Adobe AIR Building-Apps
Adobe AIR Building-Apps
Adobe AIR Building-Apps
Legal notices
Legal notices
For legal notices, see http://help.adobe.com/en_US/legalnotices/index.html.
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Contents
Chapter 1: About Adobe AIR Chapter 2: Adobe AIR installation Installing Adobe AIR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Removing Adobe AIR Adobe AIR updates .................................................................................................. 3 ..................................................................... 4 .................................................................................................... 5 Installing and running the AIR sample applications
Chapter 3: Working with the AIR APIs AIR-specific ActionScript 3.0 classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Flash Player classes with AIR-specific functionality AIR-specific Flex components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Chapter 4: Adobe Flash Platform tools for AIR development Installing the AIR SDK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Setting up the Flex SDK Setting up external SDKs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Chapter 5: Creating your first AIR application Creating your first desktop Flex AIR application in Flash Builder Create your first AIR application for Android in Flash Professional Creating your first AIR application for iOS Create your first HTML-based AIR application with Dreamweaver Creating your first HTML-based AIR application with the AIR SDK Creating your first desktop AIR application with the Flex SDK Creating your first AIR application for Android with the Flex SDK
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Chapter 6: Developing AIR applications for the desktop Workflow for developing a desktop AIR application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Setting desktop application properties Debugging a desktop AIR application Packaging a desktop AIR installation file Packaging a desktop native installer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Chapter 7: Developing AIR applications for mobile devices Setting up your development environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Mobile application design considerations Setting mobile application properties Packaging a mobile AIR application Debugging a mobile AIR application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Workflow for creating AIR applications for mobile devices
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Installing AIR and AIR applications on mobile devices Updating mobile AIR applications
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Chapter 8: Developing AIR applications for television devices Device capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 AIR for TV application design considerations Setting AIR for TV application properties Packaging an AIR for TV application Debugging AIR for TV applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Workflow for developing an AIR for TV application
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Chapter 9: ActionScript compilers About the AIR command-line tools in the Flex SDK Compiler setup
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Compiling MXML and ActionScript source files for AIR Compiling an AIR component or code library (Flex)
Chapter 10: AIR Debug Launcher (ADL) ADL usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 ADL Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 ADL exit and error codes
Chapter 11: AIR Developer Tool (ADT) ADT commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 ADT option sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 ADT error messages
Chapter 12: Signing AIR applications Digitally signing an AIR file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Creating an unsigned AIR intermediate file with ADT Signing an AIR intermediate file with ADT Creating a self-signed certificate with ADT Signing an updated version of an AIR application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Chapter 13: AIR application descriptor files Application descriptor changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 The application descriptor file structure AIR application descriptor elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Chapter 14: Device profiles Restricting target profiles in the application descriptor file Capabilities of different profiles
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Chapter 15: AIR.SWF in-browser API Customizing the seamless install badge.swf Loading the air.swf file
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Using the badge.swf file to install an AIR application Checking if the runtime is installed
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Checking from a web page if an AIR application is installed Installing an AIR application from the browser Launching an installed AIR application from the browser
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Chapter 16: Updating AIR applications About updating applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 Presenting a custom application update user interface Downloading an AIR file to the users computer Using the update framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
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Chapter 17: Viewing Source Code Loading, configuring, and opening the Source Viewer Source Viewer user interface
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Chapter 18: Debugging with the AIR HTML Introspector About the AIR Introspector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 Loading the AIR Introspector code Configuring the AIR Introspector AIR Introspector interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 Inspecting an object in the Console tab
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Chapter 19: Localizing AIR applications Localizing the application name and description in the AIR application installer Localizing HTML content with the AIR HTML localization framework Chapter 20: Path environment variables Setting the PATH on Linux and Mac OS using the Bash shell Setting the Path on Windows
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Applications developed for AIR run across multiple operating systems without any additional work by you. The
runtime ensures consistent and predictable presentation and interactions across all the operating systems supported by AIR.
Applications can be built faster by enabling you to leverage existing web technologies and design patterns. You can
extend web-based applications to the desktop without learning traditional desktop development technologies or the complexity of native code.
Application development is easier than using lower-level languages such as C and C++. You do not need to manage
the complex, low-level APIs specific to each operating system. When developing applications for AIR, you can leverage a rich set of frameworks and APIs:
APIs specific to AIR provided by the runtime and the AIR framework ActionScript APIs used in SWF files and Flex framework (as well as other ActionScript based libraries and
frameworks)
By installing the runtime separately (without also installing an AIR application) By installing an AIR application for the first time through a web page installation badge (you are prompted to
also install the runtime)
By setting up an AIR development environment such as the AIR SDK, Adobe Flash Builder , or the Adobe Flex
SDK (which includes the AIR command line development tools). The runtime included in the SDK is only used when debugging applications it is not used to run installed AIR applications. The system requirements for installing AIR and running AIR applications are detailed here: Adobe AIR: System requirements (http://www.adobe.com/products/air/systemreqs/). Both the runtime installer and the AIR application installer create log files when they install, update, or remove AIR applications or the AIR runtime itself. You can consult these logs to help determine the cause of any installation problems. See Installation logs. Note: On iOS, the AIR runtime is not installed separately; every AIR app is a self-contained application.
Install the runtime on a Mac computer 1 Download the runtime installation file from http://get.adobe.com/air.
2 Double-click runtime installation file. 3 In the installation window, follow the prompts to complete the installation. 4 If the Installer displays an Authenticate window, enter your Mac OS user name and password.
Install the runtime on a Linux computer Note: At this time, AIR 2.7 is not supported on Linux. AIR applications deployed to Linus should continue to use the AIR 2.6 SDK. Using the binary installer:
1 Locate the installation binary file from http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/853/cpsid_85304.html and download. 2 Set the file permissions so that the installer application can be executed. From a command line, you can set the file
permissions with:
chmod +x AdobeAIRInstaller.bin
Some versions of Linux allow you to set the file permissions on the Properties dialog opened through a context menu.
3 Run the installer from the command line or by double-clicking the runtime installation file. 4 In the installation window, follow the prompts to complete the installation.
Adobe AIR is installed as a native package. In other words, as rpm on an rpm based distribution and deb on a Debian distribution. Currently AIR does not support any other package format. Using the package installers:
1 Locate the AIR package file from http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/853/cpsid_85304.html. Download the rpm or Debian
b On an rpm-based system:
sudo rpm -i <path to the package>/adobeair-2.0.0-xxxxx.i386.rpm
Installing AIR 2 and AIR applications requires you to have administrator privileges on your computer. Adobe AIR is installed to the following location: /opt/Adobe AIR/Versions/1.0 AIR registers the mime-type "application/vnd.adobe.air-application-installer-package+zip", which means that .air files are of this mime-type and are therefore registered with the AIR runtime. Install the runtime on an Android device You can install the latest release of the AIR runtime from the Android Market. You can install development versions of the AIR runtime from a link on a web page or by using the ADT installRuntime command. Only one version of the AIR runtime can be installed at a time; you cannot have both a release and a development version installed. See ADT installRuntime command on page 135 for more information. Install the runtime on an iOS device The necessary AIR runtime code is bundled with each application created for iPhone, iTouch, and iPad devices. You do not install a separate runtime component.
Remove the runtime on a Windows computer 1 In the Windows Start menu, select Settings > Control Panel.
2 Open the Programs, Programs and Features, or Add or Remove Programs control panel (depending on which
Remove the runtime on a Mac computer Double-click the Adobe AIR Uninstaller, which is located in the /Applications/Utilities folder. Remove the runtime on a Linux computer Do one of the following:
Select the Adobe AIR Uninstaller command from the Applications menu. Run the AIR installer binary with the -uninstall option Remove the AIR packages (adobeair and adobecerts) with your package manager.
Remove the runtime from an Android device 1 Open the Settings app on the device.
2 Tap the Adobe AIR entry under Applications > Manage Applications. 3 Tap the Uninstall button.
You can also use the ADT -uninstallRuntime command. See ADT uninstallRuntime command on page 136 for more information.
On Windows, double-clicking the application icon on the desktop or selecting it from the Windows Start menu. On Mac OS, double-clicking the application icon, which is installed in the Applications folder of your user
directory (for example, in Macintosh HD/Users/JoeUser/Applications/) by default. Note: Check the AIR release notes for updates to these instructions, which are located here: http://www.adobe.com/go/learn_air_relnotes.
ActionScript 3.0 Developer's Guide ActionScript 3.0 Reference for the Adobe Flash Platform
HTML Developers If youre building HTML-based AIR applications, the APIs that are available to you in JavaScript via the AIRAliases.js file (see Accessing AIR API classes from JavaScript) are documented in the following two books:
HTML Developer's Guide for Adobe AIR Adobe AIR API Reference for HTML Developers
Class AAAARecord ApplicationUpdater ApplicationUpdaterUI ARecord BrowserInvokeEvent CameraRoll CameraUI CertificateStatus CompressionAlgorithm DatagramSocket DatagramSocketDataEvent DNSResolver
ActionScript 3.0 Package flash.net.dns air.update air.update flash.net.dns flash.events flash.media flash.media flash.security flash.utils flash.net flash.events flash.net.dns
Added in AIR version 2.0 1.5 1.5 2.0 1.0 2.0 2.5 2.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
Class DNSResolverEvent DockIcon DownloadErrorEvent DRMAuthenticateEvent DRMManagerError EncryptedLocalStore ExtensionContext File FileListEvent FileMode FileStream FocusDirection Geolocation GeolocationEvent HTMLHistoryItem HTMLHost HTMLLoader HTMLPDFCapability HTMLSWFCapabiltiy HTMLUncaughtScriptExceptionEvent HTMLWindowCreateOptions Icon IFilePromise ImageDecodingPolicy InteractiveIcon InterfaceAddress InvokeEvent InvokeEventReason IPVersion IURIDereferencer LocationChangeEvent MediaEvent MediaPromise MediaType
ActionScript 3.0 Package flash.events flash.desktop air.update.events flash.events flash.errors flash.data flash.external flash.filesystem flash.events flash.filesystem flash.filesystem flash.display flash.sensors flash.events flash.html flash.html flash.html flash.html flash.html flash.events flash.html flash.desktop flash.desktop flash.system flash.desktop flash.net flash.events flash.desktop flash.net flash.security flash.events flash.events flash.media flash.media
Added in AIR version 2.0 1.0 1.5 1.0 1.5 1.0 2.5 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 2.6 1.0 2.0 1.0 1.5.1 2.0 1.0 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5
Class MXRecord NativeApplication NativeDragActions NativeDragEvent NativeDragManager NativeDragOptions NativeMenu NativeMenuItem NativeProcess NativeProcessExitEvent NativeProcessStartupInfo NativeWindow NativeWindowBoundsEvent NativeWindowDisplayState NativeWindowDisplayStateEvent NativeWindowInitOptions NativeWindowResize NativeWindowSystemChrome NativeWindowType NetworkInfo NetworkInterface NotificationType OutputProgressEvent PaperSize PrintMethod PrintUIOptions PTRRecord ReferencesValidationSetting ResourceRecord RevocationCheckSettings Screen ScreenMouseEvent SecureSocket SecureSocketMonitor
ActionScript 3.0 Package flash.net.dns flash.desktop flash.desktop flash.events flash.desktop flash.desktop flash.display flash.display flash.desktop flash.events flash.desktop flash.display flash.events flash.display flash.events flash.display flash.display flash.display flash.display flash.net flash.net flash.desktop flash.events flash.printing flash.printing flash.printing flash.net.dns flash.security flash.net.dns flash.security flash.display flash.events flash.net air.net
Added in AIR version 2.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 2.0
Class ServerSocket ServerSocketConnectEvent ServiceMonitor SignatureStatus SignerTrustSettings SocketMonitor SQLCollationType SQLColumnNameStyle SQLColumnSchema SQLConnection SQLError SQLErrorEvent SQLErrorOperation SQLEvent SQLIndexSchema SQLMode SQLResult SQLSchema SQLSchemaResult SQLStatement SQLTableSchema SQLTransactionLockType SQLTriggerSchema SQLUpdateEvent SQLViewSchema SRVRecord StageAspectRatio StageOrientation StageOrientationEvent StageWebView StatusFileUpdateErrorEvent StatusFileUpdateEvent StatusUpdateErrorEvent StatusUpdateEvent
ActionScript 3.0 Package flash.net flash.events air.net flash.security flash.security air.net flash.data flash.data flash.data flash.data flash.errors flash.events flash.errors flash.events flash.data flash.data flash.data flash.data flash.data flash.data flash.data flash.data flash.data flash.events flash.data flash.net.dns flash.display flash.display flash.events flash.media air.update.events air.update.events air.update.events air.update.events
Added in AIR version 2.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5
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Class StorageVolume StorageVolumeChangeEvent StorageVolumeInfo SystemIdleMode SystemTrayIcon UpdateEvent Updater URLFilePromise URLMonitor URLRequestDefaults XMLSignatureValidator
ActionScript 3.0 Package flash.filesystem flash.events flash.filesystem flash.desktop flash.desktop air.update.events flash.desktop air.desktop air.net flash.net flash.security
Added in AIR version 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 1.0 1.5 1.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
BITMAP_FORMAT FILE_LIST_FORMAT
FILE_PROMISE_LIST_FORMAT URL_FORMAT
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Package flash.display
Class LoaderInfo
Added in AIR version 1.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.6 2.6 2.0 2.6 2.6 2.6
Stage
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Package flash.events
Class Event
Added in AIR version 1.0 1.0 2.6 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
HTTPStatusEvent
KeyboardEvent
commandKey controlKey
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Package flash.net
Class FileReference
Added in AIR version 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.5 1.5 1.0 1.0
NetStream
URLRequest
1.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
httpResponseStatus event active copies firstPage isColor jobName lastPage maxPixelsPerInch paperArea printableArea printer printers selectPaperSize() showPageSetupDialog() start2() supportsPageSetupDialog terminate()
PrintJobOptions
pixelsPerInch printMethod
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Package flash.system
flash.ui
KeyLocation
D_PAD
Most of these new properties and methods are available only to content in the AIR application security sandbox. However, the new members in the URLRequest classes are also available to content running in other sandboxes. The ByteArray.compress() and ByteArray.uncompress() methods each include a new algorithm parameter, allowing you to choose between deflate and zlib compression. This parameter is available only to content running in AIR.
FileEvent FileSystemComboBox FileSystemDataGrid FileSystemEnumerationMode FileSystemHistoryButton FileSystemList FileSystemSizeDisplayMode FileSystemTree FlexNativeMenu HTML Window WindowedApplication WindowedSystemManager
Additionally, Flex 4 includes the following spark AIR components:
Window WindowedApplication
For more information about the AIR Flex components, see Using the Flex AIR components.
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Adobe Flash Professional (see Publishing for AIR) Adobe Flex 3.x and 4.x SDKs (see Setting up the Flex SDK on page 17 and AIR Developer Tool (ADT) on
page 126)
Adobe Flash Builder (see Developing AIR Applications with Flash Builder)
For HTML and Ajax developers:
Adobe AIR SDK (see Installing the AIR SDK on page 15 and AIR Developer Tool (ADT) on page 126) Adobe Dreamweaver CS3, CS4, CS5 (see AIR Extension for Dreamweaver)
Tool (ADT) on page 126. The AIR command-line tools require Java to be installed your computer. You can use the Java virtual machine from either the JRE or the JDK (version 1.5 or newer). The Java JRE and the Java JDK are available at http://java.sun.com/. At least 2GB of computer memory is required to run the ADT tool. Note: Java is not required for end users to run AIR applications. For a quick overview of building an AIR application with the AIR SDK, see Creating your first HTML-based AIR application with the AIR SDK on page 30.
The AIR SDK is distributed as a standard file archive. To install AIR, extract the contents of the SDK to a folder on
your computer (for example: C:\Program Files\Adobe\AIRSDK or C:\AIRSDK).
The ADL and ADT tools are contained in the bin folder in the AIR SDK; add the path to this folder to your PATH
environment variable.
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Install the AIR SDK in Mac OS X Download the AIR SDK installation file.
The AIR SDK is distributed as a standard file archive. To install AIR, extract the contents of the SDK to a folder on
your computer (for example: /Users/<userName>/Applications/AIRSDK).
The ADL and ADT tools are contained in the bin folder in the AIR SDK; add the path to this folder to your PATH
environment variable. Install the AIR SDK in Linux The SDK is available in tbz2 format.
To install the SDK, create a folder in which you want to unzip the SDK, then use the following command: tar -jxvf
<path to AIR-SDK.tbz2> For information about getting started using the AIR SDK tools, see Creating an AIR application using the commandline tools.
install
lib runtimes
templates
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You can download and install Adobe Flash Builder, which provides integrated tools to create Adobe AIR projects
and test, debug, and package your AIR applications. See Creating your first desktop Flex AIR application in Flash Builder on page 18.
You can download the Adobe Flex SDK and develop Flex AIR applications using your favorite text editor and the
command-line tools. For a quick overview of building an AIR application with Flex SDK, see Creating your first desktop AIR application with the Flex SDK on page 34.
http://opensource.adobe.com/wiki/display/flexsdk/Downloads.
2 Place the contents of the SDK into a folder (for example, Flex SDK). 3 Copy the contents of the AIR SDK over the files in the Flex SDK.
Note: On Mac computers, make sure that you copy or replace the individual files in the SDK folders not entire directories. By default, copying a directory on the Mac to a directory of the same name removes the existing files in the target directory; it does not merge the contents of the two directories.
4 The command-line utilities are located in the bin folder.
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a web application that runs in Adobe Flash Player a desktop application that runs in Adobe AIR
Select Desktop as the application type.
5 Click Finish to create the project.
AIR projects initially consist of two files: the main MXML file and an application XML file (known as the application descriptor file). The latter file specifies application properties. For more information, see Developing AIR applications with Flash Builder.
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <s:WindowedApplication xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009" xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark" xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/mx" title="Hello World"> </s:WindowedApplication>
2 Add a Label component to the application (place it inside the WindowedApplication tag). Set the text property of
the Label component to "Hello AIR", and set the layout constraints to keep it centered, as shown here:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <s:WindowedApplication xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009" xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark" xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/mx" title="Hello World"> <s:Label text="Hello AIR" horizontalCenter="0" verticalCenter="0"/> </s:WindowedApplication>
3 Add the following style block immediately after the opening WindowedApplication tag and before the label
These style settings apply to the entire application and render the window background a slightly transparent gray. The application code now looks like the following:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <s:WindowedApplication xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009" xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark" xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/mx" title="Hello World"> <fx:Style> @namespace s "library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark"; s|WindowedApplication { skinClass:ClassReference("spark.skins.spark.SparkChromeWindowedApplicationSkin"); background-color:#999999; background-alpha:"0.7"; } </fx:Style> <s:Label text="Hello AIR" horizontalCenter="0" verticalCenter="0"/> </s:WindowedApplication>
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Next, you will change some settings in the application descriptor to allow the application to be transparent:
1 In the Flex Navigator pane, locate the application descriptor file in the source directory of the project. If you named
4 Set the text value of the systemChrome property to none, as in the following:
<systemChrome>none</systemChrome>
5 Set the text value of the transparent property to true, as in the following:
<transparent>true</transparent>
You can also select the Run > Debug > AIRHelloWorld command. The resulting AIR application should look like the following example:
2 Using the horizontalCenter and verticalCenter properties of the Label control, the text is placed in the center
of the window. Move or resize the window as you would any other desktop application. Note: If the application does not compile, fix any syntax or spelling errors that you inadvertently entered into the code. Errors and warnings are displayed in the Problems view in Flash Builder.
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application.
4 Select Export as signed AIR package option. Then click Next. 5 If you have an existing digital certificate, click Browse to locate and select it. 6 If you must create a new self-signed digital certificate, select Create. 7 Enter the required information and click OK. 8 Click Finish to generate the AIR package, which is named AIRHelloWorld.air.
You can now install and run the application from the Project Navigator in Flash Builder or from the file system by double-clicking the AIR file.
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2 To use the Debug Movie feature, first add ActionScript code to the application. You can try it quickly by adding a
3 Press Ctrl + Shift + Enter, or select Debug->Debug Movie->Debug to run the application with Debug Movie.
steps:
a Click the New button next to the Certificate field. b Complete the entries for Publisher name, Organizational unit, Organizational name, E-mail, Country,
bit key (less secure), and 2048-RSA uses a 2048-bit key (more secure).
d Save the information in a certificate file by completing the Save as entry or clicking the Browse... button to
browse to a folder location. (For example, C:/Temp/mycert.pfx). When youre finished click OK.
e Flash returns you to the Digital Signature Dialog. The path and filename of the self-signed certificate that you
created appears in the Certificate text box. If not, enter the path and filename or click the Browse button to locate and select it.
f
Enter the same password in the Password text field of the Digital Signature dialog box as the password that you assigned in step b. For more information about signing your Adobe AIR applications, see Digitally signing an AIR file on page 146.
3 To create the application and installer file, click the Publish button. (In Flash CS4 and CS5, click the OK button.)
You must execute Test Movie or Debug Movie to create the SWF file and application.xml files before creating the AIR file.
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4 To install the application, double click the AIR file (application.air) in the same folder where you saved your
application.
5 Click the Install button in the Application Install dialog. 6 Review the Installation Preferences and Location settings and make sure that the Start application after installation
The Flash Professional home screen includes a link to create an AIR for Android application. You can also select File > New, and then select the AIR for Android template.
3 Save the document as HelloWorld.fla
Write the code Since this tutorial isn't really about writing code, just use the Text tool to write, "Hello, World!" on the stage. Set the application properties 1 Select File > AIR Android Settings.
2 In the General tab, make the following settings:
Output File: HelloWorld.apk App name: HelloWorld App ID: HelloWorld Version number: 0.0.1 Aspect ratio: Portrait
3 On the Deployment tab, make the following settings:
Certificate: Point to a valid AIR code-signing certificate. You can click the Create button to create a new
certificate. (Android apps deployed via the Android Marketplace must have certificates that are valid until at least 2033.) Enter the certificate password in the Password field.
Android deployment type: Debug After Publish: Select both options Enter the path to the ADB tool in the tools subdirectory of the Android SDK.
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The app does not need icons or permissions at this stage in its development. Most AIR apps for Android do require some permissions in order to access protected features. You should only set those permissions your app truly requires since users may reject your app if it asks for too many permissions.
5 Save the file.
Package and Install the application on the Android device 1 Make sure that USB debugging is enabled on your device. You can turn USB debugging on in the Settings app under Applications > Development.
2 Connect your device to your computer with a USB cable. 3 Install the AIR runtime, if you have not already done so, by going to the Android Market and downloading Adobe
AIR. (You can also install AIR locally using the ADT installRuntime command on page 135. Android packages for use on Android devices and emulators are included in the AIR SDK.)
4 Select File > Publish.
Flash Professional creates the APK file, installs the app on the connected Android device, and launches it.
Development and distribution certificates Application IDs Development and distribution provisioning files
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public class HelloWorld extends Sprite { public function HelloWorld():void { var textField:TextField = new TextField(); textField.text = "Hello World!"; textField.autoSize = TextFieldAutoSize.LEFT; var format:TextFormat = new TextFormat(); format.size = 48; textField.setTextFormat ( format ); this.addChild( textField ); } } }
A SWF file, HelloWorld.swf, is created in the same folder. Note: This example assumes that you have set up your environment path variable to include the directory containing amxmlc. For information on setting the path, see Path environment variables on page 249. Alternately, you can type the full path to amxmlc and the other command-line tools used in this example.
Create icon art and initial screen art for the application
All iOS applications have icons that appear in the user interface of the iTunes application and on the device screen.
1 Create a directory within your project directory, and name it icons. 2 Create three PNG files in the icons directory. Name them Icon_29.png, Icon_57.png, and Icon_512.png. 3 Edit the PNG files to create appropriate art for your application. The files must be 29-by-29 pixels, 57-by-57 pixels,
and 512-by-512 pixels. For this test, you can simply use solid color squares as the art. Note: When you submit an application to the Apple App Store, you use a JPG version (not a PNG version) of the 512pixel file. You use the PNG version while testing development versions of an application. All iPhone applications display an initial image while the application loads on the iPhone. You define the initial image in a PNG file:
1 In the main development directory, create a PNG file named Default.png. (Do not put this file in the icons
(You will change this later.) For detailed information on these graphics, see Application icons on page 74.
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For the sake of simplicity, this example only sets a few of the available properties. Note: If you are using AIR 2, or earlier, you must use the <version> element instead of the <versionNumber> element.
3 Change the application ID to match the application ID specified in the iOS Provisioning Portal. (Do not include
ADL should open a window on your desktop that displays the text: Hello World! If it does not, check the source code and application descriptor for errors.
(Use a single command line; the line breaks in this example are just added to make it easier to read.)
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ADT generates the iOS application installer file, HelloWorld.ipa, in the project directory. Compiling the IPA file can take a few minutes.
Add To Library. Then, select the provisioning profile file (which has mobileprovision as the file type). For now, to test the application on your developer device, use the development provisioning profile. Later, when distributing an application to the iTunes Store, use the distribution profile. To distribute the application ad-hoc (to multiple devices without going through the iTunes Store), use the ad-hoc provisioning profile. For more information on provisioning profiles, see iOS setup on page 58.
3 Some versions of iTunes do not replace the application if the same version of the application is already installed. In
this case, delete the application from your device and from the list of applications in iTunes.
4 Double-click the IPA file for your application. It should appear in the list of applications in iTunes. 5 Connect your device to the USB port on your computer. 6 In iTunes, check the Application tab for the device, and ensure that the application is selected in the list of
applications to be installed.
7 Select the device in the left-hand list of the iTunes application. Then click the Sync button. When the sync
completes, the Hello World application appears on your iPhone. If the new version is not installed, delete it from your device and from the list of applications in iTunes, and then redo this procedure. This may be the case if the currently installed version uses the same application ID and version.
(below the screen). While holding the Home button, press the Power/Sleep button (at the top of the iPhone). This takes a screenshot and sends it to the Camera Roll.
2 Transfer the image to your development computer by transferring photos from iPhoto or another photo transfer
application. (On Mac OS, you can also use the Image Capture application.) You can also e-mail the photo to your development computer:
Open the Photos application. Open the Camera Roll. Open the screenshot image you captured. Tap the image and then tap the forward (arrow) button in the bottom-left-hand corner. Then click the Email
Photo button and send the image to yourself.
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3 Replace the Default.png file (in your development directory) with a PNG version of the screen capture image. 4 Recompile the application (see Compile the IPA file on page 26) and reinstall it on your device.
The application now uses the new startup screen as it loads. Note: You can create any art youd like for the Default.png file, as long as it is the correct dimensions (320 by 480 pixels). However, it is often best to have the Default.png image match the initial state of your application.
This example is extremely simple, but if you want you can style the text to your liking, add more content to the page, link other pages to this start page, and so on.
4 Save the page (File > Save) as hello_world.html. Make sure you save the file in a Dreamweaver site.
Most of the required settings in the AIR Application and Settings dialog box are auto-populated for you. You must, however, select the initial content (or start page) of your application.
3 Click the Browse button next to the Initial Content option, navigate to your hello_world.html page, and select it. 4 Next to the Digital signature option, click the Set button.
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A digital signature provides an assurance that the code for an application has not been altered or corrupted since its creation by the software author, and is required on all Adobe AIR applications.
5 In the Digital Signature dialog box, select Sign the AIR package with a digital certificate, and click the Create button.
(If you already have access to a digital certificate, you can click the Browse button to select it instead.)
6 Complete the required fields in the Self-Signed Digital Certificate dialog box. Youll need to enter your name, enter
a password and confirm it, and enter a name for the digital certificate file. Dreamweaver saves the digital certificate in your site root.
7 Click OK to return to the Digital Signature dialog box. 8 In the Digital Signature dialog box, enter the password you specified for your digital certificate and click OK.
Your completed AIR Application and Installer Settings dialog box might look like this:
For further explanation about all of the dialog box options and how to edit them, see Creating an AIR application in Dreamweaver.
9 Click the Create AIR File button.
Dreamweaver creates the Adobe AIR application file and saves it in your site root folder. Dreamweaver also creates an application.xml file and saves it in the same place. This file serves as a manifest, defining various properties of the application.
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This step is optional. You can actually install the new application on your computer right from your Dreamweaver site directory if you prefer.
2 Double-click the application executable file (.air file) to install the application.
You can also press Ctrl+Shift+F12 (Windows) or Cmd+Shift+F12 (Macintosh). When you preview this page, you are essentially seeing what a user would see as the start page of the application after theyve installed the application on a desktop.
Creating your first HTML-based AIR application with the AIR SDK
For a quick, hands-on illustration of how Adobe AIR works, use these instructions to create and package a simple HTML-based AIR Hello World application. To begin, you must have installed the runtime and set up the AIR SDK. You will use the AIR Debug Launcher (ADL) and the AIR Developer Tool (ADT) in this tutorial. ADL and ADT are command-line utility programs and can be found in the bin directory of the AIR SDK (see Installing the AIR SDK on page 15). This tutorial assumes that you are already familiar with running programs from the command line and know how to set up the necessary path environment variables for your operating system. Note: If you are an Adobe Dreamweaver user, read Create your first HTML-based AIR application with Dreamweaver on page 28. Note: HTML-based AIR applications can only be developed for the desktop and the extendedDesktop profiles. The mobile and tv profiles are not supported.
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1 Open the HelloWorld-app.xml for editing. 2 Add the root <application> element, including the AIR namespace attribute:
<application xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/2.7"> The last segment of the namespace, 2.7, specifies the version of the runtime required by the application.
3 Add the <id> element:
<id>examples.html.HelloWorld</id> The application ID uniquely identifies your application along with the publisher ID (which AIR derives from the certificate used to sign the application package). The application ID is used for installation, access to the private application file-system storage directory, access to private encrypted storage, and interapplication communication.
4 Add the <versionNumber> element:
<versionNumber>0.1</versionNumber> Helps users to determine which version of your application they are installing. Note: If you are using AIR 2, or earlier, you must use the <version> element instead of the <versionNumber> element.
5 Add the <filename> element:
<filename>HelloWorld</filename> The name used for the application executable, install directory, and other references to the application in the operating system.
6 Add the <initialWindow> element containing the following child elements to specify the properties for your
initial application window: <content>HelloWorld.html</content> Identifies the root HTML file for AIR to load. <visible>true</visible> Makes the window visible immediately. <width>400</width> Sets the window width (in pixels). <height>200</height> Sets the window height.
7 Save the file. The completed application descriptor file should look like the following:
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <application xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/2.7"> <id>examples.html.HelloWorld</id> <versionNumber>0.1</versionNumber> <filename>HelloWorld</filename> <initialWindow> <content>HelloWorld.html</content> <visible>true</visible> <width>400</width> <height>200</height> </initialWindow> </application>
This example only sets a few of the possible application properties. For the full set of application properties, which allow you to specify such things as window chrome, window size, transparency, default installation directory, associated file types, and application icons, see AIR application descriptor files on page 159.
AIR defines a property named runtime on the HTML window object. The runtime property provides access to the built-in AIR classes, using the fully qualified package name of the class. For example, to create an AIR File object you could add the following statement in JavaScript:
var textFile = new runtime.flash.filesystem.File("app:/textfile.txt");
The AIRAliases.js file defines convenient aliases for the most useful AIR APIs. Using AIRAliases.js, you could shorten the reference to the File class to the following:
var textFile = new air.File("app:/textfile.txt");
3 Below the AIRAliases script tag, add another script tag containing a JavaScript function to handle the onLoad event:
<script type="text/javascript"> function appLoad(){ air.trace("Hello World"); } </script>
The appLoad() function simply calls the air.trace() function. The trace message print to the command console when you run the application using ADL. Trace statements can be very useful for debugging.
4 Save the file.
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<html> <head> <title>Hello World</title> <script type="text/javascript" src="AIRAliases.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> function appLoad(){ air.trace("Hello World"); } </script> </head> <body <h1>Hello World</h1> </body> </html>
An AIR window opens, displaying your application. Also, the console window displays the message resulting from the air.trace() call. For more information, see AIR application descriptor files on page 159.
ADT generates a keystore file named sampleCert.pfx containing a certificate and the related private key. This example uses the minimum number of attributes that can be set for a certificate. The key type must be either 1024-RSA or 2048-RSA (see Signing AIR applications on page 146).
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Create the AIR installation file From the command prompt, enter the following command (on a single line):
adt -package -storetype pkcs12 -keystore sampleCert.pfx HelloWorld.air HelloWorld-app.xml HelloWorld.html AIRAliases.js
You will be prompted for the keystore file password. The HelloWorld.air argument is the AIR file that ADT produces. HelloWorld-app.xml is the application descriptor file. The subsequent arguments are the files used by your application. This example only uses two files, but you can include any number of files and directories. ADT verifies that the main content file, HelloWorld.html is included in the package, but if you forget to include AIRAliases.js, then your application simply wont work. After the AIR package is created, you can install and run the application by double-clicking the package file. You can also type the AIR filename as a command in a shell or command window.
Next Steps
In AIR, HTML and JavaScript code generally behaves the same as it would in a typical web browser. (In fact, AIR uses the same WebKit rendering engine used by the Safari web browser.) However, there are some important differences that you must understand when you develop HTML applications in AIR. For more information on these differences, and other important topics, see Programming HTML and JavaScript.
Creating your first desktop AIR application with the Flex SDK
For a quick, hands-on illustration of how Adobe AIR works, use these instructions to create a simple SWF-based AIR "Hello World" application using the Flex SDK. This tutorial shows how to compile, test, and package an AIR application with the command-line tools provided with the Flex SDK (the Flex SDK includes the AIR SDK). To begin, you must have installed the runtime and set up Adobe Flex. This tutorial uses the AMXMLC compiler, the AIR Debug Launcher (ADL), and the AIR Developer Tool (ADT). These programs can be found in the bin directory of the Flex SDK (see Setting up the Flex SDK on page 17).
1 Create an XML file named HelloWorld-app.xml and save it in the project directory. 2 Add the <application> element, including the AIR namespace attribute:
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<application xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/2.7"> The last segment of the namespace, 2.7, specifies the version of the runtime required by the application.
3 Add the <id> element:
<id>samples.flex.HelloWorld</id> The application ID uniquely identifies your application along with the publisher ID (which AIR derives from the certificate used to sign the application package). The recommended form is a dot-delimited, reverse-DNS-style string, such as "com.company.AppName". The application ID is used for installation, access to the private application file-system storage directory, access to private encrypted storage, and interapplication communication.
4 Add the <versionNumber> element:
<versionNumber>1.0</versionNumber> Helps users to determine which version of your application they are installing. Note: If you are using AIR 2, or earlier, you must use the <version> element instead of the <versionNumber> element.
5 Add the <filename> element:
<filename>HelloWorld</filename> The name used for the application executable, install directory, and similar for references in the operating system.
6 Add the <initialWindow> element containing the following child elements to specify the properties for your
initial application window: <content>HelloWorld.swf</content> Identifies the root SWF file for AIR to load. <visible>true</visible> Makes the window visible immediately. <width>400</width> Sets the window width (in pixels). <height>200</height> Sets the window height.
7 Save the file. Your complete application descriptor file should look like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <application xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/2.7"> <id>samples.flex.HelloWorld</id> <versionNumber>0.1</versionNumber> <filename>HelloWorld</filename> <initialWindow> <content>HelloWorld.swf</content> <visible>true</visible> <width>400</width> <height>200</height> </initialWindow> </application>
This example only sets a few of the possible application properties. For the full set of application properties, which allow you to specify such things as window chrome, window size, transparency, default installation directory, associated file types, and application icons, see AIR application descriptor files on page 159
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Like all Flex-based applications, AIR applications built with the Flex framework contain a main MXML file. Desktop AIR applications, use the WindowedApplication component as the root element instead of the Application component. The WindowedApplication component provides properties, methods, and events for controlling your application and its initial window. On platforms and profiles for which AIR doesnt support multiple windows, continue to use the Application component. In mobile Flex applications, you can also use the View or TabbedViewNavigatorApplication components. The following procedure creates the Hello World application:
1 Using a text editor, create a file named HelloWorld.mxml and add the following MXML code:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <s:WindowedApplication xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009" xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark" xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/mx" title="Hello World"> </s:WindowedApplication>
2 Next, add a Label component to the application (place it inside the WindowedApplication tag). 3 Set the text property of the Label component to "Hello AIR". 4 Set the layout constraints to always keep it centered.
Running amxmlc produces HelloWorld.swf, which contains the compiled code of the application. Note: If the application does not compile, fix syntax or spelling errors. Errors and warnings are displayed in the console window used to run the amxmlc compiler. For more information, see Compiling MXML and ActionScript source files for AIR on page 119.
