If you’re an obsessive trace() statement user like I am, and you happen to use Eclipse for your ActionScript coding, you’re going to love the LogWatcher plugin.

http://graysky.sourceforge.net/

If you have your Flash Player setup to log trace() statements and other errors to a text file, just point LogWatcher to the location of your Flash log text file. Even when testing from the Flash IDE, this text file will still be updated, and LogWatcher will pickup the changes. Essentially, you now have a duplicate of Flash’s Output Panel in Eclipse. You’ll no longer need to switch between Eclipse & Flash just to see what you happened to trace out when trying to debug something. I’m not sure how it works on Windows, but on OSX, if Flash isn’t in focus, then all of the panels disappear - meaning that you can’t look at your Output Panel and your code in Eclipse at the same time.

LogWatcher also includes the ability to set filters, to make it easier to find what you’re looking for. Need to find a single line in a sea of other trace output? Just create a filter, and let LogWatcher color that line red for you each time it appears.