TechNote

Watermarks appear when using Flex 2 Charting library with Flex Builder 3

Issue

When you use Adobe Flex Builder 3 to create or maintain applications that use the Adobe Flex 2 SDK and the Adobe Flex 2 Charting components, a watermark appears on charts.

Reason

With Flex 2, you need two serial numbers to use Flex Builder 2 and the charting components -- one for the builder tool and another to remove the watermark from charting. Adobe also sold a product called Flex Builder with Charting, which was a bundle of the two serial numbers.

With Flex 3, Adobe eliminated Flex Charting as a standalone product and now includes Charting as a core feature of Flex Builder 3 Professional. Flex Builder 3 Pro requires only one serial number which unlocks both the Flex Builder 3 feature set and the Flex 3 charting components. However, this serial number does not unlock the old Flex 2 Charting components.

Flex Builder 3 also allows you to seamlessly output Flex applications that use the Flex 2 SDK. However, if these applications use the Flex 2 charting components, you will need to also acquire a Flex Charting 2 serial number and enter it into the license.properties file. Without the serial number, a watermark will appear on the resulting SWF.

Solution

Here are the steps to apply a Flex 2 Charting license to Flex Builder 3 Professional to remove the watermark.

Note: You must already own a valid license for Flex Builder 3 Professional.

1. Use either an existing valid Flex 2 Charting license, or obtain a valid Flex 2 Charting license from Adobe Customer Service. Customers who already own a license for Flex Builder 3 Pro can obtain this serial number at no cost. Contact information can be found for Adobe Customer Service at http://www.adobe.com/support/contact.
2. Locate the license.properties file under the frameworks folder for the Flex 2.0.1 SDK. For Windows, the default is at C:\Program Files\Adobe\Flex Builder 3\sdks\2.0.1\frameworks. If the file doesn't already exist, you will need to create one.
3. Open the license.properties file, and add your Flex Charting 2 serial number in like this:
   
   #Mon Apr 10 00:00:00 EDT 2006
fds=
flexbuilder=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
charting=1301XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


4. Save the file.
5. Restart Flex Builder 3.
6. Select the project you need to use, change your Flex Compiler by choosing Project > Properties > Flex Compiler
7. Select Use a Specific SDK, choose Flex 2.0.1 Hotfix 3, and then click OK.

Now you can compile Flex 2 charting components using Flex Builder 3 without watermarks.

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