I’ve run into a bug with the released version of the Adobe Flex 4.5 SDK. The 4.5 version of the SDK does not respect keeping [Embed] metadata in your SWF. This is problematic because we use this metadata extensively in PushButton Engine.

Take the following example into account:

TestMetadata.as

package
{
    import flash.display.Sprite;
    import flash.utils.describeType;
 
    public class TestMetadata extends Sprite
    {
        public function TestMetadata()
        {
            var typeInfo:XML = describeType(TestClassWithEmbed);
            trace(typeInfo);
        }
    }
}

TestClassWithEmbed.as

package
{
    public class TestClassWithEmbed
    {
        [Embed(source="assets/flip.png", mimeType="image/png" )]
        public var Flip:Class;
 
        [SomeMeta(source="assets/flip.png", mimeType="image/png")]
        public var Test:Class;
    }
}

In version 4.1 of the Adobe Flex SDK, we get the following back from describeType.

<variable name="Test" type="Class">
  <metadata name="SomeMeta">
    <arg key="source" value="assets/flip.png"/>
    <arg key="mimeType" value="image/png"/>
  </metadata>
  <metadata name="__go_to_definition_help">
    <arg key="file" value="/projects/zaalabs/workspace/TestMetadata/src/TestClassWithEmbed.as"/>
    <arg key="pos" value="243"/>
  </metadata>
</variable>
<variable name="Flip" type="Class">
  <metadata name="Embed">
    <arg key="source" value="assets/flip.png"/>
    <arg key="mimeType" value="image/png"/>
  </metadata>
  <metadata name="__go_to_definition_help">
    <arg key="file" value="/projects/zaalabs/workspace/TestMetadata/src/TestClassWithEmbed.as"/>
    <arg key="pos" value="136"/>
  </metadata>
</variable>

However, in version 4.5 of the Adobe Flex SDK, you can see the Embed metadata is being omitted. Same exact code, same compiler arguments, nothing has changed except the SDK.

<variable name="Test" type="Class">
  <metadata name="SomeMeta">
    <arg key="source" value="assets/flip.png"/>
    <arg key="mimeType" value="image/png"/>
  </metadata>
  <metadata name="__go_to_definition_help">
    <arg key="pos" value="243"/>
  </metadata>
</variable>
<variable name="Flip" type="Class">
  <metadata name="__go_to_definition_help">
    <arg key="pos" value="136"/>
  </metadata>
</variable>

As you can see, the Embed metadata is being stripped out, even though I explicitly set “–keep-as3-metadata+=Embed,SomeMeta” in the compiler. Since I don’t believe that the Adobe Flash Player team would break describeType in a minor release, I’m led to believe that this is a bug that was introduced in the 4.5 version of mxmlc in the Flex SDK.

Rant

:: UPDATE ::

This seems to have been an isolated incident on this specific day, bugs.adobe.com has worked well for me many times since then.

————————————————————————–

So I tried to do the “correct” thing and file this as a bug on bugs.adobe.com. And would happily do so if the site worked. In fact, in the time I’ve been waiting for bug.adobe.com to load and let me login… not only did I write the test case, but I wrote this entire blog post as well.

[UPDATE]
I was finally able to file the bug, I think… it won’t pull it up. SDK-30485.

10 minutes to diagnose the issue…
15 minutes to blog about it…
45 minutes… and counting to file a bug through the proper channels.

I will be giving this presentation again tonight at the Seattle Flex User Group, so if you are in Seattle… show up. We’ll have a bit more time for questions at tonight’s presentation.

:: PRESENTATION MATERIALS ::

Slides
TechWed Presentation
FlexMeetup.com Presentation

1. Visit the commits forum. Click the subscribe button.
   
2. Select Email or Email Digest.
   
3. I use gmail, Select Settings > Filters > Create a new filter. Setup the panel as shown.
   

   UPDATE (3/30/2009):

   The subject on the Flex SDK commit emails has changed slightly. The filter in the email no longer works. I am now using this filter instead: “svn:fx” of “[svn]”

4. Click Next Step, I use these setting so the emails don’t crowd my inbox.
   
5. Woot, now I can see all of the changes to the Flex SDK as they happen.