Choosing a Code Editor

Once Lime or OpenFL has been installed, it is helpful to choose an integrated development environment (IDE) or code editor with good support for Haxe, Lime, and OpenFL development.

Although you can write code using even a simple text editor, a quality IDE can provide code completion (code hints), shortcuts to build and test your projects, and other tools to give you a great coding experience.

Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code is a flexible code editor with support for Windows, macOS, and Linux, and it is recommended for most developers working with Lime and OpenFL. As a mature, open source editor, VSCode is surprisingly lightweight — especially considering the robust code intelligence features that it provides for a variety of programming languages. You will need to install the Haxe extension and our custom Lime extension to load Lime and OpenFL projects, enable code completion, and simplify building, running, and debugging projects.

Visual Studio Code does not require its own project files. Using the Lime extension, you can Open Folder for any Lime or OpenFL project in order to enable support for code completion and other features.

FlashDevelop

FlashDevelop is another excellent IDE that supports Haxe, Lime, and OpenFL development. It is primarily targeted at Windows, but there are options available to virtualize it on macOS and Linux, if you’re comfortable setting up that sort of thing. Many developers prefer FlashDevelop over the alternatives.

Lime includes FlashDevelop project files when you use the “lime create” command, for convenience. FlashDevelop is free and open source.

Sublime Text

Sublime Text is a very lightweight code editor, and it offers support for Haxe, Lime, and OpenFL using the Haxe Sublime Bundle. Sublime Text is cross-platform — with support for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Unlike alternatives, Sublime Text may not always provide accurate code completion, nor does it support “projects” in the traditional IDE sense. However, Sublime Text is much stronger than a simple text editor, so it may be a good option if you find that the alternatives feel too heavy and cumbersome for your needs.

Sublime Text is free-to-try, with reminders to purchase a license for continued use.

IntelliJ IDEA

IntelliJ IDEA is primarily marketed as a Java IDE, but it has growing support within the Haxe community — including large teams, such as TiVo. The full edition, as well as the free community edition, both support the Haxe plugin. This plugin can be tricky to install, but once configurd, it provides a fully native IDE experience for developers on all platforms.

Other Choices

There are other code editors to choose from, include vim and up-and-coming Haxe-based editors. You can read more at http://haxe.org/documentation/introduction/editors-and-ides.html