Building Video Apps With Adobe AIR
To create the test applications using Adobe Flash and Adobe Flex, the following applications and plug-ins are needed:
• Adobe Flex 3 beta
• Adobe Flash CS3 Professional
• Adobe AIR update for Flash CS3 Professional beta
Everything except Adobe Flash CS3 Professional is available from the Adobe Labs site (http://labs.adobe.com). A 30-day trial version of Flash CS3 Professional is available from www.adobe.com/products/flash for those who don’t own a copy.
An FLV file is also required. The short sample video, cuepoints.flv, may be downloaded from www.helpexamples.com/flash/video, though any FLV file will do.
Easily Delivering True Desktop Applications
Before creating the two applications built on Adobe AIR, it is useful to understand why the ability to easily extend RIAs to the desktop is exciting to developers. To begin with, developers can use the same tools they currently use to create RIAs, and they can leverage that expertise to develop rich desktop applications—all with a few clicks.
Plus, because Adobe AIR is a cross-platform runtime, developers can create one application that runs on Microsoft Windows-based PCs and Macs (support for Linux machines will come soon). Adobe AIR will eventually support mobile devices, too. This means no more headaches developing and maintaining numerous code sets for each operating system. Developers simply use AIR to package their applications that customers install and run on any platform.
Because an application built on Adobe AIR is a desktop application—and not a web application in a browser—developers can provide users functionality and features unavailable or difficult to achieve in browser-based applications. For example, users can drag and drop files from other applications or local file storage systems into the application built on AIR and vice versa. Applications built on AIR also support system tray icons, system alerts, and notifications. They provide rich clipboard support so users can copy and paste images, rich text, and files in and out of applications.
From the users’ points of view, they have a true desktop application. For example, when an .AIR file is clicked on, an installer launches, and users can put the familiar shortcut launch icon on their desktops. Applications built on Adobe AIR can even include transparent windows.
Adobe AIR also ships with SQLite, an embedded database that supports local data storage. When users disconnect from the internet—either intentionally or accidentally—they can still interact fully with the applications built on AIR because data persists locally on their machines. Applications can be designed to automatically synch up changes made locally and stored in the SQLite database to the main database on the server as soon as a connection is re-established.
Creating a Video-Enabled Application Using Adobe Flash and Adobe AIR
Now that you understand more about Adobe AIR, let’s go ahead and use Adobe Flash CS3 Professional to create an application built on AIR that includes video. The end result is a desktop application that launches an FLV video in the Flash Player in AIR. You’ll create a Flash project the same way you would create one for the web. At this stage, you should have Flash CS3 Professional, AIR, and the Adobe AIR update for Flash CS3 Professional beta installed.
1. Click the Flash CS3 Professional icon from your programs or application menu to launch the application. The Flash CS3 Welcome Screen opens.
2. Select Flash File (Adobe AIR) from the Create New options on the Welcome Screen. Click OK to the message box that opens. An untitled Flash project opens.
3. Save to your desktop as AIRFlashVideo.fla using the File > Save As menu command.
4. Select Window > Components to open the Components panel.
5. Scroll down to and expand the Video components list to see all the available video components.
6. Select FLVPlayback and drag and drop it onto the stage. You’ll see a black box with the FLV icon in the center load onto the stage.