Adobe AIR Programming Unleashed

Covers version 1.5 of Adobe AIR

Written to help you hit the ground running, this book teaches you how to build state-of-the-art rich desktop applications on the breakthrough Adobe AIR platform.

Stacy Tyler Young, Michael Givens, and Dimitrios Gianninas illustrate the power of this technology through practical application examples based on the official 1.5 release of Adobe AIR. You’ll discover how Adobe AIR helps you solve problems you just couldn’t solve before by extending the reach of your web applications onto users’ desktops. Building on your existing knowledge of Adobe Flex, HTML, JavaScript, and Ajax software, you’ll master the powerful Adobe AIR platform--moving quickly from task-oriented examples to larger-scale, real-world projects. The authors don’t just cover coding--they help you maximize your effectiveness throughout the entire development lifecycle via design patterns, frameworks, build process, continuous integration, and automated testing.

If you’re ready to build the next generation of rich hybrid desktop applications, Adobe AIR is the development platform you’ve been searching for...and this is the book you need to kick-start new projects using this exciting new technology.

Stacy Tyler Young is a senior computer scientist for Adobe Systems in Ottawa, Canada. He’s been at the forefront of web technologies since the early nineties. His passion for computing goes back further to the days of the Apple II and the first Macintosh. Rudimentary software development began at the age of seven when he was introduced to the Logo programming language. “FD 60 RT 45” anyone?

Coming from a server-side development background, Stacy dove into Flex prior to its first release and has now expanded into developing solutions built on the Adobe AIR platform. His focus today lies in Interaction Design and how it can be applied to emerging technologies like Adobe AIR to help improve the user experience. In addition to hearing him speak at local BarCamps or development conferences, you can catch him discussing a mixed bag of technology, environmental issues, and tinfoil hats on his blog: http://stacyyoung.org.

Michael Givens is the CTO of U Saw It Enterprises, a web technology consulting firm based in Houston, Texas. He is an Adobe Community Expert in Adobe Flex and an Adobe Corporate Champion known to share his experience and evangelism of all things Adobe. Certified in both ColdFusion 5 and as an advanced CFMX developer, he has been using ColdFusion since the days of Allaire Spectra. He has written Adobe Apollo in Flight (Digital Short Cut), for Sams Publishing, written articles for the ColdFusion Developer’s Journal and the Web Developer’s & Designer’s Journal, and blogs regularly at www.flexination.info.

Dimitrios Gianninas is a lead RIA developer at Optimal Payments Inc. based in Montreal, Canada. His primary passion has always been UI development and has excelled in this realm using Adobe Flex for web applications and is now expanding his reach to the desktop using Adobe AIR. Dimitrios’ work has been showcased at conferences and written about in IT publications across the globe. He has also been a guest speaker at Adobe conferences, written articles for the Adobe Developer Center, been a Flex Derby judge, and now maintains his own technical blog at http://jimmyflex.blogspot.com.

Part I       Getting Started with Adobe AIR

1         Introduction to Adobe AIR 9

2         Setting Up the Development Environment 15

3         Creating an Adobe AIR Application 29

4         Debugging Adobe AIR Applications 51

Part II       Building Adobe AIR Applications

5         Working with Windows 67

6         Working with Screens 89

7         Working with Files and Directories 101

8         Understanding the Drag-and-Drop API 115

9         Working with Copy and Paste 129

10       Working with Native Menus 159

11       Adding User Notifications 177

12       Working with Local Databases 189

13       Understanding Networking and Local Connections 213

14       Working with Adobe Flex AIR Components 251

Part III       Securing Adobe AIR Applications

15       Understanding Security Sandboxes 263

16       Using the Encrypted Local Store 273

Part IV       Deploying Adobe AIR Applications

17       Distributing Adobe AIR Applications 283

18       Updating Adobe AIR Applications 309

Part V       Architecting Adobe AIR Applications

19       Introduction to Frameworks and Design Patterns 321

20       Building Adobe AIR Applications Using the Cairngorm Microarchitecture 335

Part VI       Agile Development with Adobe AIR

21       Creating a Build Process 359

22       Incorporating Unit Testing 373

23       Continuous Integration with Adobe AIR 393

Part VII       Real-World Projects

24       Contact Manager with Integrated Yahoo! Maps 411

25       Peer-to-Peer Photo Sharing Using Adobe AIR, Bonjour, and Java 421

26       Building a Video Distribution System 427

Part VIII       Adobe AIR 1.5 and Adobe Flash 10 Extras

27       Using Adobe Flash 10 Features in Adobe AIR 439

Appendices

A        Adobe AIR Resources for Developers 451

B        Adobe AIR API Reference Poster (Downloadable) 455

C        Downloading Source Code for Adobe AIR Programming Unleashed 457

Index 463