Using Packager for Existing AIR App

Hi,
(I'm a total newbie to Flash and almost a newbie to development.)
What are the considerations when planning to re-package an existing AIR app into an .ipa? How do I even know what files to include for publishing?
Thanks,

One thing to consider is if using Flash CS5 your app might not publish properly or may publish with errors and bugs. It depends on how you coded the app/flash site. But if you are using Loader() method in your FLA make sure to include all of the swfs that your swf container file accesses. If they are not in a subfolder you will have to add them one-by-one to your list of included files.

Similar Messages

How to create a more general install package for an AIR app?

Hi,
I have been using the ADT to compile an exe of my AIR app along with some other files I want to distribute. Problem is, I would like to do more general install actions (e.g. copy a bunch of files to the users Documents directory, copy a file to the local store, install fonts etc). Right now I achieve some of these by copying stuff from the application directory on the first run, but that is rather kludgy. Currently I am looking at using InstallShield or InstallAnywhere to do what I want out of the can, but I thought I'd see if anyone has some more AIR-friendly suggestions...
Thanks!

In my case I managed to work around the issues we were having by doing a configuration pass on the first run of the app. That means I had to basically put all the data I needed in my assets directory using the ADT compiler, then determine if it is a first run as follows:
var locationPrefsObj:SharedObject = SharedObject.getLocal("PrefsObj");
if ( !locationPrefsObj.data.hasOwnProperty("appCreatedDate")
|| ( locationPrefsObj.data.appCreatedDate != File.applicationDirectory.creationDate.toString() ) )
     firstRun();
else {
     initConfig();
// initialize an existing config
The firstRun function will obviously be very bespoke, but you need to set the SharedObject at the end of it to make sure it doesn't get called every time.
// this function is only run straight after an install
private function firstRun():void {
     var success:Boolean = false;
     // do your first run stuff here and mark success=true if you are happy
     if ( success ) {
          // set the appCreatedDate - then a future install can identify dirt left by the previous install
          var locationPrefsObj:SharedObject = SharedObject.getLocal("PrefsObj");
          locationPrefsObj.data.appCreatedDate = File.applicationDirectory.creationDate.toString();
          locationPrefsObj.flush();
Other gotchas I hit:
(1) You can copy things from the assets folder no problem, but to move or delete anything (so as not to leave lots of extra stuff hanging around), you need to (a) run with administrator privileges on Vista and w7 (the elevation happens automatically if you leave the "Run after install" box checked on an ADT install), and (b) work around the Flash security model that says you can't delete anything from a subdirectory of Program Files under any circumstances. I got around this by something like:
// delete a file
new File(File.applicationDirectory.resolvePath("assets/fileToBeDeleted").nativePath).deleteFi le();
It's a bit nasty as it violates the security model, but until ADT lets you put stuff in two install locations I can't see another way to clean up the install properly.
(2) I tried to install fonts (using VB and other stuff), but it is a real mess - the models in all different flavours of Windows seem to be different. I gave up as our software could get around it another way ...
Hope that helps!

RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR (BETA)

It is so exciting. It been just a few months since we
released Adobe RoboHelp 7 and a brand new Technical Communication
Suite, and today we are ready to share with you guys what we
perceive as the future of Online Help. All I can say is that Time
flies like an arrow. With this, I welcome you all to this new world
of Web 2.0 and the future of Online Help - check out the Public
Beta of
RoboHelp
Packager for Adobe AIR
The tool is available for Free of Cost and can be used by
customers who have either Adobe RoboHelp 6 or Adobe RoboHelp 7 or
the Technical Communication Suite.
The RoboHelp Packager for Adobe® AIR™ allows you
to convert your existing WebHelp files generated using Adobe
RoboHelp® to an Adobe AIR application. Help and knowledge
bases delivered as Adobe AIR application will have a consistent
look and feel across all platforms.
RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR can:
Generate a single distributable file
similar to a .chm file.
Provide a variety of skins from which a user can choose from.
In addition, for any skin a user can choose different themes, which
control the look and feel in terms of colors and button/icons
images.
Provide a consistent look and feel on all platforms and
operating systems.
Enable you to comment, in addition to using other advanced
features such as Breadcrumbs, Mini TOC and Security (Digital
Signatures).
The output generated after running this tool is an .air file.
This is a single file that has built-in logic to install itself.
The same file can be installed on any platform that has Adobe®
AIR installed. Installing the Adobe AIR runtime is as seamless as
installing the Adobe Flash® Player for your browsers.
Another important aspect of the Adobe AIR installer file is
that it is a single file that contains all of the information
regarding the look and feel of the Help along with the content. It
is one package with no separate viewer required.
To read more about the benefits of packaging your help as
.air file, please visit the following link:
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/robohelp/aboutoutput.html