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Using the horizontalCenter and verticalCenter properties of the Label control, the text is placed in the center of the window. Move or resize the window as you would any other desktop application. For more information, see AIR Debug Launcher (ADL) on page 122.
This example uses the minimum number of attributes that can be set for a certificate. The key type must be either 1024-RSA or 2048-RSA (see Signing AIR applications on page 146). Create the AIR package From the command prompt, enter the following command (on a single line):
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You will be prompted for the keystore file password. Type the password and press Enter. The password characters are not displayed for security reasons. The HelloWorld.air argument is the AIR file that ADT produces. HelloWorld-app.xml is the application descriptor file. The subsequent arguments are the files used by your application. This example only uses three files, but you can include any number of files and directories. After the AIR package is created, you can install and run the application by double-clicking the package file. You can also type the AIR filename as a command in a shell or command window. For more information, see Packaging a desktop AIR installation file on page 48.
Creating your first AIR application for Android with the Flex SDK
To begin, you must have installed and set up the AIR and Flex SDKs. This tutorial uses the AMXMLC compiler from the Flex SDK and the AIR Debug Launcher (ADL), and the AIR Developer Tool (ADT) from the AIR SDK. See Setting up the Flex SDK on page 17. You must also download and install the Android SDK from the Android website, as described in: Android Developers: Installing the SDK. Note: For information on iPhone development, see Creating a Hello World iPhone application with Flash Professional CS5.
1 Create an XML file named HelloWorld-app.xml and save it in the project directory. 2 Add the <application> element, including the AIR namespace attribute:
<application xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/2.7"> The last segment of the namespace, 2.7, specifies the version of the runtime required by the application.
3 Add the <id> element:
<id>samples.android.HelloWorld</id> The application ID uniquely identifies your application along with the publisher ID (which AIR derives from the certificate used to sign the application package). The recommended form is a dot-delimited, reverse-DNS-style string, such as "com.company.AppName".
4 Add the <versionNumber> element:
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<versionNumber>0.0.1</versionNumber> Helps users to determine which version of your application they are installing.
5 Add the <filename> element:
<filename>HelloWorld</filename> The name used for the application executable, install directory, and similar for references in the operating system.
6 Add the <initialWindow> element containing the following child elements to specify the properties for your
initial application window: <content>HelloWorld.swf</content> Identifies the root HTML file for AIR to load.
7 Add the <supportedProfiles> element.
<supportedProfiles>mobileDevice</supportedProfiles> Specifies that the application only runs in the mobile profile.
8 Save the file. Your complete application descriptor file should look like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <application xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/2.7"> <id>samples.android.HelloWorld</id> <versionNumber>0.0.1</versionNumber> <filename>HelloWorld</filename> <initialWindow> <content>HelloWorld.swf</content> </initialWindow> <supportedProfiles>mobileDevice</supportedProfiles> </application>
This example only sets a few of the possible application properties. There are other settings that you can use in the application descriptor file. For example, you can add <fullScreen>true</fullScreen> to the initialWindow element to build a full-screen application. To enable remote debugging and access-controlled features on Android, you also will have to add Android permissions to the application descriptor. Permissions are not needed for this simple application, so you do not need to add them now. For more information, see Setting mobile application properties on page 62.
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Running amxmlc produces HelloWorld.swf, which contains the compiled code of the application. Note: If the application does not compile, fix syntax or spelling errors. Errors and warnings are displayed in the console window used to run the amxmlc compiler. For more information, see Compiling MXML and ActionScript source files for AIR on page 119.
For more information, see Device simulation using ADL on page 83.
This example uses the minimum number of attributes that can be set for a certificate. The key type must be either 1024-RSA or 2048-RSA (see the ADT certificate command on page 133). Create the AIR package From the command prompt, enter the following command (on a single line):
adt -package -target apk -storetype pkcs12 -keystore sampleCert.p12 HelloWorld.apk HelloWorld-app.xml HelloWorld.swf
You will be prompted for the keystore file password. Type the password and press Enter. For more information, see Packaging a mobile AIR application on page 77.
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Install the AIR runtime You can install the latest version of the AIR runtime on your device from the Android Market. You can also install the runtime included in your SDK on either a device or an Android emulator.
From the command prompt, enter the following command (on a single line):
adt -installRuntime -platform android -platformsdk
Set the -platformsdk flag to your Android SDK directory (specify the parent of the tools folder). ADT installs the Runtime.apk included in the SDK. For more information, see Install the AIR runtime and applications for development on page 88. Install the AIR app From the command prompt, enter the following command (on a single line):
adt -installApp -platform android -platformsdk path-to-android-sdk -package path-to-app
Set the -platformsdk flag to your Android SDK directory (specify the parent of the tools folder). For more information, see Install the AIR runtime and applications for development on page 88. You can launch your app by tapping the application icon on the screen of the device or emulator.
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SWF-based applications
1 Write the MXML or ActionScript code. 2 Create needed assets, such as icon bitmap files. 3 Create the application descriptor. 4 Compile ActionScript code. 5 Test the application. 6 Package and sign as an AIR file.
HTML-based applications
1 Write the HTML and JavaScript code. 2 Create needed assets, such as icon bitmap files. 3 Create the application descriptor. 4 Test the application. 5 Package and sign as an AIR file.
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4 Compile any ActionScript code. 5 Test the application. 6 Package the application on each target platform.
Application identity
Several settings should be unique for each application that you publish. The unique settings include the ID, the name, and the filename.
<id>com.example.MyApplication</id> <name>My Application</name> <filename>MyApplication</filename>
Application version
In versions of AIR earlier than AIR 2.5, specify the application in the version element. You can use any string. The AIR runtime does not interpret the string; 2.0 is not treated as a higher version than 1.0.
<!-- AIR 2 or earlier --> <version>1.23 Beta 7</version>
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In AIR 2.5 and later, specify the application version in the versionNumber element. The version element can no longer be used. When specifying a value for versionNumber, you must use a sequence of up to three numbers separated by dots, such as: 0.1.2. Each segment of the version number can have up to three digits. (In other words, 999.999.999 is the largest version number permitted.) You do not have to include all three segments in the number; 1 and 1.0 are legal version numbers as well. You can also specify a label for the version using the versionLabel element. When you add a version label, it is displayed instead of the version number in such places as the AIR application installer dialogs.
<!-- AIR 2.5 and later --> <versionNumber>1.23.7<versionNumber> <versionLabel>1.23 Beta 7</versionLabel>
content The main application SWF file in the content child of the initalWindow element. When you target
devices in the desktop profile, you can use a SWF or an HTML file.
<initialWindow> <content>MyApplication.swf</content> </initialWindow>
You must include the file in the AIR package (using ADT or your IDE). Simply referencing the name in the application descriptor does not cause the file to be included in the package automatically.
height The height of the initial window. maximizable Whether the system chrome for maximizing the window is shown. maxSize The maximum size allowed. minimizable Whether the system chrome for minimizing the window is shown. minSize The minimum size allowed. resizable Whether the system chrome for resizing the window is shown. systemChrome Whether the standard operating system window dressing is used. The systemChrome setting of
a window cannot be changed at run time.
title The title of the window. transparent Whether the window is alpha-blended against the background. The window cannot use system
chrome if transparency is turned on. The transparent setting of a window cannot be changed at run time.
visible Whether the window is visible as soon as it is created. By default, the window is not visible initially so that
your application can draw its contents before making itself visible.
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x The horizontal position of the window. y The vertical position of the window.
Desktop features
The following elements control desktop installation and update features.
customUpdateUI Allows you to provide your own dialogs for updating an application. If set to false, the
default, then the standard AIR dialogs are used.
fileTypes Specifies the types of files that your application would like to register for as the default opening
application. If another application is already the default opener for a file type, then AIR does not override the existing registration. However, your application can override the registration at runtime using the setAsDefaultApplication() method of the NativeApplication object. It is good form to ask for the users permission before overriding their existing file type associations.
installFolder Specifies a path relative to the standard application installation folder into which the application is
installed. You can use this setting to provide a custom folder name as well as to group multiple applications within a common folder.
programMenuFolder Specifies the menu hierarchy for the Windows All Programs menu. You can use this
setting to group multiple applications within a common menu. If no menu folder is specified, the application shortcut is added directly to the main menu.
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Supported profiles
If your application only makes sense on the desktop, then you can prevent it from being installed on devices in another profile by excluding that profile from the supported profiles list. If your application uses the NativeProcess class, then you must support the extendedDesktop profile. If you leave the supportedProfile element out of the application descriptor, then it is assumed that your application supports all the defined profiles. To restrict your application to a specific list of profiles, list the profiles, separated by whitespace:
<supportedProfiles>desktop extendedDesktop</supportedProfiles>
For a list of ActionScript classes supported in the desktop and extendedDesktop profile, see Capabilities of different profiles on page 193.
Application icons
On the desktop, the icons specified in the application descriptor are used as the application file, shortcut, and program menu icons. The application icon should be supplied as a set of 16x16-, 32x32-, 48x48-, and 128x128-pixel PNG images. Specify the path to the icon files in the icon element of the application descriptor file:
<icon> <image16x16>assets/icon16.png</image16x16> <image32x32>assets/icon32.png</image32x32> <image48x48>assets/icon48.png</image48x48> <image128x128>assets/icon128.png</image128x128> </icon>
If you do not supply an icon of a given size, the next largest size is used and scaled to fit. If you do not supply any icons, a default system icon is used.
Ignored settings
Applications on the desktop ignore application settings that apply to mobile profile features. The ignored settings are:
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ADL prints trace statements, runtime exceptions, and HTML parsing errors to the terminal window. If an FDB process is waiting for an incoming connection, ADL will connect to the debugger.
JavaScript example:
//JavaScript air.trace("debug message");
In JavaScript code, you can use the alert() and confirm() functions to display debugging messages from your application. In addition, the line numbers for syntax errors as well as any uncaught JavaScript exceptions are printed to the console. Note: To use the air prefix shown in the JavaScript example, you must import the AIRAliases.js file into the page. This file is located inside the frameworks directory of the AIR SDK.
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Note: In SWF-based AIR applications, the ActionScript source files must be compiled with the -debug flag. (In Flash Professional, check the Permit debugging option in the Publish Settings dialog.)
1 Start FDB. The FDB program can be found in the bin directory of the Flex SDK.
4 Using the FDB commands, set breakpoints as desired. 5 Type: continue [Enter]
If an AIR application is SWF-based, the debugger only controls the execution of ActionScript code. If the AIR application is HTML-based, then the debugger only controls the execution of JavaScript code. To run ADL without connecting to the debugger, include the -nodebug option:
adl myApp.xml -nodebug
For details on the FDB commands, see Using the command-line debugger commands in the Flex documentation.
Adobe Flex Builder, see Packaging AIR applications with Flex Builder. Adobe Flash Builder, see Packaging AIR applications with Flash Builder. Adobe Flash Professional, see Publishing for Adobe AIR. Adobe Dreamweaver see Creating an AIR application in Dreamweaver.
All AIR installer files must be signed using a digital certificate. The AIR installer uses the signature to verify that your application file has not been altered since you signed it. You can use a code signing certificate from a certification authority or a self-signed certificate. When you use a certificate issued by a trusted certification authority, you give users of your application some assurance of your identity as publisher. The installation dialog reflects the fact that your identity is verified by the certificate authority:
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When you use a self-signed certificate, users cannot verify your identity as the signer. A self-signed certificate also weakens the assurance that the package hasnt been altered. (This is because a legitimate installation file could be substituted with a forgery before it reaches the user.) The installation dialog reflects the fact that the publishers identity cannot be verified. Users are taking a greater security risk when they install your application:
You can package and sign an AIR file in a single step using the ADT -package command. You can also create an intermediate, unsigned package with the -prepare command, and sign the intermediate package with the -sign command in a separate step. Note: Java versions 1.5 and above do not accept high-ASCII characters in passwords used to protect PKCS12 certificate files. When you create or export your code signing certificate file, use only regular ASCII characters in the password. When signing the installation package, ADT automatically contacts a time-stamp authority server to verify the time. The time-stamp information is included in the AIR file. An AIR file that includes a verified time stamp can be installed at any point in the future. If ADT cannot connect to the time-stamp server, then packaging is canceled. You can override the time-stamping option, but without a time stamp, an AIR application ceases to be installable after the certificate used to sign the installation file expires. If you are creating a package to update an existing AIR application, the package must be signed with the same certificate as the original application. If the original certificate has been renewed or has expired within the last 180 days, or if you want to change to a new certificate, you can apply a migration signature. A migration signature involves signing the application AIR file with both the new and the old certificate. Use the -migrate command to apply the migration signature as described in ADT migrate command on page 132.
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Important: There is a strict 180 day grace period for applying a migration signature after the original certificate expires. Without a migration signature, existing users must uninstall their existing application before installing your new version. The grace period only applies to applications that specify AIR version 1.5.3, or above, in the application descriptor namespace. There is no grace period when targeting earlier versions of the AIR runtime. Before AIR 1.1, migration signatures were not supported. You must package an application with an SDK of version 1.1 or later to apply a migration signature. Applications deployed using AIR files are known as desktop profile applications. You cannot use ADT to package a native installer for an AIR application if the application descriptor file does not support the desktop profile. You can restrict this profile using the supportedProfiles element in the application descriptor file. See Device profiles on page 192 and supportedProfiles on page 186. Note: The settings in the application descriptor file determine the identity of an AIR application and its default installation path. See AIR application descriptor files on page 159. Publisher IDs As of AIR 1.5.3, publisher IDs are deprecated. New applications (originally published with AIR 1.5.3 or later) do not need and should not specify a publisher ID. When updating applications published with earlier versions of AIR, you must specify the original publisher ID in the application descriptor file. Otherwise, the installed version of your application and the update version are treated as different applications. If you use a different ID or omit the publisherID tag, a user must uninstall the earlier version before installing the new version. To determine the original publisher ID, find the publisherid file in the META-INF/AIR subdirectory where the original application is installed. The string within this file is the publisher ID. Your application descriptor must specify the AIR 1.5.3 runtime (or later) in the namespace declaration of the application descriptor file in order to specify the publisher ID manually. For applications published before AIR 1.5.3 or that are published with the AIR 1.5.3 SDK, while specifying an earlier version of AIR in the application descriptor namespace a publisher ID is computed based on the signing certificate. This ID is used, along with the application ID, to determine the identity of an application. The publisher ID, when present, is used for the following purposes:
Verifying that an AIR file is an update rather than a new application to install As part of the encryption key for the encrypted local store As part of the path for the application storage directory As part of the connection string for local connections As part of the identity string used to invoke an application with the AIR in-browser API As part of the OSID (used when creating custom install/uninstall programs)
Before AIR 1.5.3, the publisher ID of an application could change if you signed an application update with migration signature using a new or renewed certificate. When a publisher ID changes, the behavior of any AIR features relying on the ID also changes. For example, data in the existing encrypted local store can no longer be accessed and any Flash or AIR instances that create a local connection to the application must use the new ID in the connection string. In AIR 1.5.3, or later, the publisher ID is not based on the signing certificate and is only assigned if the publisherID tag is included in the application descriptor. An application cannot be updated if the publisher ID specified for the update AIR package does not match its current publisher ID.
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The example assumes that the path to the ADT tool is on your command-line shells path definition. (See Path environment variables on page 249 for help.) You must run the command from the directory containing the application files. The application files in the example are myApp-app.xml (the application descriptor file), myApp.swf, and an icons directory. When you run the command as shown, ADT will prompt you for the keystore password. (The password characters you type are not always displayed; just press Enter when you are done typing.) Creating an AIR package from an AIRI file You can create sign an AIRI file to create an installable AIR package:
adt -sign -storetype pkcs12 -keystore ../codesign.p12 myApp.airi myApp.air
You can build the native installer based on the application descriptor file and other source files. (Other source files
may include SWF files, HTML files, and other assets.)
You can build the native installer based on an AIR file or based on an AIRI file.
You must use ADT on the same operating system as that of the native installer file you want to generate. So, to create an EXE file for Windows, run ADT on Windows. To create a DMG file for Mac OS, run ADT on Mac OS. To create a DEB or RPG file for Linux, run ADT from the AIR 2.6 SDK on Linux. When you create a native installer to distribute an AIR application, the application gains these capabilities:
It can launch and interact with native processes, using the NativeProcess class. For details, see one of the following: Communicating with native processes in AIR (for ActionScript developers) Communicating with native processes in AIR (for HTML developers)
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It can use the File.openWithDefaultApplication() method to open any file with the default system application
defined to open it, regardless of its file type. (There are restrictions on applications that are not installed with a native installer. For details, see the entry for the File.openWithDefaultApplication() entry in the language reference.) However, when packaged as a native installer, looses some of the benefits of the AIR file format. A single file can no longer be distributed to all desktop computers. The built-in update function (as well as the updater framework) does not work. When the user double-clicks the native installer file, it installs the AIR application. If the required version of Adobe AIR is not already installed on the machine, the installer downloads it from the network and installs it first. If there is no network connection from which to obtain the correct version of Adobe AIR (if necessary), installation fails. Also, the installation fails if the operating system is not supported in Adobe AIR 2. Note: If you want a file to be executable in your installed application, make sure that it's executable on the filesystem when you package your application. (On Mac and Linux, you can use chmod to set the executable flag, if needed.) Creating a native installer from the application source files To build a native installer out of the source files for the application, use the -package command with the following syntax (on a single command line):
adt -package AIR_SIGNING_OPTIONS -target native [WINDOWS_INSTALLER_SIGNING_OPTIONS] installer_file app_xml [file_or_dir | -C dir file_or_dir | -e file dir ...] ...
This syntax is similar to the syntax for packaging an AIR file (without a native installer). However there are a few differences:
native option to the command. (If you specify -target air, then ADT generates an AIR file instead of a native installer file.)
You specify the target DMG or EXE file as the installer_file. Optionally, on Windows you can add a second set of signing options, indicated as
[WINDOWS_INSTALLER_SIGNING_OPTIONS] in the syntax listing. On Windows, in addition to signing the AIR file,
you can sign the Windows Installer file. Use the same type of certificate and signing option syntax as you would for signing the AIR file (see ADT code signing options on page 137). You can use the same certificate to sign the AIR file and the installer file, or you can specify different certificates. When a user downloads a signed Windows Installer file from the web, Windows identifies the source of the file, based on the certificate. For details on ADT options other than the -target option, see AIR Developer Tool (ADT) on page 126. The following example creates a DMG file (a native installer file for Mac OS):
adt -package -storetype pkcs12 -keystore myCert.pfx -target native myApp.dmg application.xml index.html resources
The following example creates an EXE file (a native installer file for Windows):
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adt -package -storetype pkcs12 -keystore myCert.pfx -target native myApp.exe application.xml index.html resources
Creating a native installer from an AIR file or an AIRI file You can use ADT to generate a native installer file based on an AIR file or an AIRI file. To build a native installer based on an AIR file, use the ADT -package command with the following syntax (on a single command line):
adt -package -target native [WINDOWS_INSTALLER_SIGNING_OPTIONS] installer_file air_file
This syntax is similar to the syntax for creating a native installer based on the source files for the AIR application. However there are a few of differences:
As the source, you specify an AIR file, rather than an application descriptor file and other source files for the AIR
application.
Do not specify signing options for the AIR file, as it is already signed
To build a native installer based on an AIRI file, use the ADT -package command with the following syntax (on a single command line):
adt AIR_SIGNING_OPTIONS -package -target native [WINDOWS_INSTALLER_SIGNING_OPTIONS] installer_file airi_file
This syntax is similar to the syntax for creating a native installer based on an AIR file. However there are a few of differences:
As the source, you specify an AIRI file. You specify signing options for the target AIR application.
The following example creates a DMG file (a native installer file for Mac OS) based on an AIR file:
adt -package -target native myApp.dmg myApp.air
The following example creates an EXE file (a native installer file for Windows) based on an AIR file:
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The following example creates an EXE file (based on an AIR file) and signs it:
adt -package -target native -storetype pkcs12 -keystore myCert.pfx myApp.exe myApp.air
The following example creates a DMG file (a native installer file for Mac OS) based on an AIRI file:
adt -storetype pkcs12 -keystore myCert.pfx -package -target native myApp.dmg myApp.airi
The following example creates an EXE file (a native installer file for Windows) based on an AIRI file:
adt -storetype pkcs12 -keystore myCert.pfx -package -target native myApp.exe myApp.airi
The following example creates an EXE file (based on an AIRI file) and signs it with both an AIR and a native Windows signature:
adt -package -storetype pkcs12 -keystore myCert.pfx -target native -storetype pkcs12 -keystore myCert.pfx myApp.exe myApp.airi
Installs the application into the Program Files directory Creates a desktop shortcut for application Creates a Start Menu shortcut Adds an entry for application in the Add / Remove Programs Control Panel
In the Mac OS, by default the application is added to the Applications directory.
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If the application is already installed, the installer gives the user the choice of opening the existing version of the application or updating to the version in the downloaded AIR file. The installer identifies the application using the application ID and publisher ID in the AIR file.
3 When the installation is complete, click Finish.
On Mac OS, to install an updated version of an application, the user needs adequate system privileges to install to the application directory. On Windows and Linux, a user needs administrative privileges. An application can also install a new version via ActionScript or JavaScript. For more information, see Updating AIR applications on page 204. Once the AIR application is installed, a user simply double-clicks the application icon to run it, just like any other desktop application.
On Windows, double-click the applications icon (which is either installed on the desktop or in a folder) or select
the application from the Start menu.
On Linux, double-click the applications icon (which is either installed on the desktop or in a folder) or select the
application from the applications menu.
On Mac OS, double-click the application in the folder in which it was installed. The default installation directory is
the /Applications directory. Note: Only AIR applications developed for AIR 2.6 or earlier can be installed on Linux. The AIR seamless install feature lets a user install an AIR application by clicking a link in a web page. The AIR browser invocation features lets a user run an installed AIR application by clicking a link in a web page. These features are described in the following section.
Silently install the Adobe AIR runtime using tools such as Microsoft SMS, IBM Tivoli, or any deployment tool that
allows silent installations that use a bootstrapper
Silently install the AIR application using the same tools used to deploy the runtime
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For more information, see the Adobe AIR Administrator's Guide (http://www.adobe.com/go/learn_air_admin_guide_en).
Data\Adobe\AIR\logs\Install.log
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Android setup
No special setup is required for Android in AIR 2.6+. The Android ADB tool is included in the AIR SDK (in the lib/android/bin folder). The AIR SDK uses the ADB tool to install, uninstall, and run application packages on the device. You can also use ADB to view system logs. To create and run an Android emulator you must download the separate Android SDK. In AIR 2.5, you must download a separate copy of the Android SDK from Google. You can set the AIR_ANDROID_SDK_HOME environment variable to reference the Android SDK folder. If you do not set this environment variable, you must specify the path to the Android SDK in the -platformsdk argument on the ADT command line.
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iOS setup
To install and test an iOS application on a device and to distribute that application, you must join the Apple iOS Developer program (which is a fee-based service). Once you join the iOS Developer program you can access the iOS Provisioning Portal where you can obtain the following items and files from Apple that are required to install an application on a device for testing and for subsequent distribution. These items and files include:
Development and distribution certificates App IDs Development and distribution provisioning files
Paul Trani: Tips and Tricks for Mobile Flash Development roguish: GPU Test App AIR for Mobile Jonathan Campos: Optimization Techniques for AIR for Android apps Charles Schulze: AIR 2.6 Game Development: iOS included
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When appropriate, you should stop audio playback and remove listeners to the geolocation and accelerometer sensors. The AIR NativeApplication object dispatches activate and deactivate events. Use these events to manage the transition between the active and the background state. Most mobile operating systems terminate background applications without warning. By saving application state frequently, your application should be able to restore itself to a reasonable state whether it is returning to active status from the background or by being launched anew.
Information density
The physical size of the screen of mobile devices is smaller than on the desktop, although their pixel density (pixels per inch) is higher. The same font size will produce letters that are physically smaller on a mobile device screen than on a desktop computer. You must often use a larger font to ensure legibility. In general, 14 point is the smallest font size that can be easily read. Mobile devices are often used on the move and under poor lighting conditions. Consider how much information you can realistically display on screen legibly. It might be less than you would display on a screen of the same pixel dimensions on a desktop. Also consider that when a user is touching the screen, their finger and hand block part of the display from view. Place interactive elements at the sides and bottom of the screen when the user has to interact with them for longer than a momentary touch.
Text input
Many devices use a virtual keyboard for text entry. Virtual keyboards obscure part of the screen and are often cumbersome to use. Avoid relying on keyboard events (except for soft keys). Consider implementing alternatives to using input text fields. For example, to have the user enter a numerical value, you do not need a text field. You can provide two buttons to increase or decrease the value.
Soft keys
Mobile devices include a varying number of soft keys. Soft keys are buttons that are programmable to have different functions. Follow the platform conventions for these keys in your application.
Screen dimming
AIR does not automatically prevent the screen from dimming while video is playing. You can use the systemIdleMode property of the AIR NativeApplication object to control whether the device will enter a power-saving mode. (On some platforms, you must request the appropriate permissions for this feature to work.)
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Hit targets
Consider the size of hit targets when designing buttons and other user interface elements that the user taps. Make these elements large enough that they can be comfortably activated with a finger on a touch screen. Also, make sure that you have enough space between targets. The hit target area should be about 44 pixels to 57 pixels on each side for a typical high-dpi phone screen.
Advertising
Many ad services that provide an ActionScript API for do not yet support ActionScript 3.0. At the same time, the AIR runtime on mobile does not support ActionScript 2.0. An easy way to display ads in a mobile application is to use a StageWebView object in conjunction with a JavaScript/HTML API provided by the ad service.
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UI components
Adobe is developing a mobile-optimized version of the Flex framework. For more information, see http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flex/mobile/. Community component projects suitable for mobile applications are also available. These include:
Keith Peters Minimal Comps Derrick Griggs skinnable version of Minimal Comps Todd Andersons as3flobile components
Write the ActionScript or MXML code. Create an AIR application descriptor file (using the 2.5, or later, namespace). Compile the application. Package the application as an Android package (.apk). Install the AIR runtime on the device or Android emulator (if not already installed). Install the application on device (or Android emulator). Launch the application on the device.
You can use Adobe Flash Builder, Adobe Flash Professional CS5, or the command-line tools to accomplish these steps. Once your AIR app is finished and packaged as an APK file, you can submit it to the Android Market or distribute it through other means.
Install iTunes. Generate the required developer files and IDs on the Apple iOS Provisioning Portal. These items include: Developer certificate App ID
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Provisioning profile
You must list the IDs of any test devices on which you plan to install the application when creating the provisioning profile.
Convert the development certificate and private key to a P12 keystore file. Write the application ActionScript or MXML code. Compile the application with an ActionScript or MXML compiler. Create icon art and initial screen art for the application. Create the application descriptor (using the 2.6, or greater, namespace). Package the IPA file using ADT. Use iTunes to place your provisioning profile on your test device. Install and test the application on your iOS device. You can use iTunes to install the IPA file.
Once your AIR app is finished, you can repackage it using a distribution certificate and provisioning profile. It is then ready to submit to the Apple App Store.
Common settings
Several application descriptor settings are important for all mobile device applications.
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Note: Support for iOS 3 devices is provided by the Packager for iPhone SDK, based on the AIR 2.0 SDK. For information about building AIR applications for iOS 3, see Building iPhone apps. The AIR 2.6 SDK (and later) support iOS 4, and above on iPhone 3Gs, iPhone 4, and iPad devices.
Application identity
Several settings should be unique for each application that you publish. These include the ID, the name, and the filename. Android application IDs On Android, the ID is converted to the Android package name by prefixing air. to the AIR ID. Thus, if your AIR ID is com.example.MyApp, then the Android package name is air.com.example.MyApp.
<id>com.example.MyApp</id> <name>My Application</name> <filename>MyApplication</filename>
In addition, if the ID is not a legal package name on the Android operating system, it is converted to a legal name. Hyphen characters are changed to underscores and leading digits in any ID component are preceded by a capital A. For example, the ID: 3-goats.1-boat, is transformed to the package name: air.A3_goats.A1_boat. Note: The prefix added to the application ID can be used to identify AIR applications in the Android Market. If you do not want your application to identified as an AIR application because of the prefix, you must unpackage the APK file, change the application ID, and repackage it as described in, Opt-out of AIR application analytics for Android. iOS application IDs Set the AIR application ID to match the app ID you created in the Apple iOS Provisioning Portal. iOS App IDs contain a bundle seed ID followed by a bundle identifier. The bundle seed ID is a string of characters, such as 5RM86Z4DJM, that Apple assigns to the App ID. The bundle identifier contains a reverse-domain-style name that you pick. The bundle identifier can end in an asterisk (*), indicating a wildcard app ID. If the bundle identifier ends in the wildcard character, you can replace that wildcard with any legal string. For example:
If your Apple app ID is, 5RM86Z4DJM.com.example.helloWorld, you must use com.example.helloWorld in the
application descriptor.
If your Apple app ID is 96LPVWEASL.com.example.* (a wildcard app ID), then you could use
com.example.helloWorld, or com.example.anotherApp, or some other ID that starts with com.example.
Finally, if your Apple app ID is just the bundle seed ID and a wildcard, such as: 38JE93KJL.*, then you can use any
application ID in AIR. When specifying the app ID, do not include the bundle seed ID portion of the app ID.
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Application version
In AIR 2.5 and later, specify the application version in the versionNumber element. The version element can no longer be used. When specifying a value for versionNumber, you must use a sequence of up to three numbers separated by dots, such as: 0.1.2. Each segment of the version number can have up to three digits. (In other words, 999.999.999 is the largest version number permitted.) You do not have to include all three segments in the number; 1 and 1.0 are legal version numbers as well. You can also specify a label for the version using the versionLabel element. When you add a version label it is displayed instead of the version number in such places as the Android Application info screen. A version label must be specified for apps that are distributed using the Android Market. If you do not specify a versionLabel value in the AIR application descriptor, then the versionNumber value is assigned to the Android version label field.
<!-- AIR 2.5 and later --> <versionNumber>1.23.7<versionNumber> <versionLabel>1.23 Beta 7</versionLabel>
On Android, the AIR versionNumber is translated to the Android integer versionCode using the formula:
a*1000000 + b*1000 + c, where a, b, and c are the components of the AIR version number: a.b.c.
You must include the file in the AIR package (using ADT or your IDE). Simply referencing the name in the application descriptor does not cause the file to be included in the package automatically.
aspectRatio Specifies whether the application should initially display in a portrait format (height greater than
width) or a landscape format (height less than width).
<aspectRatio>landscape</aspectRatio>
autoOrients Specifies whether the stage should automatically change orientation as the user rotates the device
or performs another orientation-related gesture such as opening or closing a sliding keyboard. If false, which is the default, then the stage will not change orientation with the device.
<autoOrients>true</autoOrients>
fullScreen Specifies whether the application should take up the full device display, or should share the display
with the normal operating system chrome, such as a system status bar.
<fullScreen>true</fullScreen>
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renderMode Specifies whether the runtime should render the application with the graphics processing unit
(GPU) or the main, central processing unit (CPU). In general, GPU rendering will increase rendering speed, but some features, such as certain blend modes and PixelBender filters, are unavailable in GPU mode. In addition, different devices, and different device drivers, have varying GPU capabilities and limitations. You should always test your application on the widest variety of devices possible, especially when using GPU mode. You can set the render mode to gpu, cpu, or auto. The default value is auto, which currently falls back to cpu mode. Do not use the GPU rendering mode for Flex applications.
<renderMode>gpu</renderMode>
The Flex framework does not support the GPU rendering mode. Filters are not supported PixelBender blends, and fills are not supported The following blend modes are not supported: layer, alpha, erase, overlay, hardlight, lighten, and darken Using GPU rendering mode in an app that plays video is not recommended. In GPU rendering mode, text fields are not properly moved to a visible location when the virtual keyboard
opens. To ensure that your text field is visible while the user enters text use the softKeyboardRect property of the stage and soft keyboard events to move the text field to the visible area.
If a display object cannot be rendered by the GPU, it is not displayed at all. For example, if a filter is applied to
a display object, the object is not shown. Note: The GPU implementation for iOS in AIR 2.6+ is much different than the implementation used in the earlier, AIR 2.0 version. Different optimization considerations apply.
Supported profiles
You can add the supportedProfiles element to specify which device profiles your application supports. Use the mobileDevice profile for mobile devices. When you run your application with the Adobe Debug Launcher (ADL), ADL uses the first profile in the list as the active profile. You can also use the -profile flag when running ADL to select a particular profile in the supported list. If your application runs under all profiles, you can leave the supportedProfiles element out altogether. ADL uses the desktop profile as the default active profile in this case. To specify that your application supports both the mobile device and desktop profiles, and you normally want to test the app in the mobile profile, add the following element:
<supportedProfiles>mobileDevice desktop</supportedProfiles>
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Since pan is the default value, omitting the softKeyboardBehavior element also enables the automatic keyboard behavior. Note: When you also use GPU rendering, the pan behavior is not supported.
Android settings
On the Android platform, you can use the android element of the application descriptor to add information to the Android application manifest, which is an application properties file used by the Android operating system. ADT automatically generates the Android Manifest.xml file when you create the APK package. AIR sets a few properties to the values required for certain features to work. Any other properties set in the android section of the AIR application descriptor are added to the corresponding section of the Manifest.xml file. Note: For most AIR applications, you must set the Android permissions needed by your application within the android element, but you generally will not need to set any other properties. You can only set attributes that take string, integer, or boolean values. Setting references to resources in the application package is not supported.
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xmlns:android
activity element You cannot set the following attributes for the main activity element:
android:label android:icon
application element You cannot set the following attributes of the application element:
Android permissions
The Android security model requires that each app request permission in order to use features that have security or privacy implications. These permissions must be specified when the app is packaged, and cannot be changed at runtime. The Android operating system informs the user which permissions an app is requesting when the user installs it. If a permission required for a feature is not requested, the Android operating system might throw an exception when your application access the feature, but an exception is not guaranteed. Exceptions are transmitted by the runtime to your application. In the case of a silent failure, a permission failure message is added to the Android system log. In AIR, you specify the Android permissions inside the android element of the application descriptor. The following format is used for adding permissions (where PERMISSION_NAME is the name of an Android permission):
<android> <manifestAdditions> <![CDATA[ <manifest> <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.PERMISSION_NAME" /> </manifest> ]]> </manifestAdditions> </android>
The uses-permissions statements inside the manifest element are added directly to the Android manifest document. The following permissions are required to use various AIR features:
ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION Allows the application to access WIFI and cellular network location data through the
Geolocation class.
ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION Allows the application to access GPS data through the Geolocation class.
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ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE and ACCESS_WIFI_STATE Allows the application to access network information the
NetworkInfo class.
CAMERA Allows the application to access the camera.
Note: When you ask for permission to use the camera feature, Android assumes that your application also requires the camera. If the camera is an optional feature of your application, then you should add a uses-feature element to the manifest for the camera, setting the required attribute to false. See Android compatibility filtering on page 69.
INTERNET Allows the application to make network requests. Also allows remote debugging. READ_PHONE_STATE Allows the AIR runtime to mute audio during phone calls. You should set this permission if
For example, to set the permissions for an app that impressively requires every permission, you could add the following to the application descriptor:
<android> <manifestAdditions> <![CDATA[ <manifest> <uses-permission <uses-permission <uses-permission <uses-permission <uses-permission <uses-permission <uses-permission <uses-permission <uses-permission <uses-permission <uses-permission </manifest> ]]> </manifestAdditions> </android>
android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION" /> android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" /> android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE" /> android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_WIFI_STATE" /> android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" /> android:name="android.permission.DISABLE_KEYGUARD" /> android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" /> android:name="android.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE" /> android:name="android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO" /> android:name="android.permission.WAKE_LOCK" /> android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
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<android> <manifestAdditions> <![CDATA[ <manifest> <application> <activity> <intent-filter> <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN"/> <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER"/> </intent-filter> <intent-filter> <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW"/> <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE"/> <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT"/> <data android:scheme="my-customuri"/> </intent-filter> </activity> </application> </manifest> ]]> </manifestAdditions> </android>
An intent filter informs the Android operating system that your application is available to perform a given action. In the case of a custom URI, this means that the user has clicked a link using that URI scheme (and the browser does not know how to handle it). When your application is invoked through a custom URI, the NativeApplication object dispatches an invoke event. The URL of the link, including query parameters, is placed in the arguments array of the InvokeEvent object. You can use any number of intent-filters. Note: Neither the navigateToURL() function nor links in a StageWebView instance can open URLs that use a custom URI scheme.
