Sunday 10 October 2010

How to fix Flash Builder debugging after breakage by installing Flash Professional

Short version:
Flash Professional messed up Flash Builder's debugging capability.  On Windows, one can replace references to the FP runtime from 'Professional with that to a FlashPlayerDebugger.exe and all will be well.


Details:
I've been using Flash Builder for the last year including its reasonable debugging capabilities.
I had to install Flash Professional CS5 trial to work on something recently.
When I returned to Flash Builder, debugging no longer worked -- it failed with the following error:
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Flash CS5\Players\FlashPlayer.exe
Flash Builder cannot locate the required debugger version of Adobe Flash Player. You might need to install the debugger version of the Flash Player or reinstall Flash Builder.  Do you want to try to debug with the current version?

Googling didn't find easy answer so thought I'd post my answer here.
I'm on Windows so searched the registry for references and found these:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\FlashPlayer.AudioForFlashPlayer\shell\open\command
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\FlashPlayer.FlashVideo\shell\open\command
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\FlashPlayer.ProtectedMediaForFlashPlayer\shell\open\command
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\FlashPlayer.VideoForFlashPlayer\shell\open\command
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash\shell\open\command

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\FlashPlayer.AudioForFlashPlayer\shell\open\command
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\FlashPlayer.FlashVideo\shell\open\command
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\FlashPlayer.ProtectedMediaForFlashPlayer\shell\open\command
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\FlashPlayer.VideoForFlashPlayer\shell\open\command
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash\shell\open\command

(I skipped those ending MuiCache)

Switched one, didn't help.  Switched more and restarted Flash Builder and all sorted.
Changed from and to, respectively:
"C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Flash CS5\Players\FlashPlayer.exe" %1
"C:\Adobe\sdks\4.1.0.16076\runtimes\player\10.1\win\FlashPlayerDebugger.exe" %1
(all SDKs contain the FPD)

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