When you are comparing this to Flash, does this comparison
extend to the requirement for each end user to install the Air
runtime on their PCs before they can access our RoboHelp system?
And that they will also get reminders to update to the latest
version of Air runtime?

Generated RoboHelp Packager for Adobe Air Errors

Generated RH 8 to AIR 2 help yesterday and it is working. Now I want to package the AIR file
for deployment using the RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR utility. My Finish Dialog box displays" The Adobe AIR package was not generated".
The 1st grouping of errors are: Error(DirAssist&GreenPub_Icon.Bmp): The file names should not contain '&'.
I had taken the '&' out of the .bmp name before generating the file.
2nd grouping of errors are: Warning (Acct_Password_Auth.bmp): Adobe AIR 1.0 cannot render BMP image format in HTML. Hence it is converted to png.
This is fine.
3rd grouping of errors are: Warning (Back_Office_Management\Billing\About_BIlling_Processes.htm): Adobe AIR 1.0 does not support DHTML Effects and Triggers in HTML.
This one worries me. I have DHTML effects all over the help file.
Michelle

Quite. RH8 creates the AIR file for you. The packager was for RH7.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR - Beta 2 Announced

RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR is now updated. You can
download the new version for FREE from Adobe labs -
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/robohelp/.
It has added a long list of novel features - first time for a HATT.
Now, besides multiple tabs, favorites, commenting and multiple
skins like Multi-Tab Accordion and Uni-pane Help, you have another
set of new features.
Designed for End Customers - Adobe AIR based Help templates
have been designed keeping in view the end customer. They have some
high-end navigation features like Mini TOC, Breadcrumbs, etc. Apart
from these capabilities, the new Adobe AIR based Help also empowers
the end customers to customize the Help. An end customer can set
their own preferences and customize Help as desired.
Compelling Rich Branded Experience- RoboHelp Packager for
Adobe AIR provides a compelling rich user experience. It includes
templates that help authors package the same content into three
completely different styles – Multi-Tab Accordion, Uni-Pane
or the Classic Tri-Pane Help. Apart from this it also helps the
Authors brand the Help as per Corporate Branding Guidelines. It
provides support for the addition of a Company Logo and a Punch
line in the main Help window. Apart from this it also provides an
About Box in the Help that details the version, description,
copyrights, logos etc.
Auto Update -Adobe AIR based Help applications provide an
Auto Update feature using which updates can be pushed to all
installed connected versions of Help. Usually, the Help content
bundled with the application is never updated, while the web
content is updated with current feature enhancements and additional
resources. Adobe AIR based Help provides you with the option to
publish updates for your end users at a common server location. The
Adobe AIR based Help is intelligent enough to check for updates and
prompts users to apply updates when it detects a new version is
available.
Review Workflows / Personalization of Help
Adobe AIR based help files can be configured in such a way
that you can add comments to topics and publish those comments at a
common location. This feature enables a complete review workflow,
whether or not the reviewer is a part of your group/organization.
* Reviewers within your network: Reviewers can publish their
comments to an XML file on a shared folder. They can also
synchronize the comments from other reviewers on the same network.
This enable multiple reviewers to simultaneously view the comments
being made by other reviewers as they review.
* Reviewers outside your network: You can send the .air file
to these reviewers who can then export their comments to an XML
file and send it to you. You can import these comments into your
Adobe AIR application.
Apart from the rewire workflow, the feature is designed to
help an end customer personalize Help by adding comments on the
same. These comments will not be uploaded to the server, however
can be exported to a file and shred with friends over email.
New Classic help Template - A new template called Classic
Help has been added. It is named Classic because it is a Tri-Pane
Help. Apart from that it has got all the power of any other Adobe
AIR based Help template. This template has a new feature called
“How do I” that lists all the browse sequences defined
in the WebHelp. We recommend that authors design their browse
sequences in such a way that they provide complete workflow
information to end customers.
Supports Packaging of Merged WebHelp- RoboHelp Packager for
Adobe AIR now supports merged WebHelp. If an author specifies the
WebHelp folder of a Master project, the Packager is intelligent
enough to detect and convert all referenced projects in the Master
Project. However, one needs to be careful while using this feature.
It doesn’t provide as much flexibility as Merged WebHelp. A
new Package needs to be created every time even when you update any
of the sub projects.
In Beta 2, zoom works flawlessly and search results has been
further improved.
If you have not tried the RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR,
you can download it now for FREE (Adobe RoboHelp 7 required).
Thanks and regards
Vivek Jain
Group Product Manager, Adobe Systems
Adobe Technical Communication Suite, FrameMaker and RoboHelp
www.adobe.com/products/technicalcommunicationsuite/
blog-
http://blogs.adobe.com/techcomm/
RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR-
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/robohelp/