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Camera applications If you request the camera permission for your application, Android assumes that the app requires all available camera features, including auto-focus and flash. If your app does not require all camera features, or if the camera is an optional feature, you should set the various uses-feature elements for the camera to indicate that these are optional. Otherwise, users with devices that are missing one feature or that do not have a camera at all, will not be able to find your app on the Android Market. The following example illustrates how to request permission for the camera and make all camera features optional:
<android> <manifestAdditions> <![CDATA[ <manifest> <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" /> <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" android:required="false"/> <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera.autofocus" android:required="false"/> <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera.flash" android:required="false"/> </manifest> ]]> </manifestAdditions> </android>
Audio recording applications If you request the permission to record audio, Android also assumes that the app requires a microphone. If audio recording is an optional feature of your app, you can add a uses-feature tag to specify that the microphone is not required. Otherwise, users with devices that do not have a microphone, will not be able to find your app on the Android Market. The following example illustrates how to request permission to use the microphone while still making the microphone hardware optional:
<android> <manifestAdditions> <![CDATA[ <manifest> <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO" /> <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.microphone" android:required="false"/> </manifest> ]]> </manifestAdditions> </android>
Install location
You can permit your application to be installed or moved to the external memory card by setting the installLocation attribute of the Android manifest element to either auto or preferExternal:
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The Android operating system doesnt guarantee that your app will be installed to the external memory. A user can also move the app between internal and external memory using the system settings app. Even when installed to external memory, application cache and user data, such as the contents of the app-storage directory, shared objects, and temporary files, are still stored in the internal memory. To avoid using too much internal memory, be selective about the data you save to the application storage directory. Large amounts of data should be saved to the SDCard using the File.userDirectory or File.documentsDirectory locations (which both map to the root of the SD card on Android).
AIR validates the elements and attributes included in the Android portion of the application descriptor. By default, AIR validates against the Android 2.2 SDK. Since the android:hardwareAccelerated attribute was added in Android 3.0, you must set the AIR ADT utility to validate against the Android 3.0 SDK (or later). First, download the Android 3 SDK: Android Developers: Installing the SDK . When packaging, set the -platformsdk option to the path containing the approriate Android SDK (set the path to the directory containing the Android tools folder). For example:
adt -package -target apk -storetype pkcs12 -keystore cert.p12 -storepass foo myApp.apk myApp-app.xml -platformsdk c:\androidSDK myApp.swf other.files
You can also set the AIR_ANDROID_SDK_HOME environment variable to the path containing the Android SDK. Since Flash Builder and Flash Professional do not allow you to add extra parameters when packaging, setting this environment variable allows you to use Android SDK settings that were not available when the AIR SDK you are using was released. See ADT environment variables on page 145.
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iOS Settings
Settings that apply only to iOS devices are placed within the <iPhone> element in the application descriptor. The iPhone element can have an InfoAdditions element and a requestedDisplayResolution element as children. The InfoAdditions element allows you to specify key-value pairs that are added to the Info.plist settings file for the application. For example, the following values set the status bar style of the application and state that the application does not require persistent Wi-Fi access.
<InfoAdditions> <![CDATA[ <key>UIStatusBarStyle</key> <string>UIStatusBarStyleBlackOpaque</string> <key>UIRequiresPersistentWiFi</key> <string>NO</string> ]]> </InfoAdditions>
The InfoAdditions settings are enclosed in a CDATA tag. For more detailed information on Info.plist settings, see the Apple developer documentation.
The following setting supports both device families (iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad):
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High-resolution displays
The requestedDisplayResolution element specifies whether your application should use the standard or high resolution mode on iOS devices with high-resolution screens. <requestedDisplayResolution>high</requestedDisplayResolution>
In high-resolution mode, you can address each pixel on a high-resolution display individually. In the standard mode, the device screen will appear to your application as a standard resolution screen. Drawing a single pixel in this mode will set the color of four pixels on the high-resolution screen. The default setting is standard. Note that the requestedDisplayResolution element is a child of the iPhone element (not the InfoAdditions element).
When your application is invoked through a custom URI, the NativeApplication object dispatches an invoke event. The URL of the link, including query parameters, is placed in the arguments array of the InvokeEvent object. You can use any number of custom URI schemes. Note: Neither the navigateToURL() function nor links in a StageWebView instance can open URLs that use a custom URI scheme. Note: If another application has already registered a scheme, then your application cannot replace it as the application registered for that URI scheme.
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If a device lacks the corresponding capability, the application cannot be installed. The capability settings relevant to AIR applications include:
telephony wifi sms still-camera auto-focus-camera front-facing-camera camera-flash video-camera accelerometer location-services gps microphone
AIR 2.6+ automatically adds armv7 and opengles-2 to the list of required capabilities. Note: You do not need to include these capabilities in the application descriptor in order for your application to use them. Use the UIRequiredDeviceCapabilities settings only to prevent users from installing your application on devices on which it cannot function properly.
Application icons
The following table lists the icon sizes used on each mobile platform:
Icon size 29x29 36x36 48x48 57x57 72x72 114x114 512x512 Platform iOS Android Android, iOS iOS Android, iOS iOS iOS
Specify the path to the icon files in the icon element of the application descriptor file:
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If you do not supply an icon of a given size, the next largest size is used and scaled to fit. Icons on Android On Android, the icons specified in the application descriptor are used as the application Launcher icon. The application Launcher icon should be supplied as a set of 36x36-, 48x48-, and 72x72-pixel PNG images. These icon sizes are used for low-density, medium-density, and high-density screens, respectively. Icons on iOS The icons defined in the application descriptor are used in the following places for an iOS application:
A 29-by-29pixel iconSpotlight search results on the iPhone and iPod Touch use this icon. A 48-by-48pixel iconSpotlight search results on the iPad use this icon. A 57-by-57pixel iconThe iPhone and iPod Touch home screens display this icon. A 72-by-72pixel icon (optional)The iPad home screen displays this icon. A 114-by-114pixel iconThe iPhone and iPod Touch home screen icon for the 960-by-640pixel display. A 512-by-512pixel iconiTunes displays this icon. The 512-pixel PNG file is used only for testing development
versions of your application When you submit the final application to the Apple App Store, you submit the 512 image separately, as a JPG file. It is not included in the IPA. iOS adds a glare effect to the icon. You do not need to apply the effect to your source image. To remove this default glare effect, add the following to the InfoAdditions element in the application descriptor file:
<InfoAdditions> <![CDATA[ <key>UIPrerenderedIcon</key> <true/> ]]> </InfoAdditions>
Note: The phrase, Adobe AIR for iOS is added to the application icons as metadata on iOS so that Adobe can track the number of AIR applications available in the Apple iOS app store. If you do not want your application to identified as an AIR application because of this icon metadata, you must unpackage the IPA file, remove the icon metadata, and repackage it as described in, Opt-out of AIR application analytics for iOS.
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The basename portion of the file name is either Default (with a capital D) or the name you specify using the UILaunchImageFile key in the InfoAdditions element in the application descriptor. The urischeme portion is the string used to identify the URI scheme. For example, if your application can be invoked through a link such as, example://foo, then use example as the scheme portion of the launch image file name. The orientation portion can be one of the following values indicating the orientation that the device is in when the application starts up:
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Launch image files are not referenced in the application descriptor, and must be placed in the root application directory. (Do not put the files in a subdirectory.) You can create any art youd like for a launch image, as long as it is the correct dimensions. However, it is often best to have the image match the initial state of your application. You can create such a launch image by taking a screenshot of the startup screen of your application:
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Open your application on the iOS device. When the first screen of the user interface appears, press and hold the Home button (below the screen). While holding the Home button, press the Power/Sleep button (at the top of the device). This takes a screenshot and sends it to the Camera Roll. application.
2 Transfer the image to your development computer by transferring photos from iPhoto or another photo transfer
Do not include text in the launch image if your application is localized into multiple languages. The launch image is static and the text would not match other languages.
Ignored settings
Applications on mobile devices ignore application settings that apply to native windows or desktop operating system features. The ignored settings are:
allowBrowserInvocation customUpdateUI fileTypes height installFolder maximizable maxSize minimizable minSize programMenuFolder resizable systemChrome title transparent visible width x y
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Android packages AIR applications on Android use the Android application package format (APK), rather than the AIR package format. Packages produced by ADT using the APK target type are in a format that can be submitted to the Android Market. The Android Market does have requirements that submitted apps must meet to be accepted. You should review the latest requirements before creating your final package. See Android Developers: Publishing on the Market. You can use a normal AIR code signing certificate to sign your application; however, to submit an app to the Android Market, the certificate must conform to the Market rules, which require the certificate to be valid until at least 2033. You can create such a certificate using the ADT -certificate command. Developer Serge Jespers has created Package Assistant Pro, an AIR application that assists you in packaging AIR apps for Android as well as for the desktop. You can download the application at http://www.webkitchen.be/packageassistant-pro/. To submit an app to an alternate market that does not allow your app to require an AIR download from the Google market, you can specify an alternate download URL using the -airDownloadURL parameter of ADT. When a user who does not have the required version of the AIR runtime launches your app, they are directed to the specified URL. See ADT package command on page 127 for more information. iOS packages AIR applications on iOS use the iOS package format (IPA), rather than the native AIR format. Packages produced by ADT using the ipa-app-store target type and the correct code signing certificate and provisioning profile are in the format that can be submitted to the Apple App Store. Use the ipa-ad-hoc target type to package an application for ad hoc distribution. You must use the correct Apple-issued developer certificate to sign your application. Different certificates are used for creating test builds than are used for the final packaging prior to application submission. For an example of how to package an iOS application using Ant, see Piotr Walczyszyn: Packaging AIR application for iOS devices with ADT command and ANT script
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Type the entire command on a single line; line breaks in the above example are only present to make it easier to read. Also, the example assumes that the path to the ADT tool is on your command-line shells path definition. (See Path environment variables on page 249 for help.) You must run the command from the directory containing the application files. The application files in the example are myApp-app.xml (the application descriptor file), myApp.swf, and an icons directory. When you run the command as shown, ADT will prompt you for the keystore password. (The password characters you type are not displayed; just press Enter when you are done typing.) Creating a debug APK package To create a version of the app that you can use with a debugger, use apk-debug as the target and specify connection options:
adt -package -target apk-debug -connect 192.168.43.45 -storetype pkcs12 -keystore ../codesign.p12 myApp.apk myApp-app.xml myApp.swf icons
The -connect flag tells the AIR runtime on the device where to connect to a remote debugger over the network. To debug over USB, you must specify the -listen flag instead, specifying the TCP port to use for the debug connection:
adt -package -target apk-debug -listen 7936 -storetype pkcs12 -keystore ../codesign.p12 myApp.apk myApp-app.xml myApp.swf icons
For most debugging features to work, you must also compile the application SWFs and SWCs with debugging enabled. See Debugger connection options on page 140 for a full description of the -connect and -listen flags. On Android, the app must also have permission to access the Internet in order for it to connect to the computer running the debugger over the network. See Android permissions on page 67. Creating an APK package for use on an Android emulator You can use a debug APK package on an Android emulator, but not a release mode package. To create a release mode APK package for use on an emulator, use the ADT package command, setting the target type to apk-emulator :
adt -package -target apk-emulator -storetype pkcs12 -keystore ../codesign.p12 myApp.apk myAppapp.xml myApp.swf icons
The example assumes that the path to the ADT tool is on your command-line shells path definition. (See Path environment variables on page 249 for help.) Creating an APK package from an AIR or AIRI file You can create an APK package directly from an existing AIR or AIRI file:
adt -target apk -storetype pkcs12 -keystore ../codesign.p12 myApp.apk myApp.air
The AIR file must use the AIR 2.5 (or later) namespace in the application descriptor file.
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iOS packages
On iOS, ADT converts the SWF file byte code and other source files into a native iOS application.
1 Open a command shell or a terminal and navigate to the project folder of your iPhone application. 2 Next, use the ADT tool to create the IPA file, using the following syntax:
adt -package -target [ipa-test ipa-debug ipa-app-store ipa-ad-hoc] -provisioning-profile PROFILE_PATH SIGNING_OPTIONS TARGET_IPA_FILE APP_DESCRIPTOR SOURCE_FILES
Change the reference adt to include the full path to the adt application. The adt application is installed in the bin subdirectory of the AIR SDK. Select the -target option that corresponds to the type of iPhone application you want to create:
-target ipa-testChoose this option to quickly compile a version of the application for testing on your
developer iPhone.
-target ipa-debugChoose this option to compile a debug version of the application for testing on your developer iPhone. With this option, you can use a debug session to receive trace() output from the iPhone application.
You can include one of the following -connect options (CONNECT_OPTIONS) to specify the IP address of the development computer running the debugger:
-connectThe application will attempt to connect to a debug session on the development computer used
-connect HOST_NAMEThe application will attempt to connect to a debug session on the computer with the specified host name. For example: -target ipa-debug -connect bobroberts-mac.example.com
The -connect option is optional. If not specified, the resulting debug application will not attempt to connect to a hosted debugger. If a debug connection attempt fails, the application presents a dialog asking the user to enter the IP address of the debugging host machine. A connection attempt can fail if the device is not connected to wifi. It can also occur if the device is connected but not behind the firewall of the debugging host machine. For more information, see Debugging a mobile AIR application on page 82.
-target ipa-ad-hocChoose this option to create an application for ad hoc deployment. See the Apple
Apple App Store. Replace the PROFILE_PATH with the path to the provisioning profile file for your application. For more information on provisioning profiles, see iOS setup on page 58.
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Replace the SIGNING_OPTIONS to reference your iPhone developer certificate and password. Use the following syntax:
-storetype pkcs12 -keystore P12_FILE_PATH -storepass PASSWORD
Replace P12_FILE_PATH with the path to your P12 certificate file. Replace PASSWORD with the certificate password. (See the example below.) For more information on the P12 certificate file, see Converting a developer certificate into a P12 keystore file on page 153. Replace the APP_DESCRIPTOR to reference the application descriptor file. Replace the SOURCE_FILES to reference the main SWF file of your project followed by any other assets to include. Include the paths to all icon files you defined in the application settings dialog box in Flash CS5 or in a custom application descriptor file. Also, add the initial screen art file, Default.png. Creating an iOS package for debugging To create an iOS package for installing on test devices, use the ADT package command, setting the target type to iosdebug. Before running this command, you must have already obtained a development code signing certificate and provisioning profile from Apple.
adt -package -target ipa-debug -storetype pkcs12 -keystore ../AppleDevelopment.p12 -provisioning-profile AppleDevelopment.mobileprofile -connect 192.168.0.12 myApp.ipa myApp-app.xml myApp.swf icons Default.png
Type the entire command on a single line; line breaks in the above example are only present to make it easier to read. Also, the example assumes that the path to the ADT tool is on your command-line shells path definition. (See Path environment variables on page 249 for help.) You must run the command from the directory containing the application files. The application files in the example are myApp-app.xml (the application descriptor file), myApp.swf, an icons directory, and the Default.png file. You must sign the application using the correct distribution certificate issued by Apple; other code signing certificates cannot be used. When you specify the -connect option, the application will attempt to initiate a debug session with the Flash Debugger (FDB) running on the specified IP or host name. See Connecting to the Flash debugger on page 85 for more information. Creating an iOS package for Apple App Store submission To create an iOS package for submission to the Apple App store, use the ADT package command, setting the target type to ios-app-store. Before running this command, you must have already obtained a distribution code signing certificate and provisioning profile from Apple.
adt -package -target ipa-app-store -storetype pkcs12 -keystore ../AppleDistribution.p12 -provisioning-profile AppleDistribution.mobileprofile myApp.ipa myApp-app.xml myApp.swf icons Default.png
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Type the entire command on a single line; line breaks in the above example are only present to make it easier to read. Also, the example assumes that the path to the ADT tool is on your command-line shells path definition. (See Path environment variables on page 249 for help.) You must run the command from the directory containing the application files. The application files in the example are myApp-app.xml (the application descriptor file), myApp.swf, an icons directory, and the Default.png file. You must sign the application using the correct distribution certificate issued by Apple; other code signing certificates cannot be used. Important: Apple requires that you use the Apple Application Loader program in order to upload applications to the App Store. Apple only publishes Application Loader for Mac OS X. Thus, while you can develop an AIR application for the iPhone using a Windows computer, you must have access to a computer running OS X (version 10.5.3, or later) to submit the application to the App Store. You can get the Application Loader program from the Apple iOS Developer Center. Creating an iOS package for ad hoc distribution To create an iOS package for ad hoc distribution, use the ADT package command, setting the target type to ios-ad-hoc. Before running this command, you must have already obtained the appropriate ad hoc distribution code signing certificate and provisioning profile from Apple.
adt -package -target ipa-ad-hoc -storetype pkcs12 -keystore ../AppleDistribution.p12 -provisioning-profile AppleDistribution.mobileprofile myApp.ipa myApp-app.xml myApp.swf icons Default.png
Type the entire command on a single line; line breaks in the above example are only present to make it easier to read. Also, the example assumes that the path to the ADT tool is on your command-line shells path definition. (See Path environment variables on page 249 for help.) You must run the command from the directory containing the application files. The application files in the example are myApp-app.xml (the application descriptor file), myApp.swf, an icons directory, and the Default.png file. You must sign the application using the correct distribution certificate issued by Apple; other code signing certificates cannot be used.
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When simulating the mobile profile on the desktop like this, the application runs in an environment that more closely matches a target mobile device. ActionScript APIs that are not part of the mobile profile are not available. However, ADL does not distinguish between the capabilities of different mobile devices. For example, you can send simulated soft-key presses to your app, even though your actual target device does not utilize soft keys. ADL support simulations of device orientation changes and soft key input through menu commands. When you run ADL in the mobile device profile, the ADL displays a menu (in either the application window or the desktop menu bar) that allows you to enter device rotation or soft key input. Soft key input ADL simulates the soft key buttons for Back, Menu, and Search buttons on a mobile device. You can send these keys to the simulated device using the menu displayed when ADL is launched using the mobile profile. Device rotation ADL lets you simulate device rotation through the menu displayed when ADL is launched using the mobile profile. You can rotate the simulated device to the right or the left. The rotation simulation only affects an application that enables auto-orientation. You can enable this feature by setting the autoOrients element to true in the application descriptor. Screen size You can test your application on different size screens by setting the ADL -screensize parameter. You can pass in the code for one of the predefined screen types or a string containing the four values representing the pixel dimensions of the normal and maximized screens. For example, the following command would open ADL to simulate the screen used on the Motorola Droid:
adl -screensize 480x816:480x854 myApp-app.xml
For a list of the predefined screen types, see ADL usage on page 122. Limitations Some APIs that are not supported on the desktop profile cannot be simulated by ADL. The APIs that are not simulated include:
Accelerometer cacheAsBitmapMatrix CameraRoll CameraUI Geolocation Multitouch and gestures on desktop operating systems that do not support these features Last updated 6/13/2011
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SystemIdleMode
If your application uses these classes, you should test the features on an actual device or emulator. Similarly, there are APIs that work when running under ADL on the desktop, but which do not work on all types of mobile devices. These include:
H.264 video codec Speex and AAC audio codec Accessibility and screen reader support RTMPE Loading SWF files containing ActionScript bytecode PixelBender shaders
Be sure to test applications that use these features on the target devices since ADL does not entirely replicate the execution environment.
Trace statements
When you run your mobile application on the desktop, trace output is printed to either the debugger or the terminal window used to launch ADL. When you run your application on a device or emulator, you can set up a remote debugging session to view trace output. Where supported, you can also view trace output using the software development tools provided by the device or operating system maker. In all cases, the SWF files in the application must be compiled with debugging enabled in order for the runtime to output any trace statements. Remote trace statements on Android When running on an Android device or emulator, you can view trace statement output in the Android system log using the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) utility included in the Android SDK. To view the output of your application, run the following command from a command prompt or terminal window on your development computer:
tools/adb logcat air.MyApp:I *:S
where MyApp is the AIR application ID of your application. The argument *:S suppresses output from all other processes. To view system information about your application in addition to the trace output, you can include the ActivityManager in the logcat filter specification:
tools/adb logcat air.MyApp:I ActivityManager:I *:S
These command examples assume that you are running ADB from the Android SDK folder or that you have added the SDK folder to your path environment variable. Note: In AIR 2.6+, the ADB utility is included in the AIR SDK and can be found in the lib/android/bin folder. Remote trace statements on iOS To view the output of trace statements from an application running on an iOS device, you must establish a remote debugging session using the Flash Debugger (FDB).
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On Android, specify the android:permission.INTERNET permission in the application descriptor. Compile the application SWFs with debugging enabled. Package the application with the -target
-connect flag. apk-debug, for Android, or -target ipa-debug, for iOS, and the
Remote debugging takes place over a network connection (not USB), so the device must be able to access TCP port 7935 of the computer running the Flash debugger by IP address or fully qualified domain name.
Select Device debugging for deployment type Select Install application on the connected Android device for After publishing Deselect Launch application on the connected Android device for After publishing Set the path to the Android SDK, if necessary.
3 Click Publish.
Flash Professional displays, Waiting for Player to connect in the Output panel.
6 Launch the application on the device. 7 Enter the IP address or host name of the computer running the Flash debugger in the Adobe AIR connection dialog,
application.
2 Compile the application with amxmlc, enabling debugging:
amxmlc -debug DebugExample.as
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Android adt -package -target apk-debug -connect -storetype pkcs12 -keystore ../../AndroidCert.p12 DebugExample.apk DebugExample-app.xml DebugExample.swf iOS adt -package -target ipa-debug -connect -storetype pkcs12 -keystore ../../AppleDeveloperCert.p12 -provisioning-profile test.mobileprovision DebugExample.apk DebugExample-app.xml DebugExample.swf
If you always use the same host name or IP address for debugging, you can put that value after the -connect flag. The app will attempt to connect to that IP address or host name automatically. Otherwise, you must enter the information on the device each time you start debugging.
4 Install the application.
7 Launch the application on the device. 8 Once the app launches on the device or emulator, the Adobe AIR connection dialog opens. (If you specified a host
name or IP address with the -connect option when you packaged the app it will attempt to connect automatically using that address.) Enter the appropriate address and tap OK. In order to connect to the debugger in this mode, the device must be able to resolve the address or host name and connect to TCP port 7935. A network connection is required.
9 When the remote runtime connects to the debugger, you can set breakpoints with the FDB break command and
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application.
2 Compile the application with amxmlc, enabling debugging:
amxmlc -debug DebugExample.as
3 Package the application using the apk-debug target and specify the -listen option:
adt -package -target apk-debug -listen -storetype pkcs12 -keystore ../../AndroidCert.p12 DebugExample.apk DebugExample-app.xml DebugExample.swf
4 Connect the device to the debug computer with a USB cable. (You can also use this procedure to debug an
application running in an emulator, in which case, a USB connection is not necessary or possible.)
5 Install the application.
6 Forward TCP port 7936 from the device or emulator to the desktop computer using the Android ADB utility:
adb forward tcp:7936 tcp:7936
7 Launch the application on the device. 8 In a terminal or command window run FDB using the -p option:
fdb -p 7936
10 The FDB utility attempts to connect to the application. 11 When the remote connection is established, you can set breakpoints with the FDB break command and then start
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Note: Port number 7936 is used as the default for USB debugging by both the AIR runtime and FDB. You can specify different ports to use with the ADT -listen port parameter and the FDB -p port parameter. In this case you must use the Android Debug Bridge utility to forward the port number specified in ADT to the port specified in FDB: adb forward
tcp:adt_listen_port# tcp:fdb_port#
If the -package parameter is not specified, the runtime package appropriate to the device or emulator is chosen from those available in your installed AIR SDK. To install an AIR application, use the similar -installApp command:
adt -installApp -platform android -device deviceID -package path-to-app
If only a single device or emulator is attached and running, then you can omit the -device flag. The value set for the -platform argument should match the device on which you are installing. Currently, the only supported value is android. Note: Existing versions of the AIR runtime or the AIR application must be removed before reinstalling.
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Installing AIR applications on iOS devices To install an AIR application on an iOS device for testing:
1 Open the iTunes application. 2 If you have not already done so, add the provisioning profile for this application to iTunes. In iTunes, select File >
Add To Library. Then, select the provisioning profile file (which has mobileprovision as the file type).
3 Some versions of iTunes do not replace the application if the same version of the application is already installed. In
this case, delete the application from your device and from the list of applications in iTunes.
4 Double-click the IPA file for your application. It should appear in the list of applications in iTunes. 5 Connect your device to the USB port on your computer. 6 In iTunes, check the Application tab for the device, and ensure that the application is selected in the list of
applications to be installed.
7 Select the device in the left-hand list of the iTunes application. Then click the Sync button. When the sync
completes, the Hello World application appears on your iPhone. If the new version is not installed, delete it from your device and from the list of applications in iTunes, and then redo this procedure. This may be the case if the currently installed version uses the same application ID and version.
The value of the -appid argument must be the AIR application ID of the AIR app to launch. Use the value specified in the AIR application descriptor (without the air. prefix added during packaging). If only a single device or emulator is attached and running, then you can omit the -device flag. The value set for the -platform argument should match the device on which you are installing. Currently, the only supported value is android.
If only a single device or emulator is attached and running, then you can omit the -device flag. The value set for the -platform argument should match the device on which you are installing. Currently, the only supported value is android.
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Setting up an emulator
To run your AIR application on a device emulator, you must typically use the SDK for the device to create and run an emulator instance on your development computer. You can then install the emulator version of the AIR runtime and your AIR application on the emulator. Note that applications on an emulator typically run much slower than they do on an actual device.
On Windows, run the SDK Setup.exe file, at the root of the Android SDK directory. On Mac OS, run the android application, in the tools subdirectory of the Android SDK directory
2 Select the Settings option and select the "Force https://" option. 3 Select the Available Packages option. You should see a list of available Android SDKs. 4 Select a compatible Android SDK (Android 2.2 or later) and click the Install Selected button. 5 Select the Virtual Devices option and click the New button. 6 Make the following settings:
A name for your virtual device The target API, such as Android 2.2, API level 8 A size for the SD Card (such as 1024) A skin (such as Default HVGA)
7 Click the Create AVD button.
Note that Virtual Device creation may take some time depending on your system configuration. Now you can launch the new Virtual Device.
1 Select Virtual Device in the AVD Manager application. The virtual device you created above should be listed. 2 Select the Virtual Device, and click the Start button. 3 Click the Launch button on the next screen.
You should see an emulator window open on your desktop. This may take a few seconds. It may also take some time for the Android operating system to initialize. You can install applications packaged with the apk-debug and apkemulator on an emulator. Applications packaged with the apk target do not work on an emulator.
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The APK package is signed by the same certificate. The AIR ID is the same. The versionNumber value in the application descriptor is larger. (You should also increment the versionLabel
value, if used.) Users who have downloaded your app from the Android Market are notified by their device software that an update is available.
The code signing certificate and provisioning profiles are issued to the same Apple ID The IPA package uses the same Apple Bundle ID The update does not decrease the pool of supported devices (in other words, if your original application supports
devices running iOS 3, then you cannot create an update that drops support for iOS 3). Important: Because the AIR SDK versions 2.6 and later do not support iOS 3, and AIR 2 does, you cannot update published iOS applications that were developed using AIR 2 with an update developed using AIR 2.6+.
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The differing capabilities of your target set of devices. Design considerations specific to AIR for TV applications. How to test on the target devices.
Device capabilities
Device profiles
AIR uses profiles to define a target set of devices with similar capabilities. Use the following profiles for AIR for TV applications:
The tv profile. Use this profile in AIR applications that target an AIR for TV device. The extendedTV profile. Use this profile if your AIR for TV application uses ActionScript extensions.
The ActionScript capabilities defined for these profiles are covered in Device profiles on page 192. Specific ActionScript differences for AIR for TV applications are noted in the ActionScript 3.0 Reference for the Adobe Flash Platform.
ActionScript extensions
When your application targets the extendedTV profile, it can use ActionScript Native Extension (ANE) packages. Typically, a device manufacturer provides ANE packages to provide access to device features not otherwise supported by AIR. For example, an ActionScript extension could allow you to change channels on a television or pause playback on a video player. When you package an application that uses ANE packages, you package the application into an AIRN file instead of an AIR file. Note: The ANE package that the device manufacturer provides you contains an ActionScript-only version of the ActionScript extension. This ActionScript-only version is a stub or simulator of the ActionScript extension that the device manufacturer installs on the device. The version on the device typically also contains native code.
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Hardware acceleration
Television devices provide hardware accelerators that dramatically increase the performance of graphics and video in your AIR application. To take advantage of these hardware accelerators, see AIR for TV application design considerations on page 93.
Content protection
AIR for TV enables the creation of rich consumer experiences around premium video content, from Hollywood blockbusters to independent films and TV episodes. Content providers can create interactive applications using Adobes tools. They can integrate Adobe server products into their content distribution infrastructure or work with one of Adobes ecosystem partners. Content protection is a key requirement for the distribution of premium video. AIR for TV supports Adobe Flash Access, a content protection and monetization solution that meets the stringent security requirements of content owners, including the major film studios. Flash Access supports the following:
Video streaming and downloading. Various business models, including ad-supported, subscription, rental, and electronic sell-through. Different content-delivery technologies, including HTTP Dynamic Streaming, streaming over RTMP (Real Time
Media Protocol) using Flash Media Server, and progressive download with HTTP. AIR for TV also has built-in support for RTMPE, the encrypted version of RTMP, for existing streaming solutions with lower security requirements. RTMPE and related SWF verification technologies are supported in Flash Media Server.
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Combined bit rate: up to 8M bps depending on available bandwidth Audio bit rate: Pixel aspect ratio: up to 192 Kbps 11
Adobe recommends that you use the H.264 codec for video delivered to AIR for TV devices. Note: AIR for TV also supports video that is encoded with Sorenson Spark or On2 VP6 codecs. However, typically the hardware does not decode and present these codecs. Usually, the runtime decodes and presents these codecs using software, and therefore, the video plays at a much lower frame rate. Therefore, use H.264 if at all possible. The StageVideo class AIR for TV supports hardware decoding and presentation of H.264-encoded video. Use the StageVideo class to enable this feature. See Using the StageVideo class for hardware accelerated presentation in the ActionScript 3.0 Developers Guide for details about:
the API of the StageVideo class and related classes. limitations of using the StageVideo class.
To best support existing AIR applications that use the Video object for H.264-encoded video, AIR 2.5 for TV internally uses a StageVideo object. Doing so means the video playback benefits from hardware decoding and presentation. However, the Video object is subject to the same restrictions as a StageVideo object. For example, if the application tries to rotate the video, no rotation occurs, since the hardware, not the runtime, is presenting the video. However, when you write new applications, use the StageVideo object for H.264-encoded video. For an example of using the StageVideo class, see Delivering video and content for the Flash Platform on TV. Video delivery guidelines On an AIR for TV device, the networks available bandwidth can vary during video playback. These variations can occur, for example, when another user starts to use the same Internet connection. Therefore, Adobe recommends that your video delivery system use adaptive bitrate capabilities. For example, on the server side, Flash Media Server supports adaptive bitrate capabilities. On the client side, you can use the Open Source Media Framework (OSMF). The following protocols are available to deliver video content over the network to an AIR for TV application:
HTTP Dynamic Streaming (F4F format) RTMP, RTMPE, and RTMPT Streaming HTTP Progressive Download
Note: AIR for TV does not support RTMFP.
Audio considerations
The following table describes when to use different audio codecs in AIR for TV applications:
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Audio codec
Hardware When to use this audio codec decoding support? Yes. In videos encoded with H.264. For audio streaming, such as an Internet music streaming service.
More information
AAC
Never decoded in software. When using an audio-only AAC stream, encapsulate the audio stream in an MP4 container. Software decoding of the mp3 codec usually has sufficiently fast performance. Not supported at all on some devices..
mp3
Typically no.
In videos encoded with H.264. Receiving a voice stream. Receiving a voice stream.
The ActionScript for playing sound is no different in AIR for TV applications than in other AIR applications. For information, see Working with sound in the ActionScript 3.0 Developers Guide.
Sliding transitions Scaling transitions Fading in and out Compositing multiple images with alpha
To get the performance benefits of hardware graphics acceleration for these types of operations, use one of the following techniques:
Set the cacheAsBitmap property to true on MovieClip objects and other display objects that have content that is
mostly unchanging. Then perform sliding transitions, fading transitions, and alpha blending on these objects.
Use the cacheAsBitmapMatrix property on display objects you want to scale or translate (apply x and y
repositioning). By using Matrix class operations for scaling and translation, the devices hardware accelerators perform the operations. Alternatively, consider the scenario where you change the dimensions of a display object that has its cacheAsBitmap property set to true. When the dimensions change, the runtimes software redraws the bitmap. Redrawing with software yields poorer performance than scaling with hardware acceleration by using a Matrix operation.
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For example, consider an application that displays an image that expands when an end user selects it. Use the Matrix scale operation multiple times to give the illusion of the image expanding. However, depending on the size of the original image and final image, the quality of the final image can be unacceptable. Therefore, reset the dimensions of the display object after the expanding operations are completed. Because cacheAsBitmap is true, the runtime software redraws the display object, but only once, and it renders a high-quality image. Note: Typically, AIR for TV devices do not support hardware-accelerated rotation and skewing. Therefore, if you specify rotation and skewing in the Matrix class, AIR for TV performs all the Matrix operations in the software. These software operations can have a detrimental impact to performance.
When you are done using an image or other bitmap data, release its associated graphics memory. To do so, call the
dispose() method of the bitmapData property of the Bitmap object. For example: myBitmap.bitmapData.dispose();
Note: Releasing the reference to the BitmapData object does not immediately free the graphics memory. The runtimes garbage collector eventually frees the graphics memory, but calling dispose() gives your application more control.
Use PerfMaster Deluxe, an AIR application that Adobe provides, to better understand hardware graphics
acceleration on your target device. This application shows the frames per second to execute various operations. Use PerfMaster Deluxe to compare different implementations of the same operation. For example, compare moving a bitmap image versus moving a vector image. PerfMaster Deluxe is available at Flash Platform for TV. Managing the display list To make a display object invisible, set the objects visible property to false. Then, the object is still on the display list, but AIR for TV does not render or display it. This technique is useful for objects that frequently come and go from view, because it incurs only a little processing overhead.However, setting the visible property to false does not release any of the objects resources. Therefore, when you are done displaying an object, or at least done with it for a long time, remove the object from the display list. Also, set all references to the object to null. These actions allow the garbage collector to release the objects resources.
AIR for TV typically uses hardware acceleration to decode JPEG files. AIR for TV typically uses software to decode PNG files. Decoding PNG files in software is fast.
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PNG is the only cross-platform bitmap format that supports transparency (an alpha channel).
Therefore, use these image formats as follows in your applications:
Use JPEG files for photographs to benefit from the hardware accelerated decoding. Use PNG image files for user interface elements. The user interface elements can have an alpha setting, and the
software decoding provides fast enough performance for user interface elements.
Screen resolution The safe viewing area The stage scale mode The stage alignment The stage display state Designing for multiple screen sizes The stage quality setting
Screen resolution Currently, TV devices typically have one of these screen resolutions: 540p, 720p, and 1080p. These screen resolutions result in the following values in the ActionScript Capabilities class:
Screen resolution Capabilities.screenResolutionX 540p 720p 1080p 960 1280 1920
Capabilities.screenResolutionY
To write a full-screen AIR for TV application for a specific device, hard code Stage.stageWidth and Stage.stageHeight to the devices screen resolution. However, to write a full-screen application that runs on multiple devices, use the Capabilities.screenResolutionX and Capabilities.screenResolutionY properties to set your Stage dimensions. For example:
stage.stageWidth = Capabilities.screenResolutionX; stage.stageHeight = Capabilities.screenResolutionY;
The safe viewing area The safe viewing area on a television is an area of the screen that is inset from the screens edges. This area is inset far enough that the end user can see the entire area, without the TVs bezel obscuring any part of the area. Because the bezel, which is the physical frame around the screen, varies among manufacturers, the necessary inset varies. The safe viewing area attempts to guarantee the area of the screen that is visible. The safe viewing area is also known as the title safe area. Overscan is the area of the screen that is not visible because it is behind the bezel. Adobe recommends an inset of 7.5% on each edge of the screen. For example:
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1920 1632
918
1080
Always consider the safe viewing area when designing a full-screen AIR for TV application:
Use the entire screen for backgrounds, such as background images or background colors. Use only the safe viewing area for critical application elements such as text, graphics, video, and user interface items
such as buttons. The following table shows the dimensions of the safe viewing area for each of the typical screen resolutions, using an inset of 7.5%.
