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Release notes for users of Adobe AIR

Release date: 2/24/2009

Getting Started

The Adobe® AIR® runtime enables you to have your favorite web applications with you all the time. Since applications built for Adobe AIR run on your desktop computer without a web browser, they provide all the convenience of a desktop application.

This document contains system requirements, installation instructions, known issues, and other information about using the AIR 1.5.1 runtime.

• System requirements
• Supported languages
• New features in AIR 1.5.1
• Installing Adobe AIR
• Uninstalling Adobe AIR
• Installing AIR applications
• Tips and tricks
• Known issues and limitations

System Requirements

Additional Requirements for Linux Systems

Supported languages

The Adobe AIR 1.5.1 installation and runtime user experience supports the following languages.

• Chinese Simplified
• Chinese Traditional
• Czech
• Dutch
• English
• French
• German
• Italian
• Japanese
• Korean
• Polish
• Brazilian Portuguese
• Russian
• Spanish
• Swedish
• Turkish

New features in AIR 1.5.1

Adobe AIR 1.5.1 is a software update featuring improved reliability, compatibility and security. It is recommended for all AIR users. AIR application developed for previous versions of AIR do not need to be updated to work with this update.

Installing Adobe AIR

Installing the AIR 1.5.1 runtime and AIR applications requires you to have administrator privileges on your computer.

Install the runtime on a Windows computer

1. Download the runtime installation file from http://get.adobe.com/air.
2. Double-click the runtime installation file and follow the prompts to complete the installation.

Install the runtime on a Mac OS computer

1. Download the runtime installation file from http://get.adobe.com/air.
2. Double-click runtime installation file and follow the prompts to complete the installation.
3. If the Installer displays an Authenticate window, enter an administrator user name and password.

Install the runtime on a Linux computer

1. Download the runtime installation file from http://get.adobe.com/air.
2. Double-click runtime installation file AdobeAIRInstaller.bin and follow the prompts to complete the installation.
3. If you're not logged in as an administrator, invoking the installer prompts you to enter the admin password (root password for non-Debian systems and sudo user's password for Debian systems). Also note the following:
   • You need to grant execution rights to the bin file (chmod +x AdobeAIRInstaller.bin).
   • The runtime is installed as a native package. In other words, as rpm on an rpm based distribution and deb on a Debian distribution. Currently AIR does not support any other package format, so it may not install on distributions like Slackware, etc.
   • Adobe AIR on Linux consists of two packages - adobeair1.0 and adobe-certs. When you run AdobeAIRInstaller.bin, it installs these two packages.
   • The runtime is installed to the following location: /opt/Adobe AIR/Versions/1.0

Uninstalling Adobe AIR

Once you have installed the runtime, you can uninstall using the following procedures.

Uninstall the runtime on a Windows computer

1. In the Windows Start menu, select Settings > Control Panel.
2. Select the Add or Remove Programs control panel.
3. Select "Adobe AIR" to uninstall the runtime.
4. Click the Change/Remove button.

Uninstall the runtime on a Mac computer

• Double-click the "Adobe AIR Uninstaller", which is located in the /Applications/Utilities folder.

Uninstall the runtime on a Linux computer

1. Use the Uninstall AIR Runtime menu item in the Programs > Applications menu. Use the system's package manager to remove the adobe-certs package.
2. AIR registers the mime-type "application/vnd.adobe.air-application-installer-package+zip", which means that .air files are of this mime-type and are therefore owned by AIR.

Installing AIR applications

Installing AIR applications

1. Badge install in web browser: You may install AIR applications via the seamless install feature (badge install), which will install or update the AIR runtime as needed. With the AIR runtime installed, clicking on a link/badge in the web page will start the application installation. You will be prompted for installation location and administrator password if necessary.
2. Install from local .air files: With the AIR runtime installed, you can double-click the .air file to invoke the application installer. The installer begins with a security dialog describing the publisher identity. You will be prompted for installation location and local user password if necessary.

Additional details for Linux

1. AIR applications are installed as a native package (rpm or deb).
2. The package name is a combination of the applicationID and publisherID for the application.

Tips and tricks

Opening an AIR application with Safari on Mac OS

On Mac OS X, when using Safari, clicking a link to install an AIR application downloads it to the desktop on Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger) and to the downloads folder on Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard), rather than installing the application. To install the application, double-click the downloaded .air file.

Logging the runtime and application installation

Please see /go/kb403123 for instructions on how to enable logging for the AIR runtime and application installations.

