Setting up HTML development tools



To develop HTML-based Adobe® AIR™ applications, you can use the Adobe®AIR™ Extension for Dreamweaver, the AIR SDK command-line tools, or other Web development tools that support Adobe AIR. This topic explains how to install the Adobe AIR Extension for Dreamweaver and the AIR SDK.

    Installing the AIR Extension for Dreamweaver

    The AIR Extension for Dreamweaver helps you to create rich Internet applications for the desktop. For example, you might have a set of web pages that interact with each other to display XML data. You can use the Adobe AIR Extension for Dreamweaver to package this set of pages into a small application that can be installed on a user’s computer. When the user runs the application from their desktop, the application loads and displays the website in its own application window, independent of a browser. The user can then browse the website locally on their computer without an Internet connection.

    Dynamic pages such as Adobe® ColdFusion® and PHP pages won’t run in Adobe AIR. The runtime only works with HTML and JavaScript. However, you can use JavaScript in your pages to call any web service exposed on the Internet—including ColdFusion- or PHP-generated services—with Ajax methods such as XMLHTTPRequest or Adobe AIR-specific APIs.

    For more information about the types of applications you can develop with Adobe AIR, see Introducing Adobe AIR.

      System requirements

      To use the Adobe AIR Extension for Dreamweaver, the following software must be installed and properly configured:

      • Dreamweaver CS3 (Windows XP or Vista, or Mac OS X 10.4 with Intel or PowerPC processor)

      • Adobe® Extension Manager CS3

      • Java JRE 1.4 or later (necessary for creating the Adobe AIR file). The Java JRE is available at http://java.sun.com/.

        The preceding requirements are only for creating and previewing Adobe AIR applications in Dreamweaver. To install and run an Adobe AIR application on the desktop, you must also install Adobe AIR on your computer. To download the runtime, see www.adobe.com/go/air.

      Install the Adobe AIR Extension for Dreamweaver

      1. Download the Adobe AIR Extension for Dreamweaver.

      2. Double-click the .mxp extension file in Windows Explorer (Windows) or in the Finder (Macintosh).

      3. Follow the onscreen instructions to install the extension.

      4. After you’re finished, restart Dreamweaver.

        For information about using the Adobe AIR Extension for Dreamweaver, see Using the AIR Extension for Dreamweaver.

      Installing the AIR SDK

      The Adobe AIR SDK contains the following command-line tools that you use to launch and package applications:

      AIR Debug Launcher (ADL)
      Allows you to run AIR applications without having to first install them. See Using the AIR Debug Launcher (ADL).

      AIR Development Tool (ADT)
      Packages AIR applications into distributable installation packages. See Packaging an AIR installation file using the AIR Developer Tool (ADT).

      The AIR command-line tools require Java to be installed your computer. You can use the Java virtual machine from either the JRE or the JDK (version 1.4 or newer). The Java JRE and the Java JDK are available at http://java.sun.com/.

      Note: Java is not required for end users to run AIR applications.

        Download and install the AIR SDK

        You can download and install the AIR SDK using the following instructions:

        Install the AIR SDK in Windows

        1. Download the AIR SDK installation file.

        2. The AIR SDK is distributed as a standard file archive. To install AIR, extract the contents of the SDK to a folder on your computer (for example: C:\Program Files\Adobe\AIRSDK or C:\AIRSDK).

        3. The ADL and ADT tools are contained in the bin folder in the AIR SDK; add the path to this folder to your PATH environment variable.

        Install the AIR SDK in Mac OS X

        1. Download the AIR SDK installation file.

        2. The AIR SDK is distributed as a standard file archive. To install AIR, extract the contents of the SDK to a folder on your computer (for example: /Users/<userName>/Applications/AIRSDK).

        3. The ADL and ADT tools are contained in the bin folder in the AIR SDK; add the path to this folder to your PATH environment variable.

          For information about getting started using the AIR SDK tools, see Creating an AIR application using the command line tools.

        What's included in the AIR SDK

        The following table describes the purpose of the files contained in the AIR SDK:

        SDK folder

        Files/tools description

        BIN

        adl.exe - The AIR Debug Launcher (ADL) allows you to run an AIR application without first packaging and installing it. For information about using this tool, see Using the AIR Debug Launcher (ADL).

        adt.bat - The AIR Developer Tool (ADT) packages your application as an AIR file for distribution. For information about using this tool, see Packaging an AIR installation file using the AIR Developer Tool (ADT).

        FRAMEWORKS

        AIRAliases.js - Provides "alias" definitions that allow you to access the ActionScript runtime classes. For information about using this alias file, see Using the AIRAliases.js file

        servicemonitor.swf - Provides AIR applications with an event-based means of responding to changes in network connectivity to a specified host. For information about using this framework, see Monitoring network connectivity.

        LIB

        adt.jar - The adt executable file, which is called by the adt.bat file.

        Descriptor.1.0.xsd - The application schema file.

        RUNTIME

        The AIR runtime - The runtime is used by ADL to launch your AIR applications before they have been packaged or installed.

        SAMPLES

        This folder contains a sample application descriptor file, a sample of the seamless install feature (badge.swf), and the default AIR application icons; see Distributing, Installing, and Running AIR applications.

        SRC

        This folder contains the source files for the seamless install sample.

        TEMPLATES

        descriptor-template.xml - A template of the application descriptor file, which is required for each AIR application. For a detailed description of the application descriptor file, see Setting AIR application properties.