When you are comparing this to Flash, does this comparison
extend to the requirement for each end user to install the Air
runtime on their PCs before they can access our RoboHelp system?
And that they will also get reminders to update to the latest
version of Air runtime?

On iOS 8.3 using 'Keynote for iPad' the app freezes repeatedly (since the last update of April 21st) while editing slides. 30 sec. later comes alive again, then freezes again after a few editing actions. Anyone with the same problem?

On iOS 8.3 using 'Keynote for iPad' the app freezes repeatedly (since the last update of April 21st) while editing slides. 30 sec. later comes alive again, then freezes again after a few editing actions. Anyone with the same problem? I tried everything 'app support' tells me except deleting and reinstalling the App because I have a lot of files that I'd lose. Recommendations anyone? [email protected]

On iOS 8.3 using 'Keynote for iPad' the app freezes repeatedly (since the last update of April 21st) while editing slides. 30 sec. later comes alive again, then freezes again after a few editing actions. Anyone with the same problem? I tried everything 'app support' tells me except deleting and reinstalling the App because I have a lot of files that I'd lose. Recommendations anyone? [email protected]

RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR is GM

RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR is GM now and you can
download it now for FREE from Adobe site –
http://www.adobe.com/products/robohelp/robohelp-packager-for-air
Adobe AIR runtime enables applications to deliver both the
benefits of server connectivity and the compelling end user
experience of a desktop application. With a seamless offline-
online experience, end-users of Adobe AIR applications can continue
to work when they are temporarily offline. RoboHelp Packager for
Adobe AIR now enables you to publish in Adobe AIR format. Neither
of the popular help output options - CHM or WebHelp or WebHelp on a
Server provide the array of features as RoboHelp Packager for Adobe
AIR does today. That said, in my opinion, RoboHelp Packager for
Adobe AIR is a beginning, beginning of a new revolution in help
authoring. Here is a list of what you get today
· Auto Update - Adobe AIR applications that can update
themselves when online connection is available and that can work
perfectly when desktop is offline. For example, Adobe AIR help file
created with RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR will prompt the
end-users when an update is available. With a single click, the
help file will update itself.
· Get Web 2.0 features - Adobe AIR applications can
store information locally – for example, when you add
comments to Online Help, they are stored locally and can be viewed
after you have closed the application. End users can also comment
on external pages and store the comments as part of help file.
Comments are still available when Online Help has been updated
(provided file names don’t change) or when you are offline.
· Extensibility - Unlike HTML Help which depends on the
CHM viewer, the functionality of the Adobe AIR is extensible and
customizable. For example, organizations can add branding
information to Adobe AIR help file, including icons for help file,
branding imagery on the top of the help file and so on.
· Multiple tab – never before end user experience
- Adobe AIR help file also allows you to open multiple tabs within
the tri-pane enabling multiple help topics and threads to be
navigated at the same time.
· Integrated interface to everything your end users need
- You can also add resource links to your help files –
enabling a single access point for product pages, user forums,
knowledge base, online help and external web pages.
· Multiple templates to choose from - Organizations get
to chose from several of the templates and can select a particular
skin or theme for each of these templates. With RoboHelp Packager
for Adobe AIR, there are three templates come out of the box -
Multi-Tab Accordion, Unipane and Classic Help.
· End user preferences - RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR
enables the help users to customize their help by selecting their
preferences (something they can’t do for a CHM or for WebHelp
output – which is not hosted on a Server).
· Cross Platform - Adobe AIR is cross-platform and
cross-browser, supported on Windows, Mac and Linux (currently in
pre-release).
Needless to say, Adobe AIR has attracted a lot of interest
among the help community and some of the experts believe that
within two years, Adobe AIR will be the preferred help format for
40% of all help authors.
If you have not tried it, you can download it now from
http://www.adobe.com/products/robohelp/robohelp-packager-for-air
Thanks and regards
Vivek Jain
Group Product Manager, Adobe Systems
Adobe Technical Communication Suite, FrameMaker and RoboHelp
www.adobe.com/products/technicalcommunicationsuite/
blog-
http://blogs.adobe.com/techcomm/

