AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime), which was originally code-named Apollo, is a cross-operating system runtime that allows... more

AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime), which was originally code-named Apollo, is a cross-operating system runtime that allows developers to build and deploy rich Internet applications to the desktop using their existing skill sets. AIR applications can be built using HTML, AJAX, Adobe Flash, and Adobe Flex. The version 1.0 release supports both Mac OSX and WindowsXP and Vista. Adobe has also confirmed that a Linux version of the runtime is on its radar.

So, what exactly does this mean to developers? First and foremost, it means that if your current skill set includes HTML/JavaScript (AJAX), Flex, or Flash, you already have everything you need to create a desktop application that will install on a Windows or Mac computer. Therefore, you don’t need to know Java, C++, C, or any of the other traditional desktop languages to create and distribute full-fledged desktop applications.

It also means that since Adobe has created these runtimes, Adobe is the one responsible for ensuring that your application performs the same on any of the operating systems that AIR supports. If you are coming from a Flash or Flex background, you already know how nice it is to write an application that performs the same within the Flash player in a traditional web browser. If you are coming from an HTML/JavaScript background, you have undoubtedly suffered through countless frustrations and hacks to get your web page to show up the same in many different browsers. Well, if you have suffered through this experience with HTML and the browser, I have good news for you. You will suffer no longer when your HTML/JavaScript application is deployed as an AIR application, since it will be running within the Adobe Integrated Runtime.

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Before discussing Rich Desktop Applications, it’s important to understand the history of Rich Internet Applications... more

Before discussing Rich Desktop Applications, it’s important to understand the history of Rich Internet Applications and the various technologies that are included under the title of RIA. More and more software venders are attempting to get a piece of the RIA space. At the time of this writing, there are developer tools from companies like Adobe, Sun, Microsoft, Mozilla, and OpenLaszlo, as well as freeware like AJAX.

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AIR applications can be built using several different programming languages including MXML, ActionScript 3,... more

AIR applications can be built using several different programming languages including MXML, ActionScript 3, HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. An application can be built with just one of these or a combination of some or all of them. This chapter will offer some background and definition of each of the AIR programming languages.

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Adobe has enabled several of its products to work with AIR. These include Flex Builder 3 for Flex-based AIR projects,... more

Adobe has enabled several of its products to work with AIR. These include Flex Builder 3 for Flex-based AIR projects, Dreamweaver CS3 for HTML/JavaScript-based projects, and Flash CS3 for Flash projects.

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There are several tools and technologies for testing and creating AIR applications. Depending on which technology you’re... more

There are several tools and technologies for testing and creating AIR applications. Depending on which technology you’re using, AIR applications can be tested or compiled using the Flex Builder 3, Flash CS3, or Dreamweaver CS3 development environments.

Flex Builder 3 is used to build Flex-based AIR applications, Flash CS3 is used to build Flash-based applications, and Dreamweaver CS3 is used to build HTML-based applications.

All the different technologies can also be tested or compiled to AIR using the free AIR SDK.

This chapter demonstrates how to test and debug AIR applications. Please refer to Chapter 6 for information on compiling AIR applications.

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AIR applications are distributed and installed using a package achieved with the .air extension. Chapter 5 had two examples... more

AIR applications are distributed and installed using a package achieved with the .air extension. Chapter 5 had two examples in which an AIR configuration file was used for testing out applications, using the SDK with the adl command. In this chapter, we’ll examine further the settings of this configuration file and show ways to alter how the compiled AIR file is generated.

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Although an AIR application is meant to run on the desktop and there are a variety of ways to store local data,... more

Although an AIR application is meant to run on the desktop and there are a variety of ways to store local data, there will certainly be times when it’s beneficial to work with remote data sources. Whether the data are being supplied through middleware like ColdFusion, restful data services like XML or JSON, or through web services, AIR makes it easy to connect and retrieve data. This chapter will demonstrate how to work with remote data using AMF via the Flex RPC (Remote Procedure Call) services, XML and JSON via Flex HTTPServices, and SOAP via Flex WebServices.

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This chapter will cover an AIR application’s file system access. The features covered include creating directories,... more

This chapter will cover an AIR application’s file system access. The features covered include creating directories, moving directories, copying directories, deleting a directory, listing directory contents, creating files, writing and updating file contents, moving files, copying files, deleting files, and temporary files and directories.