Screen resolution Width and height of safe viewing area 816 x 460 1088 x 612 1632 x 918 Left and right inset width 72 96 144 Top and bottom inset height 40 54 81
However, a best practice is to always dynamically calculate the safe viewing area. For example:
var horizontalInset, verticalInset, safeAreaWidth, safeAreaHeight:int; horizontalInset = .075 * Capabilities.screenResolutionX; verticalInset = .075 * Capabilities.screenResolutionY; safeAreaWidth = Capabilities.screenResolutionX - (2 * horizontalInset); safeAreaHeight = Capabilities.screenResolutionY - (2 * verticalInset);
Stage scale mode Set Stage.scaleMode to StageScaleMode.NO_SCALE, and listen for stage resize events.
stage.scaleMode = StageScaleMode.NO_SCALE; stage.addEventListener(Event.RESIZE, layoutHandler);
This setting makes stage coordinates the same as pixel coordinates. Along with FULL_SCREEN_INTERACTIVE display state and the TOP_LEFT stage alignment, this setting allows you to effectively use the safe viewing area.
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Specifically, in full-screen applications, this scale mode means that the stageWidth and stageHeight properties of the Stage class correspond to the screenResolutionX and screenResolutionY properties of the Capabilities class. Furthermore, when the applications window changes size, the stage contents maintain their defined size. The runtime performs no automatic layout or scaling. Also, the runtime dispatches the Stage classs resize event when the window changes size. Therefore, you have full control over how to adjust the applications contents when the application begins and when the application window resizes. Note: The NO_SCALE behavior is the same as with any AIR application. In AIR for TV applications, however, using this setting is critical to using the safe viewing area. Stage alignment Set Stage.align to StageAlign.TOP_LEFT:
stage.align = StageAlign.TOP_LEFT;
This alignment places the 0,0 coordinate in the upper-left corner of the screen, which is convenient for content placement using ActionScript. Along with the NO_SCALE scale mode and the FULL_SCREEN_INTERACTIVE display state, this setting allows you to effectively use the safe viewing area. Stage display state Set Stage.displayState in a full-screen AIR for TV application to StageDisplayState.FULL_SCREEN_INTERACTIVE:
stage.displayState = StageDisplayState.FULL_SCREEN_INTERACTIVE;
This value sets the AIR application to expand the stage over the entire screen, with user input allowed. Adobe recommends that you use the FULL_SCREEN_INTERACTIVE setting. Along with the NO_SCALE scale mode and the TOP_LEFT stage alignment, this setting allows you to effectively use the safe viewing area. Therefore, for full screen applications, in a handler for the ADDED_TO_STAGE event on the main document class, do the following:
private function onStage(evt:Event):void { stage.scaleMode = StageScaleMode.NO_SCALE; stage.align = StageAlign.TOP_LEFT; stage.addEventListener(Event.RESIZE, onResize); stage.displayState = StageDisplayState.FULL_SCREEN_INTERACTIVE; }
Compare the screen resolution sizes with the stage width and height. If they are the same, the RESIZE event
occurred because the stage display state changed to FULL_SCREEN_INTERACTIVE.
Calculate and save the dimensions of the safe viewing area and corresponding insets.
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private function onResize(evt:Event):void { if ((Capabilities.screenResolutionX == stage.stageWidth) && (Capabilities.screenResolutionY == stage.stageHeight)) { // Calculate and save safe viewing area dimensions. } }
When the stage dimensions equal Capabilities.screenResolutionX and screenResolutionY, AIR for TV causes the hardware to deliver the best possible fidelity for your video and graphics. Note: The fidelity at which graphics and video are displayed on a TV screen can differ from the Capabilities.screenResolutionX and screenResolutionY values, which depend on the device running AIR for TV. For example, a set-top box running AIR for TV can have a screen resolution of 1280 x 720 and the connected TV can have a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080. However, AIR for TV causes the hardware to deliver the best possible fidelity. Therefore, in this example, the hardware displays a 1080p video using a 1920 x 1080 screen resolution. Designing for multiple screen sizes You can develop the same full-screen AIR for TV application to work and look good on multiple AIR for TV devices. Do the following:
1 Set the stage properties scaleMode, align, and displayState to the recommended values:
StageScaleMode.NO_SCALE, StageAlign.TOP_LEFT, and StageDisplayState.FULL_SCREEN_INTERACTIVE,
respectively.
2 Set up the safe viewing area based on Capabilities.screenResolutionX and
Capabilities.screenResolutionY.
3 Adjust the size and layout of your content according to width and height of the safe viewing area.
Although your contents objects are large, especially compared to mobile device applications, concepts such as dynamic layout, relative positioning, and adaptive content are the same. For further information about ActionScript to support these concepts, see Authoring mobile Flash content for multiple screen sizes. Stage quality You can set the Stage.quality property for an AIR for TV application to StageQuality.Best or StageQuality.High.
stage.quality = StageQuality.High;
This property specifies the rendering quality for all Stage objects.
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Remote controls directional keypad key ActionScript 3.0 constant Up Down Left Right OK or Select
Keyboard.UP Keyboard.DOWN Keyboard.LEFT Keyboard.RIGHT Keyboard.ENTER
AIR 2.5 added many other Keyboard constants to support remote control input. For a complete list, see the Keyboard class in the ActionScript 3.0 Reference for the Adobe Flash Platform. To ensure your application works on as many devices as possible, Adobe recommends the following:
Use the Menu and Info keys if the application needs more than the directional keypad keys.
The Menu and Info keys are the next most common keys on remote controls.
Make sure that the user can always escape a situation using one of the directional keypad keys.
Sometimes your application has a good reason to use a key that is not one of the most common keys on remote controls. Providing an escape route with one of the directional keypad keys makes your application behave gracefully on all devices.
Managing focus
When a user interface element has the focus in a desktop application, it is the target of user input events such as keyboard and mouse events. Furthermore, an application highlights the user interface element with the focus. Managing focus in an AIR for TV application is different from managing focus in a desktop application because:
Desktop applications often use the tab key to change focus to the next user interface element. Using the tab key
doesnt apply to AIR for TV applications. Remote control devices do not typically have a tab key. Therefore, managing focus with the tabEnabled property of a DisplayObject like on the desktop does not apply.
Desktop applications often expect the user to use the mouse to give focus to a user interface element.
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Add an event listener to the Stage that listens for Keyboard events such as KeyboardEvent.KEY_DOWN. Provide application logic to determine which user interface element to highlight to the end user. Be sure to
highlight a user interface element when the application starts.
Based on your application logic, dispatch the Keyboard event that the Stage received to the appropriate user
interface element object. You can also use Stage.focus or Stage.assignFocus() to assign the focus to a user interface element. You can then add an event listener to that DisplayObject so that it receives keyboard events.
the applications responsiveness the applications usability the users personality and expectations
Responsiveness Use the following tips to make an AIR for TV application as responsive as possible.
Make the application run at a frame rate of at least 20 frames per second.
Design your graphics to achieve this goal. The complexity of your graphics operations can affect your frames per second. For tips on improving rendering performance, see Optimizing Performance for the Adobe Flash Platform. Note: The graphics hardware on AIR for TV devices typically updates the screen at a rate of 60 Hz or 120 Hz (60 or 120 times per second). The hardware scans the stage for updates at, for example, 30 frames per second or 60 frames per second for display on the 60-Hz or 120-Hz screen. However, whether the user experiences these higher frame rates depends on the complexity of the applications graphics operations.
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Therefore, to design your user interface for usability on a TV, consider the following:
Use good contrast to make the content easy to see and read from across the room. Make obvious which user interface element has the focus by making that element bright. Use motion only as necessary. For example, sliding from one screen to the next for continuity can work well.
However, motion can be distracting if it does not help the user navigate or if it is not intrinsic to the application.
Always provide an obvious way for the user to go back through the user interface.
For more information about using the remote control, see Remote control input handling on page 100. Personality Consider that users of AIR for TV applications are typically seeking TV quality entertainment in a fun and relaxed environment. They are not necessarily knowledgeable about computers or technology. Therefore, design AIR for TV applications with the following characteristics:
Do not use technical terms. Avoid modal dialogs. Use friendly, informal instructions appropriate for a living room environment, not a work or technical
environment.
Use graphics that have the high production quality that TV watchers expect.
Description The _sans device font is a sans-serif typeface. The _sans device font. installed on all AIR for TV devices is Myriad Pro. The _serif device font is a serif typeface. The _serif device font installed on all AIR for TV devices is Minion Pro. The _typewriter device font is a monospace font. The _typewriter device font installed on all AIR for TV devices is Courier Std.
_serif
_typewriter
All AIR for TV devices also have the following Asian device fonts:
Font name Language Typeface category sans serif sans locale code
ja ja ko
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Font name
Language
locale code
From the Adobe Type Library Look good on televisions Designed for video titling Are font outlines, not bitmap fonts
Note: Device manufacturers often include other device fonts on the device. These manufacturer-provided device fonts are installed in addition to the AIR for TV device fonts. Adobe provides an application called FontMaster Deluxe that displays all the device fonts on the device. The application is available at Flash Platform for TV. You can also embed fonts in your AIR for TV application. For information on embedded fonts, see Advanced text rendering in the ActionScript 3.0 Developers Guide. Adobe recommends the following regarding using TLF text fields:
Use TLF text fields for Asian language text to take advantage of the locale in which the application is running. Set
the locale property of the TextLayoutFormat object associated with the TLFTextField object. To determine the current locale, see Choosing a locale in the ActionScript 3.0 Developers Guide.
Specify the font name in the fontFamily property in the TextLayoutFormat object if the font is not one of the AIR
for TV device fonts. AIR for TV uses the font if it is available on the device. If the font you request is not on the device, based on the locale setting, AIR for TV substitutes the appropriate AIR for TV device font.
Specify _sans, _serif, or _typewriter for the fontFamily property, along with setting the locale property, to
cause AIR for TV to choose the correct AIR for TV device font. Depending on the locale, AIR for TV chooses from its set of Asian device fonts or its set of non-Asian device fonts. These settings provide an easy way for you to automatically use the correct font for the four major Asian locales and English. Note: If you use classic text fields for Asian language text, specify a font name of an AIR for TV device font to guarantee proper rendering. If you know that another font is installed on your target device, you can also specify it. Regarding application performance, consider the following:
Classic text fields provide faster performance than TLF text fields. A classic text field that uses bitmap fonts provides the fastest performance.
Bitmap fonts provide a bitmap for each character, unlike outline fonts, which provide only outline data about each character. Both device fonts and embedded fonts can be bitmap fonts.
If you specify a device font, make sure that the device font is installed on your target device. If it is not installed on
the device, AIR for TV finds and uses another font that is installed on the device. However, this behavior slows the applications performance.
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As with any display object, if a TextField object is mostly unchanging, set the objects cacheAsBitmap property to
true. This setting improves performance for transitions such as fading, sliding, and alpha blending. Use cacheAsBitmapMatrix for scaling and translation.
HTTP cookies
AIR for TV supports HTTP persistent cookies. It does not support session cookies. Use the ActionScript property URLRequest.manageCookies as follows:
Set manageCookies to true. This value is the default. It means that AIR for TV automatically adds cookies to
HTTP requests and remembers cookies in the HTTP response. Note: Even when manageCookies is true, the application can manually add a cookie to an HTTP request using URLRequest.requestHeaders. If this cookie has the same name as a cookie that AIR for TV is managing, the request contains two cookies with the same name. The values of the two cookies can be different.
Set manageCookies to false. This value means that the application is responsible for sending cookies in HTTP
requests, and for remembering the cookies in the HTTP response.
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Project settings
Do the following to set up your project for an AIR for TV application:
In the Flash tab of the Publish Settings dialog box, set the Player value to AIR 2.5. In the General tab of the Adobe AIR 2.5 Settings dialog box (Application and Installer Settings), set the profile to
TV or extended TV.
Debugging
You can run your application using the AIR Debug Launcher within Flash Professional CS5. Do the following:
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The SWC file now appears in the Library Path tab in the Advanced ActionScript 3.0 Settings dialog box
6 With the SWC file selected, select the button Select Linkage Options For A Library. 7 In the Library Path Item Options dialog box, change the Link Type to External.
Now you can compile your application using Control > Test Movie > Test. However, when an application uses ActionScript extensions:
You cannot publish the application using Flash Professional CS5. To publish the application, use ADT. See
Packaging with ADT on page 112.
You cannot debug the application using Flash Professional CS5. To debug the application on the development
machine, use ADL. See Device simulation using ADL on page 113.
Uses the Application element as the container class in the MXML file, if you are using an MXML file:
<s:Application xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009" xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark" xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/mx"> <!-- Place elements here. --> </s:Application>.
AIR for TV applications do not support the WindowedApplication element. Note: You do not have to use an MXML file at all. You can instead create an ActionScript 3.0 project.
Uses only ActionScript 3.0 classes and methods that the tv and extendedTV AIR profiles support. For details, see
Device profiles on page 192. Furthermore, in your applications XML file, make sure that:
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<application xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/2.5">
Because you set the supportedProfiles element to TV or extended TV, the AIR Debug Launcher provides a menu called Remote Control Buttons. You can use this menu to simulate pressing keys on a remote control device.
The ANE file now appears in the Library Path tab in the Properties dialog box.
6 Expand the ANE file entry. Double-click Link Type to open the Library Path Item Options dialog box. 7 In the Library Path Item Options dialog box, change the Link Type to External.
Now you can compile your application using, for example, Project > Build Project. However, when an application uses ActionScript extensions:
You cannot publish the application using Flash Builder. To publish the application, use ADT. See Packaging with
ADT on page 112.
You cannot debug the application using Flash Builder. To debug the application on the development machine, use
ADL. See Device simulation using ADL on page 113.
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Common settings
Several application descriptor settings are important for all TV profile applications.
Application identity
Several settings should be unique for each application that you publish. These settings include the ID, the name, and the filename.
<id>com.example.MyApp</id> <name>My Application</name> <filename>MyApplication</filename>
Application version
Specify the application version in the versionNumber element. When specifying a value for versionNumber, you can use a sequence of up to three numbers separated by dots, such as: 0.1.2. Each segment of the version number can have up to three digits. (In other words, 999.999.999 is the largest version number permitted.) You do not have to include all three segments in the number; 1 and 1.0 are legal version numbers as well. You can also specify a label for the version using the versionLabel element. When you add a version label, it is displayed instead of the version number.
<versionNumber>1.23.7<versionNumber> <versionLabel>1.23 Beta 7</versionLabel>
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You must include the file in the AIR package (using ADT or your IDE). Simply referencing the name in the application descriptor does not cause the file to be included in the package automatically.
fullScreen Specifies whether the application should take up the full device display, or should share the display
Supported profiles
If your application only makes sense on a television device, then you can prevent its installation on other types of computing devices. Exclude the other profiles from the supported list:
<supportedProfiles>tv</supportedProfiles>
If an application uses an ActionScript extension, include the extendedTV profile in the supported profile list:
<supportedProfiles>extendedTV</supportedProfiles>
If you omit the supportedProfiles element, then the application is assumed to support all profiles. For a list of ActionScript classes supported in the tv and extendedTV profiles, see Capabilities of different profiles on page 193.
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The extensionID element has the same value as the id element in the extension descriptor file. The extension descriptor file is an XML file called extension.xml. It is packaged in the ANE file you receive from the device manufacturer.
Application icons
Requirements for application icons in televisions devices are device-dependent. For example, the device manufacturer specifies:
Required icons and icon sizes. Required file types and naming conventions. How to provide the icons for your application, such as whether to package the icons with your application. Whether to specify the icons in an <icon> element in the application descriptor file. Behavior if the application does not provide icons.
Consult the device manufacturer for details.
Ignored settings
Applications on television devices ignore application settings that apply to mobile, native window, or desktop operating system features. The ignored settings are:
allowBrowserInvocation aspectRatio autoOrients customUpdateUI fileTypes height installFolder maximizable maxSize minimizable minSize programMenuFolder renderMode resizable
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The path to the ADT tool is on your command-line shells path definition. (See Path environment variables on
page 249.)
The certificate codesign.p12 is in the parent directory from where you are running the ADT command.
Run the command from the directory containing the application files. The application files in the example are myAppapp.xml (the application descriptor file), myApp.swf, and an icons directory. When you run the command as shown, ADT prompts you for the keystore password. Not all shell programs display the password characters you type; just press Enter when you are done typing. Alternatively, you can use the storepass parameter to include the password in the ADT command. Creating an AIRN package If your AIR for TV application uses an ActionScript extension, create an AIRN package instead of an AIR package. To create an AIRN package, use the ADT package command, setting the target type to airn.
adt -package -storetype pkcs12 -keystore ../codesign.p12 -target airn myApp.airn myApp-app.xml myApp.swf icons -extdir C:\extensions
The path to the ADT tool is on your command-line shells path definition. (See Path environment variables on
page 249.)
The certificate codesign.p12 is in the parent directory from where you are running the ADT command. The parameter -extdir names a directory that contains the ANE files that the application uses. For example:
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The ADT tool requires that each ANE file in this directory has the .ane filename extension. However, the filename before the .ane filename extension does not have to match the value of the extensionID element of the application descriptor file. These ANE files contain an ActionScript-only stub or simulator version of the ActionScript extension. The version of the ActionScript extension that contains the native code is installed on the AIR for TV device. Note: The use of the -extdir parameter is different for the ADT tool and the ADL tool. Run the command from the directory containing the application files. The application files in the example are myAppapp.xml (the application descriptor file), myApp.swf, and an icons directory. When you run the command as shown, ADT prompts you for the keystore password. Not all shell programs display the password characters you type; just press Enter when you are done typing. Alternatively, you can use the storepass parameter to include the password in the command. You can also create an AIRI file for an AIR for TV application that uses ActionScript extensions. The AIRI file is just like the AIRN file, except it is not signed. For example:
adt -prepare myApp.airi myApp.xml myApp.swf icons -extdir C:\extensions
You can then create an AIRN file from the AIRI file when you are ready to sign the application:
adt -package -storetype pkcs12 -keystore ../codesign.p12 -target airn myApp.airn myApp.airi
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ADL uses the supportedProfiles element in the application descriptor to choose which profile to use. Specifically:
If more than one profile is listed, ADL uses the first one in the list. You can use the -profile parameter of ADL to select one of the other profiles in the supportedProfiles list. If you do not include a supportedProfiles element in the application descriptor, then any profile can be specified
for the -profile argument. For example, use the following command to launch an application to simulate the tv profile:
adl -profile tv myApp-app.xml
When simulating the tv or extendedTV profile on the desktop with ADL, the application runs in an environment that more closely matches a target device. For example:
ActionScript APIs that are not part of the profile in the -profile argument are not available. ADL allows the input of device input controls, such as remote controls, through menu commands. Specifying tv or extendedTV in the -profile argument allows ADL to simulate the StageVideo class on the
desktop.
Specifying extendedTV in the -profile argument allows the application to use ActionScript extension stubs or
simulators packaged with the application AIRN file. However, because ADL runs the application on the desktop, testing AIR for TV applications using ADL has limitations:
It does not reflect application performance on the device. Run performance tests on the target device. It does not simulate the limitations of the StageVideo object. Typically, you use the StageVideo class, not the Video
class, to play a video when targeting AIR for TV devices. The StageVideo class takes advantage of performance benefits of the devices hardware, but has display limitations. ADL plays the video on the desktop without these limitations. Therefore, test playing video on the target device.
It cannot simulate the native code of an ActionScript extension. You can, however, specify the extendedTV profile,
which supports ActionScript extensions, in the ADL -profile argument. ADL allows you to test with the ActionScript-only stub or simulator version of the ActionScript extension included in the ANE package. However, typically the corresponding ActionScript extension that is installed on the device also includes native code. To test using the ActionScript extension with its native code, run the application on the target device. Using ActionScript Extensions If your application uses ActionScript extensions, the ADL command looks like the following example:
adl -profile extendedTV myApp-app.xml -extdir C:\extensionDirs
The path to the ADL tool is on your command-line shells path definition. (See Path environment variables on
page 249.)
The current directory contains the application files. These files include the SWF files and the application descriptor
file, which is myApp-app.xml in this example.
The parameter -extdir names a directory that contains a directory for each ActionScript extension that the
application uses. Each of these directories contain the unpackaged ANE file of an ActionScript extension. For example:
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C:\extensionDirs extension1.ane META-INF ANE default library.swf extension.xml signatures.xml catalog.xml library.swf mimetype extension2.ane META-INF ANE default library.swf extension.xml signatures.xml catalog.xml library.swf mimetype
The ADL command requires that each of these directories have the .ane filename extension. However, the directory name before the .ane filename extension does not have to match the value of the extensionID element of the application descriptor file. These ANE files contain an ActionScript-only stub or simulator version of the ActionScript extension. The version of the ActionScript extension that contains the native code is installed on the AIR for TV device. Note: The use of the -extdir parameter is different for the ADT tool and the ADL tool. Control input ADL simulates the remote control buttons on a TV device. You can send these button inputs to the simulated device using the menu displayed when ADL is launched using one of the TV profiles. Screen size You can test your application on different size screens by setting the ADL -screensize parameter. You can specify a string containing the four values representing the widths and heights of the normal and maximized screens. For example:
adl -screensize 1024x728:1024x768 myApp-app.xml
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Trace statements
When you run your TV application on the desktop, trace output is printed to either the debugger or the terminal window used to launch ADL. In all cases, the SWF files in the application must be compiled with debugging enabled in order for the runtime to output any trace statements.
This option causes Flash Professional CS5 to include debugging information in all the SWF files it creates from your FLA file.
2 In the Signature tab of the Adobe AIR 2.5 Settings dialog box (Application and Installer Settings), select the option
to prepare an AIR Intermediate (AIRI) file. For debugging purposes, using an AIRI file, which requires no digital signature, is sufficient.
3 Publish your application, creating the AIRI file.
The last steps are installing and running the application on the target device. However, these steps are dependent on the device.
For debugging purposes, using an AIRI file, which requires no digital signature, is sufficient.
2 Publish your application, creating the AIRI file. 3 Change the applications AIRI package to contain SWF files that contain debug information.
The SWF files that contain debug information are located in the Flash Builder project directory for the application in a directory called bin-debug. Replace the SWF files in the AIRI package with the SWF files in the bin-debug directory. On a Windows development machine, you can make this replacement by doing the following:
1 Rename the AIRI package file to have the filename extension .zip instead of .airi. 2 Extract the ZIP file contents. 3 Replace the SWF files in the extracted directory structure with the ones from bin-debug. 4 Re-zip the files in the extracted directory. 5 Change the zipped file to once again have the .airi filename extension.
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If you are using a Mac development machine, the steps for this replacement are device-dependent. However, they generally involve the following:
1 Install the AIRI package on the target device. 2 Replace the SWF files in the applications installation directory on the target device with the SWF files from the bin-
debug directory. For example, consider the device included with the Adobe AIR for TV MAX 2010 Hardware Development Kit. Install the AIRI package as described in the kit documentation. Then, use telnet on the command line of your Mac development machine to access your target device. Replace the SWF files in the application installation directory at /opt/adobe/stagecraft/apps/<application name>/ with the SWF files from the bin-debug directory. The following steps are for remote debugging with Flash Builder and the device included with the Adobe AIR for TV MAX 2010 Hardware Development Kit.
1 On the computer running Flash Builder, your development computer, run the AIR for TV Device Connector that
comes with the MAX 2010 Hardware Development Kit. It shows the IP address of your development computer.
2 On the hardware kit device, launch the DevMaster application, which also comes with the development kit. 3 In the DevMaster application, enter the IP address of your development computer as shown in the AIR for TV
Device Connector.
4 In the DevMaster application, make sure that Enable Remote Debugging is selected. 5 Exit the DevMaster application. 6 On the development computer, select Start in the AIR for TV Connector. 7 On the hardware kit device, start another application. Verify that trace information displays in the AIR for TV
Device Connector. If trace information does not display, the development computer and the hardware kit device are not connected. Make sure the port on the development computer that is used for trace information is available. You can choose a different port in the AIR for TV Device Connector. Also, make sure that your firewall allows access to the chosen port. Next, start the debugger in Flash Builder. Do the following:
1 In Flash Builder, select Run > Debug Configurations. 2 From the existing debug configuration, which is for local debugging, copy the name of the project. 3 In the Debug Configurations dialog box, select Web Application. Then select the New Launch Configuration icon. 4 Paste the project name into the Project field. 5 In the URL Or Path To Launch section, remove the check from Use Default. Also, enter about:blank in the text
field.
6 Select Apply to save your changes. 7 Select Debug to start the Flash Builder debugger. 8 Start your application on the hardware kit device.
You can now use the Flash Builder debugger to, for example, set breakpoints and examine variables.
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amxmlc calls mxmlc to compile application classes acompc calls compc to compile library and component classes aasdoc calls asdoc to generate documentation files from source code comments
The only difference between the Flex and the AIR versions of the utilities is that the AIR versions load the configuration options from the air-config.xml file instead of the flex-config.xml file. The Flex SDK tools and their command-line options are fully described in Building and Deploying Flex Applications in the Flex documentation library. The Flex SDK tools are described here at a basic level to help you get started and to point out the differences between building Flex applications and building AIR applications.
Compiler setup
You typically specify compilation options both on the command line and with one or more configuration files. The global Flex SDK configuration file contains default values that are used whenever the compilers are run. You can edit this file to suit your own development environment. There are two global Flex configuration files located in the frameworks directory of your Flex SDK installation. The air-config.xml file is used when you run the amxmlc compiler. This file configures the compiler for AIR by including the AIR libraries. The flex-config.xml file is used when you run mxmlc. The default configuration values are suitable for discovering how Flex and AIR work, but when you embark on a fullscale project examine the available options more closely. You can supply project-specific values for the compiler options in a local configuration file that takes precedence over the global values for a given project. For a full list of the compilation options and for the syntax of the configuration files, see Flex SDK Configuration in Building and Deploying Flex Applications and in the Flex documentation library. Note: No compilation options are used specifically for AIR applications, but you must reference the AIR libraries when compiling an AIR application. Typically, these libraries are referenced in a project-level configuration file, in a file for a build tool such as Ant, or directly on the command line.
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where [compiler options] specifies the command-line options used to compile your AIR application. The amxmlc command invokes the standard Flex mxmlc compiler with an additional parameter, +configname=air. This parameter instructs the compiler to use the air-config.xml file instead of the flex-config.xml file. Using amxmlc is otherwise identical to using mxmlc. The compiler loads the air-config.xml configuration file specifying the AIR and Flex libraries typically required to compile an AIR application. You can also use a local, project-level configuration file to override or add additional options to the global configuration. Typically, the easiest way to create a local configuration file is to edit a copy of the global version. You can load the local file with the -load-config option: -load-config=project-config.xml Overrides global options. -load-config+=project-config.xml Adds additional values to those global options that take more than value, such as the -library-path option. Global options that only take a single value are overridden. If you use a special naming convention for the local configuration file, the amxmlc compiler loads the local file automatically. For example, if the main MXML file is RunningMan.mxml, then name the local configuration file: RunningMan-config.xml. Now, to compile the application, you only have to type:
amxmlc RunningMan.mxml RunningMan-config.xml is loaded automatically since its filename matches that of the compiled MXML file.
amxmlc examples The following examples demonstrate use of the amxmlc compiler. (Only the ActionScript and MXML assets of your application must be compiled.) Compile an AIR MXML file:
amxmlc myApp.mxml
Add libraries on the command line (in addition to the libraries already in the configuration file):
amxmlc library-path+=/libs/libOne.swc,/libs/libTwo.swc -- myApp.mxml
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Compile an AIR MXML file without using a configuration file (Mac OS X or Linux):
mxmlc -library-path [AIR SDK]/frameworks/libs/air/airframework.swc, \ [AIR SDK]/frameworks/libs/air/airframework.swc, \ -library-path [Flex 3 SDK]/frameworks/libs/framework.swc \ -- myApp.mxml
Compiling from Java (with the class path set to include mxmlc.jar):
java flex2.tools.Compiler +flexlib [Flex SDK 3]/frameworks +configname=air [additional compiler options] -- myApp.mxml
The flexlib option identifies the location of your Flex SDK frameworks directory, enabling the compiler to locate the flex_config.xml file. Compiling from Java (without the class path set):
java -jar [Flex SDK 2]/lib/mxmlc.jar +flexlib [Flex SDK 3]/frameworks +configname=air [additional compiler options] -- myApp.mxml
To invoke the compiler using Apache Ant (the example uses a Java task to run mxmlc.jar):
<property name="SDK_HOME" value="C:/Flex3SDK"/> <property name="MAIN_SOURCE_FILE" value="src/myApp.mxml"/> <property name="DEBUG" value="true"/> <target name="compile"> <java jar="${MXMLC.JAR}" fork="true" failonerror="true"> <arg value="-debug=${DEBUG}"/> <arg value="+flexlib=${SDK_HOME}/frameworks"/> <arg value="+configname=air"/> <arg value="-file-specs=${MAIN_SOURCE_FILE}"/> </java> </target>
You must specify which classes within the code base to include in the library or component. acompc does not look for a local configuration file automatically. To use a project configuration file, you must use
the load-config option. The acompc command invokes the standard Flex compc component compiler, but loads its configuration options from the air-config.xml file instead of the flex-config.xml file.
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To compile the library using the configuration file, named ParticleLib-config.xml, type:
acompc -load-config ParticleLib-config.xml -output ParticleLib.swc
(Type the entire command on one line, or use the line continuation character for your command shell.)
acompc examples
These examples assume that you are using a configuration file named myLib-config.xml. Compile an AIR component or library:
acompc -load-config myLib-config.xml -output lib/myLib.swc
(Note, the folder lib must exist and be empty before running the command.)
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ADL usage
To run an application with ADL, use the following pattern:
adl application.xml
Where application.xml is the application descriptor file for the application. The full syntax for the ADL is:
adl [-runtime runtime-directory] [-pubid publisher-id] [-nodebug] [-atlogin] [-profile profileName] [-screensize value] [-extdir extension-directory] application.xml [root-directory] [-- arguments]
(Items in brackets, [], are optional.) -runtime runtime-directory Specifies the directory containing the runtime to use. If not specified, the runtime directory in the same SDK as the ADL program is used. If you move ADL out of its SDK folder, specify the runtime directory. On Windows and Linux, specify the directory containing the Adobe AIR directory. On Mac OS X, specify the directory containing Adobe AIR.framework. -pubid publisher-id Assigns the specified value as the publisher ID of the AIR application for this run. Specifying a temporary publisher ID allows you to test features of an AIR application, such as communicating over a local connection, that use the publisher ID to help uniquely identify an application. As of AIR 1.5.3, you can also specify the publisher ID in the application descriptor file (and should not use this parameter).
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Note: As of AIR 1.5.3, a Publisher ID is no longer automatically computed and assigned to an AIR application. You can specify a publisher ID when creating an update to an existing AIR application, but new applications do not need and should not specify a publisher ID. -nodebug Turns off debugging support. If used, the application process cannot connect to the Flash debugger and dialogs for unhandled exceptions are suppressed. (However, trace statements still print to the console window.) Turning off debugging allows your application to run a little faster and also emulates the execution mode of an installed application more closely. -atlogin Simulates launching the application at login. This flag allows you to test application logic that executes only when an application is set to launch when the user logs in. When -atlogin is used, the reason property of the InvokeEvent object dispatched to the application will be login instead of standard (unless the application is already running). -profile profileName ADL debugs the application using the specified profile. The profileName can be one of the following values:
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Normal width x height 240 x 320 480 x 762 600 x 986 240 x 400 480 x 800
Fullscreen width x height 240 x 320 480 x 800 600 x 1024 240 x 400 480 x 800
To specify the screen pixel dimensions directly, use the following format:
widthXheight:fullscreenWidthXfullscreenHeight
-extdir extension-directory The directory in which the runtime should search for ActionScript extensions. Currently, ActionScript extensions are only supported on devices in the extended television profile. application.xml The application descriptor file. See AIR application descriptor files on page 159. The application descriptor is the only parameter required by ADL and, in most cases, the only parameter needed. root-directorySpecifies the root directory of the application to run. If not specified, the directory containing the application descriptor file is used. -- arguments Any character strings appearing after "--" are passed to the application as command line arguments. Note: When you launch an AIR application that is already running, a new instance of that application is not started. Instead, an invoke event is dispatched to the running instance.
ADL Examples
Run an application in the current directory:
adl myApp-app.xml
Run an application and pass in two command-line arguments, "tick" and "tock":
adl myApp-app.xml -- tick tock
Run an application in the mobile device profile and simulate the Nexus One screen size:
adl -profile mobileDevice -screensize NexusOne myMobileApp-app.xml
Run an application using Apache Ant to run the application (the paths shown in the example are for Windows):
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<property name="SDK_HOME" value="C:/AIRSDK"/> <property name="ADL" value="${SDK_HOME}/bin/adl.exe"/> <property name="APP_DESCRIPTOR" value="$src/myApp-app.xml"/> <target name="test"> <exec executable="${ADL}"> <arg value="${APP_DESCRIPTOR}"/> </exec> </target>
5 6 7
9 10 11
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Package an AIR application as an .air installation file Package an AIR application as a native installerfor example, as a .exe installer file on Windows, .ipa on iOS, or
.apk on Android
Package an ActionScript extension as an AIR Native Extension (ANE) file Sign an AIR application with a digital certificate Change (migrate) the digital signature used for application updates Create a self-signed digital code signing certificate Remotely install, launch, and uninstall an application on a mobile device Remotely install and uninstall the AIR runtime on a mobile device
ADT is a Java program included in the AIR SDK. You must have Java 1.5 or higher to use it. The SDK includes a script file for invoking ADT. To use this script, the location of the Java program must be included in the path environment variable. If the AIR SDK bin directory is also listed in your path environment variable, you can type adt on the command line, with the appropriate arguments, to invoke ADT. (If you do not know how to set your path environment variable, please refer to your operating system documentation. As a further aid, procedures for setting the path on most computer systems are described in Path environment variables on page 249.) At least 2GB of computer memory is requred to use ADT. If you have less memory than this, ADT can run out of memory, especially when packaging applications for iOS. Assuming both Java and the AIR SDK bin directory are both included in the path variable, you can run ADT using the following basic syntax:
adt -command options
Note: Most integrated development environments, including Adobe Flash Builder, Adobe Flash Professional, and Aptana Studio can package and sign AIR applications for you. You typically do not need to use ADT for these common tasks when you already use such a development environment. However, you might still need to use ADT as a command-line tool for functions that are not supported by your integrated development environment. In addition, you can use ADT as a command-line tool as part of an automated build process.
ADT commands
The first argument passed to ADT specifies one of the following commands.
-package packages an AIR application or AIR Native Extension (ANE). -prepare packages an AIR application as an intermediate file (AIRI), but does not sign it. AIRI files cannot be
installed.
-sign signs an AIRI package produced with the -prepare command. The -prepare and -sign commands allow
packaging and signing to be performed at different times. You can also use the -sign command to sign or resign an ANE package.
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-migrate applies a migration signature to a signed AIR package, which allows you to use a new or renewed code
signing certificate.
-certificate creates a self-signed digital code signing certificate. -checkstore verifies that a digital certificate in a keystore can be accessed. -installApp installs an AIR application on a device or device emulator. -launchApp launches an AIR application on a device or device emulator. -appVersion reports the version of an AIR application currently installed on a device or device emulator. -uninstallApp uninstalls an AIR application from a device or device emulator. -installRuntime installs the AIR runtime on a device or device emulator. -runtimeVersion reports the version of the AIR runtime currently installed on a device or device emulator. -uninstallRuntime uninstalls the AIR runtime currently installed from a device or device emulator. -version reports the ADT version number. -help displays the list of commands and options.