When you are comparing this to Flash, does this comparison
extend to the requirement for each end user to install the Air
runtime on their PCs before they can access our RoboHelp system?
And that they will also get reminders to update to the latest
version of Air runtime?

CustomeUpdateUI for native AIR app installer

Hi,
We have a native installer for a windows and Mac AIR app.
For updates, we use the NativeApplicationUpdater code from:
http://code.google.com/p/nativeapplicationupdater/
After an update has been downloaded and launched, AIR shows a dialong prompting the user to "Replace" or "Cancel"
the update.
I would like to get rid of the dialog as this seems to include a redundant question for the user who chose to update from the first place.
I believe setting the <customUpdateUI> tag at the application decriptor file would hide the dialog, but that causes the update to just launch the existing app. How can I come up with custom logic that will cause the update to actually replace the existing app?
Thanks,
Eilon

It does have half an answer. SWFs can request loading AIR applications so they suggested embedding a SWF on the page which would be able to launch your AIR application. Your link would need to fire off some JavaScript to use the ExternalInterface with the SWF to relay your request inside the SWF.
If you really want it on Windows for example then you'll need to register your URI, the example should be self explainatory:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa767914(v=vs.85).aspx

Simple Web Frontend for existing Java app

Hi there!
(sorry for my english at first ;)
I have an existing java app which currently is used via command line. It's a server application which mostly does monitoring outputs and functions you can use in the shell are like starting/stopping the server. For these outputs and for starting/stopping and so on i want to create a simple web frontend which gives me the ability to do this.
What do i need? It would be fine if i do not have to set up a large tomcat server because the program should run out of the box. Of course i want to access the website via the internet (simple login). The whole thing would be about 2-5 simple pages. Best thing would be if i could update the monitoring variables via java script.
Can i use servlets (not much experience with it so far, that's why i ask :) )? What do i need for the webserver? Can i access my data variables from right from the servlet?
Thanks in advance,
kiwaque

If you are familiar with Swing, I would suggest GWT for the Frontend... you can build and debug the Frontend similar to a Swing App, and then compile it to HTML/CSS/Javascript...

Packaging and Delivering AIR Apps

Hi Guys,
I have an issue. I have a config file in my air application
that I want change depending on what user it is being delivered to.
The number of users could be extremely large, possibly in their
hundreds so to have to change the config file again and again by
hand is unfeasible. I had an idea to automate this process with a
web app that will take some user information and use it to update
the details in the config. However what I am struggling with is
whether to compile the app, open the it up in java and change the
config file. Or whether to adjust the config file first, than
compile the air app.
I know how to view and read the config files in the air app
from a java program once the air app has been compiled, but writing
to those files is alluding me at this time. What I know nothing
about however, is compiling an air app with a java program.
Has anybody else had this problem? How did you go abouts
solving this? What are your reccomendations?
Any help would be extremely useful.

quote:
Originally posted by:
duncanhall
It doesn't need to require any user interaction at all, as
long as you have some logic in the app that can determine which
"version" of the config file is needed.
Just transparently download the file in the background on
first run, then store it in the application storage directory. This
requires no user interaction whatsoever, means that one single
build can deployed with an unlimited number of pssible
configurations and makes it easy to update the config file in the
future.
Oh I see where your coming from! Very Good idea, I like it a
lot. I may actually use this implementation. Thank you for your
suggestion.

