FlexBuilder not creating .swf file for AIR project

Question

This seems like a bug in Flex Builder, however the builder no longer creates the .swf file for any projects (I'm building an AIR app). It did previously however, for some reason it errors out with the message "Initial content not found" (referring to looking for the swf in bin-debug, and not being able to find it).

There are many proposed solutions, such as change the version in the application descriptor from 1.0 to 1.5, however none of these work. I've even imported it into a new project and the swf file is not generated.

Is there anyway to force Flex Builder to generate the swf file?

Thanks.

Answer 1

I actually found this was more of a UI problem, where it is not obvious that there is a problem with the code.

If there are errors in the 'Problems' window (red crosses as opposed to exclamation marks), it will run the old version, not the new version... So while it appears that it is compiling and running the new version, it isn't. Alternatively, as found, it will refuse to rebuild the swf file.

Check the problems window (I think View > Problems in flex builder) and see if there are any errors. I also thought it was caching, but finding the problems window solved my issues.

Answer 2

This happened to me when I set the output folder as "empty" (expecting the SWF to end up in the project root directory).
When I changed the output directory (Properties/Flex Build Path/Output Folder, last box) to something ("bin" in my case) the project was able to build and run.
(I had no other errors in the code).

Answer 3

Yes, just found similar problem. In my case I found fixing code errors solved the problem. Best to work back stripping out any code errors until you get a working version going again then build back up from working version until you identify and deal with the piece of code that caused the problem in the first place. Also in my case http service calls I was copying over from android to IOS were the culprit. I found best to build them from new in IOS when trying to duplicate a project over from IOS to Android.

Answer 4

I have the same issue...

• you could create a new project (it has something to do with settings)
• you can create a swf with the amxmlc tool from command line (I just unzipped an earlier air project and used that swf to place in my debug folder) The problem with that is, there's no debugging information but your application will run
• more info soon hopefully here: http://bugs.adobe.com/jira/browse/FB-21758

grtz

UPDATE: just created a new project and copied the source in the new file --> same problem

Answer 5

I had the same issue and according to Ian, I've searched for an error. Finding nothing, I've created myself an error and then removed this error. My project was compiling and running ! I think Flash Builder was just not synchronized with what it was displaying. Hope this can help.

Answer 6

In my case I had modified the app's XML file's initialWindow.content element to point to my swf for ant build. Reset it to blank to make it work.

Answer 7

• Check you cache settings in browser (turn off)

• You can replace *.html file with *.php and add random arguments to *.swf path

  my.swf?random_value

If it does not help then the last problem may occur:

Sometimes Flex copies all files from target output folder BACK into project html-template folder when you manipulate with your output folder or build settings. Because html-template folder content is used to be copied to target output folder, the old swf file that was back-copied replaces the new one.

Flex does something like this:

compile swf > my.swf
copy my.swf > <output>/my.swf
copy html-template/* > <output>/  # if there is my.swf there then it is replaced with old version

So, if you have problems with swf update and it's not a cache problem then check html-template folder and remove my.swf (my here is the name of your compiled swf file).

Sometimes a sequence of Run and Debug commands help, but it is again due to the replacement of swf file in html-template folder.