Adobe Flash Catalyst (formerly known by its codename Thermo) is a designers' tool for creating the

user interface In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine f ...

for rich web applications (formerly known as Rich Internet Applications). Development and sales of Adobe Flash Catalyst ended on April 23, 2012.

Features

With Flash Catalyst,

architects can create the user interface for

Adobe Flex Apache Flex, formerly Adobe Flex, is a software development kit (SDK) for the development and deployment of cross-platform rich web applications based on the Adobe Flash platform. Initially developed by Macromedia and then acquired by Adobe System ...

(now

Adobe Flash Builder Adobe Flash Builder (previously known as Adobe Flex Builder) is an integrated development environment (IDE) built on the Eclipse platform that speeds development of rich Internet applications (RIAs) and cross-platform desktop applications, parti ...

4) applications using Adobe graphics software. Then developers can use the result to build the rest of the application in Flex. Flash Catalyst can import Adobe Photoshop,

Adobe Illustrator Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor and design program developed and marketed by Adobe Inc. Originally designed for the Apple Macintosh, development of Adobe Illustrator began in 1985. Along with Creative Cloud (Adobe's shift to month ...

Adobe Fireworks Adobe Fireworks (formerly Macromedia Fireworks) was a bitmap and vector graphics editor, which Adobe acquired in 2005. Fireworks was made for web designers for rapidly creating website prototypes and application interfaces. Its features included ...

, or Flash XML Graphics ( FXG) files keeping all their features. The converted artwork can then be used as functional UI components (creating Flex component skins). After importing, users use simple

WYSIWYG In computing, WYSIWYG ( ), an acronym for What You See Is What You Get, is a system in which editing software allows content to be edited in a form that resembles its appearance when printed or displayed as a finished product, such as a printed d ...

techniques to create and edit behaviors (mouse event handling, etc.) without writing code and create animated transitions. Flash Catalyst can also use design-time data placeholders when marking up an application, testing interactivity, and choreographing motion. These placeholders can then be replaced at production-time with final artwork. This same method can be used to create UIs to handle dynamic data without having access to the actual data source. Imported objects are maintained as linked files, so behaviors created in Flash Catalyst are still maintained even after the original file is edited in its originating program (e.g., Photoshop or Illustrator). Flash Catalyst is also compatible with

(formerly called "Flex Builder"), using the same project format. In addition to its primary function of being a

GUI The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...

composer for Adobe Flex components, Flash Catalyst also features a basic code workspace, which consists of a subset of Adobe Flash Builder's panels. Both tools being based on Eclipse, the code editor, project navigator and problems view are basically the same in both products.

External links

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Adobe Catalyst Usergroup UK
{{Adobe Flash Flash Catalyst Flash Catalyst

Features

See also

External links