“application descriptor not found” with Flash Professional project in Flash Builder 4.6

Question

Environment: Flash Builder 4.6, Flash Professional CS6, AIR 15, OSX 10.9.3. AIR 15 is installed for both Flash Builder and Flash Professional.

I am trying to get Flash Builder 4.6 to run/debug an .fla/AIR desktop project. I am able to edit code in Flash Builder and run the project in Flash Pro but I would like to use Flash Builder exclusively, aside from .fla tasks.

I built a barebones test project in Flash Pro, set the properties to 'AIR desktop" and published an AIR-with-captive-runtime app – so that works. I brought the project into Flash Builder through the "New > Flash Professional" sequence. There the problems start:

The only build configuration Flash Builder uses for FLash Pro project is web application and it will not let me create a valid desktop configuration. See screenshot below.
If I try to debug with the invalid desktop configuration then I get the "application descriptor not found" error. I have the application descriptor created by Flash right there in the project and do not see any way to explicitly point Flash builder at it. (application descriptor included below for completeness. I have not edited manually.)

I am baffled – and have been at this for hours. Does anyone know the secret handshake?

Project Structure in Flash Builder:

enter image description here

Run Configuration Error:

enter image description here

Application Descriptor:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?>
<application xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/15.0">
    <id>AIR-Debug</id>
    <versionNumber>1.0</versionNumber>
    <filename>AIR_Debug</filename>
    <description></description>
    <!-- To localize the description, use the following format for the description element.
    <description>
        <text xml:lang="en">English App description goes here</text>
        <text xml:lang="fr">French App description goes here</text>
        <text xml:lang="ja">Japanese App description goes here</text>
    </description>
    -->
    <name>AIR_Debug</name>
    <!-- To localize the name, use the following format for the name element.
    <name>
        <text xml:lang="en">English App name goes here</text>
        <text xml:lang="fr">French App name goes here</text>
        <text xml:lang="ja">Japanese App name goes here</text>
    </name>
    -->
    <copyright></copyright>
    <initialWindow>
        <content>AIR_Debug.swf</content>
        <systemChrome>standard</systemChrome>
        <transparent>false</transparent>
        <visible>true</visible>
        <fullScreen>false</fullScreen>
        <autoOrients>false</autoOrients>
        <aspectRatio>portrait</aspectRatio>
        <renderMode>auto</renderMode>
        <maximizable>true</maximizable>
        <minimizable>true</minimizable>
        <resizable>true</resizable>
    </initialWindow>
    <customUpdateUI>false</customUpdateUI>
    <allowBrowserInvocation>false</allowBrowserInvocation>
    <icon></icon>
</application>

spring spring · Accepted Answer · 2014-11-15T22:37:23

Finally found an answer to this:

There is an option in Flash Builder to convert from a Web Project to a Desktop Project

Cmd/Control-click on the project name in the sidebar to display the context menu and select "Add/Change Project Type" and select "Convert..." etc.

enter image description here

This brings up another window with a few options in it

enter image description here

“application descriptor not found” with Flash Professional project in Flash Builder 4.6

1 Answers