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AIR:Flash CS3 Professional Update:Getting Started with AIR for Flash CS3 Professional

From Adobe Labs

Table of contents
1 Getting Started with the AIR Flash CS3 Professional Update

1.1 Installing AIR for Flash

1.1.1 To install Flash CS3
1.1.2 To install the M4 version of the Adobe AIR runtime
1.1.3 To install the Adobe AIR update for Flash CS3

1.2 Creating an Adobe AIR application in Flash
1.3 Running a Flash application in AIR
1.4 Feedback and Community

Getting Started with the AIR Flash CS3 Professional Update

The Adobe® Integrated Runtime (AIR) is a cross-platform desktop runtime that allows you to build rich Internet applications (RIAs) and deploy them to the desktop. Adobe AIR™ combines the development model of browser-based applications with the richness and functionality of desktop applications. Building web applications for the desktop provides the following advantages:

Adobe AIR is not a general desktop runtime that competes with lower-level application runtimes. Adobe AIR comes from the web to the desktop and is aimed at web developers. Its primary use is to enable web applications and RIAs to be deployed to the desktop.

The Adobe AIR update for Flash CS3 provides the development environment to start building Adobe AIR applications. It allows you to test, debug, and package your Adobe AIR applications in Flash CS3.

You can run Adobe AIR applications on the following operating systems:

To develop Adobe AIR applications on these platforms using Flash CS3, you must install the following software:

Note:The M4 version of the Adobe AIR runtime is required to test the Adobe AIR application deployment, but it is not required to develop Adobe AIR applications in Flash CS3.

Installing AIR for Flash

If you don't already have Flash CS3 installed, you must install it before installing the Adobe AIR runtime and the update for Flash CS3. If you already have Flash CS3 installed, you can proceed to installing the Adobe AIR runtime.

To install Flash CS3

You can find complete system requirements and instructions for installing and activating Flash CS3 in the Read Me file on the installation disc. The basic steps to install Flash CS3 are these:

  1. Close any Adobe applications and any Internet browsers that you have open on your computer.
  2. Insert the installation disc into the disc drive, and follow the on-screen instructions.

If you don't have a copy of Flash CS3, you can purchase it from the Adobe website.

http://www.adobe.com/products/flash/

To install the M4 version of the Adobe AIR runtime

If you previously installed an earlier version of Adobe AIR (formerly known as Apollo), you must uninstall that version before installing the M4 version.

To uninstall an earlier version of Adobe AIR, perform the following steps.

On Windows:

  1. In the Windows Start menu, select Settings -> Control Panel.
  2. Select Add or Remove Programs.
  3. Select Adobe Apollo 1.0 Alpha 1 to uninstall the runtime.
  4. Click the Change/Remove button.

On the MacIntosh:

  1. Delete the /Library/Frameworks/Adobe Apollo.framework directory.
  2. Delete the /Library/Receipts/Adobe Apollo.pkg file.
  3. Empty the trash.

To install the Adobe AIR runtime:

  1. Choose the download file for your operating system, Windows or MacIntosh, from the Adobe Labs downloads page.

  2. Save it to a location on your computer.

  3. Double click the download file that you saved - for example, air_b1_win_061107 - to begin the setup procedure.

  4. Click Run in response to the Open File - Security Warning.

  5. Click Add in response to the Adobe Integrated Runtime Setup dialog box.

  6. When setup is complete, click Finish to close the Adobe Integrated Runtime Setup dialog.

To install the Adobe AIR update for Flash CS3

Before you install the update, exit from Flash CS3 and also from any browsers you open. You can find the Adobe AIR update for Flash on the Adobe Labs web site.

Download the Adobe AIR update for Flash at the following link:

After you have downloaded the update, double click the patch file to install it.

Please see the Adobe web forum should you have problems installing the Adobe AIR update for Flash CS3.

After installing the Adobe AIR update for Flash, you can see the following changes in Flash.

Note: On a MacIntosh computer, if Flash File (Adobe AIR) does not appear on the Welcome screen, delete the following folder and restart Flash:

Users/<username>/Libraries/Application Support/Adobe/Flash CS3/<language>/Configuration/StartPage

Note: You cannot uninstall the Adobe AIR update for Flash because it's an update. To uninstall it, you would need to uninstall Flash CS3, delete any orphan files, and reinstall it without the Adobe AIR update.

Creating an Adobe AIR application in Flash

Creating an Adobe AIR application in Flash is very much like creating any other Flash application. The differences are that you begin by creating a new Adobe AIR Flash file from the Welcome screen and conclude by packaging and installing your Adobe AIR application. The following procedure takes you through the process of creating a simple Hello AIR application using Flash CS3.

  1. Launch Flash.

  2. In the Welcome Screen, click on Flash File (Adobe AIR) to create an empty FLA file with Adobe AIR publish settings.
  3. Click OK to respond to the summary dialog, About Authoring for Adobe AIR. This dialog takes a few seconds to come up the first time.
  4. Select the Text tool in the Tools panel and create a static text field (the default) that is wide enough to contain 15 to 20 characters in the center of the Stage.
  5. Enter the text “Hello Adobe AIR” in the text field.
  6. Save the file, giving it a name (e.g. helloAIR).
  7. Press Ctrl + Enter or select Control ->Test Movie to test the application with the AIR runtime.
  8. To use the Debug Movie feature, you must add ActionScript code to the application. You can try it quickly by adding a trace statement, like the following one, in the Actions panel:
    trace("Running AIR application using Debug Movie");
  9. Press Ctrl + Shift + Enter, or select Control->Debug Movie to run the application with Debug Movie.
  10. Select the Commands > AIR - Applications and Installer Settings menu item to open the AIR - Application and Installer Settings dialog.

  11. Note that Window Style options (default: System Chrome) are there but don't bother setting this at this time.
  12. Click the Select Icon Images button and open the Icon Images dialog. You will see the Adobe custom icons here and you should notice the custom icon settings. You will also see the icons for your application here when you install your application’s AIR file. The icons are not needed for this application so you can close this dialog when you're finished.
  13. To package the application, click the Package button in the Application and Installer Settings dialog. You can also do this by selecting the Commands > AIR - Package AIR File menu item. Note that you must execute Test Movie or Debug Movie to create the SWF and application.xml files before packaging.
  14. To install the application, double click the Adobe AIR Installer Package file in the same folder where you saved your application.
    1. Click the Install button in the Application Install dialog.
    2. Review the Installation Preferences and Location settings and make sure that the ‘Start application after installation’ checkbox is checked. Then click Continue.
    3. Click Finish when the Installation Completed message appears.

Running a Flash application in AIR

You can also convert an existing Flash application to an Adobe AIR application by following these steps.

  1. Open the FLA file for your Flash application.
  2. Select the Commands > AIR - Application and Installer Settings menu item.
  3. Click OK to convert the FLA file to Adobe AIR in publish settings.

You can test movie, debug movie, and package AIR files.

Feedback and Community

For reporting bugs, problems or general feedback and suggestions for Adobe AIR for Flash, please use the Adobe AIR web forum. We also encourage you to post your general feedback and links to your projects!

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