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When you started with a Flex project for the browser and you decide to switch to AIR or vice versa you have to change the Flex Builder project settings.
In the application MXML you have to switch the root node from Application to WindowedApplication
In the .actionScriptProperties you have to change useApolloConfig=”true/false”.
For AIR projects the .project file needs the apollonature meaning <nature>com.adobe.flexbuilder.apollo.apollonature</nature> as the first of the three natures (before flexnature and actionscriptnature). Sometimes I had a refresh problem when I opened the project settings (every entry showed up twice) after editing these files so better close and re-open the project, re-build the project and the switch should be done.
Adobe and Industry Leaders Establish Open Screen Project. Have a look at the new OSP website and listen to CTO Kevin Lynch.
“The Open Screen Project is dedicated to driving consistent rich Internet experiences across televisions, personal computers, mobile devices, and consumer electronics. The Open Screen Project is supported by technology leaders, including Adobe, ARM, Chunghwa Telecom, Cisco, Intel, LG Electronics Inc., Marvell, Motorola, Nokia, NTT DoCoMo, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics Co., Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Verizon Wireless, and leading content providers, including BBC, MTV Networks, and NBC Universal, who want to deliver rich Web and video experiences, live and on-demand across a variety of devices.”
Since today the formats SWF 9, FLV and AMF Specs are open and free from license restrictions.
It is all about leveraging Flash and AIR to provide a consistent runtime environment cross-platform and across devices and consumer electronics.
Now is this cool news? I am sure all Flash/Flex/AIR developers open up a beer! I will do now 
Some more links:
I just had to debug some remote calls of an AIR application and was looking for the right tool. In former times for debugging HTTP and Flash Remoting I used Charles Proxy which also does the job for AIR.
Obviously you need no browser plugin. You only have to enable Proxy->Windows Proxy or Mac OS X Proxy and you can see all calls between your OS and the web including AMF introspection.
Today Adobe released the first public alpha of AIR running on Linux. If you develop for AIR this is great news. Nothing changes from the development perspective but Linux users will be able to use AIR software. Anyway, this first release is not feature complete yet but a great move so short after the release of AIR 1.0 for Windows and OSX about a month ago. Check the CNET article “Adobe brings AIR to Linux, joins Linux Foundation” and Ted Patrick posted a few weeks ago his definition of crossplatform.
Finally AIR 1.0 and Flex 3 our out!
AIR is one of the 10 most emerging technologies of 2008 published by MIT. When you get your hands on AIR read more about the AIR Badge, a customizable way how your users install AIR apps directly from your website.
Be sure to check 30onair.com initiated by Ted Patrick to get the answers for WHY Flex and AIR. The videos are really cool! For more examples visit the Flex.org showcase and AIR showcase.
For an Open Source remoting and messaging solution check BlazeDS and with this release of Flex the SDK has gone Open Source. For more Open Source projects like Cairngorm, FlexUnit and Corelib check the Adobe Open Source site.
For more inspiration and tutorials check Adobe Developer Connection and gotoandlearn.com, a wonderful tutorial site by Lee Brimelow.
Help / Docs / Bugs
- Adobe AIR resources
- AIR & Flex Quick Starts
- Developing AIR applications with Flex
- Flex 3 Language Reference (includes AIR API)
- Flex Bug and Issue Management
- BlazeDS Bug and Isuee Management
While it’s all out now it is time to think about Gumbo (Codename Flex 4)
Mike Chambers has build a proof of concept software based on C#/.NET to support the ability to launch native executables from AIR.
The code is released Open Source under MIT license.
On Adobe Labs the new betas for AIR and Flex 3 are available for download.
As this is really cool the biggest news from yesterday is that BlazeDS is available first time on labs:
“BlazeDS is the server-based Java remoting and web messaging technology that enables developers to easily connect to back-end distributed data and push data in real-time to Adobe® Flex™ and Adobe AIR™ applications for more responsive rich Internet application (RIA) experiences.”
In the past there were (and still are) LiveCycle Data Services. Now BlazeDS which is the remoting/messaging part, will be released Open Source under LGPL v3 and the code comes in early 2008. Until then try the beta and check the AMF binary data protocoll specification! This is huge! Christophe Coenraets blogged a nice introduction and check the press release for more info.
Last but not least BRIO beta was released a few days ago:
BRIO is based on Flex and is so easy to use and comes with a slick design. Be sure to check at it out as it will improve collaboration in an industry leading way.
Is very exciting to see how the Flex technology changes the way of these days software. Mike Potter wrote a summary of Adobe technologies based on Flex.
Christophe Coenraets released the code Code from his MAX session in Barcelona about Offline Synchronization using AIR and Live Cycle Data Services.
Rich Tretola (Everythingflex) posted an update of his AIR Update Manager. With the Update Manager you can define the version and update URL of your AIR application and also all dialogs regarding the update can be set. Another nice example by him is the AIR Context Menu.
Eric Feminella blogged an AIR extension for Cairngorm. I have not tested it yet but it looks interesting. I have already developed AIR apps with Cairngorm and there is no big difference to Flex web applications.
The badge install for AIR is one of the coolest things looking at the using experience when installing an AIR Application and the runtime itself. Oliver Goldman from the AIR Team posted about an update which closes a security hole.
Christian Cantrell from the AIR Team wrote a nice article about AIR as Desktop 2.0.
When you are new to AIR be sure to check the AIR Showcase and when you start learning AIR be sure to check the Adobe AIR Developer Center which is part of the new launched Adobe Developer Connection. For more on this check the latest Adobe newsletter which provides many interesting links for learning resources and read the ADC introduction by Jonathan Wall.
The MAX in Barcelona is great and today is already the last day.
Grant Skinner’s Session “50 reasons why ActionScript 3 kicks ass” was really cool so be sure to check his talk online.
“Customizing the Flex Framework” was presented by Ely Greenfield who made the talk for Deepa who could not come to Barcelona. Check Deepa’s blog were the slides and code is posted.
Another great talk was “Local Database Access with AIR and Data Synchroization Strategies” by Christophe Coenraets. He showed the different approaches how to synchronize data like SQL statements in the MXML, using the Data Access Object Pattern and the Object-Relational mapping (ORM) approach using annotations (custom metadata) and the Reflexion API (describeType). Christophe has posted some code regarding the ORM approach on this blog. Now this is opens real new possibilities. Now let’s wait when Hibernate or ActiveRecord is adapted for Flex Now the talk of Peter Elst starts (AS3 Best Practice) so more to come soon.
The MAX in Chicago is just over and many awesome new things came up.
There are new betas for Flex 3 and AIR and the prerelease of the new Adobe Media Player.
Other new betas, tools and plugins are on Adobe Labs so check it out.
If you want to view the sneak peeks check Aral Balkan’s blog for Flash Player 10 and Thermo and Peter Elst’s blog for the rest ;).
Just to name a view new things Flash Player 10 (Astro) with new text rendering engine, 3D support and AIF rocks. Thermo is a dream for Flex designer developer workflow.
The sneak peek of “Flash “Next” showed cool new timeline features and inverse kinematics!
Flash on C/C++ offers new ways and the Quake demo was really great. With Flash Home it is possible to build rich and intelligente mobile user interfaces and Photoshop Express impressed with wonderfull image effects.
Not featured in the videos but very powerfull too are the Flex Skin Design Extensions. There are plugins for Fireworks, Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash to build really custom designed components! So in the future you have to look twice to recognize a Flex app
I will be at MAX in Barcelona and I am sure I will explore more cool stuff.
