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Dan Carr

Dan Carr

Dan Carr Design

David Gonzalez

David Gonzalez

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Exploring the sample files and component workflow
  3. Exploring the AIR Browser sample application
  4. AIR components API
Created:
30 March 2009
User Level:
Intermediate
Products:
Adobe AIR

Using Flash CS4 and Adobe AIR to build custom browsers for e-learning and social networking

The Adobe AIR runtime has opened up the world of desktop applications to Flash Professional developers. In my own experience I've seen a need for the unique features of AIR when developing applications for e-learning and social networking sites. The challenge in these situations is that we often need a browser, but we don't want the navigation features or open environment of the standard browsers we use from day to day.

To address this challenge, we've developed a series of AIR components for Flash CS4 that can be used to manipulate the AIR ActionScript APIs, and built custom browser prototypes. The components are designed to speed up the development process and introduce the use of XML data sources to aide in creating a standard workflow in Flash Professional.

This article provides an overview of the AIR components extensions and the sample AIRBrowser application developed by Dave Gonzalez and myself (see Figure 1). Along the way you'll review a fully developed AIR application, learn about AIR concepts in Flash CS4, and walk away with the component package and workflow used to develop the application.

The AIR Browser application

Figure 1. The AIR Browser application

Note: Special thanks to our art director Bryan Purse for his design and illustration contributions to the AIR samples project!

Requirements

To make the most of these samples, you'll need the following software and files:

Flash CS4 Professional

Adobe AIR 1.5

Note: The sample files were developed with AIR 1.5 to take advantage of the latest updates to the AIR runtime. You'll need to work in Flash CS4 and run the AIR 1.5 update if you haven't already done so.

Sample files:

Prerequisite knowledge

This article is designed to give you an overview of the samples files. Although templates are provided to simplify the process, you will need to have a basic understanding of ActionScript, Flash components, and working with XML to take full advantage of the resources provided here.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License

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About the authors

Dan Carr is owner, lead developer, and trainer for Dan Carr Design in San Francisco. With years of experience developing for Macromedia and Adobe, Dan has created a range of features available in Flash, including e-learning templates, UI components, and Developer Resource Kit extensions. Dan teaches Flash design and ActionScript classes in Northern California and develops e-learning and web applications for the public, as well as for Adobe product teams.

David Gonzalez is an interactive media developer and founder of Mindstein Media in northern California. For 10+ years Dave has specialized in developing Flash-based web applications, web sites, UI components, and e-learning applications. Recent projects include work with Dan Carr Design and a lead engineer role at ZooKazoo.com.