and doesn’t include the Linux players, only the ones for Windows and Mac. That is what I was refering to as "quite interessting" since those archives include all different versions of all major release players except Linux for Flash Player 9. Doesn’t the Linux player needs to be archived?
The archive for Flash Player 7 does include the the Linux version (r25) and even the Flash Player 7 for Solaris (r53). And since we’re on the topic anyway, I actually do have a stand alone Flash Player 6 for Linux as well which is also not part of the archive for Flash Player 6.
I’m not trying to be diffecult or anything, just noticing stuff ;)
Thanks!
pan69: Ah, I see what you’re saying. I imagine it was probably an oversight that the Linux player wasn’t included in the fp9_archive.zip and fp9_debug_archive.zip alongside the Windows and Mac players. I’ll pass on the word to see if that can get fixed.
Is this the same player that comes with Flash CS3?
Yes, same player that comes with Flash CS3.
I have to say I don’t think you guys are doing the level of quality one would expect from a professional software company. There are all sorts of clunky bugs in FB2 like the inability to set the number of undo levels (yes, you can set it in the prefs but it doesn’t work), the debugger choking issues requiring restart, and now this.
I agree that the version number thing is poorly thought out.