Adobe Introduces Flash Builder 4

Adobe announced the immediate availability of Flash Builder 4 on Monday. The new Web and Rich Internet Application development application is replacing Flex Builder, and includes tools for integrating social network services such as Twitter and Facebook into Flash applications.

The new Flash development tools include improved coding and testing utilities, better code management, integrate with other Adobe Creative Suite applications, support PHP, Java, Adobe LiveCycle and ColdFusion, and also includes Flash Catalyst support.

Adobe also updated the open source Flex 4 framework so developers can develop RIA interfaces and application functionality independently, and added a new skinning and component tool called Spark.

Flash Builder 4 is priced at U$249. Flash Builder 4 Premium, which includes the ColdFusion Builder IDE, costs $699.