The Essential Guide to Flash CS4 AIR Development

By Marco Casario, Koen De Weggheleire, Matteo Ronchi , Andrew Shorten

• Embrace the Flash Platform and learn how to build desktop applications using the AIR SDK alongside Flash CS4.
• Understand and use the ActionScript 3.0 AIR APIs.
• Create applications that interact with any operating system to create, read, and write local files.
• Write applications that can run both online and offline, automatically checking for Internet connectivity.
• Build AIR applications that communicate with a local SQLite database.

We all know what a great tool Flash is for creating dynamic, engaging web content, and Adobe's latest CS4 release just makes it even better. Among the great new features is the ability to take all the power of Flash for the Web and put in on the desktop using AIR. AIR capability is built right into the Flash CS4 IDE, which means you can start writing desktop applications right away.

This book not only covers the essentials of using Flash with AIR (and AIR with Flash), but also shows you how to extend application functionality in new ways. once you've got Flash on the desktop, you're no longer constrained by the limitations of running inside a web browser. You'll have access to the local desktop file system, and AIR adds SQLite functionality for native database support. And just as Flash animations have a consistent look and feel across browsers, AIR allows you to create applications that work consistently across operating systems—Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux.

For any Flash developer who wants to go from the Web to the desktop (and who doesn't?), this book is required reading. It not only tells you how to do it, but is full of practical, easy-to-follow examples that will have you building desktop AIR applications with Flash in no time. Expanding your existing Flash skills with the Essential Guide to Flash CS4 AIR Development will make you an even more potent and indispensable force on any development team!

Summary of Contents

1. Introducing Adobe AIR
2. Introducing Flash CS4
3. Building Your First AIR Application
4. Setting AIR Application Properties
5. Working with the Window APIs and the Screen Class
6. Creating Menus for Flash Applications
7. Accessing the File System
8. Working with the operating System
9. Adding Rich Media: PDF, Video, and Audio Files
10. Working with HTML Content
11. Monitoring network Connectivity
12. SQLite Programming in Flash CS4
13. Packaging, Distributing, and Installing AIR Applications

This book is part of friends of ED's 'Essential Guide' series

The Essential Guide series takes a pragmatic approach to learning. We understand that you might not have the time or the inclination to read through a long book before you can get up and running, and we designed this series to give you the knowledge you want when you want it. The learning is always by example, with lots of code snippets that you can take with you and use in your own applications. The focus is on targeted learning for web professionals—providing the essential tools that the modern web developer needs. A book in this series won't focus as much on the basics as a Foundation book, but it will take you further, introducing some advanced topics that are essential for using a particular technology in the real world.