Application installation tips and tricks on Linux

1. You can also install AIR applications using the command "/usr/bin/Adobe AIR Application Installer <full path to the air file here>". Currently relative paths do not work.
2. If double-clicking on .air file, after having installed the runtime, does not launch the application installer (this happens on some older distributions), you might have to log out and log back in.
3. To clean up the machine and try a fresh installation, you may remove the .adobe and .macromedia folder in the home directory for both root and the current user, also remove the .appdata folder in the home directory.
4. To generate logs for runtime installation, create the empty file .airinstall.log (touch .airinstall.log) in user home directory. Please post this file when reporting issues in the forum.
5. To generate logs for application installation, create the empty file .airappinstall.log (touch .airappinstall.log) in user home directory. Please post this file while reporting issues in the forum.

Known issues and limitations

A knowledge base of AIR issues and other helpful AIR documentation is available at the AIR support web site: /support/air/.

Mac and Windows

AIR applications might not work correctly when the language is Español Latinoamérica

On Mac OS, if the language list in System Settings > International > Language contains Español Latinoamérica (Latin American Spanish), an AIR application might not work correctly. Please remove it from your language list and use Español (Spanish) instead.

PDF content does not display without Adobe Reader

To display PDF content in AIR, make sure that Adobe Reader 8.1 or later is installed. Adobe Reader can be downloaded from http://get.adobe.com/reader.

SWF-in-HTML: In windowless mode, Ctrl+V does not paste

On Windows, Ctrl-V does not paste in text field when application is using a windowless mode SWF loaded by HTMLLoader.

SQL Database and Mac OS 10.5 Time Machine feature

Running Mac OS 10.5 Time Machine while executing certain SQL database transactions may lead to inconsistencies in your database. Therefore, AIR applications using the SQLite database may be affected by this issue. To ensure that your AIR application continues running properly, the workaround is to make sure the SQLite database is excluded from automatic back up by Time Machine.

AIR applications and MobyDock

MobyDock, a freeware customizable task bar application for Windows, prevents AIR applications from running. Close MobyDock while installing and running AIR applications.

Minority scripts support for China National Standard GB 18030-2000

Minority script characters such as Tibetan may not display correctly within AIR applications.

Input Method Editor is not disabled for password field in SWF content inside HTML

When clicking on the password field inside the embedded Flash content inside HTML pages in an AIR application, the Input Method Editor is not disabled. This might cause non-roman characters to be input inside the password field. To workaround this issue, explicitly change the input method settings so only roman characters can be typed.

Virtual keyboard on tablet PC

The virtual keyboard functionality used on tablet PCs may not work for some content within an AIR application. The Virtual Keyboard functionality for a tablet PC will work for Flash and HTML content--but will not work for a Flash content embedded in HTML.

Embedded Flash content display issue

Embedded Flash content in an HTML page loaded by an AIR application, or Flash content used within an HTML-based application, does not display if the application uses transparency.

Linux

Runtime installation

• Some distributions have issues with .bin in the filename. Remove the .bin from the installer file name and run the installer.
• For Debian based systems like Ubuntu, gnomesu/kdesu/kdesudo should be there for installation. Otherwise, install xdg-su and enable root user.

Application installation

• You must use an absolute path to the AIR file when installing an AIR application on the command line.
• Installation progress bar goes to completion and then resets itself.
• Multiple entries of AIR installer may appear (for example, also added to the "Others" menu in Ubuntu).

File type registration

Application icons do not appear for some unknown extensions (e.g. abc, def etc.) on certain KDE distributions.

Windows and menus

• Transparency will not work with virtualization software like VMWare.
• Transparent windows do not allow mouse events to pass through.

Flash-AIR Communication

Communication between AIR apps and SWFs within a browser requires Flash Player 10.

Encrypted local store

• Local store data cannot be accessed when session is exported using SSH or when session is changed to another user using su.
• ELS is bound to the desktop environment in which ELS database was first created. An ELS store created in KDE will not be accessible in GNOME and Vice Versa
• Encrypted Local store uses Keyring (GNOME) or KWallet (KDE). System may prompt for a password for accessing ELS data.
• Application name is reported as "anonymous" in the KWallet password dialog.

PDF

To view PDF content in AIR applications, you should have Adobe Reader for Linux version 8.1.1 or higher installed.

Copyright © 2009 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe, the Adobe logo, AIR, ActionScript, Flash, and Flex are trademarks or registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Other marks are the properties of their respective owners.

This computer program is protected by copyright law and international treaties. Unauthorized use, reproduction, or distribution of this program, or any portion of it, may result in severe civil and criminal penalties, and will be prosecuted to the maximum extent possible under the law.

Notices, terms and conditions pertaining to third party software are located at /go/thirdparty/ and incorporated by reference herein.