Many ADT commands share related sets of option flags and parameters. These sets of option are described in detail separately:
ADT code signing options on page 137 File and path options on page 140 Debugger connection options on page 140 AIR native extension options on page 141
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Create an AIR Native Extension package from the component ActionScript extension files:
adt -package AIR_SIGNING_OPTIONS -target ane output ext_descriptor ANE_OPTIONS
AIR_SIGNING_OPTIONS The AIR signing options identify the certificate used to sign an AIR installation file. The signing options are fully described in ADT code signing options on page 137. -target The type of package to create. The supported package types are:
air an AIR package. air is the default value and the -target flag does not need to be specified when creating AIR
or AIRI files.
airn a native application package for devices in the extended television profile. ane an AIR native extension library package Android package targets: apk an Android package. A package produced with this target can only be installed on an Android device, not
an emulator.
apk-debug an Android package with extra debugging information. (The SWF files in the application must
also be compiled with debugging support.)
apk-emulator an Android package for use on an emulator without debugging support. (Use the apk-debug
target to permit debugging on both emulators and devices.)
apk-profile an Android package that supports application performance and memory profiling. iOS package targets: ipa-ad-hoc an iOS package for ad hoc distribution. ipa-app-store an iOS package for Apple App store distribution. ipa-debug an iOS package with extra debugging information. (The SWF files in the application must also be
compiled with debugging support.)
ipa-test an iOS package compiled without optimization or debugging information. ipa-debug-interpreter functionally equivalent to a debug package, but compiles more quickly. However, the
ActionScript bytecode is interpreted and not translated to machine code. As a result, code execution is slower in an interpreter package.
ipa-test-interpreter functionally equivalent to a test package, but compiles more quickly. However, the
ActionScript bytecode is interpreted and not translated to machine code. As a result, code execution is slower in an interpreter package.
native a native desktop installer. The type of file produced is the native installation format of the operating
system on which the command is run:
EXE Windows
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DMG Mac DEB Ubuntu Linux (AIR 2.6 or earlier) RPM Fedora or OpenSuse Linux (AIR 2.6 or earlier)
DEBUGGER_CONNECTION_OPTIONS The debugger connection options specify whether a debug package should attempt to connect to a remote debugger running on another computer or listen for a connection from a remote debugger. This set of options is only supported for mobile debug packages (targets apk-debug and ipa-debug). These options are described in Debugger connection options on page 140. -airDownloadURL Specifies an alternate URL for downloading and installing the AIR runtime on Android devices. If not specified, an AIR application will redirect the user to the AIR runtime on the Android Market if the runtime is not already installed. If your application is distributed through an alternate marketplace (other than the Android Market administered by Google), then you might need to specify the URL for downloading the AIR runtime from that market. Some alternate markets do not allow applications to require a download from outside the market. This option is only supported for Android packages. NATIVE_SIGNING_OPTIONS The native signing options identify the certificate used to sign a native package file. These signing options are used to apply a signature used by the native operating system, not the AIR runtime. The options are otherwise identical to the AIR_SIGNING_OPTIONS and are fully described in ADT code signing options on page 137. Native signatures are supported on Windows and Android. On Windows, both an AIR signing options and the native signing options should be specified. On Android, only the native signing options can be specified. In many cases, you can use the same code signing certificate to apply both an AIR and a native signature. However, this is not true in all cases. For example, Googles policy for apps submitted to the Android Market dictates that all apps must be signed with a certificate valid until at least the year 2033. This means that a certificate issued by a well known certificate authority, which are recommended when applying an AIR signature, should not be used to sign an Android app. (No certificate authorities issue a code signing certificate with that long a validity period.) output The name of the package file to create. Specifying the file extension is optional. If not specified, an extension appropriate to the -target value and current operating system is added. app_descriptor The path to the application descriptor file. The path can be specified relative to the current directory or as an absolute path. (The application descriptor file is renamed as application.xml in the AIR file.) ext_descriptor The path to the extension descriptor file for an ActionScript extension (used when packaging a AIR native extension). The path can be specified relative to the current directory or as an absolute path. -platformsdk The path to the platform SDK for the target device. Currently, the only supported platform SDK is Android. The AIR 2.6+ SDK includes the tools from the Android SDK needed to implement the relevant ADT commands. Only set this value to use a different version of the Android SDK. Also, the platform SDK path does not need to be supplied on the command line if the AIR_ANDROID_SDK_HOME environment variable is already set. (If both are set, then the path provided on the command line is used.) FILE_OPTIONS Identifies the application files to include in the package. The file options are fully described in File and path options on page 140. Do not specify file options when creating a native package from an AIR or AIRI file. input_airi Specify when creating a native package from an AIRI file. The AIR_SIGNING_OPTIONS are required if the target is air (or no target is specified). input_air Specify when creating a native package from an AIR file. Do not specify AIR_SIGNING_OPTIONS.
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ANE_OPTIONS Identifies the options and files for creating an AIR Native Extension package The extension package options are fully described in AIR native extension options on page 141.
Package specific application files in the current directory for an HTML-based AIR application:
adt package -storetype pkcs12 -keystore cert.p12 myApp.air myApp.xml myApp.html AIRAliases.js image.gif
Note: The keystore file contains the private key used to sign your application. Never include the signing certificate inside the AIR package! If you use wildcards in the ADT command, place the keystore file in a different location so that it is not included in the package. In this example the keystore file, cert.p12, resides in the parent directory. Package only the main files and an images subdirectory:
adt package -storetype pkcs12 -keystore cert.p12 myApp.air myApp.xml myApp.swf images
Package an HTML-based application and all files in the HTML, scripts, and images subdirectories:
adt package -storetype pkcs12 -keystore cert.p12 myApp.air myApp.xml index.html AIRALiases.js html scripts images
Package the application.xml file and main SWF located in a working directory (release/bin):
adt package -storetype pkcs12 -keystore cert.p12 myApp.air release/bin/myApp.xml C release/bin myApp.swf
Package assets from more than one place in your build file system. In this example, the application assets are located in the following folders before packaging:
/devRoot /myApp /release /bin myApp-app.xml myApp.swf or myApp.html /artwork /myApp /images image-1.png ... image-n.png /libraries /release /libs lib-1.swf lib-2.swf lib-a.js AIRAliases.js
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adt package -storetype pkcs12 -keystore cert.p12 myApp.air release/bin/myApp-app.xml C release/bin myApp.swf (or myApp.html) C ../artwork/myApp images C ../libraries/release libs
Run ADT as a Java program for a simple SWF-based application (without setting the classpath):
java jar {AIRSDK}/lib/ADT.jar package -storetype pkcs12 -keystore cert.p12 myApp.air myApp.xml myApp.swf
Run ADT as a Java program for a simple HTML-based application (without setting the classpath):
java jar {AIRSDK}/lib/ADT.jar package -storetype pkcs12 -keystore cert.p12 myApp.air myApp.xml myApp.html AIRAliases.js
Run ADT as a Java program (with the Java classpath set to include the ADT.jar package):
java -com.adobe.air.ADT package -storetype pkcs12 -keystore cert.p12 myApp.air myApp.xml myApp.swf
Run ADT as a Java task in Apache Ant (the paths shown in the example are for Windows):
<property name="SDK_HOME" value="C:/AIRSDK"/> <property name="ADT.JAR" value="${SDK_HOME}/lib/adt.jar"/> target name="package"> <java jar="${ADT.JAR}" fork="true" failonerror="true"> <arg value="-package"/> <arg value="-storetype"/> <arg value="pkcs12"/> <arg value="-keystore"/> <arg value="../../ExampleCert.p12"/> <arg value="myApp.air"/> <arg value="myApp-app.xml"/> <arg value="myApp.swf"/> <arg value="icons/*.png"/> </java> </target>
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Note: On some computer systems, double-byte characters in the file system paths can be misinterpreted. If this occurs, try setting the JRE used to run ADT to use the UTF-8 character set. This is done by default in the script used to launch ADT on Mac and Linux. In the Windows adt.bat file, or when you run ADT directly from Java, specify the Dfile.encoding=UTF-8 option on the Java command line.
output The name of the AIRI file that is created. app_descriptor The path to the application descriptor file. The path can be specified relative to the current directory or as an absolute path. (The application descriptor file is renamed as application.xml in the AIR file.) FILE_OPTIONS Identifies the application files to include in the package. The file options are fully described in File and path options on page 140.
AIR_SIGNING_OPTIONS The AIR signing options identify the certificate used to sign a package file. The signing options are fully described in ADT code signing options on page 137. input The name of the AIRI or ANE file to sign. output The name of the signed package to create. If an ANE file is already signed, the old signature is discarded. (AIR files cannot be resigned to use a new signature for an application update, use the -migrate command.)
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AIR_SIGNING_OPTIONS The AIR signing options identifying the original certificate that was used to sign existing versions of the AIR application. The signing options are fully described in ADT code signing options on page 137. input The AIR file already signed with the NEW application certificate. output The name of the final package bearing signatures from both the new and the old certificates. Note: The file names used for the input and output AIR files must be different.
SIGNING_OPTIONS The signing options identifying the keystore to validate. The signing options are fully described in ADT code signing options on page 137.
-cn The string assigned as the common name of the new certificate. -ou A string assigned as the organizational unit issuing the certificate. (Optional.)
-o A string assigned as the organization issuing the certificate. (Optional.) -c A two-letter ISO-3166 country code. A certificate is not generated if an invalid code is supplied. (Optional.) -validityPeriod The number of years that the certificate will be valid. If not specified a validity of five years is
assigned. (Optional.)
key_type The type of key to use for the certificate, either 1024-RSA or 2048-RSA.
output The path and file name for the certificate file to be generated. password The password for accessing the new certificate. The password is required when signing AIR files with this certificate.
-platform The name of the platform of the device. Currently this command is only supported on the Android platform. Use the name, android.
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-platformsdk The path to the platform SDK for the target device. Currently, the only supported platform SDK is Android. The AIR 2.6+ SDK includes the tools from the Android SDK needed to implement the relevant ADT commands. Only set this value to use a different version of the Android SDK. Also, the platform SDK path does not need to be supplied on the command line if the AIR_ANDROID_SDK_HOME environment variable is already set. (If both are set, then the path provided on the command line is used.) -device The serial number of the device. The device only needs to be specified when more than one device or emulator is attached to your computer and running. If the specified device is not connected, ADT returns exit code 14: Device error. If more than one device or emulator is connected and a device is not specified, ADT returns exit code 2: Usage error. On Android, use the Android ADB tool to list the serial numbers of attached devices and running emulators:
adb devices
-package The file name of the package to install. On Android, this must be an APK package. If the specified package is already installed, ADT returns error code 14:Device error.
-platform The name of the platform of the device. Currently this command is only supported on the Android platform. Use the name, android. -platformsdk The path to the platform SDK for the target device. Currently, the only supported platform SDK is Android. The AIR 2.6+ SDK includes the tools from the Android SDK needed to implement the relevant ADT commands. Only set this value to use a different version of the Android SDK. Also, the platform SDK path does not need to be supplied on the command line if the AIR_ANDROID_SDK_HOME environment variable is already set. (If both are set, then the path provided on the command line is used.) -device The serial number of the device. The device only needs to be specified when more than one device or emulator is attached to your computer and running. If the specified device is not connected, ADT returns exit code 14: Device error. If more than one device or emulator is connected and a device is not specified, ADT returns exit code 2: Usage error. On Android, use the Android ADB tool to list the serial numbers of attached devices and running emulators:
adb devices
-appid The AIR application ID of the installed application. If no application with the specified ID is installed on the device, then ADT returns exit code 14: Device error.
-platform The name of the platform of the device. Currently this command is only supported on the Android platform. Use the name, android.
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-platformsdk The path to the platform SDK for the target device. Currently, the only supported platform SDK is Android. The AIR 2.6+ SDK includes the tools from the Android SDK needed to implement the relevant ADT commands. Only set this value to use a different version of the Android SDK. Also, the platform SDK path does not need to be supplied on the command line if the AIR_ANDROID_SDK_HOME environment variable is already set. (If both are set, then the path provided on the command line is used.) -device The serial number of the device. The device only needs to be specified when more than one device or emulator is attached to your computer and running. If the specified device is not connected, ADT returns exit code 14: Device error. If more than one device or emulator is connected and a device is not specified, ADT returns exit code 2: Usage error. On Android, use the Android ADB tool to list the serial numbers of attached devices and running emulators:
adb devices
-appid The AIR application ID of the installed application. If no application with the specified ID is installed on the device, then ADT returns exit code 14: Device error.
-platform The name of the platform of the device. Currently this command is only supported on the Android platform. Use the name, android. -platformsdk The path to the platform SDK for the target device. Currently, the only supported platform SDK is Android. The AIR 2.6+ SDK includes the tools from the Android SDK needed to implement the relevant ADT commands. Only set this value to use a different version of the Android SDK. Also, the platform SDK path does not need to be supplied on the command line if the AIR_ANDROID_SDK_HOME environment variable is already set. (If both are set, then the path provided on the command line is used.) -device The serial number of the device. The device only needs to be specified when more than one device or emulator is attached to your computer and running. If the specified device is not connected, ADT returns exit code 14: Device error. If more than one device or emulator is connected and a device is not specified, ADT returns exit code 2: Usage error. On Android, use the Android ADB tool to list the serial numbers of attached devices and running emulators:
adb devices
-appid The AIR application ID of the installed application. If no application with the specified ID is installed on the device, then ADT returns exit code 14: Device error.
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-platform The name of the platform of the device. Currently this command is only supported on the Android platform. Use the name, android. -platformsdk The path to the platform SDK for the target device. Currently, the only supported platform SDK is Android. The AIR 2.6+ SDK includes the tools from the Android SDK needed to implement the relevant ADT commands. Only set this value to use a different version of the Android SDK. Also, the platform SDK path does not need to be supplied on the command line if the AIR_ANDROID_SDK_HOME environment variable is already set. (If both are set, then the path provided on the command line is used.) -device The serial number of the device. The device only needs to be specified when more than one device or emulator is attached to your computer and running. If the specified device is not connected, ADT returns exit code 14: Device error. If more than one device or emulator is connected and a device is not specified, ADT returns exit code 2: Usage error. On Android, use the Android ADB tool to list the serial numbers of attached devices and running emulators:
adb devices
-package The file name of the runtime to install. On Android, this must be an APK package. If no package is specified, the appropriate runtime for the device or emulator is chosen from those available in the AIR SDK. If the runtime is already installed, ADT returns error code 14:Device error.
-platform The name of the platform of the device. Currently this command is only supported on the Android platform. Use the name, android. -platformsdk The path to the platform SDK for the target device. Currently, the only supported platform SDK is Android. The AIR 2.6+ SDK includes the tools from the Android SDK needed to implement the relevant ADT commands. Only set this value to use a different version of the Android SDK. Also, the platform SDK path does not need to be supplied on the command line if the AIR_ANDROID_SDK_HOME environment variable is already set. (If both are set, then the path provided on the command line is used.) -device The serial number of the device. The device only needs to be specified when more than one device or emulator is attached to your computer and running. If the runtime is not installed or the specified device is not connected, ADT returns exit code 14: Device error. If more than one device or emulator is connected and a device is not specified, ADT returns exit code 2: Usage error. On Android, use the Android ADB tool to list the serial numbers of attached devices and running emulators:
adb devices
-platform The name of the platform of the device. Currently this command is only supported on the Android platform. Use the name, android.
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-platformsdk The path to the platform SDK for the target device. Currently, the only supported platform SDK is Android. The AIR 2.6+ SDK includes the tools from the Android SDK needed to implement the relevant ADT commands. Only set this value to use a different version of the Android SDK. Also, the platform SDK path does not need to be supplied on the command line if the AIR_ANDROID_SDK_HOME environment variable is already set. (If both are set, then the path provided on the command line is used.) -device The serial number of the device. The device only needs to be specified when more than one device or emulator is attached to your computer and running. If the specified device is not connected, ADT returns exit code 14: Device error. If more than one device or emulator is connected and a device is not specified, ADT returns exit code 2: Usage error. On Android, use the Android ADB tool to list the serial numbers of attached devices and running emulators:
adb devices
<> items between angle brackets indicate information that you must provide. () items within parentheses indicate options that are treated as a group in the help command output. ALL_CAPS items spelled out in capital letters indicate a set of options that is described separately. | OR. For example, ( A | B ), means item A or item B. ? 0 or 1. A question mark following an item indicates that an item is optional and that only one instance can
occur, if used.
* 0 or more. An asterisk following an item indicates that an item is optional and that any number of instances
can occur.
+ 1 or more. A plus sign following an item indicates that an item is required and that multiple instances can
occur.
no symbol If an item has no suffix symbol, then that item is required and only one instance can occur.
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ADT requires that the certificate conform to the x509v3 standard (RFC3280) and include the Extended Key Usage extension with the proper values for code signing. Constraints defined within the certificate are respected and could preclude the use of some certificates for signing AIR applications. Note: ADT uses the Java runtime environment proxy settings, when appropriate, for connecting to Internet resources for checking certificate revocation lists and obtaining time-stamps. If you encounter problems connecting to these Internet resources when using ADT and your network requires specific proxy settings, you may need to configure the JRE proxy settings. AIR signing options syntax The signing options use the following syntax (on a single command line):
-alias aliasName -storetype type -keystore path -storepass password1 -keypass password2 -providerName className -tsa url
-alias The alias of a key in the keystore. Specifying an alias is not necessary when a keystore only contains a single certificate. If no alias is specified, ADT uses the first key in the keystore. Not all keystore management applications allow an alias to be assigned to certificates. When using the Windows system keystore, for example, use the distinguished name of the certificate as the alias. You can use the Java Keytool utility to list the available certificates so that you can determine the alias. For example, running the command:
keytool -list -storetype Windows-MY
To reference this certificate on the ADT command line, set the alias to:
CN=TestingCert,OU=QE,O=Adobe,C=US
On Mac OS X, the alias of a certificate in the Keychain is the name displayed in the Keychain Access application. -storetype The type of keystore, determined by the keystore implementation. The default keystore implementation included with most installations of Java supports the JKS and PKCS12 types. Java 5.0 includes support for the PKCS11 type, for accessing keystores on hardware tokens, and Keychain type, for accessing the Mac OS X keychain. Java 6.0 includes support for the MSCAPI type (on Windows). If other JCA providers have been installed and configured, additional keystore types might be available. If no keystore type is specified, the default type for the default JCA provider is used.
Store type JKS PKCS12 PKCS11 KeychainStore Windows-MY or Windows-ROOT Keystore format Java keystore file (.keystore) PKCS12 file (.p12 or .pfx) Hardware token Mac OS X Keychain MSCAPI Minimum Java version 1.2 1.4 1.5 1.5 1.6
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-keystore The path to the keystore file for file-based store types. -storepass The password required to access the keystore. If not specified, ADT prompts for the password. -keypass The password required to access the private key that is used to sign the AIR application. If not specified, ADT prompts for the password. Note: If you enter a password as part of the ADT command, the password characters are saved in the command-line history. Therefore, using the -keypass or -storepass options is not recommended when the security of the certificate is important. Also note that when you omit the password options, the characters you type at the password prompts are not displayed (for the same security reasons). Simply type the password and press the Enter key. -providerName The JCA provider for the specified keystore type. If not specified, then ADT uses the default provider for that type of keystore. -tsa Specifies the URL of an RFC3161-compliant timestamp server to time-stamp the digital signature. If no URL is specified, a default time-stamp server provided by Geotrust is used. When the signature of an AIR application is timestamped, the application can still be installed after the signing certificate expires, because the timestamp verifies that the certificate was valid at the time of signing. If ADT cannot connect to the time-stamp server, then signing is canceled and no package is produced. Specify -tsa
none to disable time-stamping. However, an AIR application packaged without a timestamp ceases to be installable
after the signing certificate expires. Note: Many of the signing options are equivalent to the same option of the Java Keytool utility. You can use the Keytool utility to examine and manage keystores on Windows. The Apple security utility can also be used for this purpose on Mac OS X. -provisioning-profile The Apple iOS provisioning file. (Required for packaging iOS applications, only.) Signing option examples Signing with a .p12 file:
-storetype pkcs12 -keystore cert.p12
Signing with a hardware token (refer to the token manufacturers instructions on configuring Java to use the token and for the correct providerName value):
-alias AIRCert -storetype pkcs11 -providerName tokenProviderName
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files_and_dirs The files and directories to package in the AIR file. Any number of files and directories can be specified, delimited by whitespace. If you list a directory, all files and subdirectories within, except hidden files, are added to the package. (In addition, if the application descriptor file is specified, either directly, or through wildcard or directory expansion, it is ignored and not added to the package a second time.) Files and directories specified must be in the current directory or one of its subdirectories. Use the -C option to change the current directory. Important: Wild cards cannot be used in the file_or_dir arguments following the C option. (Command shells expand the wildcards before passing the arguments to ADT, which causes ADT to look for files in the wrong location.) You can, however, still use the dot character, ".", to stand for the current directory. For example: -C assets . copies everything in the assets directory, including any subdirectories, to the root level of the application package.
-C dir Changes the working directory to the value of dir before processing subsequent files and directories added to
the application package. The files or directories are added to the root of the application package. The C option can be used any number of times to include files from multiple points in the file system. If a relative path is specified for dir, the path is always resolved from the original working directory. As ADT processes the files and directories included in the package, the relative paths between the current directory and the target files are stored. These paths are expanded into the application directory structure when the package is installed. Therefore, specifying -C release/bin lib/feature.swf places the file release/bin/lib/feature.swf in the lib subdirectory of the root application folder.
-e file_or_dir dir Places the file or directory into the specified package directory.
-extdir The name of a directory to search for ActionScript extensions (ANE files) Note: The <content> element of the application descriptor file must specify the final location of the main application file within the application package directory tree.
-connect If present, the app will attempt to connect to a remote debugger. hostString A string identifying the computer running the Flash debugging tool FDB. If not specified, the app will attempt to connect to a debugger running on the computer on which the package is created. The host string can be a fully qualified computer domain name: machinename.subgroup.example.com, or an IP address: 192.168.4.122. If the specified (or default) machine cannot be found, then the runtime will display a dialog requesting a valid host name. The -listen option uses the following syntax:
-listen port
-listen If present, the runtime waits for a connection from a remote debugger.
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port (Optional) The port to listen on. By default, the runtime listens on port 7936. For more information on using the -listen option, see Remote debugging with FDB over USB on page 87.
-preloadSWFPath If present, the app will attempt to find the preload SWF at the specified directory. If not specified, ADT includes the preload SWF file from the AIR SDK. directory The directory containing the profiler preload SWF file.
extension-descriptor The descriptor file for the ActionScript extension. -swc The SWC file containing the ActionScript code and resources for the ActionScript extension. -platform The name of the platform that this ANE file supports. FILE_OPTIONS Identifies the native platform files to include in the package. The file options are fully described in File and path options on page 140. (Note that the -e flag cannot be used when packaging an ANE file.)
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Description Element or attribute contains an invalid value Illegal window attribute combination
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used together. Change one of the incompatible settings. 107 Window minimum size is larger than the window maximum size Attribute already used in prior element Duplicate element. Remove the duplicate element. Change either the minimum or the maximum size setting.
At least one element of the specified type is Add the missing element. required. None of the profiles listed in the application Add a profile to the supportedProfies list descriptor support ActionScript extensions. that supports ActionScript extensions. (Currently, only the extendedTV profile supports ActionScript extensions. The AIR target doesn't support ActionScript Choose a target that supports ActionScript extensions. extensions. <nativeLibrary> and <initializer> must be provided together. An initializer function must be specified for every native library in the ActionScript extension.
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112
113
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Found <finalizer> without <nativeLibrary>. Do not specify a finalizer unless the platform uses a native library. The default platform must not contain a native implementation. Do not specify a native library in the default platform element.
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See AIR application descriptor files on page 159 for information about the namespaces, elements, attributes, and their valid values. Application icon errors
Error code 200 Description Icon file cannot be opened Notes Check that the file exists at the specified path. Use another application to ensure that the file can be opened. 201 Icon is the wrong size Icon size (in pixels) must match the XML tag. For example, given the application descriptor element:
<image32x32>icon.png</image32x3 2>
The image in icon.png must be exactly 32x32 pixels. 202 Icon file contains an unsupported image format Only the PNG format is supported. Convert images in other formats before packaging your application.
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301
302
303
304
305
306
307
Unknown error
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Exit code 7
Notes Make sure that the path to the keystore is specified correctly. Check that the certificate within the keystore can be accessed. The Java 1.6 Keytool utility can be used to help troubleshoot certificate access issues.
Invalid certificate
The certificate file is malformed, modified, expired, or revoked. Verify the signing options passed to ADT. ADT could not establish a connection to the timestamp server. If you connect to the internet through a proxy server, you may need to configure the JRE proxy settings. Verify the command-line arguments used for creating signatures. Verify file paths and other arguments passed to ADT on the command line. Verify the device SDK configuration. ADT cannot locate the device SDK required to execute the specified command. ADT cannot execute the command because of a device restriction or problem. For example, this exit code is emitted when attempting to uninstall an app that is not actually installed. Verify that a device is attached and turned on or that an emulator is running. The current AIR SDK does not include all the components required to perform the request operation.
9 10
Could not sign AIR file Could not create time stamp
11
12
Invalid input
13
14
Device error
15
No devices
16
Android errors
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Notes Check that the attribute name is spelled correctly and is a valid attribute for the element in which it appears. You may need to set the -platformsdk flag in the ADT command if the attribute was introduced after Android 2.2. Check that the attribute value is spelled correctly and is a valid value for the attribute. You may need to set the platformsdk flag in the ADT command if the attribute value was introduced after Android 2.2. Check that the XML tag name is spelled correctly and is a valid Android manifest document element. You may need to set the -platformsdk flag in the ADT command if the element was introduced after Android 2.2. The application is attempting to override an Android manifest element that is reserved for use by AIR. See Android settings on page 66. The application is attempting to override an Android manifest attribute that is reserved for use by AIR. See Android settings on page 66.
401
402
403
404
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If you sign an application with a self-signed certificate (or a certificate that does not chain to a trusted certificate), the user must accept a greater security risk by installing your application. The installation dialogs reflect this additional risk:
Important: A malicious entity could forge an AIR file with your identity if it somehow obtains your signing keystore file or discovers your private key.
Code-signing certificates
The security assurances, limitations, and legal obligations involving the use of code-signing certificates are outlined in the Certificate Practice Statements (CPS) and subscriber agreements published by the issuing certification authority. For more information about the agreements for the certification authorities that currently issue AIR code signing certificates, refer to:
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ChosenSecurity (http://www.chosensecurity.com/products/tc_publisher_id_adobe_air.htm) ChosenSecurity CPS (http://www.chosensecurity.com/resource_center/repository.htm) GlobalSign (www.globalsign.com/code-signing/index.html) GlobalSign CPS (http://www.globalsign.com/repository/index.htm) Thawte CPS (http://www.thawte.com/cps/index.html) VeriSign CPS (http://www.verisign.com/repository/CPS/) VeriSign Subscriber's Agreement (https://www.verisign.com/repository/subscriber/SUBAGR.html)
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The publisher ID, when present, is used for the following purposes:
As part of the encryption key for the encrypted local store As part of the path for the application storage directory As part of the connection string for local connections As part of the identity string used to invoke an application with the AIR in-browser API As part of the OSID (used when creating custom install/uninstall programs)
When a publisher ID changes, the behavior of any AIR features relying on the ID also changes. For example, data in the existing encrypted local store can no longer be accessed and any Flash or AIR instances that create a local connection to the application must use the new ID in the connection string. The publisher ID for an installed application cannot change in AIR 1.5.3, or later. If you use a different publisher ID when publishing an AIR package, the installer treats the new package as a different application rather than as an update.
ChosenSecurity TC Publisher ID for Adobe AIR GlobalSign ObjectSign Code Signing Certificate Thawte: AIR Developer Certificate Apple Developer Certificate JavaSoft Developer Certificate Microsoft Authenticode Certificate VeriSign: Adobe AIR Digital ID Microsoft Authenticode Digital ID Sun Java Signing Digital ID
Note: The certificate must be created for code signing. You cannot use an SSL or other type of certificate to sign AIR files.
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Time stamps
When you sign an AIR file, the packaging tool queries the server of a timestamp authority to obtain an independently verifiable date and time of signing. The time stamp obtained is embedded in the AIR file. As long as the signing certificate is valid at the time of signing, the AIR file can be installed, even after the certificate has expired. On the other hand, if no time stamp is obtained, the AIR file ceases to be installable when the certificate expires or is revoked. By default, the AIR packaging tools obtain a time stamp. However, to allow applications to be packaged when the timestamp service is unavailable, you can turn time stamping off. Adobe recommends that all publicly distributed AIR files include a time stamp. The default time-stamp authority used by the AIR packaging tools is Geotrust.
Obtaining a certificate
To obtain a certificate, you would normally visit the certification authority web site and complete the companys procurement process. The tools used to produce the keystore file needed by the AIR tools depend on the type of certificate purchased, how the certificate is stored on the receiving computer, and, in some cases, the browser used to obtain the certificate. For example, to obtain and export an Adobe Developer certificate certificate from Thawte you must use Mozilla Firefox. The certificate can then be exported as a .p12 or .pfx file directly from the Firefox user interface. Note: Java versions 1.5 and above do not accept high-ASCII characters in passwords used to protect PKCS12 certificate files. Java is used by the AIR development tools to create the signed AIR packages. When you export the certificate as a .p12 or .pfx file, use only regular ASCII characters in the password. You can generate a self-signed certificate using the Air Development Tool (ADT) used to package AIR installation files. Some third-party tools can also be used. For instructions on how to generate a self-signed certificate, as well as instructions on signing an AIR file, see AIR Developer Tool (ADT) on page 126. You can also export and sign AIR files using Flash Builder, Dreamweaver, and the AIR update for Flash. The following example describes how to obtain an AIR Developer Certificate from the Thawte Certification Authority and prepare it for use with ADT.
then performs its identity verification process and may request additional information. After verification is complete, Thawte will send you e-mail with instructions on how to retrieve the certificate.
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Note: Additional information about the type of documentation required can be found here: https://www.thawte.com/ssl-digital-certificates/free-guides-whitepapers/pdf/enroll_codesign_eng.pdf.
4 Retrieve the issued certificate from the Thawte site. The certificate is automatically saved to the Firefox keystore. 5 Export a keystore file containing the private key and certificate from the Firefox keystore using the following steps:
Note: When exporting the private key/cert from Firefox, it is exported in a .p12 (pfx) format which ADT, Flex, Flash, and Dreamweaver can use.
a Open the Firefox Certificate Manager dialog: b On Windows: open Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> Encryption -> View Certificates c On Mac OS: open Firefox -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Encryption -> View Certificates d On Linux: open Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Encryption -> View Certificates e Select the Adobe AIR Code Signing Certificate from the list of certificates and click the Backup button. f
Enter a file name and the location to which to export the keystore file and click Save. device in order to export the file. (This password is used only by Firefox.)
g If you are using the Firefox master password, you are prompted to enter your password for the software security h On the Choose a Certificate Backup Password dialog box, create a password for the keystore file.
Important: This password protects the keystore file and is required when the file is used for signing AIR applications.A secure password should be chosen.
i
Click OK. You should receive a successful backup password message. The keystore file containing the private key and certificate is saved with a .p12 file extension (in PKCS12 format)
6 Use the exported keystore file with ADT, Flash Builder, Flash Professional, or Dreamweaver. The password created
for the file is required whenever an AIR application is signed. Important: The private key and certificate are still stored within the Firefox keystore. While this permits you to export an additional copy of the certificate file, it also provides another point of access that must be protected to maintain the security of your certificate and private key.
Changing certificates
In some circumstances, you must change the certificate you use to sign updates for your AIR application. Such circumstances include:
Renewing the original signing certificate. Upgrading from a self-signed certificate to a certificate issued by a certification authority Changing from a self-signed certificate that is about to expire to another Changing from one commercial certificate to another, for example, when your corporate identity changes
For AIR to recognize an AIR file as an update, you must either sign both the original and update AIR files with the same certificate or apply a certificate migration signature to the update. A migration signature is a second signature applied to the update AIR package using the original certificate. The migration signature uses the original certificate to establish that the signer is the original publisher of the application. After an AIR file with a migration signature is installed, the new certificate becomes the primary certificate. Subsequent updates do not require a migration signature. However, you should apply migration signatures for as long as possible to accommodate users who skip updates.
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Important: You must change the certificate and apply a migration signature to the update with the original certificate before it expires. Otherwise, users must uninstall their existing version of your application before installing a new version. For AIR 1.5.3 or later, you can apply a migration signature using an expired certificate within a 180-day grace period it expires. However, you cannot use the expired certificate to apply the main application signature. To change certificates:
1 Create an update to your application 2 Package and sign the update AIR file with the new certificate 3 Sign the AIR file again with the original certificate (using the ADT -migrate command)
An AIR file with a migration signature is, in other respects, a normal AIR file. If the application is installed on a system without the original version, AIR installs the new version in the usual manner. Note: Prior to AIR 1.5.3, signing an AIR application with a renewed certificate did not always require a migration signature. Starting with AIR 1.5.3, a migration signature is always required for renewed certificates. The procedure for applying a migration signature is described in ADT migrate command on page 132. Application identity changes Prior to AIR 1.5.3, the identity of an AIR application changed when an update signed with a migration signature was installed. Changing the identity of an application has the several repercussions, including:
The new application version cannot access data in the existing encrypted local store. The location of the application storage directory changes. Data in the old location is not copied to the new directory.
(But the new application can locate the original directory based on the old publisher ID).
The application can no longer open local connections using the old publisher ID. The identity string used to access an application from a web page changes. The OSID of the application changes. (The OSID is used when writing custom install/uninstall programs.)
When publishing an update with AIR 1.5.3, the application identity cannot change. The original application and publisher IDs must be specified in the application descriptor of the update AIR file. Otherwise, the new package is not recognized as an update. Note: When publishing a new AIR application with AIR 1.5.3 or later, you should not specify a publisher ID.
Terminology
This section provides a glossary of some of the key terminology you should understand when making decisions about how to sign your application for public distribution.
Term Certification Authority (CA) Description An entity in a public-key infrastructure network that serves as a trusted third party and ultimately certifies the identity of the owner of a public key. A CA normally issues digital certificates, signed by its own private key, to attest that it has verified the identity of the certificate holder. Sets forth the practices and policies of the certification authority in issuing and verifying certificates. The CPS is part of the contract between the CA and its subscribers and relying parties. It also outlines the policies for identity verification and the level of assurances offered by the certificates they provide. A list of issued certificates that have been revoked and should no longer be relied upon. AIR checks the CRL at the time an AIR application is signed, and, if no timestamp is present, again when the application is installed.
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Description A certificate chain is a sequence of certificates in which each certificate in the chain has been signed by the next certificate. A digital document that contains information about the identity of the owner, the owners public key, and the identity of the certificate itself. A certificate issued by a certification authority is itself signed by a certificate belonging to the issuing CA. An encrypted message or digest that can only be decrypted with the public key half of a publicprivate key pair. In a PKI, a digital signature contains one or more digital certificates that are ultimately traceable to the certification authority. A digital signature can be used to validate that a message (or computer file) has not been altered since it was signed (within the limits of assurance provided by the cryptographic algorithm used), and, assuming one trusts the issuing certification authority, the identity of the signer. A database containing digital certificates and, in some cases, the related private keys. An extensible architecture for managing and accessing keystores. See the Java Cryptography Architecture Reference Guide for more information. The Cryptographic Token Interface Standard by RSA Laboratories. A hardware token based keystore. The Personal Information Exchange Syntax Standard by RSA Laboratories. A file-based keystore typically containing a private key and its associated digital certificate. The private half of a two-part, public-private key asymmetric cryptography system. The private key must be kept secret and should never be transmitted over a network. Digitally signed messages are encrypted with the private key by the signer. The public half of a two-part, public-private key asymmetric cryptography system. The public key is openly available and is used to decrypt messages encrypted with the private key. A system of trust in which certification authorities attest to the identity of the owners of public keys. Clients of the network rely on the digital certificates issued by a trusted CA to verify the identity of the signer of a digital message (or file). A digitally signed datum containing the date and time an event occurred. ADT can include a time stamp from an RFC 3161 compliant time server in an AIR package. When present, AIR uses the time stamp to establish the validity of a certificate at the time of signing. This allows an AIR application to be installed after its signing certificate has expired. An authority that issues time stamps. To be recognized by AIR, the time stamp must conform to RFC 3161 and the time stamp signature must chain to a trusted root certificate on the installation machine.
Digital Certificate
Digital Signature
PKCS #11
PKCS #12
Private Key
Public Key
Time stamp
iOS Certificates
The code signing certificates issued by Apple are used for signing iOS applications, including those developed with Adobe AIR. Applying a signature using a Apple development certificate is required to install an application on test devices. Applying a signature using a distribution certificate is required to distribute the finished application. To sign an application, ADT requires access to both the code signing certificate and the associated private key. The certificate file, itself, does not include the private key. You must create a keystore in the form of a Personal Information Exchange file (.p12 or .pfx) that contains both the certificate and the private key. See Converting a developer certificate into a P12 keystore file on page 153.
