AIR 101
Web Directions North 08
Andre Charland, Nitobi
andre@nitobi.com
Monday, February 4, 2008

About Me
Andre Charland
Co-Founder/CE0 @ Nitobi
Usability & RIA Focus
Author, Blogger, Skier
Monday, February 4, 2008

About Nitobi
Ajax and Flex Components and Services
Founded in 1998
Revenue funded
Over 1000+ customers worldwide
12 Employees
Vancouver, BC
Monday, February 4, 2008

Customers
Monday, February 4, 2008

AIR?
Cross OS Runtime
Web developers can build desktop apps
Supports: Flash, Flex, HTML, PDF, JavaScript
Totally Free
OS Level APIs
Monday, February 4, 2008

AIR APIs and Features
File I/O Local Storage
Native Windowing System Notifications
Menuing Auto Updates
Online/Offline SQL Lite Database
Detection
Background
Chrome Control Processes
Monday, February 4, 2008

Neat Things...
Call ActionScript directly from JavaScript
HTML content in Flash
Badge Install
Air Aliases.js
Use ActionScript Libraries
Keyboard Shortcuts
Monday, February 4, 2008

Technicalities
Flash 9
WebKit (Safari) - Not a Browser
Windows, Mac (Linux Coming Soon!)
Not a Plug-In
AIR is not Flex, Ajax, Flash...it’s a run-time
Monday, February 4, 2008

How To’s
Flex Builder 3
HTML/Ajax
Monday, February 4, 2008

Application Descriptor
File
<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>
<application xmlns=\"http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/1.0.M6\">
<id>samples.flex.HelloWorld</id>
<version>0.1</version>
<filename>HelloWorld</filename>
<initialWindow>
<content>HelloWorld.swf</content>
<visible>true</visible>
<systemChrome>none</systemChrome>
<transparent>true</transparent>
<width>400</width>
<height>200</height>
</initialWindow>
</application>
Monday, February 4, 2008

File I/O
• Setup a File object
var myFile:File = File.appStorageDirectory;
myFile = myFile.resolve( “contacts.xml” );
• Instantiate and FileStream object
var myStream:FileStream = new FileStream();
• Setup the appropriate event listeners
myStream.addEventListener( Event.COMPLETE, doReadData );
• Call FileStream.open() or FileStream.openAsync() with the appropriate m
myStream.openAsync( myFile, FileMode.READ );
• Call the appropriate read and write methods
• Close the file using FileStream.close()
myStream.close();
Monday, February 4, 2008

Windowing
Create a new Native Window
var options:NativeWindowInitOptions = new NativeWindowInitOptions();
options.systemChrome = NativeWindowSystemChrome.STANDARD;
options.transparent = false;
var newWin:NativeWindow = new NativeWindow(options);
Window Size:
var maxOSSize:Point = NativeWindow.systemMaxSize;
var minOSSize:Point = NativeWindow.systemMinSize;
Monday, February 4, 2008

Service Monitor
Include the external SWF Library
<script type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" src=\"servicemonitor.swf\"></script>
Check for the availability of a particular URL
var monitor;
function checkURLStatus(url) {
! var req = new air.URLRequest(url);
! monitor = new window.runtime.air.net.URLMonitor(req);
! monitor.pollInterval = 5000;
! monitor.addEventListener(air.StatusEvent.STATUS, showStatus);
! monitor.start();
Monday, February 4, 2008

Snitter
http://snook.ca/snitter/
Monday, February 4, 2008

Scrutinizer
http://about.stompernet.com/scrutinizer
Monday, February 4, 2008

Analytics Reporting
http://analytics.boulevart.be/
http://analytics.boulevart.be/
Monday, February 4, 2008

Opportunities
Companion Applications
API Libraries
File Libraries
Advanced features – syncing, etc..
Casual games
Downloadable games
Monday, February 4, 2008

Usability Gotchas
Keyboard shortcuts (tab, enter…)
Throbbers / Activity indicators – no spinner
Allow text to be copied
Add functions for minimize, move, resize,
close when ‘chromeless’
Mouse hints, invitations, tool tips
Monday, February 4, 2008

Limitations in 1.0
No support for hardware acceleration (3D games, video compositing
tools, video encoders, etc)
No access to native libraries (DLLs, etc)
Cannot connect to devices (other than web cams and microphones)
Accessibility support is limited
Printing support is limited
Limited localization in 1.0
Monday, February 4, 2008

Questions:)
andre@nitobi.com
http://blogs.nitobi.com/andre
http://www.nitobi.com
Monday, February 4, 2008