Weblogic.Deployer using -deploy for existing application

I'm running on weblogic 8.1 SP3
when I use -deploy for an existing application the documentation says it will do a redeploy.
documentation for the targets option says that it will use existing targets for an application that is currently deployed.
BUT it doesn't work. Is this a known issue ?
I use the following options:
-name fortune
-source /data/bea81/applications/stg/fortune.ear
-verbose -debug -deploy -stage

Check to see if the problem is with the Deployer tool or myApp.war:
1) Does myApp.war deploy using the console?
2) Check myApp.war has all the classes it needs?
If your app does deploy from the console then we can focus in on the Deploy tool. If not it may help give us a clue as to what is going on e.g. your war file missing classes.
Hoos

Advice please for creating a preloader for an AIR app

Hi.
I've developed an AIR app in flex and all I want is a preloader for when the app is opened.
I've ready plenty of the tutorials online - but most of the tutorials are geared towards <mx:Application> not <mx:WindowedApplication> and I
can't seem to get them working using the <mx:WindowedApplication preloader=" ">.
Coding the actual preloader isn't the issue i'm just having problems running it from the AIR app.
If anyone has any tips for me that would be great!
Thanks.

you could use a mx:Window in order to create a splash window.
http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex/3/html/help.html?content=WorkingWithWindows_2.html

Any solution for Launching Air Apps from Sandboxed Chrome and Safari Browsers?

Before we go and build our own plug-in (Ugh!)...
As of early this year, we could no longer launch our Air application from Chrome. Now Safari (with Mavericks) has Sandboxed Flash with their browser and it will no-longer launch our application.
Does anyone have any helpful advice (beyond building our own plug-in)?
Thanks,
Leo

For the Chrome issue, I added instructions on how to manually enable an exception so that the plugin could run. The easier way to get it working is to have them install an Air app from the browser using a Flash badge. This didn't work for us since our app needs a native installer. Another option is to have our user install another Air app from our site. The exception is created for the site and the Air plugin so even though it would be a different app, once they allowed the plugin on our site, we could launch the natively installed app after that.
I just discovered the Safari sandbox issue on Mavericks. I haven't tried either of these approaches on Safari yet. Is it the AdobeAAMDetect plugin in Safari settings that needs to be allowed?
http://support.trainerroad.com/entries/22547739-How-do-I-allow-TrainerRoad-to-be-launched- from-the-website-

Admin Rights for Adobe AIR apps

Which Admin rights are needed on a system to install a .AIR file on a system? In our Enterprise scenario users do not have Admin rights on the system. And whenever user tries installing an AIR app an error is thrown for the same. I want to know what are the least (Admin) rights that we need to give to a user on a WindowsXP system so that he can install air apps?

Hello,
Unfortunately, there isn't a simple answer to this question because AIR isn't in complete comtrol over the full set of files and registry keys touched during an install - we rely on Windows Installer for that. However you can find additional information about this at:
Does Installing an AIR Application Require Admin Rights?
What are Administrative Rights, Anyway?
You might also want to vote for this idea: Installation of Adobe AIR apps without having administrative privileges
Hope this helps,
Chris

License Keys for Adobe Air Apps

Many software applications require the end user to input a valid license key before proceeding with the installation. I have yet to come across an Adobe AIR application that employs this mechanism.
The question is how can i integrate such a mechanism into an adobe air app?

Two options:
a) Build a licensing verification scheme yourself
b) Use a 3rd party tool, such as NitroLM or Sharify or Shibuya

Using Packager for Existing AIR App

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for