Re: [flexcoders] Re: AIR architectural pointers for a Flex developer
Hi, We are currently building an on-/offline application with a shared codebase. In (very) short: what you need to do is start 3 (!) projects in Flex Builder: one Flex, one AIR and one library. The library wil contain most of your code (all of the code that can be shared by both platforms), while the two others contain only the code specific to either platform. All code that is NOT shared between the two versions should be accessed via a Factory method (Google: Design Patterns Factory) which returns an instance of the platform specific object containing that code (both on- and offline specific objects should implement the same interface in order to make them compatible). I'm sorry I don't have time for an example, I hope this gives you some pointers to get started. EdB On Thu, Jul 16, 2009 at 10:40 PM, simonjpalmersimonjpal...@yahoo.com wrote: Thanks for the link. I have been through most of them - quite a few are duplicates of links on other aggregated lists - and spent a considerable amount of time on the Adobe web site prior to posting here. The trouble is that none of these examples actually cover the single thing that I don't understand adequately, namely the relationship between a traditional Flex swf app running in the browser and an AIR app with an identical user interface running on the desktop. Most of the samples I have downloaded and picked apart so far are either examples of how you can create pure desktop apps with AIR, with varying degrees of sophistication, or tutorials for JS/HTML programmers to tempt them into the AIR runtime so their apps can have access to the user's file system. What I need is an example of an app where the user starts in the web and is provided the option of going offline, at which point an AIR app is installed for them and they can continue to work in an identical environment without being connected. Following that I'd like to see a practical example of how data synchronisation is managed when they re-connect to the web. This would seem to be an obvious lifecycle and at the heart of AIR's unique proposition, but I am not really seeing how it fits together. As I said at the beginning I must be missing something simple, basic and obvious and I was hoping I could get a pointer from AIR tutorials. No luck so far... any ideas? --- In flexcoders@yahoogroups.com, grenma gre...@... wrote: Beside Adobe, you could probably start here: http://www.smashingapps.com/2009/03/06/25-excellent-and-useful-adobe-air-tutorials-resources.html RG --- In flexcoders@yahoogroups.com, simonjpalmer simonjpalmer@ wrote: I have built quite a few apps with Flex 2 over the last few years and have been using using a Java (JBoss) back end. I have a new requirement for an app which needs to be able to run on- and off-line and deliver an identical user experience. My limited understanding of AIR is that this is what it was intended to do, so I got FlexBuilder 3. I have done all the sort of startup stuff that you would expect, like building an app from scratch and reading a collection of tutorials on the web and downloading a few sample apps, but I haven't yet come across a good resource for giving me the start I need. (Naively) I was expecting to be able to build a regular web-based flex app and then deploy it to AIR, with maybe some additional features in the AIR version to take advantage of it running on the desktop. Alternatively I was expecting to be able to take the AIR app and deploy it to the web as an SWF. I'm obviously missing some basic element of the AIR philosophy because I can't really see how to do either of these things. I suspect I just need some really obvious thing pointed out to me. Does anyone know of a good resource to introduce the AIR architecture and philosophy to Flex programmers? -- Ix Multimedia Software Jan Luykenstraat 27 3521 VB Utrecht T. 06-51952295 I. www.ixsoftware.nl
Re: [flexcoders] Re: AIR architectural pointers for a Flex developer
I managed to find a link in my bookmarks that will serve as an excelent starting point: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/air/flex/articles/flex_air_codebase.html EdB On Thu, Jul 16, 2009 at 10:40 PM, simonjpalmersimonjpal...@yahoo.com wrote: Thanks for the link. I have been through most of them - quite a few are duplicates of links on other aggregated lists - and spent a considerable amount of time on the Adobe web site prior to posting here. The trouble is that none of these examples actually cover the single thing that I don't understand adequately, namely the relationship between a traditional Flex swf app running in the browser and an AIR app with an identical user interface running on the desktop. Most of the samples I have downloaded and picked apart so far are either examples of how you can create pure desktop apps with AIR, with varying degrees of sophistication, or tutorials for JS/HTML programmers to tempt them into the AIR runtime so their apps can have access to the user's file system. What I need is an example of an app where the user starts in the web and is provided the option of going offline, at which point an AIR app is installed for them and they can continue to work in an identical environment without being connected. Following that I'd like to see a practical example of how data synchronisation is managed when they re-connect to the web. This would seem to be an obvious lifecycle and at the heart of AIR's unique proposition, but I am not really seeing how it fits together. As I said at the beginning I must be missing something simple, basic and obvious and I was hoping I could get a pointer from AIR tutorials. No luck so far... any ideas? --- In flexcoders@yahoogroups.com, grenma gre...