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Windows have been a part of traditional desktop applications for many years. If you have ever opened a Help window or... more

Windows have been a part of traditional desktop applications for many years. If you have ever opened a Help window or a preferences window of a desktop application, you have experienced a multi-window application. AIR has given us the ability to create windows as part of AIR desktop applications as well. Each window is a full-fledged system window and can act independently of the additional windows; it can even persist after the main application window has been closed. If you are operating a computer running Microsoft Windows, you will see each window appear in the taskbar as you would with any other desktop application.

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AIR can interact with the underlying operating system by utilizing some of its existing features,... more

AIR can interact with the underlying operating system by utilizing some of its existing features, including dock icons on Mac OS X, system tray icons on Microsoft Windows, and context right-click menus. The dock icons and system tray icons can also contain menus.

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The release of AIR includes an embedded version of the SQLite database, which in my opinion is the most important feature... more

The release of AIR includes an embedded version of the SQLite database, which in my opinion is the most important feature of AIR. Many of the developers moving to AIR will come from a traditional web development background and will be accustomed to interacting with a database using SQL. The inclusion of SQLite in AIR will allow these developers to use their current SQL skills while interacting with a local offline database specific to their AIR application.

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Communicating between the AIR application and the operating system is very useful when creating an elegant user experience.... more

Communicating between the AIR application and the operating system is very useful when creating an elegant user experience. The ability of the application to read and write to the user’s clipboard or accept a file that has been dragged into it creates a very user-friendly experience. This chapter will focus on drag-and-drop support as well as clipboard access. Finally, it will cover the use of native menus and how they are utilized within an AIR application.

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There will certainly be times when you will want to know if the client who is running your AIR application has a connection... more

There will certainly be times when you will want to know if the client who is running your AIR application has a connection to the Internet. This information can be very useful for applications that need to be occasionally connected to synchronize data, check for updates, and the like. This chapter will demonstrate how to test for Internet connections and also how to create an application that can check for updates and update itself when necessary.

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As we have already seen in Chapter 8, AIR has full access to the operating system’s file system.... more

As we have already seen in Chapter 8, AIR has full access to the operating system’s file system. AIR has provided five components that have been specifically created to help make navigating the file system easier. This chapter will demonstrate how to use each of these components. This chapter covers each of the following components: FileSystemComboBox, FileSystemDataGrid, FileSystemList, FileSystemTree, and FileSystemHistoryButton. Each component will be added to a single application sample and will be tied together when appropriate. The full source code for the Chapter14_Comps.mxml file is shown in Listing 14-7.

To get started, create a new AIR project within Flex Builder 3 named Chapter14_Comps. This will create our application file with the name Chapter14_Comps.mxml as shown in Listing 14-1.

Listing 14-1: The newly created Chapter4_Comps.mxml file.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

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

    layout="absolute" width="650" height="550">

</mx:WindowedApplication>

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The HTML component is one of the coolest new components within AIR. Built on top of the Safari WebKit,... more

The HTML component is one of the coolest new components within AIR. Built on top of the Safari WebKit, the HTML component will display full HTML content within your AIR applications. This includes support for JavaScript, Flash, and PDF content. HTML content can either be packaged within an AIR application or loaded from a local path, or can be any accessible content loaded through a public or private URL. You can alternatively supply an HTML string as the source of the HTML component, allowing you to create content at runtime without saving it to a file.

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The introduction of the Adobe Integrated Runtime opens many doors to those who have been developing in technologies such... more

The introduction of the Adobe Integrated Runtime opens many doors to those who have been developing in technologies such as Adobe Flex, Adobe Flash, HTML, and JavaScript to create desktop applications using a technology they are familiar with. This appendix focuses on taking an Adobe Flex application and deploying it on the desktop as well. The new AIR application will add some features specific to AIR but will also continue to share parts of the original Flex application.

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Most of the example solutions here are not the only way to accomplish the goal of the exercises, thus don’t be concerned... more

Most of the example solutions here are not the only way to accomplish the goal of the exercises, thus don’t be concerned if your solution is different from mine. As long as it compiles and accomplishes the goals, you should be satisfied with your solution.

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