Streaming Media - December 2007/January 2008 - (Page 58) With Adobe AIR, skilled and novice developers have the tools to move from creating web-only services to delivering video-rich desktop applications. As a powerful, easy-to-use, cross-operating system application runtime, AIR lets web designers and developers take RIAs created in HTML/CSS, Ajax, Adobe Flash, and Adobe Flex and quickly deliver them as desktop applications. With regard to the training efforts highlighted above, organizations can provide employees with video-rich training applications in Adobe AIR that can be viewed and completed on laptops anytime, anyplace. When internet connections are available, test results can be captured automatically to backend systems and reports can be sent to supervisors. Of course, training applications are just one example. Easier integration of video into desktop applications provides new avenues to deliver branded entertainment services and customer service and transforms how individuals engage with each other. AIRborne Getting Started With Adobe AIR This article walks through creating two applications built on Adobe AIR—one in Adobe Flash and the other in Adobe Flex. The application created in Flash provides a windowed desktop application that plays Flash Video (FLV) content. Adobe is also preparing to release Flex 3, the latest version of the company’s popular integrated development environment (IDE). Flex 3 is a cross-platform, open source framework for creating rich internet applications that run identically in all major browsers and operating systems. Similar to the application created with Adobe Flash, the Adobe AIR application developed in Adobe Flex launches a window to play FLV video content. Users can drag and drop any FLV file from the desktop or file storage system onto the application, and the video plays— something they couldn’t do in a web-based application. Because the beta version of Flex 3 does not yet contain a comprehensive set of video components for building video-enabled applications, the code for this application is provided within the instructional steps. Adobe Flex 3 and Adobe Flash CS3 Professional support Adobe AIR, so people can create projects on AIR using either development tool. Developers can also customize application skins using Flash and Flex to create unique, highly branded video experiences for the desktop. Although this article focuses on using Adobe Flash and Adobe Flex, developers can also create applications built on Adobe AIR in other development environments, such as Aptana, Adobe Dreamweaver CS3, or any text editor along with the command-line tools provided with the Adobe AIR SDK to package the application to AIR for distribution and installation on desktop machines. To create the test applications using Adobe Flash and Adobe Flex, the following applications and plug-ins are needed: • Adobe Flex 3 beta • Adobe Flash CS3 Professional • Adobe AIR update for Flash CS3 Professional beta 58 STREAMING MEDIA December 2007/January 2008 Figure 1. When you click the Flash CS3 Professional icon from your programs or application menu to launch the application, the Flash CS3 Welcome Screen opens. Figure 2. With the FLVPlayback component selected on the stage, select the Window > Components Inspector menu command. The Component Inspector panel opens with the Parameters tab selected. Everything except Adobe Flash CS3 Professional is available from the Adobe Labs site (http://labs.adobe.com). A 30-day trial version of Flash CS3 Professional is available from www.adobe.com/products/flash for those who don’t own a copy. http://labs.adobe.com http://www.adobe.com/products/flash
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