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The certificate signing request process generates a public-private key pair. The private key remains on your computer. You send the signing request containing the public key and your identifying information to Apple, who is acting in the role of a Certificate Authority. Apple signs your certificate with their own World Wide Developer Relations certificate. Generate a certificate signing request on Mac OS On Mac OS, you can use the Keychain Access application to generate a code signing request. The Keychain Access application is in the Utilities subdirectory of the Applications directory. Instructions for generating the certificate signing request are available at the Apple iOS Provisioning Portal. Generate a certificate signing request on Windows For Windows developers, it may be easiest to obtain the iPhone developer certificate on a Mac computer. However, it is possible to obtain a certificate on a Windows computer. First, you create a certificate signing request (a CSR file) using OpenSSL:
1 Install OpenSSL on your Windows computer. (Go to http://www.openssl.org/related/binaries.html.)
You may also need to install the Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable files, listed on the Open SSL download page. (You do not need Visual C++ installed on your computer.)
2 Open a Windows command session, and CD to the OpenSSL bin directory (such as c:\OpenSSL\bin\). 3 Create the private key by entering the following in the command line:
openssl genrsa -out mykey.key 2048
Save this private key file. You will use it later. When using OpenSSL, do not ignore error messages. If OpenSSL generates an error message, it may still output files. However, those files may not be usable. If you see errors, check your syntax and run the command again.
4 Create the CSR file by entering the following in the command line:
openssl req -new -key mykey.key -out CertificateSigningRequest.certSigningRequest "/emailAddress=yourAddress@example.com, CN=John Doe, C=US" -subj
Replace the e-mail address, CN (certificate name), and C (country) values with your own.
5 Upload the CSR file to Apple at the iPhone developer site. (See Apply for an iPhone developer certificate and create
a provisioning profile.)
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The private key is identified by the iPhone Developer: <First Name> <Last Name> public certificate that is paired with it.
5 Command-click the iPhone Developer certificate and select, Export iPhone Developer: Name.... 6 Save your keystore in the Personal Information Exchange (.p12) file format. 7 You will be prompted to create a password that is used when you use the keystore to sign applications or transfer
the key and certificate in this keystore to another keystore. Convert an Apple developer certificate to a P12 file on Windows To develop AIR for iOS applications, you must use a P12 certificate file. You generate this certificate based on the Apple iPhone developer certificate file you receive from Apple.
1 Convert the developer certificate file you receive from Apple into a PEM certificate file. Run the following
2 If you are using the private key from the keychain on a Mac computer, convert it into a PEM key:
openssl pkcs12 -nocerts -in mykey.p12 -out mykey.pem
3 You can now generate a valid P12 file, based on the key and the PEM version of the iPhone developer certificate:
openssl pkcs12 -export -inkey mykey.key -in developer_identity.pem -out iphone_dev.p12
If you are using a key from the Mac OS keychain, use the PEM version you generated in the previous step. Otherwise, use the OpenSSL key you generated earlier (on Windows).
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SIGNING_OPTIONS The signing options identify the private key and certificate with which to sign the AIR file. These options are described in ADT code signing options on page 137. airi_file The path to the unsigned AIR intermediate file to be signed. air_file The name of the AIR file to be created. ADT -sign command example
adt -sign -storetype pkcs12 -keystore cert.p12 unsignedMyApp.airi myApp.air
To apply a migration signature, the original certificate must still be valid or have expired within the last 180 days.
This period is termed as the grace period and the duration can change in the future.
You cannot apply a migration signature after the certificate expires and the 180 days grace period elapses. You must
uninstall the existing version before you can install the updated version.
The 180 days grace period only applies to applications specifying AIR version 1.5.3, or higher, in the application
descriptor namespace. Important: Signing updates with migration signatures from expired certificates is a temporary solution. For a comprehensive solution, create a standardized signing workflow to manage the deployment of application updates. Upload each update with the latest certificate to a separate URL from where users can deploy the application. Sign each new update at this deployment URL with the latest certificate, and apply a migration using the certificate used to sign the previous update. For more information, see Signing workflow for application updates on page 206. The following table summarizes the workflow for migration signatures:
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Scenario
State of Certificate/Publisher ID
Developer Action
User Action
State of Certificate Application based on Adobe Valid Publish the latest version of the AIR application AIR runtime version 1.5.3 or higher Expired and not in grace You cannot apply the migration signature to Certificate C1 period the AIR application update. Instead, you must publish another version of the AIR application using a new certificate. Users can install the new version after uninstalling their existing version of the AIR application. Expired, but in 180 days Either of the actions detailed in the above grace period columns
No action required Application automatically upgrades Uninstall the current version of the AIR application and install the latest version
Original Publisher ID in the application descriptor Available. The following details related to the certificate C1 apply: Valid Publish the latest version of the AIR application No action required Application automatically upgrades Expired and not in grace You cannot apply the migration signature to period the AIR application update. Instead, you must publish another version of the AIR application using a new certificate. Users can install the new version after uninstalling their existing version of the AIR application. Not available Publish the latest version of the AIR application Uninstall the current version of the AIR application and install the latest version Uninstall the current version of the AIR application and install the latest version
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1.0 C1
AIR version earlier than 1.5.3 AIR version 1.5.3 or later
Clean install
Orginal PUB ID matched? No
No
1.0 C1
Yes
Remove
2.0
Yes
Yes
C2
Install
Users must uninstall the older version to install the updated version.
No
No
Yes
Publish update
Create an updated version of your application. Sign the application with the new certificate C2. Apply migration signature to the application with the original certificate C1 using the adt -migrate command.
Legends:
1.0 C1 2.0 C2
An AIR file signed with the -migrate command can be used to install a new version of the application. The file can also be used to update any previous version signed with the old certificate. Note: When updating an application published for a version of AIR earlier than1.5.3, specify the original publisher ID in the application descriptor. Otherwise, users of your application must uninstall the earlier version before installing the update. Migrate an AIR application to use a new certificate Use the ADT -migrate command with following syntax:
adt -migrate SIGNING_OPTIONS air_file_in air_file_out
SIGNING_OPTIONS The signing options identify the private key and certificate with which to sign the AIR file. These options must identify the original signing certificate and are described in ADT code signing options on page 137. air_file_in The AIR file for the update, signed with the new certificate. air_file_out The AIR file to create. Note: The filenames used for the input and output AIR files must be different.
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ADT Example
adt -migrate -storetype pkcs12 -keystore cert.p12 myAppIn.air myApp.air
For more information, see ADT sign command on page 132. Note: The -migrate command was added to ADT in the AIR 1.1 release.
To use these certificates to sign AIR files, you use the following signing options with the ADT -package or -prepare commands:
-storetype pkcs12 -keystore newcert.p12 -keypass 39#wnetx3tl -storetype pkcs12 -keystore SigningCert.p12 -keypass 39#wnetx3tl
Note: Java versions 1.5 and above do not accept high-ASCII characters in passwords used to protect PKCS12 certificate files. Use only regular ASCII characters in the password.
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If the application uses an HTML file as its root content instead of a SWF file, only the <content> element is different:
<content> HelloWorld.html </content>
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aspectRatio autoOrients fullScreen image29x29 image57x57 image72x72 image512x512 iPhone renderMode supportedProfiles
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<renderMode>...</renderMode> <resizable>...</resizable> <systemChrome>...</systemChrome> <title>...</title> <transparent>...</transparent> <visible>...</visible> <width>...</width> <x>...</x> <y>...</y> </initialWindow> <installFolder>...</installFolder> <iPhone> <InfoAdditions>...</InfoAdditions> <requestedDisplayResolution>...</requestedDisplayResolution> </iPhone> <name> <text xml:lang="...">...</text> </name> <programMenuFolder>...</programMenuFolder> <publisherID>...</publisherID> <softKeyboardBehavior>...</softKeyboardBehavior> <supportedProfiles>...</supportedProfiles> <versionNumber>...</versionNumber> <versionLabel>...</versionLabel> </application>
allowBrowserInvocation
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Optional Enables the AIR in-browser API to detect and launch the application. If you set this value to true, be sure to consider security implications. These are described in Invoking an AIR application from the browser (for ActionScript developers) and Invoking an AIR application from the browser (for HTML developers). For more information, see Launching an installed AIR application from the browser on page 202. Parent elements:application on page 163 Child elements: none Content true or false (default) Example
<allowBrowserInvocation>true </allowBrowserInvocation>
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android
Adobe AIR 2.5 and later Optional Allows you to add elements to the Android manifest file. AIR creates the AndroidManifest.xml file for every APK package. You can use the android element in the AIR application descriptor to add additional items to it. Ignored on all platforms except Android. Parent elements:application on page 163 Child elements: manifestAdditions on page 180 Content Elements defining the Android-specific properties to add to the Android application manifest. Example
<android> <manifestAdditions> ... </manifestAdditions> </android>
application
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Required The root element of an AIR application descriptor document. Parent elements: none Child elements:
allowBrowserInvocation on page 162 android on page 163 copyright on page 168 customUpdateUI on page 168 description on page 169 extensions on page 170 filename on page 171 fileTypes on page 172 icon on page 174 id on page 174 initialWindow on page 176 installFolder on page 178
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iPhone on page 179 name on page 182 programMenuFolder on page 183 publisherID on page 184 softKeyboardBehavior on page 185 supportedProfiles on page 186 version on page 189 versionLabel on page 189 versionNumber on page 189
Attributes minimumPatchLevel The AIR runtime minimum patch level required by this application. xmlns the XML namespace attribute determines the required AIR runtime version of the application. The namespace changes with each major release of AIR (but not with minor patches). The last segment of the namespace, such as 2.7, indicates the runtime version required by the application. The xmlns values for the major AIR releases are:
xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/1.0" xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/1.1" xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/1.5" xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/1.5.2" xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/1.5.3" xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/2.0" xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/2.5" xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/2.6" xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/2.7"
For SWF-based applications, the AIR runtime version specified in the application descriptor determines the maximum SWF version that can be loaded as the initial content of the application. Applications that specify AIR 1.0 or AIR 1.1 can only use SWF9 (Flash Player 9) files as initial content even when run using the AIR 2 runtime. Applications that specify AIR 1.5 (or later) can use either SWF9 or SWF10 (Flash Player 10) files as initial content. The SWF version determines which version of the AIR and Flash Player APIs are available. If a SWF9 file is used as the initial content of an AIR 1.5 application, that application will only have access to the AIR 1.1 and Flash Player 9 APIs. Furthermore, behavior changes made to existing APIs in AIR 2.0 or Flash Player 10.1 will not be effective. (Important security-related changes to APIs are an exception to this principle and can be applied retroactively in present or future patches of the runtime.) For HTML-based applications, the runtime version specified in the application descriptor determines which version of the AIR and Flash Player APIs are available to the application. The HTML, CSS, and JavaScript behaviors are always determined by the version of Webkit used in the installed AIR runtime, not by the application descriptor. When an AIR application loads SWF content, the version of the AIR and Flash Player APIs available to that content depends on how the content is loaded. Sometimes the effective version is determined by the application descriptor namespace, sometimes it is determined by the version of the loading content, and sometimes it is determined by the version of the loaded content. The following table shows how the API version is determined based on the loading method:
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How the content is loaded Initial content, SWF-based application Initial content, HTML-based application SWF loaded by SWF content SWF library loaded by HTML content using <script> tag SWF loaded by HTML content using AIR or Flash Player APIs (such as flash.display.Loader)
How the API version is determined SWF version of the loaded file Application descriptor namespace Version of the loading content Application descriptor namespace
SWF loaded by HTML content using <object> or SWF version of the loaded file <embed> tags (or the equivalent JavaScript APIs)
When loading a SWF file of a different version than the loading content, you can run into the two problems:
Loading a newer version SWF by an older version SWF References to APIs added in the newer versions of AIR
and Flash Player in the loaded content will be unresolved
Loading an older version SWF by a newer version SWF APIs changed in the newer versions of AIR and Flash
Player may behave in ways that the loaded content does not expect. Content The application element contains child elements that define the properties of an AIR application. Example
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> <application xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/2.7"> <id>HelloWorld</id> <version>2.0</version> <filename>Hello World</filename> <name>Example Co. AIR Hello World</name> <description> <text xml:lang="en">This is an example.</text> <text xml:lang="fr">C'est un exemple.</text> <text xml:lang="es">Esto es un ejemplo.</text> </description> <copyright>Copyright (c) 2010 Example Co.</copyright> <initialWindow> <title>Hello World</title> <content> HelloWorld.swf </content> <systemChrome>none</systemChrome> <transparent>true</transparent> <visible>true</visible> <minSize>320 240</minSize> </initialWindow> <installFolder>Example Co/Hello World</installFolder> <programMenuFolder>Example Co</programMenuFolder> <icon> <image16x16>icons/smallIcon.png</image16x16> <image32x32>icons/mediumIcon.png</image32x32>
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<image48x48>icons/bigIcon.png</image48x48> <image128x128>icons/biggestIcon.png</image128x128> </icon> <customUpdateUI>true</customUpdateUI> <allowBrowserInvocation>false</allowBrowserInvocation> <fileTypes> <fileType> <name>adobe.VideoFile</name> <extension>avf</extension> <description>Adobe Video File</description> <contentType>application/vnd.adobe.video-file</contentType> <icon> <image16x16>icons/avfIcon_16.png</image16x16> <image32x32>icons/avfIcon_32.png</image32x32> <image48x48>icons/avfIcon_48.png</image48x48> <image128x128>icons/avfIcon_128.png</image128x128> </icon> </fileType> </fileTypes> </application>
aspectRatio
Adobe AIR 2.0 and later, iPhone and Android Optional Specifies the initial aspect ratio of the application. If not specified, the application opens in the natural aspect ratio and orientation of the device. The natural orientation varies from device to device. Typically, it is the portrait aspect ratio on small-screen devices such as phones. On some devices, such as the iPad tablet, the application opens in the current orientation. Parent elements:initialWindow on page 176 Child elements: none Content
portrait or landscape
Example
<aspectRatio> landscape</aspectRatio>
autoOrients
Adobe AIR 2.0 and later, iPhone and Android Optional Specifies whether the orientation of content in the application automatically reorients as the device itself changes physical orientation. For more information, see Setting and detecting screen orientation. When using auto-orientation, consider setting the align and scaleMode properties of the Stage to the following:
stage.align = StageAlign.TOP_LEFT; stage.scaleMode = StageScaleMode.NO_SCALE;
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These settings allow the application to rotate around the top, left corner and prevents your application content from being automatically scaled. While the other scale modes do adjust your content to fit the rotated stage dimensions, they also clip, distort, or excessively shrink that content. Better results can almost always be achieved by redrawing or relaying out the content yourself. Parent elements:initialWindow on page 176 Child elements: none Content true or false (default) Example
<autoOrients>true </autoOrients>
content
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Required The value specified for the content element is the URL for the main content file of the application. This may be either a SWF file or an HTML file. The URL is specified relative to the root of the application installation folder. (When running an AIR application with ADL, the URL is relative to the folder containing the application descriptor file. You can use the root-dir parameter of ADL to specify a different root directory.) Parent elements:initialWindow on page 176 Child elements: none Content A URL relative to the application directory. Because the value of the content element is treated as a URL, characters in the name of the content file must be URL encoded according to the rules defined in RFC 1738. Space characters, for example, must be encoded as %20. Example
<content>TravelPlanner.swf </content>
contentType
Adobe AIR 1.0 to 1.1 Optional; AIR 1.5 and later Required
contentType is required as of AIR 1.5 (it was optional in AIR 1.0 and 1.1). The property helps some operating systems to locate the best application to open a file. The value should be the MIME type of the file content. Note that the value is ignored on Linux if the file type is already registered and has an assigned MIME type.
Parent elements:fileType on page 171 Child elements: none Content The MIME type and subtype. See RFC2045 for more information about MIME types.
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Example
<contentType> text/plain</contentType>
copyright
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Optional The copyright information for the AIR application. On Mac OS, the copyright text appears in the About dialog box for the installed application. On Mac OS, the copyright information is also used in the NSHumanReadableCopyright field in the Info.plist file for the application. Parent elements:application on page 163 Child elements: none Content A string containing the application copyright information. Example
<copyright> 2010, Examples, Inc.All rights reserved. </copyright>
customUpdateUI
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Optional Indicates whether an application will provide its own update dialogs. If false, AIR presents standard update dialogs to the user. Only applications distributed as AIR files can use the built-in AIR update system. When the installed version of your application has the customUpdateUI element set to true and the user then doubleclicks the AIR file for a new version or installs an update of the application using the seamless install feature, the runtime opens the installed version of the application. The runtime does not open the default AIR application installer. Your application logic can then determine how to proceed with the update operation. (The application ID and publisher ID in the AIR file must match the values in the installed application for an upgrade to proceed.) Note: The customUpdateUI mechanism only comes into play when the application is already installed and the user double-clicks the AIR installation file containing an update or installs an update of the application using the seamless install feature. You can download and start an update through your own application logic, displaying your custom UI as necessary, whether or not customUpdateUI is true. For more information, see Updating AIR applications on page 204. Parent elements:application on page 163 Child elements: none Content true or false (default) Example
<customUpdateUI> true</customUpdateUI>
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description
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Optional The description of the application, displayed in the AIR application installer. If you specify a single text node (not multiple text elements), the AIR application installer uses this description, regardless of the system language. Otherwise, the AIR application installer uses the description that most closely matches the user interface language of the users operating system. For example, consider an installation in which the description element of the application descriptor file includes a value the en (English) locale. The AIR application installer uses the en description if the users system identifies en (English) as the user interface language. It also uses the en description if the system user interface language is en-US (U.S. English). However, if system user interface language is en-US and the application descriptor file defines both en-US and en-GB names, then the AIR application installer uses the en-US value. If the application defines no description that matches the system user interface language, the AIR application installer uses the first description value defined in the application descriptor file. For more information on developing multi-language applications, see Localizing AIR applications on page 239. Parent elements:application on page 163 Child elements:text on page 187 Content The AIR 1.0 application descriptor schema allows only one simple text node to be defined for the name (not multiple text elements). In AIR 1.1 (or above), you can specify multiple languages in the description element. The xml:lang attribute for each text element specifies a language code, as defined in RFC4646 (http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4646.txt). Example Description with simple text node:
<description>This is a sample AIR application.</description>
Description with localized text elements for English, French, and Spanish (valid in AIR 1.1 and later):
<description> <text xml:lang="en">This is an example.</text> <text xml:lang="fr">C'est un exemple.</text> <text xml:lang="es">Esto es un ejemplo.</text> </description>
description
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Required The file type description is displayed to the user by the operating system. The file type description is not localizable. See also: description on page 169 as child of the application element Parent elements:fileType on page 171 Child elements: none Content A string describing the file contents.
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Example
<description> PNG image</description>
extension
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Required The extension string of a file type. Parent elements:fileType on page 171 Child elements: none Content A string identifying the file extension characters (without the dot, .). Example
<extension> png</extension>
extensionID
Adobe AIR 2.5 and later, tv and extendedTV profiles only Required Specifies the ID of an ActionScript extension used by the application. The ID is defined in the extension descriptor document. Parent elements:extensions on page 170 Child elements: none Content A string identifying the ActionScript extension ID. Example
<extensionID> com.example.extendedFeature</extensionID>
extensions
Adobe AIR 2.5 and later, tv and extendedTV profiles only Optional Identifies the ActionScript extensions used by an application. Parent elements:application on page 163 Child elements:extensionID on page 170 Content Child extensionID elements containing the ActionScript extension IDs from the extension descriptor file.
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Example
<extensions> <extensionID>extension.first</extensionID> <extensionID>extension.next</extensionID> <extensionID>extension.last</extensionID> </extensions>
filename
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Required The string to use as a filename of the application (without extension) when the application is installed. The application file launches the AIR application in the runtime. If no name value is provided, the filename is also used as the name of the installation folder. Parent elements:application on page 163 Child elements: none Content The filename property can contain any Unicode (UTF-8) character except the following, which are prohibited from use as filenames on various file systems:
Character various * " : > < ? \ | Hexadecimal Code 0x00 x1F x2A x22 x3A x3C x3E x3F x5C x7C
fileType
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Optional Describes a single file type that the application can register for. Parent elements:fileTypes on page 172
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Child elements:
contentType on page 167 description on page 169 extension on page 170 icon on page 174 name on page 183
Content Elements describing a file type. Example
<fileType> <name>foo.example</name> <extension>foo</extension> <description>Example file type</description> <contentType>text/plain</contentType> <icon> <image16x16>icons/fooIcon16.png</image16x16> <image48x48>icons/fooIcon48.png</imge48x48> <icon> </fileType>
fileTypes
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Optional The fileTypes element allows you to declare the file types with which an AIR application can be associated. When an AIR application is installed, any declared file type is registered with the operating system. If these file types are not already associated with another application, they are associated with the AIR application. To override an existing association between a file type and another application, use the NativeApplication.setAsDefaultApplication() method at run time (preferably with the users permission). Note: The runtime methods can only manage associations for the file types declared in the application descriptor. The fileTypes element is optional. Parent elements:application on page 163 Child elements:fileType on page 171 Content The fileTypes element may contain any number of fileType elements.
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Example
<fileTypes> <fileType> <name>adobe.VideoFile</name> <extension>avf</extension> <description>Adobe Video File</description> <contentType>application/vnd.adobe.video-file</contentType> <icon> <image16x16>icons/AIRApp_16.png</image16x16> <image32x32>icons/AIRApp_32.png</image32x32> <image48x48>icons/AIRApp_48.png</image48x48> <image128x128>icons/AIRApp_128.png</image128x128> </icon> </fileType> </fileTypes>
fullScreen
Adobe AIR 2.0 and later, iPhone and Android Optional Specifies whether the application starts up in fullscreen mode. Parent elements:initialWindow on page 176 Child elements: none Content true or false (default) Example
<fullscreen>true </fullscreen>
height
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Optional The initial height of the main window of the application. If you do not set a height, it is determined by the settings in the root SWF file or, in the case of an HTML-based AIR application, by the operating system. The maximum height of a window changed from 2048 pixels to 4096 pixels in AIR 2. Parent elements:initialWindow on page 176 Child elements: none Content A positive integer with a maximum value of 4095. Example
<height>4095 </height>
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icon
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Optional The icon property specifies one or more icon files to be used for the application. Including an icon is optional. If you do not specify an icon property, the operating system displays a default icon. The path specified is relative to the application root directory. Icon files must be in the PNG format. You can specify all of the following icon sizes: If an element for a given size is present, the image in the file must be exactly the size specified. If all sizes are not provided, the closest size is scaled to fit for a given use of the icon by the operating system. Note: The icons specified are not automatically added to the AIR package. The icon files must be included in their correct relative locations when the application is packaged. For best results, provide an image for each of the available sizes. In addition, make sure that the icons look presentable in both 16- and 32-bit color modes. Parent elements:application on page 163 Child elements:imageNxN on page 175 Content An imageNxN element for each desired icon size. Example
<icon> <image16x16>icons/smallIcon.png</image16x16> <image32x32>icons/mediumIcon.png</image32x32> <image48x48>icons/bigIcon.png</image48x48> <image128x128>icons/biggestIcon.png</image128x128> </icon>
id
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Required An identifier string for the application, known as the application ID. A reverse DNS-style identifier is often used, but this style is not required. Parent elements:application on page 163 Child elements: none Content The ID value is restricted to the following characters:
09 az AZ . (dot) - (hyphen)
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The value must contain 1 to 212 characters. This element is required. Example
<id>org.example.application</id>
imageNxN
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Optional Defines the path to an icon relative to the application directory. The following icon images can be used, each specifying a different icon size:
image16x16 image29x29 (AIR 2+) image32x32 image36x36 (AIR 2.5+) image48x48 image57x57 (AIR 2+) image72x72 (AIR 2+) image114x114 (AIR 2.6+) image128x128 image512x512 (AIR 2+)
The icon must be a PNG graphic that is exactly the size indicated by the image element. Icon files must be included in the application package; icons referenced in the application descriptor document are not included automatically. Parent elements:application on page 163 Child elements: none Content The file path to the icon can contain any Unicode (UTF-8) character except the following, which are prohibited from use as filenames on various file systems:
Character various * " : > < ? \ | Hexadecimal Code 0x00 x1F x2A x22 x3A x3C x3E x3F x5C x7C
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Example
<image32x32>icons/icon32.png</image32x32>
InfoAdditions
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Optional Allows you to specify additional properties of an iPhone application. Parent elements:iPhone on page 179 Child elements: iPhone Info.plist elements Content Contains child elements specifying key-value pairs to use as Info.plist settings for the application. Content of the InfoAdditions element should be enclosed in a CDATA block. See Information Property List Key Reference in the Apple iPhone Reference Library for information about the key value pairs and how to express them in XML. Example
<InfoAdditions> <![CDATA[ <key>UIStatusBarStyle</key> <string>UIStatusBarStyleBlackOpaque</string> <key>UIRequiresPersistentWiFi</key> <string>NO</string> ]]> </InfoAdditions>
initialWindow
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Required Defines the main content file and initial application appearance. Parent elements:application on page 163 Child elements: All of the following elements can appear as children of the initialWindow element. However, some elements are ignored depending on whether AIR supports windows on a platform:
Element aspectRatio on page 166 autoOrients on page 166 content on page 167 Desktop ignored Mobile used TV ignored
ignored
used
ignored
used
used
used
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Element fullScreen on page 173 height on page 173 maximizable on page 181 maxSize on page 181 minimizable on page 182 minSize on page 182 renderMode on page 184 resizable on page 185
Desktop ignored
Mobile used
TV used
used
ignored
ignored
used
ignored
ignored
used
ignored
ignored
used
ignored
ignored
used
ignored
ignored
ignored
used
ignored
used
ignored
ignored
softKeyboardB ignored ehavior on page 185 systemChrom e on page 187 title on page 188 transparent on page 188 visible on page 190 width on page 190 used
used
ignored
ignored
ignored
used
ignored
ignored
used
ignored
ignored
used
ignored
ignored
used
ignored
ignored
ignored ignored
ignored ignored
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Example
<initialWindow> <title>Hello World</title> <content> HelloWorld.swf </content> <systemChrome>none</systemChrome> <transparent>true</transparent> <visible>true</visible> <maxSize>1024 800</maxSize> <minSize>320 240</minSize> <maximizable>false</maximizable> <minimizable>false</minimizable> <resizable>true</resizable> <x>20</x> <y>20</y> <height>600</height> <width>800</width> <aspectRatio>landscape</aspectRatio> <autoOrients>true</autoOrients> <fullScreen>false</fullScreen> <renderMode>auto</renderMode> </initialWindow>
installFolder
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Optional Identifies the subdirectory of the default installation directory. On Windows, the default installation subdirectory is the Program Files directory. On Mac OS, it is the /Applications directory. On Linux, it is /opt/. For example, if the installFolder property is set to "Acme" and an application is named "ExampleApp", then the application is installed in C:\Program Files\Acme\ExampleApp on Windows, in /Applications/Acme/Example.app on MacOS, and /opt/Acme/ExampleApp on Linux. The installFolder property is optional. If you specify no installFolder property, the application is installed in a subdirectory of the default installation directory, based on the name property. Parent elements:application on page 163 Child elements: None Content The installFolder property can contain any Unicode (UTF-8) character except those that are prohibited from use as folder names on various file systems (see the filename property for the list of exceptions). Use the forward-slash (/) character as the directory separator character if you want to specify a nested subdirectory. Example
<installFolder>utilities/toolA</installFolder>
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iPhone
Adobe AIR 2.0, iPhone only Optional Defines iPhone-specific application properties. Parent elements:application on page 163 Child elements:
manifest
Adobe AIR 2.5 and later, Android only Optional Specifies information to add to the Android manifest file for the application. Parent element:manifestAdditions on page 180 Child elements: Defined by the Android SDK. Content The manifest element is not, technically speaking, a part of the AIR application descriptor schema. It is the root of the Android manifest XML document. Any content that you put within the manifest element must conform to the AndroidManifest.xml schema. When you generate an APK file with the AIR tools, information in the manifest element is copied into the corresponding part of the generated AndroidManifest.xml of the application. The manifest element itself must be enclosed in a CDATA block within the AIR application descriptor. Example
<![CDATA[ <manifest android:sharedUserID="1001"> <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA"/> <uses-feature android:required="false" android:name="android.hardware.camera"/> <application android:allowClearUserData="true" android:enabled="true" android:persistent="true"/> </manifest> ]]>
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manifestAdditions
Adobe AIR 2.5 and later, Android only Specifies information to add to the Android manifest file. Every Android application includes a manifest file that defines basic application properties. The Android manifest is similar in concept to the AIR application descriptor. An AIR for Android application has both an application descriptor and an automatically generated Android manifest file. When an AIR for Android app is packaged, the information in this manifestAdditions element is added to the corresponding parts of the Android manifest document. Parent element:android on page 163 Child elements:manifest on page 179 Content Information in the manifestAdditions element is added to the AndroidManifest XML document. AIR sets several manifest entries in the generated Android manifest document to ensure that application and runtime features work correctly. You cannot override the following settings: You cannot set the following attributes of the manifest element:
android:label android:icon
You cannot set the following attributes of the application element:
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Example
<manifestAdditions> <![CDATA[ <manifest android:installLocation="preferExternal"> <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/> <application android:allowClearUserData="true" android:enabled="true" android:persistent="true"/> </manifest> ]]> </manifestAdditions>
maximizable
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Optional Specifies whether the window can be maximized. Note: On operating systems, such as Mac OS X, for which maximizing windows is a resizing operation, both maximizable and resizable must be set to false to prevent the window from being zoomed or resized. Parent element:initialWindow on page 176 Child elements: none Content true (default) or false Example
<maximizable>false </maximizable>
maxSize
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Optional The maximum sizes of the window. If you do not set a maximum size, it is determined by the operating system. Parent elements:initialWindow on page 176 Child elements: none Content Two integers representing the maximum width and height, separated by whites pace. Note: The maximum window size supported by AIR increased from 2048x2048 pixels to 4096x4096 pixels in AIR 2. (Because the screen coordinates are zero-based, the maximum value you can use for width or height is 4095.) Example
<maxSize>1024 360</maxSize>
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minimizable
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Optional Specifies whether the window can be minimized. Parent elements:initialWindow on page 176 Child elements: None Content true (default) or false Example
<minimizable>false</minimizable>
minSize
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Optional Specifies the minimum size allowed for the window. Parent elements:initialWindow on page 176 Child elements: none Content Two integers representing the minimum width and height, separated by whites pace. Note that the minimum size imposed by the operating system takes precedence over the value set in the application descriptor. Example
<minSize>120 60</minSize>
name
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Optional The application title displayed by the AIR application installer. If no name element is specified, the AIR application installer displays the filename as the application name. Parent elements:application on page 163 Child elements:text on page 187 Content If you specify a single text node (instead of multiple <text> elements), the AIR application installer uses this name, regardless of the system language. The AIR 1.0 application descriptor schema allows only one simple text node to be defined for the name (not multiple text elements). In AIR 1.1 (or above), you can specify multiple languages in the name element. The xml:lang attribute for each text element specifies a language code, as defined in RFC4646 (http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4646.txt).
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The AIR application installer uses the name that most closely matches the user interface language of the users operating system. For example, consider an installation in which the name element of the application descriptor file includes a value for the en (English) locale. The AIR application installer uses the en name if the operating system identifies en (English) as the user interface language. It also uses the en name if the system user interface language is en-US (U.S. English). However, if the user interface language is en-US and the application descriptor file defines both en-US and en-GB names, then the AIR application installer uses the en-US value. If the application defines no name that matches the system user interface languages, the AIR application installer uses the first name value defined in the application descriptor file. The name element only defines the application title used in the AIR application installer. The AIR application installer supports multiple languages: Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish. The AIR application installer selects its displayed language (for text other than the application title and description) based on the system user interface language. This language selection is independent of the settings in the application descriptor file. The name element does not define the locales available for the running, installed application. For details on developing multi-language applications, see Localizing AIR applications on page 239. Example The following example defines a name with a simple text node:
<name>Test Application</name>
The following example, valid in AIR 1.1 and later, specifies the name in three languages (English, French, and Spanish) using <text> element nodes:
<name> <text xml:lang="en">Hello AIR</text> <text xml:lang="fr">Bonjour AIR</text> <text xml:lang="es">Hola AIR</text> </name>
name
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Required Identifies the name of a file type. Parent elements:fileType on page 171 Child elements: none Content A string representing the name of the file type. Example
<name>adobe.VideoFile</name>
programMenuFolder
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Optional Identifies the location in which to place shortcuts to the application in the All Programs menu of the Windows operating system or in the Applications menu on Linux. (This setting is currently ignored on other operating systems.)
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Parent elements:application on page 163 Child elements: none Content The string used for the programMenuFolder value can contain any Unicode (UTF-8) character except those that are prohibited from use as folder names on various file systems (see the filename element for the list of exceptions). Do not use a forward slash (/) character as the last character of this value. Example
<programMenuFolder>Example Company/Sample Application</programMenuFolder>
publisherID
Adobe AIR 1.5.3 and later Optional Identifies the publisher ID for updating an AIR application originally created with AIR version 1.5.2 or earlier. Only specify a publisher ID when creating an application update. The value of the publisherID element must match the publisher ID generated by AIR for the earlier version of the application. For an installed application, the publisher ID can be found in the folder in which an application is installed, in the META-INF/AIR/publisherid file. New applications created with AIR 1.5.3 or later should not specify a publisher ID. For more information, see About AIR publisher identifiers on page 147. Parent elements:application on page 163 Child elements: none Content A publisher ID string. Example
<publisherID>B146A943FBD637B68C334022D304CEA226D129B4.1</publisherID>
renderMode
Adobe AIR 2.0 and later Optional Specifies whether to use graphics processing unit (GPU) acceleration, if supported on the current computing device. Parent elements:initialWindow on page 176 Child elements: none Content One of the following values:
auto (default) currently falls back to CPU mode. cpu hardware acceleration is not used. gpu hardware acceleration is used, if available.
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Example
<renderMode>gpu</renderMode>
requestedDisplayResolution
Adobe AIR 2.6 and later, iOS only Optional Specifies whether the application desires to use the standard or high resolution on an iOS device with a high-resolution screen. When set to standard, the default, the screen will appear to the application as a standard-resolution screen. In other words, the fullscreen stage dimensions are 320x480, even on a 640x960 high-resolution screen. When set to high, the application can address each high-resolution pixel. In other words, the fullscreen stage dimensions are 640x960. On devices with standard-resolution screens, the stage dimensions match the screen dimensions no matter which setting is used. Parent elements:iPhone on page 179 Child elements: none Content Either standard, the default, or high. Example
<requestedDisplayResolution>high</requestedDisplayResolution>
resizable
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Optional Specifies whether the window can be resized. Note: On operating systems, such as Mac OS X, for which maximizing windows is a resizing operation, both maximizable and resizable must be set to false to prevent the window from being zoomed or resized. Parent elements:initialWindow on page 176 Child elements: Content true (default) or false Example
<resizable>false</resizable>
softKeyboardBehavior
Adobe AIR 2.6 and later, mobile profile Optional Specifies the default behavior of the application when a virtual keyboard is displayed. The default behavior is to pan the application upward. The runtime keeps the focused text field or interactive object on the screen. Use the pan option if your application does not provide its own keyboard handling logic.
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You can also turn off the automatic behavior by setting the softKeyboardBehavior element to none. In this case, text fields and interactive objects dispatch a SoftKeyboardEvent when the soft keyboard is raised, but the runtime does not pan or resize the application. It is your applications responsibility to keep the text entry area in view. Parent elements:application on page 163 Child elements: none Content Either none or pan. The default value is pan. Example
<softKeyboardBehavior>none</softKeyboardBehavior>
supportedProfiles
Adobe AIR 2.0 and later Optional Identifies the profiles that are supported for the application. Parent elements:application on page 163 Child elements: none Content You can include any of these values in the supportedProfiles element:
desktopThe desktop profile is for AIR applications that are installed on a desktop computer using an AIR file.
