The last time I wrote about my collection of JavaScript samples for Adobe AIR was in February of 2008. I had just updated the then 35+ samples for AIR Beta 3. Well, Adobe AIR has since launched (and released two minor versions), but the samples haven’t evolved. That is until today. I’m happy to announce that I’ve updated all the examples, combined them into a single project, and made them available as open source. (more…)
In my two previous blog posts I talked about using the system tray and notifications with Adobe AIR from JavaScript-based applications. As a proof of concept, more to myself than anything else, I also put together a sample application that uses these two techniques. The combined application, while far more complex than the atomic samples I included previously, shows both of the concepts in action. The result is an application that checks for recent Flickr photos and alerts you when they arrive. (more…)
While there’s a lot to consider when building notification windows, they are actually pretty easy because there’s minimal cross operating system (OS) differences for which you need to account. A common pairing with notification windows is system tray/docking which varies considerably across OS, and can be a little more challenging. More on that in a future post. For now however, let’s take a look at notification windows using JavaScript. We will walk through what a notification window looks like to AIR, and explore some of the various options you have when you want to alert the user. (more…)
Adobe AIR is designed to be consistent across operating systems. The result is that AIR applications can also run consistently across operating systems. The reality however is that there are certainly places that operating systems differ significantly, yet present metaphors that users expect. Among those more pervasive differences is the Windows system tray. The same metaphor exists, but differently for Mac, and may not exist at all depending on your Linux distribution. Let’s take a look at what is involved to use JavaScript to interact with the system tray in a cross operating system fashion. (more…)
In a previous post I described a process for analyzing the image type and dimensions of image files (PNG, JPEG, GIF) without having to actually display the image, or load it onto the Flash display list. It was called to my attention that the post did not also include image sizing, or generating thumbnails. While I want to cover an example of this, I think it also makes for an interesting discussion on image processing in general and Adobe AIR. (more…)
Well, another MAX North America has come and gone. In general, my perceptions of this year’s event puts it at among the best we have ever been able to put on - going back to Allaire, and Dev Con in Washington, D.C. Certainly, no event with record attendance of over 5,000 is going to please everybody, but the MAX team came really close. I had a total of six hands-on labs presentations, and an unconference presentation as well. Needless to say, I kept busy. Here’s a few thoughts on MAX 2008, as well as descriptions and content for my sessions. (more…)
I find pretty regularly that developers tend to confuse Adobe and Flash. Adobe is a company. Flash is a technology. Flash is just one of the 70+ technologies that Adobe, the company, makes. JavaScript developers that ignore the rest of what Adobe has to offer because of its association with Flash, do themselves a great disservice. As a point in case, Adobe is sponsoring and presenting at the two most well known Ajax conferences this year. (more…)
Ethan Malasky, from the Adobe AIR engineering team, joined on AIR Tour Europe crew for the first week of the second leg to present on security in Adobe AIR. As an engineer on the AIR team, Ethan can talk about the security model in a way few others can, often giving insight as to why specific decisions were made. Ethan also has access to the source code, and can do fun things like create custom builds with security turned off, and show you the danger of a world without the security model. (more…)
During the AIR Europe Tour event in Brussels, Belgium I was approached by an attendee with a technical question. He wanted to drag and drop video content from the desktop (or presumably other source), and drop it into his application. After the drop operation, he wanted to size the native window to fit the specific content size. This might initially sound pretty easy, but it requires accounting for the OS-specific chrome. There are also some usability questions to consider. (more…)
Many of my Adobe AIR demonstrations show the concept of “script briding” between JavaScript and Flash libraries (i.e. SWC files). Using this feature, JavaScript developers can leverage existing work done by Flash developers in areas that were previously not feasible in the browser. It’s important to recognize however, that the Flash Player itself ships with extensive built in functionality that may be useful as well. I wanted to explore this concept a little further, so I put together a little example that leverages PlotKit and Flash Media Server. (more…)