Adobe AIR Building Apps

BUILDING ADOBE AIR APPLICATIONS
Creating your first AIR application
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Compile the application
Before you can run and debug the application, compile the MXML code into a SWF file using the amxmlc compiler.
The amxmlc compiler can be found in the bin directory of the Flex SDK. If desired, you can set the path environment
of your computer to include the Flex SDK bin directory. Setting the path makes it easier to run the utilities on the
command line.
1 Open a command shell or a terminal and navigate to the project folder of your AIR application.
2 Enter the following command:
amxmlc HelloWorld.as
Running amxmlc produces HelloWorld.swf, which contains the compiled code of the application.
Note: If the application does not compile, fix syntax or spelling errors. Errors and warnings are displayed in the console
window used to run the amxmlc compiler.
For more information, see “Compiling MXML and ActionScript source files for AIR” on page 149.
Test the application
To run and test the application from the command line, use the AIR Debug Launcher (ADL) to launch the application
using its application descriptor file. (ADL can be found in the bin directory of the AIR and Flex SDKs.)
❖ From the command prompt, enter the following command:
adl HelloWorld-app.xml
For more information, see “Device simulation using ADL” on page 96.
Create the APK package file
When your application runs successfully, you can use the ADT utility to package the application into an APK package
file. An APK package file is the native Android application file format, which you can distribute to your users.
All Android applications must be signed. Unlike AIR files, it customary to sign Android apps with a self-signed
certificate. The Android operating system does not attempt to establish the identity of the application developer. You
can use a certificate generated by ADT to sign Android packages. Certificates used for apps submitted to the Android
market must have a validity period of at least 25 years.
Generate a self-signed certificate and key pair
❖ From the command prompt, enter the following command (the ADT executable can be found in the bin directory
of the Flex SDK):
adt -certificate -validityPeriod 25 -cn SelfSigned 1024-RSA sampleCert.pfx samplePassword
This example uses the minimum number of attributes that can be set for a certificate. The key type must be either
1024-RSA or 2048-RSA (see the “ADT certificate command” on page 166).
Create the AIR package
❖ From the command prompt, enter the following command (on a single line):
adt -package -target apk -storetype pkcs12 -keystore sampleCert.p12 HelloWorld.apk
HelloWorld-app.xml HelloWorld.swf
You will be prompted for the keystore file password. Type the password and press Enter.
For more information, see “Packaging a mobile AIR application” on page 89.
Last updated 2/22/2016