These applications do not have access to the NativeProcess class (which provides communication with native applications).
extendedDesktopThe extended desktop profile is for AIR applications that are installed on a desktop computer
using a native application installer. These applications have access to the NativeProcess class (which provides communication with native applications).
mobileDeviceThe mobile device profile is for mobile applications. extendedMobileDeviceThe extended mobile device profile is not currently in use. tvThe tv profile is for applications installed on television device with an AIR file. extendedTVThe extended tv profile is for applications installed on a tv device with an AIRN file. These
applications have access to ActionScript extensions. The supportedProfiles property is optional. When you do not include this element in the application descriptor file, the application can be compiled and deployed for any profile. To specify multiple profiles, separate each with a space character. For example, the following setting specifies that the application is only available in the desktop and extended profiles:
<supportedProfiles>desktop extendedDesktop</supportedProfiles>
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Note: When you run an application with ADL and do not specify a value for the ADL -profile option, then the first profile in the application descriptor is used. (If no profiles are specified in the application descriptor either, then the desktop profile is used.) Example
<supportedProfiles>desktop mobileDevice</supportedProfiles>
systemChrome
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Optional Specifies whether the initial application window is created with the standard title bar, borders, and controls provided by the operating system. The system chrome setting of the window cannot be changed at run time. Parent elements:initialWindow on page 176 Child elements: none Content One of the following values:
none No system chrome is provided. The application (or an application framework such as Flex) is responsible
Example
<systemChrome>standard</systemChrome>
text
Adobe AIR 1.1 and later Optional Specifies a localized string. The xml:lang attribute of a text element specifies a language code, as defined in RFC4646 (http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4646.txt). The AIR application installer uses the text element with the xml:lang attribute value that most closely matches the user interface language of the users operating system. For example, consider an installation in which a text element includes a value for the en (English) locale. The AIR application installer uses the en name if the operating system identifies en (English) as the user interface language. It also uses the en name if the system user interface language is en-US (U.S. English). However, if the user interface language is en-US and the application descriptor file defines both en-US and en-GB names, then the AIR application installer uses the en-US value.
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If the application defines no text element that matches the system user interface languages, the AIR application installer uses the first name value defined in the application descriptor file. Parent elements:
title
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Optional Specifies the title displayed in the title bar of the initial application window. A title is only displayed if the systemChrome element is set to standard. Parent elements:initialWindow on page 176 Child elements: none Content A string containing the window title. Example
<title>Example Window Title</title>
transparent
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Optional Specifies whether the initial application window is alpha-blended with the desktop. A window with transparency enabled may draw more slowly and require more memory. The transparent setting cannot be changed at run time. Important: You can only set transparent to true when systemChrome is none. Parent elements:initialWindow on page 176 Child elements: none Content true or false (default) Example
<transparent>true</transparent>
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version
Adobe AIR 1.0 to 2.0 Required; Not allowed in AIR 2.5 and later Specifies the version information for the application. The version string is an application-defined designator. AIR does not interpret the version string in any way. Thus, version 3.0 is not assumed to be more current than version 2.0. Examples: "1.0", ".4", "0.5", "4.9", "1.3.4a". In AIR 2.5 and later, the version element is superseded by the versionNumber and versionLabel elements. Parent elements:application on page 163 Child elements: none Content A string containing the application version. Example
<version>0.1 Alpha</version>
versionLabel
Adobe AIR 2.5 and later Optional Specifies a human-readable version string. The value of the version label is displayed in installation dialogs instead of the value of the versionNumber element. If versionLabel is not used, then the versionNumber is used for both. Parent elements:application on page 163 Child elements: none Content A string containing the publicly displayed version text. Example
<versionLabel>0.9 Beta</versionlabel>
versionNumber
Adobe AIR 2.5 and later Required The application version number. Parent elements:application on page 163 Child elements: none Content The version number can contain a sequence of up to three integers separated by periods. Each integer must be a number between 0 and 999 (inclusive).
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Examples
<versionNumber>1.0.657</versionNumber> <versionNumber>10</versionNumber> <versionNumber>0.01</versionNumber>
visible
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Optional Specifies whether the initial application window is visible as soon as it is created. AIR windows, including the initial window, are created in an invisible state by default. You can display a window by calling the activate() method of the NativeWindow object or by setting the visible property to true. You may want to leave the main window hidden initially, so that changes to the windows position, the windows size, and the layout of its contents are not shown. The Flex mx:WindowedApplication component automatically displays and activates the window immediately before the applicationComplete event is dispatched, unless the visible attribute is set to false in the MXML definition. On devices in the mobile and tv profiles, which do not support windows, the visible setting is ignored. Parent elements:initialWindow on page 176 Child elements: none Content true or false (default) Example
<visible>true</visible>
width
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Optional The initial width of the main window of the application. If you do not set a width, it is determined by the settings in the root SWF file or, in the case of an HTML-based AIR application, by the operating system. The maximum width of a window changed from 2048 pixels to 4096 pixels in AIR 2. Parent elements:initialWindow on page 176 Child elements: none Content A positive integer with a maximum value of 4095. Example
<width>1024</width>
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x
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Optional The horizontal position of the initial application window. In most cases, it is better to let the operating system determine the initial position of the window rather than assigning a fixed value. The origin of the screen coordinate system (0,0) is the top, left-hand corner of the main desktop screen (as determined by the operating system). Parent elements:initialWindow on page 176 Child elements: none Content An integer value. Example
<x>120</x>
y
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later Optional The vertical position of the initial application window. In most cases, it is better to let the operating system determine the initial position of the window rather than assigning a fixed value. The origin of the screen coordinate system (0,0) is the top, left-hand corner of the main desktop screen (as determined by the operating system). Parent elements:initialWindow on page 176 Child elements: none Content An integer value. Example
<y>250</y>
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Extended desktop The extended desktop profile defines a set of capabilities for AIR applications that are packaged
into and installed with a native installer. These native installers are EXE files on Windows, DMG files on Mac OS, and BIN, DEB, or RPM files on Linux. Extended desktop applications have additional capabilities that are not available in desktop profile applications. For more information, see Packaging a desktop native installer on page 51.
Mobile device The mobile device profile defines a set of capabilities for applications that are installed on mobile devices such as cell phones and tablets. These applications install and run on supported mobile platforms, including Android, Blackberry Tablet OS, and iOS. Extended mobile device The extended mobile device profile defines an extended set of capabilities for applications
that are installed on mobile devices. Currently, there are no devices that support this profile.
TV The television profile defines a set of capabilities for televisions. The profile also includes devices that use televisions as their primary display, such as Blu-ray disc players, digital video recorders, and set-top boxes. Applications in this profile cannot use ActionScript extensions. Extended TV The extended television profile covers the same types of devices as the television profile, but includes additional features, such ActionScript extensions.
When this element is set, the application can only be packaged in the profiles you list. Use the following values:
desktopThe desktop profile extendedDesktopThe extended desktop profile mobileDeviceThe mobile device profile tvThe television profile extendedTVThe extended television profile
The supportedProfiles element is optional. When you do not include this element in the application descriptor file, the application can be packaged and deployed for any profile. To specify multiple profiles in the supportedProfiles element, separate each with a space character, as in the following:
<supportedProfiles>desktop extendedDesktop</supportedProfiles>
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Class or Feature
desktop
mobileDevice
tv
extendedTV
Accelerometer (Accelerometer.isSupported) No Accessibility (Capabilities.hasAccessibility) Acoustic echo cancelation (Microphone.getEnhancedMicrophone()) ActionScript 2 CacheAsBitmap matrix Camera (Camera.isSupported) CameraRoll CameraUI (CameraUI.isSupported) ContextMenu (ContextMenu.isSupported) DatagramSocket (DatagramSocket.isSupported) DockIcon (NativeApplication.supportsDockIcon) Drag-and-drop (NativeDragManager.isSupported) EncyptedLocalStore (EncyptedLocalStore.isSupported) ExtensionContext Flash Access (DRMManager.isSupported) Geolocation (Geolocation.isSupported) HTMLLoader (HTMLLoader.isSupported) IME (IME.isSupported) LocalConnection (LocalConnection.isSupported) Microphone (Microphone.isSupported) NativeMenu (NativeMenu.isSupported) NativeProcess (NativeProcess.isSupported) Yes Yes
Check No No
No No No
No No No
Yes Yes No No No No No
Yes Yes No No No No No
Check
Check
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Check
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No No Check No Check No
No Yes No No No Yes
Yes Yes No
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
No No No No Yes No No Check No No No
No No No No Yes No No Check No No No
NativeWindow (NativeWindow.isSupported) Yes NetworkInfo (NetworkInfo.isSupported) Open files with default application PrintJob (PrintJob.isSupported SecureSocket (SecureSocket.isSupported) ServerSocket (ServerSocket.isSupported) Shader Stage orientation (Stage.supportsOrientationChange) Yes Limited Yes Yes Yes Yes No
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Class or Feature
desktop
extendedDeskt op No Yes
mobileDevice
tv
extendedTV
StageVideo StageWebView (StageWebView.isSupported) Start application at login (NativeApplication.supportsStartAtLogin) StorageVolumeInfo (StorageVolumeInfo.isSupported) System idle mode
No Yes
No Yes
Yes No
Yes No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
Check
Check
No
No Check
Yes No
No No
No No
SystemTrayIcon Check (NativeApplication.supportsSystemTrayIcon ) Text Layout Framework input Updater (Updater.isSupported) XMLSignatureValidator (XMLSignatureValidator.isSupported) Yes Yes Yes
Yes No Yes
No No No
No No Yes
No No Yes
Check The feature is supported on some, but not all devices in the profile. You should check at runtime whether
the feature is supported before using it.
Limited The feature is supported, but has significant limitations. See the relevant documentation for more
information.
No The feature is not supported in the profile. Yes The feature is supported in the profile. Note that individual computing devices make lack the hardware
necessary for a feature. For example, not all phones have cameras.
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It can install an AIR application. See Installing an AIR application from the browser on page 201. It can check to see if a specific AIR application is installed. See Checking from a web page if an AIR application is
installed on page 200.
It can check to see if the runtime is installed. See Checking if the runtime is installed on page 200. It can launch an installed AIR application on the users system. See Launching an installed AIR application from
the browser on page 202. These capabilities are all provided by calling APIs in a SWF file hosted at adobe.com: air.swf. You can customize the badge.swf file and call the air.swf APIs from your own SWF file. Additionally, a SWF file running in the browser can communicate with a running AIR application by using the LocalConnection class. For more information, see Communicating with other Flash Player and AIR instances (for ActionScript developers) or Communicating with other Flash Player and AIR instances (for HTML developers). Important: The features described in this section (and the APIs in the air.swf file) require the end user to have Adobe Flash Player 9 update 3, or later, installed in the web browser on Windows or Mac OS. On Linux, the seamless install feature requires Flash Player 10 (version 10,0,12,36 or later). You can write code to check the installed version of Flash Player and provide an alternate interface to the user if the required version of Flash Player is not installed. For example, if an older version of Flash Player is installed, you could provide a link to the download version of the AIR file (instead of using the badge.swf file or the air.swf API to install an application).
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Parameter
appname appurl airversion imageurl buttoncolor messagecolor
Description The name of the application, displayed by the SWF file when the runtime is not installed. (Required). The URL of the AIR file to be downloaded. You must use an absolute, not relative, URL. (Required). For the 1.0 version of the runtime, set this to 1.0. The URL of the image (optional) to display in the badge. The color of the download button (specified as a hex value, such as FFCC00). The color of the text message displayed below the button when the runtime is not installed (specified as a hex value, such as FFCC00).
4 The minimum size of the badge.swf file is 217 pixels wide by 180 pixels high. Adjust the values of the width and
height parameters of the AC_FL_RunContent() function to suit your needs.
5 Rename the default_badge.html file and adjust its code (or include it in another HTML page) to suit your needs.
Note: For the HTML embed tag that loads the badge.swf file, do not set the wmode attribute; leave it set to the default setting ("window"). Other wmode settings will prevent installation on some systems. Also, using other wmode settings produces an error: Error #2044: Unhandled ErrorEvent:. text=Error #2074: The stage is too small to fit the download ui. You can also edit and recompile the badge.swf file. For details, see Modify the badge.swf file on page 198.
Install the AIR application from a seamless install link in a web page
Once you have added the seamless install link to a page, the user can install the AIR application by clicking the link in the SWF file.
1 Navigate to the HTML page in a web browser that has Flash Player (version 9 update 3 or later on Windows and
If you have installed the runtime, skip to the next step. If you have not installed the runtime, a dialog box is displayed asking whether you would like to install it. Install
the runtime (see Adobe AIR installation on page 2), and then proceed with the next step.
3 In the Installation window, leave the default settings selected, and then click Continue.
Installs the application into c:\Program Files\ Creates a desktop shortcut for application Creates a Start Menu shortcut Adds an entry for application in the Add/Remove Programs Control Panel
On Mac OS, the installer adds the application to the Applications directory (for example, in the /Applications directory in Mac OS). On a Linux computer, AIR automatically does the following:
Installs the application into /opt. Creates a desktop shortcut for application Creates a Start Menu shortcut Adds an entry for application in the system package manager
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4 Select the options you want, and then click the Install button. 5 When the installation is complete, click Finish.
AIRBadge.as
You can use Flash Professional to redesign the visual interface of the badge.fla file. The AIRBadge() constructor function, defined in the AIRBadge class, loads the air.swf file hosted at http://airdownload.adobe.com/air/browserapi/air.swf. The air.swf file includes code for using the seamless install feature. The onInit() method (in the AIRBadge class) is invoked when the air.swf file is loaded successfully:
private function onInit(e:Event):void { _air = e.target.content; switch (_air.getStatus()) { case "installed" : root.statusMessage.text = ""; break; case "available" : if (_appName && _appName.length > 0) { root.statusMessage.htmlText = "<p align='center'><font color='#" + _messageColor + "'>In order to run " + _appName + ", this installer will also set up Adobe AIR.</font></p>"; } else { root.statusMessage.htmlText = "<p align='center'><font color='#" + _messageColor + "'>In order to run this application, " + "this installer will also set up Adobe AIR.</font></p>"; } break; case "unavailable" : root.statusMessage.htmlText = "<p align='center'><font color='#" + _messageColor + "'>Adobe AIR is not available for your system.</font></p>"; root.buttonBg_mc.enabled = false; break; } }
The code sets the global _air variable to the main class of the loaded air.swf file. This class includes the following public methods, which the badge.swf file accesses to call seamless install functionality:
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Method
getStatus()
Description Determines whether the runtime is installed (or can be installed) on the computer. For details, see Checking if the runtime is installed on page 200.
runtimeVersionA string indicating the version of the runtime (such as "1.0.M6") required by the
application to be installed.
installApplication() Installs the specified application on the users machine. For details, see Installing an AIR application from the
urlA string defining the URL. You must use an absolute, not relative, URL path. runtimeVersionA string indicating the version of the runtime (such as "2.5") required by the
application to be installed.
arguments Arguments to be passed to the application if it is launched upon installation. The application is launched upon installation if the allowBrowserInvocation element is set to true in the application
descriptor file. (For more information on the application descriptor file, see AIR application descriptor files on page 159.) If the application is launched as the result of a seamless install from the browser (with the user choosing to launch upon installation), the applications NativeApplication object dispatches a BrowserInvokeEvent object only if arguments are passed. Consider the security implications of data that you pass to the application. For details, see Launching an installed AIR application from the browser on page 202.
The settings for url and runtimeVersion are passed into the SWF file via the FlashVars settings in the container HTML page. If the application starts automatically upon installation, you can use LocalConnection communication to have the installed application contact the badge.swf file upon invocation. For more information, see Communicating with other Flash Player and AIR instances (for ActionScript developers) or Communicating with other Flash Player and AIR instances (for HTML developers). You may also call the getApplicationVersion() method of the air.swf file to check if an application is installed. You can call this method either before the application installation process or after the installation is started. For details, see Checking from a web page if an AIR application is installed on page 200.
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var airSWF:Object; // This is the reference to the main class of air.swf var airSWFLoader:Loader = new Loader(); // Used to load the SWF var loaderContext:LoaderContext = new LoaderContext(); // Used to set the application domain loaderContext.applicationDomain = ApplicationDomain.currentDomain; airSWFLoader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.INIT, onInit); airSWFLoader.load(new URLRequest("http://airdownload.adobe.com/air/browserapi/air.swf"), loaderContext); function onInit(e:Event):void { airSWF = e.target.content; }
Once the air.swf file is loaded (when the Loader objects contentLoaderInfo object dispatches the init event), you can call any of the air.swf APIs, described in the sections that follow. Note: The badge.swf file, provided with the AIR SDK and the Flex SDK, automatically loads the air.swf file. See Using the badge.swf file to install an AIR application on page 196. The instructions in this section apply to creating your own SWF file that loads the air.swf file.
The getStatus() method returns one of the following string values, based on the status of the runtime on the computer:
String value
"available" "unavailable" "installed"
Description The runtime can be installed on this computer but currently it is not installed. The runtime cannot be installed on this computer. The runtime is installed on this computer.
The getStatus() method throws an error if the required version of Flash Player (version 9 update 3 or later on Windows and Mac OS, or version 10 on Linux) is not installed in the browser.
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Once the air.swf file is loaded, the SWF file can call the air.swf files getApplicationVersion() method as in the following:
var appID:String = "com.example.air.myTestApplication"; var pubID:String = "02D88EEED35F84C264A183921344EEA353A629FD.1"; airSWF.getApplicationVersion(appID, pubID, versionDetectCallback); function versionDetectCallback(version:String):void { if (version == null) { trace("Not installed."); // Take appropriate actions. For instance, present the user with // an option to install the application. } else { trace("Version", version, "installed."); // Take appropriate actions. For instance, enable the // user interface to launch the application. } }
Description The application ID for the application. For details, see id on page 174. The publisher ID for the application. For details, see publisherID on page 184. If the application in question does not have a publisher ID, set the pubID parameter to an empty string (). A callback function to serve as the handler function. The getApplicationVersion() method operates asynchronously, and upon detecting the installed version (or lack of an installed version), this callback method is invoked. The callback method definition must include one parameter, a string, which is set to the version string of the installed application. If the application is not installed, a null value is passed to the function, as illustrated in the previous code sample.
callback
The getApplicationVersion() method throws an error if the required version of Flash Player (version 9 update 3 or later on Windows and Mac OS, or version 10 on Linux) is not installed in the browser. Note: As of AIR 1.5.3, the publisher ID is deprecated. Publisher IDs are no longer assigned to an application automatically. For backward compatibility, applications can continue to specify a publisher ID.
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var url:String = "http://www.example.com/myApplication.air"; var runtimeVersion:String = "1.0"; var arguments:Array = ["launchFromBrowser"]; // Optional airSWF.installApplication(url, runtimeVersion, arguments);
The installApplication() method installs the specified application on the users machine. This method has the following parameters:
Parameter
url runtimeVersion arguments
Description A string defining the URL of the AIR file to install. You must use an absolute, not relative, URL path. A string indicating the version of the runtime (such as "1.0") required by the application to be installed. An array of arguments to be passed to the application if it is launched upon installation. Only alphanumerical characters are recognized in the arguments. If you need to pass other values, consider using an encoding scheme. The application is launched upon installation if the allowBrowserInvocation element is set to true in the application descriptor file. (For more information on the application descriptor file, see AIR application descriptor files on page 159.) If the application is launched as the result of a seamless install from the browser (with the user choosing to launch upon installation), the applications NativeApplication object dispatches a BrowserInvokeEvent object only if arguments have been passed. For details, see Launching an installed AIR application from the browser on page 202.
The installApplication() method can only operate when called in the event handler for a user event, such as a mouse click. The installApplication() method throws an error if the required version of Flash Player (version 9 update 3 or later on Windows and Mac OS, or version 10 on Linux) is not installed in the browser. On Mac OS, to install an updated version of an application, the user must have adequate system privileges to install to the application directory (and administrative privileges if the application updates the runtime). On Windows, a user must have administrative privileges. You may also call the getApplicationVersion() method of the air.swf file to check if an application is already installed. You can call this method either before the application installation process begins or after the installation is started. For details, see Checking from a web page if an AIR application is installed on page 200. Once the application is running, it can communicate with the SWF content in the browser by using the LocalConnection class. For more information, see Communicating with other Flash Player and AIR instances (for ActionScript developers) or Communicating with other Flash Player and AIR instances (for HTML developers).
For more information on the application descriptor file, see AIR application descriptor files on page 159. A SWF file in the browser can launch an AIR application by calling the launchApplication() method in the air.swf file loaded from http://airdownload.adobe.com/air/browserapi/air.swf. For details, see Loading the air.swf file on page 199. Once the air.swf file is loaded, the SWF file can call the air.swf files launchApplication() method, as in the following code:
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var appID:String = "com.example.air.myTestApplication"; var pubID:String = "02D88EEED35F84C264A183921344EEA353A629FD.1"; var arguments:Array = ["launchFromBrowser"]; // Optional airSWF.launchApplication(appID, pubID, arguments);
The launchApplication() method is defined at the top level of the air.swf file (which is loaded in the application domain of the user interface SWF file). Calling this method causes AIR to launch the specified application (if it is installed and browser invocation is allowed, via the allowBrowserInvocation setting in the application descriptor file). The method has the following parameters:
Parameter
appID pubID
Description The application ID for the application to launch. For details, see id on page 174. The publisher ID for the application to launch. For details, see publisherID on page 184. If the application in question does not have a publisher ID, set the pubID parameter to an empty string () An array of arguments to pass to the application. The NativeApplication object of the application dispatches a BrowserInvokeEvent event that has an arguments property set to this array. Only alphanumerical characters are recognized in the arguments. If you need to pass other values, consider using an encoding scheme.
arguments
The launchApplication() method can only operate when called in the event handler for a user event, such as a mouse click. The launchApplication() method throws an error if the required version of Flash Player (version 9 update 3 or later on Windows and Mac OS, or version 10 on Linux) is not installed in the browser. If the allowBrowserInvocation element is set to false in the application descriptor file, calling the launchApplication() method has no effect. Before presenting the user interface to launch the application, you may want to call the getApplicationVersion() method in the air.swf file. For details, see Checking from a web page if an AIR application is installed on page 200. When the application is invoked via the browser invocation feature, the applications NativeApplication object dispatches a BrowserInvokeEvent object. For details, see Invoking an AIR application from the browser (for ActionScript developers) or Invoking an AIR application from the browser (for HTML developers). If you use the browser invocation feature, be sure to consider security implications. These implications are described in Invoking an AIR application from the browser (for ActionScript developers) and Invoking an AIR application from the browser (for HTML developers). Once the application is running, it can communicate with the SWF content in the browser by using the LocalConnection class. For more information, see Communicating with other Flash Player and AIR instances (for ActionScript developers) or Communicating with other Flash Player and AIR instances (for HTML developers). Note: As of AIR 1.5.3, the publisher ID is deprecated. Publisher IDs are no longer assigned to an application automatically. For backward compatibility, applications can continue to specify a publisher ID.
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JavaScript example:
var updater = new air.Updater(); var airFile = air.File.desktopDirectory.resolvePath("Sample_App_v2.air"); var version = "2.01"; updater.update(airFile, version);
Before an application uses the Updater class, the user or the application must download the updated version of the AIR file to the computer. For more information, see Downloading an AIR file to the users computer on page 207.
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If an Adobe AIR application downloads an AIR file via the web, it is a good practice to have a mechanism by which the web service can notify the Adobe AIR application of the version being downloaded. The application can then use this string as the version parameter of the update() method. If the AIR file is obtained by some other means, in which the version of the AIR file is unknown, the AIR application can examine the AIR file to determine the version information. (An AIR file is a ZIP-compressed archive, and the application descriptor file is the second record in the archive.) For details on the application descriptor file, see AIR application descriptor files on page 159.
Upload each updated application to a separate deployment URL. Upload the upgrade descriptor XML file and the latest certificate for the update to the same URL. Sign the updated application with the latest certificate. Apply a migration signature to the updated application with the certificate used to sign the previous version located
at a different URL.
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This interface is always used the first time a user installs a version of an application on a machine. However, you can define your own interface to use for subsequent instances. If your application defines a custom update interface, specify a customUpdateUI element in the application descriptor file for the currently installed application:
<customUpdateUI>true</customUpdateUI>
When the application is installed and the user opens an AIR file with an application ID and a publisher ID that match the installed application, the runtime opens the application, rather than the default AIR application installer. For more information, see customUpdateUI on page 168. The application can decide, when it is run (when the NativeApplication.nativeApplication object dispatches an load event), whether to update the application (using the Updater class). If it decides to update, it can present its own installation interface (which differs from its standard running interface) to the user.
JavaScript example:
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var urlString = "http://example.com/air/updates/Sample_App_v2.air"; var urlReq = new air.URLRequest(urlString); var urlStream = new air.URLStream(); var fileData = new air.ByteArray(); urlStream.addEventListener(air.Event.COMPLETE, loaded); urlStream.load(urlReq); function loaded(event) { urlStream.readBytes(fileData, 0, urlStream.bytesAvailable); writeAirFile(); } function writeAirFile() { var file = air.File.desktopDirectory.resolvePath("My App v2.air"); var fileStream = new air.FileStream(); fileStream.open(file, air.FileMode.WRITE); fileStream.writeBytes(fileData, 0, fileData.length); fileStream.close(); trace("The AIR file is written."); }
Workflow for reading and writing files (for ActionScript developers) Workflow for reading and writing files (for HTML developers)
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <mx:WindowedApplication xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" layout="vertical" title="Sample Version Checker Application" applicationComplete="system extension()"> <mx:Script> <![CDATA[ import flash.filesystem.*; public var file:File; public var currentVersion:String = "1.2"; public function system extension():void { file = File.applicationStorageDirectory; file = file.resolvePath("Preferences/version.txt"); trace(file.nativePath); if(file.exists) { checkVersion(); } else { firstRun(); } } private function checkVersion():void { var stream:FileStream = new FileStream(); stream.open(file, FileMode.READ); var reversion:String = stream.readUTFBytes(stream.bytesAvailable); stream.close(); if (reversion != currentVersion) { log.text = "You have updated to version " + currentVersion + ".\n"; } else { saveFile(); } log.text += "Welcome to the application."; } private function firstRun():void { log.text = "Thank you for installing the application. \n" + "This is the first time you have run it."; saveFile(); } private function saveFile():void { var stream:FileStream = new FileStream(); stream.open(file, FileMode.WRITE); stream.writeUTFBytes(currentVersion); stream.close(); } ]]> </mx:Script> <mx:TextArea ID="log" width="100%" height="100%" /> </mx:WindowedApplication>
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<html> <head> <script src="AIRAliases.js" /> <script> var file; var currentVersion = "1.2"; function system extension() { file = air.File.appStorageDirectory.resolvePath("Preferences/version.txt"); air.trace(file.nativePath); if(file.exists) { checkVersion(); } else { firstRun(); } } function checkVersion() { var stream = new air.FileStream(); stream.open(file, air.FileMode.READ); var reversion = stream.readUTFBytes(stream.bytesAvailable); stream.close(); if (reversion != currentVersion) { window.document.getElementById("log").innerHTML = "You have updated to version " + currentVersion + ".\n"; } else { saveFile(); } window.document.getElementById("log").innerHTML += "Welcome to the application."; } function firstRun() { window.document.getElementById("log").innerHTML = "Thank you for installing the application. \n" + "This is the first time you have run it."; saveFile(); } function saveFile() { var stream = new air.FileStream(); stream.open(file, air.FileMode.WRITE); stream.writeUTFBytes(currentVersion); stream.close(); } </script> </head> <body extension()"> <textarea ID="log" rows="100%" cols="100%" /> </body> </html>
If your application saves data locally (such as, in the application storage directory), you may want to check for any previously saved data (from previous versions) upon first run.
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Periodically check for updates based on an interval or when the user requests Download AIR files (updates) from a web source Alert the user on the first run of the newly installed version Confirm that the user wants to check for updates Display information on the new update version to the user Display download progress and error information to the user
The AIR update framework supplies a sample user interface for your application. It provides the user with basic information and configuration options for application updates. Your application can also define a custom user interface for use with the update framework. The AIR update framework lets you store information about the update version of an AIR application in simple XML configuration files. For most applications, setting up these configuration files to include basic code provides a good update functionality to the end user. Even without using the update framework, Adobe AIR includes an Updater class that AIR applications can use to upgrade to new versions. The Updater class lets an application upgrade to a version contained in an AIR file on the users computer. However, upgrade management can involve more than simply having the application update based on a locally stored AIR file.
applicationupdater.swcDefines the basic functionality of the update library, for use in ActionScript. This version
contains no user interface.
applicationupdater.swfDefines the basic functionality of the update library, for use in JavaScript. This version
contains no user interface.
applicationupdater_ui.swcDefines a Flex 4 version the basic functionality of the update library, including a user
interface that your application can use to display update options.
applicationupdater_ui.swfDefines a JavaScript version the basic functionality of the update library, including a
user interface that your application can use to display update options. For more information, see these sections:
Setting up your Flex development environment on page 211 Including framework files in an HTML-based AIR application on page 212 Basic example: Using the ApplicationUpdaterUI version on page 212
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To use the update framework when compiling with the Flex SDK, include either the ApplicationUpdater.swc or ApplicationUpdater_UI.swc file in the call to the amxmlc compiler. In the following, example, the compiler loads the ApplicationUpdater.swc file in the lib subdirectory of the Flex SDK directory:
amxmlc -library-path+=lib/ApplicationUpdater.swc -- myApp.mxml
The following example, the compiler loads the ApplicationUpdater_UI.swc file in the lib subdirectory of the Flex SDK directory:
amxmlc -library-path+=lib/ApplicationUpdater_UI.swc -- myApp.mxml
When developing using Flash Builder, add the SWC file in the Library Path tab of the Flex Build Path settings in the Properties dialog box. Be sure to copy the SWC files to the directory that you will reference in the amxmlc compiler (using Flex SDK) or Flash Builder.
applicationupdater.swfDefines the basic functionality of the update library, without any user interface applicationupdater_ui.swfDefines the basic functionality of the update library, including a user interface that
your application can use to display update options JavaScript code in AIR applications can use classes defined in SWF files. To use the update framework, include either the applicationupdater.swf or applicationupdater_ui.swf file in your application directory (or a subdirectory). Then, in the HTML file that will use the framework (in JavaScript code), include a script tag that loads the file:
<script src="applicationUpdater.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"/>
The API defined in these two files is described in the remainder of this document.
You may want to add this code in an initialization function that executes when the application has loaded.
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3 Create a text file named updateConfig.xml and add the following to it:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <configuration xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/framework/update/configuration/1.0"> <url>http://example.com/updates/update.xml</url> <delay>1</delay> </configuration>
Edit the URL element of the updateConfig.xml file to match the eventual location of the update descriptor file on your web server (see the next procedure). The delay is the number of days the application waits between checks for updates.
4 Add the updateConfig.xml file to the project directory of your AIR application. 5 Have the updater object reference the updateConfig.xml file, and call the objects initialize() method.
6 Create a second version of the AIR application that has a different version than the first application. (The version
is specified in the application descriptor file, in the version element.) Next, add the update version of the AIR application to your web server:
1 Place the update version of the AIR file on your web server. 2 Create a text file named updateDescriptor.2.5.xml, and add the following contents to it:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <update xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/framework/update/description/2.5"> <versionNumber>1.1</versionNumber> <url>http://example.com/updates/sample_1.1.air</url> <description>This is the latest version of the Sample application.</description> </update>
Edit the versionNumber, URL, and description of the updateDescriptor.xml file to match your update AIR file. This update descriptor format is used by applications using the update framework included with the AIR 2.5 SDK (and later).
3 Create a text file named updateDescriptor.1.0.xml, and add the following contents to it:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <update xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/framework/update/description/1.0"> <version>1.1</version> <url>http://example.com/updates/sample_1.1.air</url> <description>This is the latest version of the Sample application.</description> </update>
Edit the version, URL, and description of the updateDescriptor.xml file to match your update AIR file. This update descriptor format is used by applications using the update framework included with the AIR 2 SDK (and earlier). Note: Creating this second update descriptor file is only necessary when you are supporting updates to applications created prior to AIR 2.5.
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4 Add the updateDescriptor.2.5.xml and updateDescriptor.1.0.xml file to the same web server directory that contains
the update AIR file. This is a basic example, but it provides update functionality that is sufficient for many applications. The remainder of this document describes how to use the update framework to best suit your needs. For another example of using the update framework, see the following sample applications at the Adobe AIR developer center:
Note: Use applicationupdater.swc or applicationupdater_ui.swc for AIR applications based on Flash technology and applicationupdater.swf or applicationupdater_ui.swf for HTML-based AIR applications.
b Create an update descriptor file for version 1.0.1 by using the old namespace and the version as shown below:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <update xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/framework/update/description/2.0"> <version>1.0.1</version> <url>http://example.com/updates/sample_1.0.1.air</url> <description>This is the intermediate version.</description> </update>
2 Create the version 2.0 of the application that uses AIR 2.5 APIs and 2.5 namespace. 3 Create an update descriptor to update the application from the 1.0.1 version to 2.0 version.
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <update xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/framework/update/description/2.5"> <version>2.0</version> <url>http://example.com/updates/sample_2.0.air</url> <description>This is the intermediate version.</description> </update>
Defining the update descriptor files and adding the AIR file to your web server
When you use the AIR update framework, you define basic information about the available update in update descriptor files, stored on your web server. An update descriptor file is a simple XML file. The update framework included in the application checks this file to see if a new version has been uploaded. The format of the update descriptor file changed for AIR 2.5. The new format uses a different namespace. The original namespace is http://ns.adobe.com/air/framework/update/description/1.0. The AIR 2.5 name space is http://ns.adobe.com/air/framework/update/description/2.5. AIR applications created prior to AIR 2.5 can only read the version 1.0 update descriptor. AIR applications created using the updater framework included in AIR 2.5 or later can only read the version 2.5 update descriptor. Because of this version incompatibility, you often need to create two update descriptor files. The update logic in the AIR 2.5 versions of your application must download an update descriptor that uses the new format. Earlier versions of your AIR application must continue to use the original format. Both files must be modified for every update that you release (until you stop supporting versions created before AIR 2.5). The update descriptor file contains the following data:
versionNumberThe new version of the AIR application. Use the versionNumber element in update descriptors
used to update AIR 2.5 applications. The value must be the same string that is used in the versionNumber element of the new AIR application descriptor file. If the version number in the update descriptor file does not match the update AIR files version number, the update framework will throw an exception.
versionThe new version of the AIR application. Use the version element in update descriptors used to update
applications created prior to AIR 2.5. The value must be the same string that is used in the version element of the new AIR application descriptor file. If the version in the update descriptor file does not match the update AIR files version, the update framework will throw an exception.
versionLabelThe human readable version string intended to be shown to users. The versionLabel is optional,
but can only be specified in version 2.5 update descriptor files. Use it if you use a versionLabel in the application descriptor and set it to the same value.
urlThe location of the update AIR file. This is the file that contains the update version of the AIR application. descriptionDetails regarding the new version. This information can be displayed to the user during the update
process. The version and url elements are mandatory. The description element is optional. Here is a sample version 2.5 update descriptor file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <update xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/framework/update/description/2.5"> <versionNumber>1.1.1</versionNumber> <url>http://example.com/updates/sample_1.1.1.air</url> <description>This is the latest version of the Sample application.</description> </update>
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <update xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/framework/update/description/1.0"> <version>1.1.1</version> <url>http://example.com/updates/sample_1.1.1.air</url> <description>This is the latest version of the Sample application.</description> </update>
If you want to define the description tag using multiple languages, use multiple text elements that define a lang attribute:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <update xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/framework/update/description/2.5"> <versionNumber>1.1.1</versionNumber> <url>http://example.com/updates/sample_1.1.1.air</url> <description> <text xml:lang="en">English description</text> <text xml:lang="fr">French description</text> <text xml:lang="ro">Romanian description</text> </description> </update>
Place the update descriptor file, along with the update AIR file, on your web server. The templates directory included with the update descriptor includes sample update descriptor files. These include both single-language and multi-language versions.
JavaScript example:
var appUpdater = new runtime.air.update.ApplicationUpdater();
The previous code uses the ApplicationUpdater class (which provides no user interface). If you want to use the ApplicationUpdaterUI class (which provides a user interface), use the following. ActionScript example:
var appUpdater:ApplicationUpdaterUI = new ApplicationUpdaterUI();
JavaScript example:
var appUpdater = new runtime.air.update.ApplicationUpdaterUI();
The remaining code samples in this document assume that you have instantiated an updater object named appUpdater.
