I know it is possible to run an Adobe Flex compiled .swf from the command-line using the adl command-line tool.
Is there an equivalent way to run a Flex .swf from the command-line using the system installed AIR runtime?
My question applies to OS X, but I'd interested to know about other platforms also.
UPDATE: This question is now somewhat obsolete. As of AIR 3, there is now an 'officially supported' way to bundle the AIR runtime with an application, using the 'captive runtime' deployment option.
I just tested to run an AIR app without the need to install the application.
Copy the following folders from your Flex SDK
bin
runtimes\air
as well as all files from your "release" (bin-debug) folder of your project.(Don't build a release build!).
now you can run the application with "adl app.xml".
Though there was AIR runtime installed on the PC I think it should be possible without it too.
The original question was a bit different though, maybe it's helpful anyway.
I say No! A SWF is not the same as an AIR application. If you take that SWF's code and compile it into an AIR application; then you should be able to install and run it independent of the browser or any development tools.
I suppose in theory you could create an AIR application where you give it the location of a SWF and use SWFLoader to load the actual SWF. I don't think that is quite what you're after.
There is a stand alone Flash Player which is different from AIR and different from the browser plugin. You can get it here. You can use that to run the SWF as if it were a local app. I wouldn't count on your users having that, though.
You can also load a local SWF in the browser and let the flash player plugin handle it.
Related
Hi I have an application in flash, I build in ActionScript 3.0 Flash IDE, my application loads some external swfs which mentioned via XML file. Its working fine at the moment. But I need to compile all these external SWFs and xml file into single exe file. How can I compile like this. or how can I code like this?
EDIT: 1
from here : http://page-flip.com/products/pdf-publisher/
You can see an example, the application is build in .net and it import pdf and publish it as flash projector or web based(swf). How is it compiling all the external SWF files.
If you have Flash CS4 you can make use of the mxmlc compiler which has some additional tricks up it's sleeve.
Using the embed tag like this will allow you to embed an entire swf "inside" your swf:
[Embed(source = '../assets/items/9.swf')] public static const ITEM_9:Class;
Then, to instantiate it you simply go:
var mySprite:Sprite = new ITEM_9() as Sprite;
Using this and some clever overloading of your current classes for external loading should allow you to get a single swf (xml files can be embedded in a similar fashion).
Then it's just a matter of using the Publish settings to make Flash spit out an .exe
On an unrelated note, please go back and accept some answers to your questions. It's not very nice not to.
You can try mdm Zinc.
Zinc is really powerful. It lets you package your Flash or Flex in different ways, with lots of native platform hooks.
you can build an AIR application. if you don`t want it to be cross platform, you can build an AIR application with a windows native installer.
Flash > File > Project settings > Windows Projector.
For MAC, choose a MAC projector.
If you are burning to a disc and you need both platforms to work...a good option is to use Toast (if you are on a MAC)...it will hide the files you don't need the user to see, and also hide windows files from MACs and vice versa.
There is an application for Windows called SWFKit, which allows you to package your SWF and external files into one exe file. I had the same problem as you, and this worked a treat for me. Unfortunately you do need to pay for it :( http://www.swfkit.com
Hope this helps,
Will
I would go about it with these steps
create a flex application
embed all of the SWF's and the XML into that application
create a release of the application you just created
open the SWF application with the stand-alone flash player and not with the browser
from the file menu select the option create projector
All of this will result a single EXE file that contains all of the SWF's and the XML file.
You can use a projector or make an windows only AIR project.
Use flajector and forget about your problems
Hello StackOverflow community,
The air.swf file referenced here:
http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex/3/html/help.html?content=distributing_apps_3.html
used to launch AIR applications from Flex applications requires the use of an air.swf file located here:
http://airdownload.adobe.com/air/browserapi/air.swf
We have tried to download this SWF and use it in our internal network, but it is not working, we depend on using the one located in the Adobe site.
Is there anyway to use this air.swf file without having to access the Adobe site?
Thanks!
Mauricio
No, this swf will not work if it's not loaded from adobe.com domain.
You can download the air.swf from the Adobe website (which the docs say you are free to do) and load it locally. Then the first call correctly gives the status of the AIR installation - "installed" or "available". However, if AIR is installed, the next call to getApplicationVersion always fails with "null" no matter the AIR app is installed or not. If I run the Adobe hosted version of air.swf everything works fine.
I am trying with AIR 2.0 and Actionscript 3.0.
i know this is rather a partial answer, but if I figure out more I will edit it!
We'd like to have an app autorun when our clients put in our info CD.
Is it possible to do this using Adobe AIR... We were thinking of using the Flash Projector cause it compiles to an .exe which is easily launched, but there's no way to get rid of the ugly window chrome is there?
AIR Apps have to be installed right?
Thanks
It isn't going to work with AIR, but there are numerous Flash projectors that would work. AIR needs the runtime and has to be installed.
I had the same requirements and ended up using zinc. You can't get an AIR app to launch without installing it (much assuming that the user has the runtime in the first place) but zinc allows you to do so AND deploy to multiple environments like AIR with custom chrome if need be...Good Luck!
You can't do it with AIR. In fact that was one of the key design points of AIR, that you couldn't do automatic execution.
You can theoretically do it with a .EXE projector file, but it requires some fancy footwork, and I don't think you can output Flex to Projector.
I have .exe file, which is done in VB. i need to open or hit that exe file from Flex3 air application on Button Click event.
i need to simple hit that exe file to run, no need to open inside the air applcation.
How to hit the exe file in Air app...?
Thanks in Advance
Air itself does not provide the ability to launch external applications (I see this as a significant problem with AIR).
Some people have created a hack that would allow you to do this and provided it as a library, though I'm not sure how reliable it is (it does some weird things with the way Windows loads DLLs that I'm not sure I completely trust).
Aperture framework: http://aperture.fluorinefx.com/
Blog discussing the implementation: http://blog.fluorinefx.com/?tag=native
As Herms said, AIR doesn't allow you to do that. However, Java does and you can connect your AIR app with Java using merapi.
For now, the best and easiest way to do this is, as Amarhosh said, to use Merapi. Or you can wait to AIR 2.0 (the end of 2009) which will bring native access support.
AIR 2.0 will support using NativeProcess.
I have a simple little test app written in Flex 3 (MXML and some AS3). I can compile it to a SWF just fine, but I'd like to make it into an EXE so I can give it to a couple of my coworkers who might find it useful.
With Flash 8, I could just target an EXE instead of a SWF and it would wrap the SWF in a projector, and everything worked fine. Is there an equivalent to that using the Flex 3 SDK that doesn't end up requiring AIR?
Note: I don't have Flex Builder, I'm just using the free Flex 3 SDK.
In your Flex SDK folders you should see a 'runtimes\player\win\FlashPlayer.exe' which is a stand alone Flash player. Open your SWF with that and you'll see a 'Create Projector...' menu item in the File menu which will create the stand-alone EXE.
imaginaryboy gets it right, I believe. Btw, since you don't have Flex Builder, you might look into the free and open source FlashDevelop if you're on Windows. It's my favorite environment for developing anything Actionscript (the Flex support is pretty great, too).
There's also Zinc that also provides API:s for accessing the filesystem and other thinks that AIR does, but less restrictive.