@... wrote: Beside Adobe, you could probably start here: http://www.smashingapps.com/2009/03/06/25-excellent-and-useful-adobe-air-tutorials-resources.html RG --- In flexcoders@yahoogroups.com, simonjpalmer simonjpalmer@ wrote: I have built quite a few apps with Flex 2 over the last few years and have been using using a Java (JBoss) back end. I have a new requirement for an app which needs to be able to run on- and off-line and deliver an identical user experience. My limited understanding of AIR is that this is what it was intended to do, so I got FlexBuilder 3. I have done all the sort of startup stuff that you would expect, like building an app from scratch and reading a collection of tutorials on the web and downloading a few sample apps, but I haven't yet come across a good resource for giving me the start I need. (Naively) I was expecting to be able to build a regular web-based flex app and then deploy it to AIR, with maybe some additional features in the AIR version to take advantage of it running on the desktop. Alternatively I was expecting to be able to take the AIR app and deploy it to the web as an SWF. I'm obviously missing some basic element of the AIR philosophy because I can't really see how to do either of these things. I suspect I just need some really obvious thing pointed out to me. Does anyone know of a good resource to introduce the AIR architecture and philosophy to Flex programmers? -- Ix Multimedia Software Jan Luykenstraat 27 3521 VB Utrecht T. 06-51952295 I. www.ixsoftware.nl
[flexcoders] Re: AIR architectural pointers for a Flex developer
Thanks Erik, that's *exactly* what I was looking for. It all makes sense now. --- In flexcoders@yahoogroups.com, Erik de Bruin erikdebr...@... wrote: I managed to find a link in my bookmarks that will serve as an excelent starting point: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/air/flex/articles/flex_air_codebase.html EdB On Thu, Jul 16, 2009 at 10:40 PM, simonjpalmersimonjpal...@... wrote: Thanks for the link. I have been through most of them - quite a few are duplicates of links on other aggregated lists - and spent a considerable amount of time on the Adobe web site prior to posting here. The trouble is that none of these examples actually cover the single thing that I don't understand adequately, namely the relationship between a traditional Flex swf app running in the browser and an AIR app with an identical user interface running on the desktop. Most of the samples I have downloaded and picked apart so far are either examples of how you can create pure desktop apps with AIR, with varying degrees of sophistication, or tutorials for JS/HTML programmers to tempt them into the AIR runtime so their apps can have access to the user's file system. What I need is an example of an app where the user starts in the web and is provided the option of going offline, at which point an AIR app is installed for them and they can continue to work in an identical environment without being connected. Following that I'd like to see a practical example of how data synchronisation is managed when they re-connect to the web. This would seem to be an obvious lifecycle and at the heart of AIR's unique proposition, but I am not really seeing how it fits together. As I said at the beginning I must be missing something simple, basic and obvious and I was hoping I could get a pointer from AIR tutorials. No luck so far... any ideas? --- In flexcoders@yahoogroups.com, grenma grenma@ wrote: Beside Adobe, you could probably start here: http://www.smashingapps.com/2009/03/06/25-excellent-and-useful-adobe-air-tutorials-resources.html RG --- In flexcoders@yahoogroups.com, simonjpalmer simonjpalmer@ wrote: I have built quite a few apps with Flex 2 over the last few years and have been using using a Java (JBoss) back end. I have a new requirement for an app which needs to be able to run on- and off-line and deliver an identical user experience. My limited understanding of AIR is that this is what it was intended to do, so I got FlexBuilder 3. I have done all the sort of startup stuff that you would expect, like building an app from scratch and reading a collection of tutorials on the web and downloading a few sample apps, but I haven't yet come across a good resource for giving me the start I need. (Naively) I was expecting to be able to build a regular web-based flex app and then deploy it to AIR, with maybe some additional features in the AIR version to take advantage of it running on the desktop. Alternatively I was expecting to be able to take the AIR app and deploy it to the web as an SWF. I'm obviously missing some basic element of the AIR philosophy because I can't really see how to do either of these things. I suspect I just need some really obvious thing pointed out to me. Does anyone know of a good resource to introduce the AIR architecture and philosophy to Flex programmers? -- Ix Multimedia Software Jan Luykenstraat 27 3521 VB Utrecht T. 06-51952295 I. www.ixsoftware.nl