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updateURL A String. Represents the location of the update descriptor on the remote server. Any valid URLRequest location is allowed. You must define the updateURL property, either via the configuration file or via script (see Defining the update descriptor files and adding the AIR file to your web server on page 215). You must define this property before using the updater (before calling the initialize() method of the updater object, described in Initializing the update framework on page 219). delayA Number. Represents an interval of time given in days (values like 0.25 are allowed) for checking for
updates. A value of 0 (which is the default value) specifies that the updater does not perform an automatic periodical check. The configuration file for the ApplicationUpdaterUI can contain the following element in addition to the updateURL and delay elements:
defaultUI: A list of dialog elements. Each dialog element has a name attribute that corresponds to dialog box in the user interface. Each dialog element has a visible attribute that defines whether the dialog box is visible. The default value is true. Possible values for the name attribute are the following:
"checkForUpdate"Corresponding to the Check for Update, No Update, and Update Error dialog boxes "downloadUpdate"Corresponding to the Download Update dialog box "downloadProgress"Corresponding to Download Progress and Download Error dialog boxes "installUpdate"Corresponding to Install Update dialog box "fileUpdate"Corresponding to File Update, File No Update, and File Error dialog boxes
When set to false, the corresponding dialog box does not appear as part of the update procedure. Here is an example of the configuration file for the ApplicationUpdater framework:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <configuration xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/framework/update/configuration/1.0"> <url>http://example.com/updates/update.xml</url> <delay>1</delay> </configuration>
Here is an example of the configuration file for the ApplicationUpdaterUI framework, which includes a definition for the defaultUI element:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <configuration xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/framework/update/configuration/1.0"> <url>http://example.com/updates/update.xml</url> <delay>1</delay> <defaultUI> <dialog name="checkForUpdate" visible="false" /> <dialog name="downloadUpdate" visible="false" /> <dialog name="downloadProgress" visible="false" /> </defaultUI> </configuration>
Point the configurationFile property to the location of that file: ActionScript example:
appUpdater.configurationFile = new File("app:/cfg/updateConfig.xml");
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JavaScript example:
appUpdater.configurationFile = new air.File("app:/cfg/updateConfig.xml");
The templates directory of the update framework includes a sample configuration file, config-template.xml.
The properties of the updater object are updateURL and delay. These properties define the same settings as the updateURL and delay elements in the configuration file: the URL of the update descriptor file and the interval for checking for updates. If you specify a configuration file and settings in code, any properties set using code take precedence over corresponding settings in the configuration file. You must define the updateURL property, either via the configuration file or via script (see Defining the update descriptor files and adding the AIR file to your web server on page 215) before using the updater (before calling the initialize() method of the updater object, described in Initializing the update framework on page 219). The ApplicationUpdaterUI framework defines these additional properties of the updater object:
isCheckForUpdateVisibleCorresponding to the Check for Update, No Update, and Update Error dialog boxes isDownloadUpdateVisibleCorresponding to the Download Update dialog box isDownloadProgressVisibleCorresponding to Download Progress and Download Error dialog boxes isInstallUpdateVisibleCorresponding to Install Update dialog box isFileUpdateVisibleCorresponding to File Update, File No Update, and File Error dialog boxes isUnexpectedErrorVisibleCorresponding to Unexpected Error dialog box
Each property corresponds to one or more dialog box in the ApplicationUpdaterUI user interface. Each property is a Boolean value, with a default value of true. When set to false the corresponding dialog boxes do not appear as part of the update procedure. These dialog box properties override settings in the update configuration file.
Configuring the update settings on page 216). If an update check is due, the update process continues.
2 The updater downloads and interprets the update descriptor file. 3 The updater downloads the update AIR file. 4 The updater installs the updated version of the application.
The updater object dispatches events at the completion of each of these steps. In the ApplicationUpdater version, you can cancel the events that indicate successful completion of a step in the process. If you cancel one of these events, the next step in the process is canceled. In the ApplicationUpdaterUI version, the updater presents a dialog box allowing the user to cancel or proceed at each step in the process. If you cancel the event, you can call methods of the updater object to resume the process.
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As the ApplicationUpdater version of the updater progresses through the update process, it records its current state, in a currentState property. This property is set to a string with the following possible values:
"UNINITIALIZED"The updater has not been initialized. "INITIALIZING"The updater is initializing. "READY"The updater has been initialized "BEFORE_CHECKING"The updater has not yet checked for the update descriptor file. "CHECKING"The updater is checking for an update descriptor file. "AVAILABLE"The updater descriptor file is available. "DOWNLOADING"The updater is downloading the AIR file. "DOWNLOADED"The updater has downloaded the AIR file. "INSTALLING"The updater is installing the AIR file. "PENDING_INSTALLING"The updater has initialized and there are pending updates.
Some methods of the updater object only execute if the updater is in a certain state.
It initializes the update framework, silently installing synchronously any pending updates. It is required to call this
method during application startup because it may restart the application when it is called.
It checks if there is a postponed update and installs it. If there is an error during the update process, it clears the update file and version information from the application
storage area.
If the delay has expired, it starts the update process. Otherwise it restarts the timer.
Calling this method can result in the updater object dispatching the following events:
UpdateEvent.INITIALIZEDDispatched when the initialization is complete. ErrorEvent.ERRORDispatched when there is an error during initialization.
Upon dispatching the UpdateEvent.INITIALIZED event, the update process is completed. When you call the initialize() method, the updater starts the update process, and completes all steps, based on the timer delay setting. However, you can also start the update process at any time by calling the checkNow() method of the updater object:
appUpdater.checkNow();
This method does nothing if the update process is already running. Otherwise, it starts the update process. The updater object can dispatch the following event as a result of the calling the checkNow() method:
UpdateEvent.CHECK_FOR_UPDATE event just before it attempts to download the update descriptor file.
If you cancel the checkForUpdate event, you can call the checkForUpdate() method of the updater object. (See the next section.) If you do not cancel the event, the update process proceeds to check for the update descriptor file.
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Calling the checkForUpdate() method causes the updater to asynchronously download and interpret the update descriptor file. As a result of calling the checkForUpdate() method, the updater object can dispatch the following events:
StatusUpdateEvent.UPDATE_STATUSThe updater has downloaded and interpreted the update descriptor file successfully. This event has these properties:
availableA Boolean value. Set to true if there is a different version available than the current application; false otherwise (the version is the same). versionA String. The version from the application descriptor file of the update file detailsAn Array. If there are no localized versions of the description, this array returns an empty string ("")
as the first element and the description as the second element. If there are multiple versions of the description (in the update descriptor file), the array contains multiple subarrays. Each array has two elements: the first is a language code (such as "en"), and the second is the corresponding description (a String) for that language. See Defining the update descriptor files and adding the AIR file to your web server on page 215.
Calling this method causes the updater to asynchronously download the update version of the AIR file.
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ApplicationUpdaterUI library, this event displays a dialog box with a progress bar to track the download progress.
ProgressEvent.PROGRESSDispatched periodically as file download progresses. DownloadErrorEvent.DOWNLOAD_ERRORDispatched if there is an error while connecting or downloading the update file. It is also dispatched for invalid HTTP statuses (such as 404 - File not found). This event has an errorID property, an integer defining additional error information. An additional subErrorID property may contain more error information. UpdateEvent.DOWNLOAD_COMPLETEThe updater has downloaded and interpreted the update descriptor file
successfully. If you do not cancel this event, the ApplicationUpdater version proceeds to install the update version. In the ApplicationUpdaterUI version, the user is presented with a dialog box that gives them the option to proceed.
Calling this method causes the updater install an update version of the AIR file. The method includes one parameter, file, which is a File object referencing the AIR file to use as the update. The ApplicationUpdater object can dispatch the beforeInstall event as a result of calling the installUpdate() method:
the installation of the update at this time, so that the user can complete current work before the update proceeds. Calling the preventDefault() method of the Event object postpones the installation until the next restart and no additional update process can be started. (These include updates that would result by calling the checkNow() method or because of the periodical check.)
This method causes the updater to install an update version the application from the AIR file. The installFromAIRFile() method can dispatch the following events:
validated the file sent using the installFromAIRFile() method. This event has the following properties:
availableSet to true if there is a different version available than one of the current application; false
You can cancel this event if the available property of the StatusFileUpdateEvent object is set to true. Canceling the event cancels the update from proceeding. Call the installUpdate() method to continue the canceled update.
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StatusFileUpdateErrorEvent.FILE_UPDATE_ERRORThere was an error, and the updater could not install the
AIR application.
This method cancels any pending downloads, deleting any incomplete downloaded files, and restarts the periodical check timer. The method does nothing if the updater object is initializing.
The update framework uses the description that best fits the end users localization chain. For more information, see Defining the update descriptor file and adding the AIR file to your web server. Flex developers can directly add a new language to the "ApplicationUpdaterDialogs" bundle. JavaScript developers can call the addResources() method of the updater object. This method dynamically adds a new resource bundle for a language. The resource bundle defines localized strings for a language. These strings are used in various dialog box text fields. JavaScript developers can use the localeChain property of the ApplicationUpdaterUI class to define the locale chain used by the user interface. Typically, only JavaScript (HTML) developers use this property. Flex developers can use the ResourceManager to manage the locale chain. For example, the following JavaScript code defines resource bundles for Romanian and Hungarian:
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appUpdater.addResources("ro_RO", {titleCheck: "Titlu", msgCheck: "Mesaj", btnCheck: "Buton"}); appUpdater.addResources("hu", {titleCheck: "Cm", msgCheck: "zenet"}); var languages = ["ro", "hu"]; languages = languages.concat(air.Capabilities.languages); var sortedLanguages = air.Localizer.sortLanguagesByPreference(languages, air.Capabilities.language, "en-US"); sortedLanguages.push("en-US"); appUpdater.localeChain = sortedLanguages;
For details, see the description of the addResources() method of the ApplicationUpdaterUI class in the language reference.
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The AIRSourceViewer.js file defines a class, SourceViewer, which you can access from JavaScript code by calling air.SourceViewer. The SourceViewer class defines three methods: getDefault(), setup(), and viewSource().
Method
getDefault() setup()
Decription A static method. Returns a SourceViewer instance, which you can use to call the other methods. Applies configuration settings to the Source Viewer. For details, see Configuring the Source Viewer on page 224 Opens a new window in which the user can browse and open source files of the host application.
viewSource()
Note: Code using the Source Viewer must be in the application security sandbox (in a file in the application directory). For example, the following JavaScript code instantiates a Source Viewer object and opens the Source Viewer window listing all source files:
var viewer = air.SourceViewer.getDefault(); viewer.viewSource();
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exclude An array of strings specifying files or directories to be excluded from the Source Viewer listing. The paths are relative to the application directory. Wildcard characters are not supported. For example, the following JavaScript code opens the Source Viewer window listing all source files except for the AIRSourceViewer.js file, and files in the Images and Sounds subdirectories:
var viewer = air.SourceViewer.getDefault(); var configObj = {}; configObj.exclude = ["AIRSourceViewer.js", "Images" "Sounds"]; viewer.viewSource(configObj);
initialPosition An array that includes two numbers, specifying the initial x and y coordinates of the Source Viewer window. For example, the following JavaScript code opens the Source Viewer window at the screen coordinates [40, 60] (X = 40, Y = 60):
var viewer = air.SourceViewer.getDefault(); var configObj = {}; configObj.initialPosition = [40, 60]; viewer.viewSource(configObj);
modal A Boolean value, specifying whether the Source Viewer should be a modal (true) or non-modal (false) window. By default, the Source Viewer window is modal. For example, the following JavaScript code opens the Source Viewer window such that the user can interact with both the Source Viewer window and any application windows:
var viewer = air.SourceViewer.getDefault(); var configObj = {}; configObj.modal = false; viewer.viewSource(configObj);
typesToAdd An array of strings specifying the file types to include in the Source Viewer listing, in addition to the default types included. By default, the Source Viewer lists the following file types:
Text filesTXT, XML, MXML, HTM, HTML, JS, AS, CSS, INI, BAT, PROPERTIES, CONFIG Image filesJPG, JPEG, PNG, GIF
If no value is specified, all default types are included (except for those specified in the typesToExclude property). For example, the following JavaScript code opens the Source Viewer window include VCF and VCARD files:
var viewer = air.SourceViewer.getDefault(); var configObj = {}; configObj.typesToAdd = ["text.vcf", "text.vcard"]; viewer.viewSource(configObj);
For each file type you list, you must specify "text" (for text file types) or "image" (for image file types). typesToExclude An array of strings specifying the file types to exclude from the Source Viewer.
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Text filesTXT, XML, MXML, HTM, HTML, JS, AS, CSS, INI, BAT, PROPERTIES, CONFIG Image filesJPG, JPEG, PNG, GIF
For example, the following JavaScript code opens the Source Viewer window without listing GIF or XML files:
var viewer = air.SourceViewer.getDefault(); var configObj = {}; configObj.typesToExclude = ["image.gif", "text.xml"]; viewer.viewSource(configObj);
For each file type you list, you must specify "text" (for text file types) or "image" (for image file types).
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Directories are listed in brackets. The user can click a brace to expand or collapse the listing of a directory. The Source Viewer can display the source for text files with recognized extensions (such as HTML, JS, TXT, XML, and others) or for image files with recognized image extensions (JPG, JPEG, PNG, and GIF). If the user selects a file that does not have a recognized file extension, an error message is displayed (Cannot retrieve text content from this filetype). Any source files that are excluded via the setup() method are not listed (see Loading, configuring, and opening the Source Viewer on page 224).
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It includes an introspector tool that allows you to point to a user interface element in the application and see its
markup and DOM properties.
It includes a console for sending objects references for introspection, and you can adjust property values and
execute JavaScript code. You can also serialize objects to the console, which limits you from editing the data. You can also copy and save text from the console.
It includes a tree view for DOM properties and functions. It lets you edit the attributes and text nodes for DOM elements. It lists links, CSS styles, images, and JavaScript files loaded in your application. It lets you view to the initial HTML source and the current markup source for the user interface. It lets you access files in the application directory. (This feature is only available for the AIR HTML Introspector
console opened for application sandbox. Not available for the consoles open for non-application sandbox content.)
It includes a viewer for XMLHttpRequest objects and their properties, including responseText and responseXML
properties (when available).
You can search for matching text in the source code and files.
Also include the file in every HTML file that corresponds to different native windows in your application. Important: Include the AIRIntrospector.js file only when developing and debugging the application. Remove it in the packaged AIR application that you distribute. The AIRIntrospector.js file defines a class, Console, which you can access from JavaScript code by calling air.Introspector.Console. Note: Code using the AIR Introspector must be in the application security sandbox (in a file in the application directory).
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However, it is more useful to send a complex object to the Console tab. For example, the following HTML page includes a button (btn1) that calls a function that sends the button object itself to the Console tab:
<html> <head> <title>Source Viewer Sample</title> <script type="text/javascript" src="scripts/AIRIntrospector.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> function logBtn() { var button1 = document.getElementById("btn1"); air.Introspector.Console.log(button1); } </script> </head> <body> <p>Click to view the button object in the Console.</p> <input type="button" id="btn1" value="Log" /> </body> </html>
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When you click the button, the Console tab displays the btn1 object, and you can expand the tree view of the object to inspect its properties:
You can edit a property of the object by clicking the listing to the right of the property name and modifying the text listing. The info(), error(), and warn() methods are like the log() method. However, when you call these methods, the Console displays an icon at the beginning of the line:
Method
info() error() warn()
Icon
The log(), warn(), info(), and error() methods send a reference only to an actual object, so the properties available are the ones at the moment of viewing. If you want to serialize the actual object, use the dump() method. The method has two parameters:
Parameter
dumpObject levels
Description The object to be serialized. The maximum number of levels to be examined in the object tree (in addition to the root level). The default value is 1 (meaning that one level beyond the root level of the tree is shown). This parameter is optional.
Calling the dump() method serializes an object before sending it to the Console tab, so that you cannot edit the objects properties. For example, consider the following code:
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When you execute this code, the Console displays the testObject object and its properties, but you cannot edit the property values in the Console.
Be sure to set the properties of the AIRIntrospectorConfig variable before loading the AIRIntrospector.js file (via a script tag). There are eight properties of the AIRIntrospectorConfig variable:
Property
closeIntrospectorOnExit
Default value
true
Description Sets the Inspector window to close when all other windows of the application are closed. The key code for the keyboard shortcut to show and hide the AIR Introspector window. Sets the Introspector to expand runtime objects in addition to objects defined in JavaScript. Sets the Console and XMLHttpRequest tabs to flash, indicating when a change occurs in them (for example, when text is logged in these tabs). The key code for the keyboard shortcut to open the Inspect panel. Sets the Console tab to display timestamps at the beginning of each line. Sets the Console tab to display information on the object sending the message at the beginning of each line. The number of columns at which source files are wrapped.
debuggerKey
debugRuntimeObjects
true
flashTabLabels
true
wrapColumns
2000
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The AIR Introspector window has six tabsConsole, HTML, DOM, Assets, Source, and XHRas shown in the following illustration:
The Console tab The Console tab displays values of properties passed as parameters to one of the methods of the air.Introspector.Console class. For details, see Inspecting an object in the Console tab on page 229.
To clear the console, right-click the text and select Clear Console. To save text in the Console tab to a file, right-click the Console tab and select Save Console To File.
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To save text in the Console tab to the clipboard, right-click the Console tab and select Save Console To Clipboard.
To copy only selected text to the clipboard, right-click the text and select Copy.
To save text in the Console class to a file, right-click the Console tab and select Save Console To File. To search for matching text displayed in the tab, click CTRL+F on Windows or Command+F on Mac OS. (Tree
nodes that are not visible are not searched.) The HTML tab The HTML tab lets you view the entire HTML DOM in a tree structure. Click an element to view its properties on the right side of the tab. Click the + and - icons to expand and collapse a node in the tree.
You can edit any attribute or text element in the HTML tab and the edited value is reflected in the application. Click the Inspect button (to the left of the list of tabs in the AIR Introspector window). You can click any element on the HTML page of the main window and the associated DOM object is displayed in the HTML tab. When the main window has focus, you can also press the keyboard shortcut to toggle the Inspect button on and off. The keyboard shortcut is F11 by default. You can configure the keyboard shortcut to be a key other than the F11 key; see Configuring the AIR Introspector on page 231. Click the Refresh Active Window button (at the top of the AIR Introspector window) to refresh the data displayed in the HTML tab. Click CTRL+F on Windows or Command+F on Mac OS to search for matching text displayed in the tab. (Tree nodes that are not visible are not searched.)
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The DOM tab The DOM tab shows the window object in a tree structure. You can edit any string and numeric properties and the edited value is reflected in the application.
Click the Refresh Active Window button (at the top of the AIR Introspector window) to refresh the data displayed in the DOM tab. Click CTRL+F on Windows or Command+F on Mac OS to search for matching text displayed in the tab. (Tree nodes that are not visible are not searched.)
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The Assets tab The Assets tab lets you check the links, images, CSS, and JavaScript files loaded in the native window. Expanding one of these nodes shows the content of the file or displays the actual image used.
Click the Refresh Active Window button (at the top of the AIR Introspector window) to refresh the data displayed in the Assets tab. Click CTRL+F on Windows or Command+F on Mac OS to search for matching text displayed in the tab. (Tree nodes that are not visible are not searched.) The Source tab The Source tab includes three sections:
Actual sourceShows the HTML source of the page loaded as the root content when the application started. Parsed sourceShows the current markup that makes up the application UI, which can be different from the actual
source, since the application generates markup code on the fly using Ajax techniques.
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Application filesLists the files in the application directory. This listing is only available for the AIR Introspector
when launched from content in the application security sandbox. In this section, you can view the content of text files or view images.
Click the Refresh Active Window button (at the top of the AIR Introspector window) to refresh the data displayed in the Source tab. Click CTRL+F on Windows or Command+F on Mac OS to search for matching text displayed in the tab. (Tree nodes that are not visible are not searched.)
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The XHR tab The XHR tab intercepts all XMLHttpRequest communication in the application and logs the information. This lets you view the XMLHttpRequest properties including responseText and responseXML (when available) in a tree view.
Click CTRL+F on Windows or Command+F on Mac OS to search for matching text displayed in the tab. (Tree nodes that are not visible are not searched.)
The AIRIntrospector.js file must be included in both the application sandbox and in the non-application sandbox
(the iframe) content.
Do not overwrite the parentSandboxBridge property; the AIR Introspector code uses this property. Add
properties as needed. So instead of writing the following:
parentSandboxBridge = mytrace: function(str) {runtime.trace(str)}} ;
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From the non-application sandbox content, you cannot open the AIR Introspector by pressing the F12 key or by
calling one of methods in the air.Introspector.Console class. You can open the Introspector window only by clicking the Open Introspector button. The button is added by default at the upper-right corner of the iframe or frame. (Due to security restrictions imposed to non-application sandbox content, a new window can be opened only as a result of a user gesture, such as clicking a button.)
You can open separate AIR Introspector windows for the application sandbox and for the non-application
sandbox. You can differentiate the two using the title displayed in the AIR Introspector windows.
The Source tab doesnt display application files when the AIR Introspector is run from a non-application sandbox The AIR Introspector can only look at code in the sandbox from which it was opened.
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Chinese Simplified Chinese Traditional French German Italian Japanese Korean Brazilian Portuguese Russian Spanish
In the AIR 1.5 release, the following languages were added:
Localizing the application name and description in the AIR application installer
Adobe AIR 1.1 and later You can specify multiple languages for the name and description elements in the application descriptor file. For example, the following specifies the application name in three languages (English, French, and German):
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<name> <text xml:lang="en">Sample 1.0</text> <text xml:lang="fr">chantillon 1.0</text> <text xml:lang="de">Stichprobe 1.0</text> </name>
The xml:lang attribute for each text element specifies a language code, as defined in RFC4646 (http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4646.txt). The name element defines the application name that the AIR application installer displays. The AIR application installer uses the localized value that best matches the user interface languages defined by the operating system settings. You can similarly specify multiple language versions of the description element in the application descriptor file. This element defines description text that the AIR application installer displays. These settings only apply to the languages available in the AIR application installer. They do not define the locales available for the running, installed application. AIR applications can provide user interfaces that support multiple languages, including and in addition to languages available to the AIR application installer. For more information, see AIR application descriptor elements on page 162.
The air.Localizer.localizer object is a singleton object that defines methods and properties for using and managing localized resources. The Localizer class includes the following methods:
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Method
getFile()
Description Gets the text of a specified resource bundle for a specified locale. See Getting resources for a specific locale on page 246. Returns the languages in the locale chain. See Defining the locale chain on page 245. Returns the bundle keys and corresponding values as an object. See Getting resources for a specific locale on page 246. Gets the string defined for a resource. See Getting resources for a specific locale on page 246. Sets the bundles directory location. See Customizing AIR HTML Localizer settings on page 244.
getLocaleChain() getResourceBundle()
Sets the prefix used by localizer attributes used in HTML DOM elements. See Customizing AIR HTML Localizer settings on page 244 Sets the order of languages in the locale chain. See Defining the locale chain on page 245. Sorts the locales in the locale chain based on the order of locales in the operating system settings. See Defining the locale chain on page 245. Updates the HTML DOM (or a DOM element) with localized strings from the current locale chain. For a discussion of locale chains, see Managing locale chains on page 242. For more information about the update() method, see Updating DOM elements to use the current locale on page 243.
Description Returns a reference to the singleton Localizer object for the application. The locale used when the application supports no user preference. See Defining the locale chain on page 245.
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A properties file containing the following text defines six key-value pairs:
title=Sample Application greeting=Hello in English. exitMessage=Thank you for using the application. color1=Red color2=Green color3=Blue
This example shows an English version of the properties file, to be stored in the en directory. A French version of this properties file is placed in the fr directory:
title=Application Example greeting=Bonjour en franais. exitMessage=Merci d'avoir utilis cette application. color1=Rouge color2=Vert color3=Bleu
You can define multiple resource files for different kinds of information. For example, a legal.properties file may contain boilerplate legal text (such as copyright information). You can reuse that resource in multiple applications. Similarly, you can define separate files that define localized content for different parts of the user interface. Use UTF-8 encoding for these files, to support multiple languages.
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If the current locale defines no matching value, then the localizer framework searches the rest of the locale chain. It uses the next locale in the locale chain for which a value is defined. In the following example, the text (innerHTML attribute) of the p element uses the value of the greeting key defined in the default properties file:
<p local_innerHTML="default.greeting" />
In the following example, the value attribute (and displayed text) of the input element uses the value of the btnBlue key defined in the default properties file:
<input type="button" local_value="default.btnBlue" />
To update the HTML DOM to use the strings defined in the current locale chain, call the update() method of the Localizer object. Calling the update() method causes the Localizer object to parse the DOM and apply manipulations where it finds localization ("local_...") attributes:
air.Localizer.localizer.update();
You can define values for both an attribute (such as "innerHTML") and its corresponding localization attribute (such as "local_innerHTML"). In this case, the localization framework only overwrites the attribute value if it finds a matching value in the localization chain. For example, the following element defines both value and local_value attributes:
<input type="text" value="Blue" local_value="default.btnBlue"/>
You can also update a specific DOM element only. See the next section, Updating DOM elements to use the current locale on page 243. By default, the AIR HTML Localizer uses "local_" as the prefix for attributes defining localization settings for an element. For example, by default a local_innerHTML attribute defines the bundle and resource name used for the innerHTML value of an element. Also, by default a local_value attribute defines the bundle and resource name used for the value attribute of an element. You can configure the Localizer to use an attribute prefix other than "local_". See Customizing AIR HTML Localizer settings on page 244.
To update only a specified DOM element, pass it as a parameter to the update() method. The update() method has only one parameter, parentNode, which is optional. When specified, the parentNode parameter defines the DOM element to localize. Calling the update() method and specifying a parentNode parameter sets localized values for all child elements that specify localization attributes.
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To update this element to use localized strings defined in the current locale chain, use the following JavaScript code:
var divElement = window.document.getElementById("colorsDiv"); air.Localizer.localizer.update(divElement);
If a key value is not found in the locale chain, the localization framework sets the attribute value to the value of the "local_" attribute. For example, in the previous example, suppose the localization framework cannot find a value for the lblColors key (in any of the default.properties files in the locale chain). In this case, it uses "default.lblColors" as the innerHTML value. Using this value indicates (to the developer) missing resources. The update() method dispatches a resourceNotFound event when it cannot find a resource in the locale chain. The air.Localizer.RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND constant defines the string "resourceNotFound". The event has three properties: bundleName, resourceName, and locale. The bundleName property is the name of the bundle in which the resource is not found. The resourceName property is the name of the bundle in which the resource is not found. The locale property is the name of the locale in which the resource is not found. The update() method dispatches a bundleNotFound event when it cannot find the specified bundle. The air.Localizer.BUNDLE_NOT_FOUND constant defines the string "bundleNotFound". The event has two properties: bundleName and locale. The bundleName property is the name of the bundle in which the resource is not found. The locale property is the name of the locale in which the resource is not found. The update() method operates asynchronously (and dispatches resourceNotFound and bundleNotFound events asynchronously). The following code sets event listeners for the resourceNotFound and bundleNotFound events:
air.Localizer.localizer.addEventListener(air.Localizer.RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND, rnfHandler); air.Localizer.localizer.addEventListener(air.Localizer.BUNDLE_NOT_FOUND, rnfHandler); air.Localizer.localizer.update(); function rnfHandler(event) { alert(event.bundleName + ": " + event.resourceName + ":." + event.locale); } function bnfHandler(event) { alert(event.bundleName + ":." + event.locale); }
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A String defining a valid URL that uses the app, app-storage, or file URL schemes, such as "app://languages"
(do not use the http URL scheme)
A File object
For information on URLs and directory paths, see:
Paths of File objects (for ActionScript developers) Paths of File objects (for HTML developers)
For example, the following code sets the bundles directory to a languages subdirectory of the application storage directory (not the application directory):
air.Localizer.localizer.setBundlesDirectory("languages");
Pass a valid path as the path parameter. Otherwise, the method throws a BundlePathNotFoundError exception. This error has "BundlePathNotFoundError" as its name property, and its message property specifies the invalid path. By default, the AIR HTML Localizer uses "local_" as the prefix for attributes defining localization settings for an element. For example, the local_innerHTML attribute defines the bundle and resource name used for the innerHTML value of the following input element:
<p local_innerHTML="default.greeting" />
The setLocalAttributePrefix() method of the Localizer object lets you use an attribute prefix other than "local_". This static method takes one parameter, which is the string you want to use as the attribute prefix. For example, the following code sets the localization framework to use "loc_" as the attribute prefix:
air.Localizer.localizer.setLocalAttributePrefix("loc_");
You can customize the attribute prefix the localization framework uses. You may want to customize the prefix if the default value ("local_") conflicts with the name of another attribute used by your code. Be sure to use valid characters for HTML attributes when calling this method. (For example, the value cannot contain a blank space character.) For more information on using localization attributes in HTML elements, see Updating the DOM elements with localized content on page 243. The bundles directory and attribute prefix settings do not persist between different application sessions. If you use a custom bundles directory or attribute prefix setting, be sure to set it each time the application initiates.
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The setLocaleChain() method dispatches a "change" event when it updates the locale chain. The air.Localizer.LOCALE_CHANGE constant defines the string "change". The event has one property, localeChain, an array of locale codes in the new locale chain. The following code sets an event listener for this event:
var currentChain = air.Localizer.localizer.getLocaleChain(); newLocales = ["fr_FR", "fr"]; localizer.addEventListener(air.Localizer.LOCALE_CHANGE, changeHandler); air.Localizer.localizer.setLocaleChain(newLocales.concat(currentChain)); function changeHandler(event) { alert(event.localeChain); }
The static air.Localizer.ultimateFallbackLocale property represents the locale used when the application supports no user preference. The default value is "en". You can set it to another locale, as shown in the following code:
air.Localizer.ultimateFallbackLocale = "fr";
Description The bundle that contains the resource. This is the filename of the properties file without the .properties extension. (For example, if this parameter is set as "alerts", the Localizer code looks in localization files named alerts.properties. The resource name. Optional. An array of strings to replace numbered tags in the replacement string. For example, consider a call to the function where the templateArgs parameter is ["Ral", "4"] and the matching resource string is "Hello, {0}. You have {1} new messages.". In this case, the function returns "Hello, Ral. You have 4 new messages.". To ignore this setting, pass a null value. Optional. The locale code (such as "en", "en_us", or "fr") to use. If a locale is provided and no matching value is found, the method does not continue searching for values in other locales in the locale chain. If no locale code is specified, the function returns the string in the first locale in the locale chain that provides a value for the given resource name.
resourceName templateArgs
locale
The localization framework can update marked HTML DOM attributes. However, you can use localized strings in other ways. For example, you can use a string in some dynamically generated HTML or as a parameter value in a function call. For example, the following code calls the alert() function with the string defined in the error114 resource in the default properties file of the fr_FR locale:
alert(air.Localizer.localizer.getString("default", "error114", null, "fr_FR"));
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The getString() method dispatches a resourceNotFound event when it it cannot find the resource in the specified bundle. The air.Localizer.RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND constant defines the string "resourceNotFound". The event has three properties: bundleName, resourceName, and locale. The bundleName property is the name of the bundle in which the resource is not found. The resourceName property is the name of the bundle in which the resource is not found. The locale property is the name of the locale in which the resource is not found. The getString() method dispatches a bundleNotFound event when it cannot find the specified bundle. The air.Localizer.BUNDLE_NOT_FOUND constant defines the string "bundleNotFound". The event has two properties: bundleName and locale. The bundleName property is the name of the bundle in which the resource is not found. The locale property is the name of the locale in which the resource is not found. The getString() method operates asynchronously (and dispatches the resourceNotFound and the bundleNotFound events asynchronously). The following code sets event listeners for the resourceNotFound and bundleNotFound events:
air.Localizerlocalizer.addEventListener(air.Localizer.RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND, rnfHandler); air.Localizerlocalizer.addEventListener(air.Localizer.BUNDLE_NOT_FOUND, bnfHandler); var str = air.Localizer.localizer.getString("default", "error114", null, "fr_FR"); function rnfHandler(event) { alert(event.bundleName + ": " + event.resourceName + ":." + event.locale); } function bnfHandler(event) { alert(event.bundleName + ":." + event.locale); }
The getResourceBundle() method of the Localizer object returns a specified bundle for a given locale. The return value of the method is an object with properties matching the keys in the bundle. (If the application cannot find the specified bundle, the method returns null.) The method takes two parameterslocale and bundleName.
Parameter
locale bundleName
For example, the following code calls the document.write() method to load the default bundle for the fr locale. It then calls the document.write() method to write values of the str1 and str2 keys in that bundle:
var aboutWin = window.open(); var bundle = localizer.getResourceBundle("fr", "default"); aboutWin.document.write(bundle.str1); aboutWin.document.write("<br/>"); aboutWin.document.write(bundle.str2); aboutWin.document.write("<br/>");
The getResourceBundle() method dispatches a bundleNotFound event when it cannot find the specified bundle. The air.Localizer.BUNDLE_NOT_FOUND constant defines the string "bundleNotFound". The event has two properties: bundleName and locale. The bundleName property is the name of the bundle in which the resource is not found. The locale property is the name of the locale in which the resource is not found. The getFile() method of the Localizer object returns the contents of a bundle, as a string, for a given locale. The bundle file is read as a UTF-8 file. The method includes the following parameters:
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Parameter
resourceFileName templateArgs
Description The filename of the resource file (such as "about.html"). Optional. An array of strings to replace numbered tags in the replacement string. For example, consider a call to the function where the templateArgs parameter is ["Ral", "4"] and the matching resource file contains two lines:
<html> <body>Hello, {0}. You have {1} new messages.</body> </html>
The locale code, such as "en_GB", to use. If a locale is provided and no matching file is found, the method does not continue searching in other locales in the locale chain. If no locale code is specified, the function returns the text in the first locale in the locale chain that has a file matching the resourceFileName.
For example, the following code calls the document.write() method using the contents of the about.html file of the fr locale:
var aboutWin = window.open(); var aboutHtml = localizer.getFile("about.html", null, "fr"); aboutWin.document.close(); aboutWin.document.write(aboutHtml);
The getFile() method dispatches a fileNotFound event when it cannot find a resource in the locale chain. The air.Localizer.FILE_NOT_FOUND constant defines the string "resourceNotFound". The getFile() method operates asynchronously (and dispatches the fileNotFound event asynchronously). The event has two properties: fileName and locale. The fileName property is the name of the file not found. The locale property is the name of the locale in which the resource is not found. The following code sets an event listener for this event:
air.Localizer.localizer.addEventListener(air.Localizer.FILE_NOT_FOUND, fnfHandler); air.Localizer.localizer.getFile("missing.html", null, "fr"); function fnfHandler(event) { alert(event.fileName + ": " + event.locale); }
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Setting the PATH on Linux and Mac OS using the Bash shell
When you type a command in a terminal window, the shell, a program that reads what you typed and tries to respond appropriately, must first locate the command program on your file system. The shell looks for commands in a list of directories stored in an environment variable named $PATH. To see what is currently listed in the path, type:
echo $PATH
This returns a colon-separated list of directories that should look something like this:
/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/x11/bin
The goal is to add the path to the AIR SDK bin directory to the list so that the shell can find the ADT and ADL tools. Assuming that you have put the AIR SDK at /Users/fred/SDKs/AIR, then the following command will add the necessary directories to the path:
export PATH=$PATH:/Users/fred/SDKs/AIR/bin:/Users/fred/SDKs/android/tools
Note: If your path contains blank space characters, escape them with a backslash, as in the following:
/Users/fred\ jones/SDKs/AIR\ 2.5\ SDK/bin
You can use the echo command again to make sure it worked:
echo $PATH /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/x11/bin:/Users/fred/SDKs/AIR/bin:/Users/fred/SDK s/android/tools
So far so good. You should now be able to type the following commands and get an encouraging response:
adt -version
If you modified your $PATH variable correctly, the command should report the version of ADT. There is still one problem, however; the next time you fire up a new terminal window, you will notice that the new entries in the path are no longer there. The command to set the path must be run every time you start a new terminal. A common solution to this problem is to add the command to one of the start-up scripts used by your shell. On Mac OS, you can create the file, .bash_profile, in the ~/username directory and it will be run every time you open a new terminal window. On Ubuntu, the start-up script run when you launch a new terminal window is .bashrc. Other Linux distributions and shell programs have similar conventions.
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2 Create the shell configuration profile (if necessary) and redirect the text you type to the end of the file with cat
>>. Use the appropriate file for your operating system and shell. You can use .bash_profile on Mac OS and .bashrc on Ubuntu, for example. cat >> .bash_profile
4 End the text redirection by pressing CTRL-SHIFT-D on the keyboard. 5 Display the file to make sure everything is okay:
cat .bash_profile
Your path additions should be listed. If you later create a new version of one of the SDKs into different directory, be sure to update the path command in the configuration file. Otherwise, the shell will continue to use the old version.
This will show a list of semicolon-separated list of directories that looks something like:
Path=C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem
The goal is to add the path to the AIR SDK bin directory to the list so that the command program can find the ADT and ADL tools. Assuming that you have put the AIR SDK at C:\SDKs\AIR, you can add the proper path entry with the following procedure:
1 Open the System Properties dialog from the Control Panel or by right-clicking on the My Computer icon and
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If you have any command windows open, realize that their environments are not updated. Open a new command window and type the following command to make sure the paths are set up correctly:
adt -version
If you later change the location of the AIR SDK, or add a new version, remember to update the path variable.