AIR for desktop and multiple swfs

Question

I know when packaging AIR for mobile devices, you can load external swfs as long as they contain no code, but I was wondering if the same limitation exists for AIR on the desktop.
Building a kiosk application and would like to organize and load the various 'views' similar to how I would create and organize a flash based web application.

Answer 1

Hi jbach...
In AIR for desktop, you can definitely load external swfs and they can contain code (works on Android also).
There's a in-depth discussion of how to accomplish this here:
http://blogs.adobe.com/cantrell/archives/2010/03/extending_air_applications_with_plugins.h tml
This article talks about security considerations, etc - and is worth understanding.
However, if you want to just test it out without worrying about security:
var stream:FileStream = new FileStream();  
stream.open(_file, FileMode.READ);
var bytes:ByteArray = new ByteArray();
stream.readBytes(bytes);
stream.close();
var context:LoaderContext = new LoaderContext();
context.allowCodeImport = true;
var loader:Loader = new Loader();
loader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, loadHandler);
loader.loadBytes(bytes, context);
function loadHandler(e:Event):void
_content = DisplayObject(e.target.content);
So basically:
Read the file as a byte array.
Create a loader context and set allowCodeImport to true.
Create a loader and use loadBytes to "convert" to a useable swf.
On complete, e.target.content contains your swf (fully accessible with code, etc.)
Hope this helps!  Good luck with your application.