ACTIONSCRIPT 3 Developer’s Guide en

ACTIONSCRIPT 3.0 DEVELOPER’S GUIDE
Working with AIR native windows
Windows in AIR
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later
AIR supports three distinct APIs for working with windows:
The ActionScript-oriented NativeWindow class provides the lowest level window API. Use NativeWindows in
ActionScript and Flash Professional-authored applications. Consider extending the NativeWindow class to
specialize the windows used in your application.
In the HTML environment, you can use the JavaScript Window class, just as you would in a browser-based web
application. Calls to JavaScript Window methods are forwarded to the underlying native window object.
The Flex framework mx:WindowedApplication and mx:Window classes provide a Flex “wrapper” for the
NativeWindow class. The WindowedApplication component replaces the Application component when you create
an AIR application with Flex and must always be used as the initial window in your Flex application.
ActionScript windows
When you create windows with the NativeWindow class, use the Flash Player stage and display list directly. To add a
visual object to a NativeWindow, add the object to the display list of the window stage or to another display object
container on the stage.
HTML windows
When you create HTML windows, you use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to display content. To add a visual object to an
HTML window, you add that content to the HTML DOM. HTML windows are a special category of NativeWindow.
The AIR host defines a nativeWindow property in HTML windows that provides access to the underlying
NativeWindow instance. You can use this property to access the NativeWindow properties, methods, and events
described here.
Note: The JavaScript Window object also has methods for scripting the containing window, such as moveTo() and
close(). Where overlapping methods are available, you can use whichever method that is convenient.
Flex Framework windows
When you create windows with the Flex framework, you typically use MXML components to populate the window.
To add a Flex component to a window, you add the component element to the window MXML definition. You can
also use ActionScript to add content dynamically. The mx:WindowedApplication and mx:Window components are
designed as Flex containers and so can accept Flex components directly, whereas NativeWindow objects cannot. When
necessary, the NativeWindow properties and methods can be accessed through the WindowedApplication and
Window objects using the nativeWindow property.
The initial application window
The first window of your application is automatically created for you by AIR. AIR sets the properties and content of
the window using the parameters specified in the initialWindow element of the application descriptor file.
If the root content is a SWF file, AIR creates a NativeWindow instance, loads the SWF file, and adds it to the window
stage. If the root content is an HTML file, AIR creates an HTML window and loads the HTML.
Native window classes
Adobe AIR 1.0 and later
The native window API contains the following classes:
Last updated 6/6/2012
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