[flexcoders] Re: AIR architectural pointers for a Flex developer
Beside Adobe, you could probably start here: http://www.smashingapps.com/2009/03/06/25-excellent-and-useful-adobe-air-tutorials-resources.html RG --- In flexcoders@yahoogroups.com, simonjpalmer simonjpal...@... wrote: I have built quite a few apps with Flex 2 over the last few years and have been using using a Java (JBoss) back end. I have a new requirement for an app which needs to be able to run on- and off-line and deliver an identical user experience. My limited understanding of AIR is that this is what it was intended to do, so I got FlexBuilder 3. I have done all the sort of startup stuff that you would expect, like building an app from scratch and reading a collection of tutorials on the web and downloading a few sample apps, but I haven't yet come across a good resource for giving me the start I need. (Naively) I was expecting to be able to build a regular web-based flex app and then deploy it to AIR, with maybe some additional features in the AIR version to take advantage of it running on the desktop. Alternatively I was expecting to be able to take the AIR app and deploy it to the web as an SWF. I'm obviously missing some basic element of the AIR philosophy because I can't really see how to do either of these things. I suspect I just need some really obvious thing pointed out to me. Does anyone know of a good resource to introduce the AIR architecture and philosophy to Flex programmers?
[flexcoders] Re: AIR architectural pointers for a Flex developer
Thanks for the link. I have been through most of them - quite a few are duplicates of links on other aggregated lists - and spent a considerable amount of time on the Adobe web site prior to posting here. The trouble is that none of these examples actually cover the single thing that I don't understand adequately, namely the relationship between a traditional Flex swf app running in the browser and an AIR app with an identical user interface running on the desktop. Most of the samples I have downloaded and picked apart so far are either examples of how you can create pure desktop apps with AIR, with varying degrees of sophistication, or tutorials for JS/HTML programmers to tempt them into the AIR runtime so their apps can have access to the user's file system. What I need is an example of an app where the user starts in the web and is provided the option of going offline, at which point an AIR app is installed for them and they can continue to work in an identical environment without being connected. Following that I'd like to see a practical example of how data synchronisation is managed when they re-connect to the web. This would seem to be an obvious lifecycle and at the heart of AIR's unique proposition, but I am not really seeing how it fits together. As I said at the beginning I must be missing something simple, basic and obvious and I was hoping I could get a pointer from AIR tutorials. No luck so far... any ideas? --- In flexcoders@yahoogroups.com, grenma gre...@... wrote: Beside Adobe, you could probably start here: http://www.smashingapps.com/2009/03/06/25-excellent-and-useful-adobe-air-tutorials-resources.html RG --- In flexcoders@yahoogroups.com, simonjpalmer simonjpalmer@ wrote: I have built quite a few apps with Flex 2 over the last few years and have been using using a Java (JBoss) back end. I have a new requirement for an app which needs to be able to run on- and off-line and deliver an identical user experience. My limited understanding of AIR is that this is what it was intended to do, so I got FlexBuilder 3. I have done all the sort of startup stuff that you would expect, like building an app from scratch and reading a collection of tutorials on the web and downloading a few sample apps, but I haven't yet come across a good resource for giving me the start I need. (Naively) I was expecting to be able to build a regular web-based flex app and then deploy it to AIR, with maybe some additional features in the AIR version to take advantage of it running on the desktop. Alternatively I was expecting to be able to take the AIR app and deploy it to the web as an SWF. I'm obviously missing some basic element of the AIR philosophy because I can't really see how to do either of these things. I suspect I just need some really obvious thing pointed out to me. Does anyone know of a good resource to introduce the AIR architecture and philosophy to Flex programmers?
