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Sams Teach Yourself Adobe(r) AIR Programming in 24 Hours

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Sams Teach Yourself Adobe(r) AIR Programming in 24 Hours

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Description

  • Copyright 2009
  • Edition: 1st
  • Book
  • ISBN-10: 0-672-33030-X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0-672-33030-8

Sams Teach Yourself Adobe® AIR™ Programming in 24 Hours

Michael Givens

Covers version 1.5 of Adobe AIR

In just 24 sessions of one hour or less, you will be up and running with Adobe AIR 1.5. Using a straightforward, step-by-step approach, each lesson builds upon a real-world foundation allowing you to learn the essentials of Adobe AIR from the ground up.

Step-by-step instructions carefully walk you through the most common Adobe AIR 1.5 tasks.

Quizzes and Exercises at the end of each chapter help you test your knowledge of Adobe AIR 1.5.

By the Way notes present interesting information related to the discussion.

Did You Know? tips offer advice or show you alternative ways to do something.

Watch Out! cautions alert you to possible problems and give you advice on how to avoid them.

Learn how to…

  • Utilize the AIR SDK
  • Write an AIR application with HTML
  • Write an AIR application with Flash CS3 or Dreamweaver CS3
  • Write an AIR application with PDF integration
  • Debug an AIR application
  • Distribute an AIR application
  • Use the AIR APIs
  • Leverage server-side features for AIR

Michael Givens is the CTO of U Saw It Enterprises, a Web technology consulting firm based in Spring, Texas. He is an Adobe Community Expert and an Adobe Corporate Champion known to share his experience and evangelism of all things Adobe. Certified in ColdFusion 5 and as an Advanced CFMX Developer, he has been using ColdFusion since the days of Allaire Spectra and Flex since it was known as Royale. He is the coauthor of Adobe AIR Programming Unleashed (Sams Publishing) and has written articles for the ColdFusion Developer’s Journal and the Flex Developer’s Journal. He also wrote a digital Short Cut titled Apollo in Flight for Sams Publishing. Michael blogs regularly at www.flexination.info.

Category: Programming/Application Development

Covers: Adobe AIR

User Level: Beginning–Intermediate

Downloads

Downloads

Download the examples

Sample Content

Online Sample Chapter

Preparing to Build Your First AIR Application

Sample Pages

Download the sample pages

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part I: Getting Started with AIR

HOUR 1: Taking in a Deep Breath of AIR

What Is the Adobe Integrated Runtime?

Who Benefits from AIR?

A Short History Lesson—From the Adobe Apollo Camp to AIR 1.5

Just How Big Is AIR Going To Be?

Workshop

    Q&A

    Exercises

HOUR 2: Ready to Install AIR

Safety Considerations for the AIR Runtime

Differences for Your Operating System: Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux

Installing the AIR Runtime

    AIR Runtime Installation for Windows

    AIR Runtime Installation for Mac OS X

    AIR Runtime Installation for Linux

Installing the AIR SDK

    AIR SDK Installation for Windows

    AIR SDK Installation for Mac OS X

    AIR SDK Installation for Linux

    Components of the AIR SDK

Finishing the Job

Workshop

    Q&A

    Quiz

    Answers

    Exercises

HOUR 3: Harnessing the AIR SDK

Using the Adobe AIR Debug Launcher

Using the Adobe AIR Developer Tool

Creating a Badge (Seamless) Installer

Workshop

    Q&A

    Quiz

    Answers

    Exercises

HOUR 4: Preparing to Build Your First AIR Application

How to Use Flex Builder 3 for AIR Development

How to Use Flash CS3 Pro for AIR Development

How to Use Dreamweaver CS3 for AIR Development

Workshop

    Q&A

    Quiz

    Answers

    Exercises

HOUR 5: Writing Your First AIR Application with Flex 3

Creating the Flex Project—Desktop AIR Application

Meet the AIR Application Descriptor

    Assigning the Basic Application Descriptor Information

    Assigning the Properties of the Initial AIR Application Window

    Assigning the Installation Folder and Program Menu Folder

    Defining a Custom User Interface for Application Updates

    Toggling the Browser Invocation of the AIR Application

    Registering New File Type Associations for Your AIR Application

The Code, Test, and Repeat Process

    Meet the WindowedApplication Tag

    Meet the Script Tag: Imports and Declarations

    Meet the initApp() Function

    Summing Up the initApp() Function

    Meet the Timer Functions

    Meet the startHelloTimer() Function

    Finishing Up with the Script Tag

    Meet the ConnectionStatus and BridgeSound Classes

    Completing the UI Picture

Packaging a Release Build

Workshop

    Q&A

    Quiz

    Answers

    Exercises

HOUR 6: Writing an AIR Application with HTML

Creating a Desktop AIR Application with HTML

Accessing the AIR Classes with JavaScript

A Few Cautionary Words About Security

Workshop

    Q&A

    Quiz

    Answers

    Exercises

HOUR 7: Writing an AIR Application with Flash CS3 or Dreamweaver CS3

Choosing the Right IDE for the Job

Creating a Desktop AIR Application with Flash CS3

Creating a Desktop AIR Application with Dreamweaver CS3

    Creating a Site with Dreamweaver CS3

    Creating the Main Application with Dreamweaver CS3

    Modifying the Application Descriptor

Workshop

    Q&A

    Quiz

    Answers

    Exercises

HOUR 8: Writing an AIR Application with PDF Integration

PDF Capability Detection in an AIR Application

Loading PDF Content into an AIR Application

Limitations for PDF Content in an AIR Application

Workshop

    Q&A

    Quiz

    Answers

    Exercises

HOUR 9: Debugging AIR Applications

Using the Adobe Flex Builder Debugger

Using the Adobe AIR Debug Launcher to Debug

Using Third-Party Tools to Debug

Using the Adobe AIR HTML Introspector

Workshop

    Q&A

    Quiz

    Answers

    Exercises

HOUR 10: Distributing Your AIR Application

Installing an AIR Application in a One-Off Approach

Installing AIR Applications Seamlessly from a Web Page

Digitally Signing and Creating an AIR Installation File

    Packaging a Release Build in Flex Builder 3

    Packaging a Release Build with Dreamweaver CS3

    Packaging a Release Build with Flash CS3 Professional

    Packaging a Release Build with the AIR SDK and the ADT

Workshop

    Q&A

    Quiz

    Answers

    Exercises

Part II: Using the AIR APIs

HOUR 11: Opening Doors with AIR

Creating Windows Using the NativeWindow Class

Creating Windows Using the mx.core.Window Class

Creating Custom Windows

Workshop

    Q&A

    Quiz

    Answers

    Exercises

HOUR 12: Screening an AIR Application

Introduction to Working with Screens

Determining Screen Resolution

Positioning Screens Programmatically

Workshop

    Q&A

    Quiz

    Answers

    Exercises

HOUR 13: File This API with AIR

Introduction to the AIR File API

Meet the File Class

Meet Some Other Class Members

Working with Directories

Reading and Writing Files

    Reading Files from the File System

    Writing Files to the File System

Workshop

    Q&A

    Quiz

    Answers

    Exercises

HOUR 14: Drag and Drop, Copy and Paste in AIR

Introduction to the Drag-and-Drop API

Meet the Drag Event

    Leveraging the nativeDragStart Event

    Leveraging the nativeDragUpdate Event

    Leveraging the nativeDragComplete Event

Meet the Drop Event

Introduction to the Copy-and-Paste API

Meet the Copy Event

    Deferring Creation or Rendering of the Clipboard Data

Meet the Paste Event

Workshop

    Q&A

    Quiz

    Answers

    Exercises

HOUR 15: AIR and the Natives

Introduction to the NativeMenu Class

    Meet the FlexNativeMenu Class

Working with Application Menus

Working with Window Menus

Creating Dock Icon Menus

Creating System Tray Icon Menus

Creating Context Menus

Creating Pop-up Menus

Workshop

    Q&A

    Quiz

    Answers

    Exercises

HOUR 16: Connectivity with AIR Networking

Introduction to Connectivity

Meet the HTTPStatusEvent Class

Meet the NetStatusEvent Class

Meet the Loader Class

Meet the ServiceMonitor Class

Meet the URLMonitor Class

Workshop

    Q&A

    Quiz

    Answers

    Exercises

HOUR 17: Local Data in an AIR Application

Introduction to Local Data Concepts

Writing Data to the File System

Meet the Local Shared Object

Meet the Local SQL Database

Workshop

    Q&A

    Quiz

    Answers

    Exercises

HOUR 18: Encryption and Security in AIR

Storing Encrypted Data

    Getting Started

    Logging In

    Clearing the Username Credential

Signing Your AIR Code

Timestamping Your AIR Code

Signing with a Digital Certificate

Workshop

    Q&A

    Quiz

    Answers

    Exercises

HOUR 19: AIR and User Notifications

Creating Status Bar Notifications

Creating Taskbar Highlighting

Creating Toast Messages

Creating a System Tray Icon

Bouncing the Mac OS Dock Icon

Workshop

    Q&A

    Quiz

    Answers

    Exercises

Part III: Developing AIR Applications

HOUR 20: Leveraging Server-Side Features for AIR

Leveraging Remoting

Leveraging Web Services

Leveraging HTTP Communication

Leveraging Messaging

Workshop

    Q&A

    Quiz.

    Answers

    Exercises

HOUR 21: Building an AIR Application

Deciding on an Application

Selecting Application Features

Architecting Your Application

Coding Your Application

    Initializing the Application

    Searching for a Flight

    Displaying the Flight Information

    Displaying the Archived Flight Information

    Replaying an Archived Flight

    Displaying a PDF in an HTML Control

    Monitoring the Internet Connection

    Retrieving the Server-Side Data

Workshop

    Exercises

HOUR 22: Signing AIR Applications

Meet the Certificate Authorities

Obtaining a Certificate

Leveraging a Publisher Identifier

Using a Timestamping Server

Workshop

    Q&A

    Quiz

    Answers

    Exercises

HOUR 23: Updating AIR Applications After Deployment

Using the Updater Class

Updating an AIR application

Updating AIR Applications Remotely

Workshop

    Q&A

    Quiz.

    Answers

    Exercises

HOUR 24: Where Do I Go from Here?

Using the AIR Documentation

Meet the Adobe Developer Connection

    Home

    Getting Started

    Samples

    Downloads

    Community

    Cookbook (Beta)

Meet the Adobe XML News Aggregator for AIR

Meet the Adobe AIR Marketplace

Workshop

    Exercises

Part IV: Appendixes

APPENDIX A: AIR and Flex 3 API Reference 395

APPENDIX B: Additional Resources for AIR Developers 397

067233030x     TOC    10/21/2008

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