Specifications

CHAPTER 2

For shared MXML and ActionScript files that are outside of the application’s directory structure, you modify the

source path to include the directories that the compiler searches for MXML and ActionScript files. The

component search order in the source path is based on the order of the directories listed in the source path.

You can set the source path as part of configuring your project in Flex Builder, in the flex-config.xml file, or set it

when you open the command-line compiler. In this example, you set the source path to:

C:\myApps\sharedLibrary

To access a component in an MXML file, you specify a namespace definition that defines the directory location

of the component relative to the source path. In the following example, an MXML file in the appRoot1 directory

accesses an MXML component in the local directory structure, and in the directory containing the shared library

of components:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<mx:Application

xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"

xmlns:MyLocalComps="myFormatters.*"

xmlns:MySharedComps="sharedFormatters.*"

<MyLocalComps:PriceFormatter/>

<MySharedComps:SharedFormatter2/>

</mx:Application>

The MXML tag name for a custom component is composed of two parts: the namespace prefix, in this example

MyLocalComps and MySharedComps, and the tag name. The namespace prefix tells Flex the directory in the

source path that contains the file that implements the custom component. The tag name corresponds to the

filename of the component, in this example PriceFormatter.mxml and SharedFormatter2.mxml.

Using a SWC file in a Flex SDK application

A SWC file is a Flex library file that contains one or more components implemented in MXML or ActionScript.

All Flex library files are shipped as SWC files in the frameworks/libs directory. This includes the following SWC

files:

• framework.swc

• playerglobal.swc

• rpc.swc